Tag Archives: San Diego Blues

San Diego Blues Calendar: July 7th – 13th

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Blues Calendar - July 7

There is bit more blues this week than we’ve had downtown for a while, and one reason is the reopening of the Kona Kai lounge after their Spring renovations.  Missy Andersen will be back there on Wednesday and Gino & Jade are also back!!

I’ve also added the Coronado Ferry Landing to the calendar, since they play blues there periodically on Sunday afternoons.  This week is Blue Frog Blues.

And of course we have the usual San Diego blues jams on Mondays (SpeakEasy), Tuesdays (Patrick’s) and Wednesdays at the House of Blues free stage.  I’m also pleased that Patrick’s has mostly blues again this week, so it’s another great week of blues every single night.

Blues on a Sunday Night at Patrick’s Pub

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Patrick’s Pub almost always has blues on a Sunday night, and I went to hear some favorite locals: Len Rainey on bass and Johnny Vernazza on guitar, accompanied by Danny Martinez on drums.  These guys are all regulars at Patrick’s, and I always enjoy hearing them play.

Here’s Len singing cover song Kiddio.  Patrick’s is always dark, so it’s hard to get good crisp video.  I lightened it up, and it’s still grainy. But you can see and hear them fairly well.

And here they are performing cover song Born Under a Bad Sign.

San Diego Blues

 

 

Blues JammingOut on Wednesday Nights

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If you have been following this blog for a while, you know I often go to the JammingOut at HOB.  I can’t always get to the other jams around town, so I try to make it to this one as often as I can.  It’s always good and often there are newcomers to the jam who rock the night.  There were quite a few musicians there who I hadn’t seen before.

One of them was Maria Woodard, a jazz and Latin singer in San Diego, who got up and did a number of tunes.  Here she is singing the Fats Domino song Kansas City.  With her on stage was Rich Giglio and Doyle Thomas on guitars, Tom Safreed on harmonica, Dale Davis on bass and Steve Douglas on drums.

Nick Butterfield was back again, and he gave us an awesome performance of that great Creedence Clearwater Revival cover tune Born on the Bayou.  He’s joined by Rich on guitar, Dale on bass, Dave Good on saxophone, Richie Strell playing the accordion, Reggie Ford on drums, and I’m not sure who was playing the harmonica.  Enjoy!

Later, Harmonica John Frazer played and sang Steve Miller band cover song Your Cash Ain’t Nothing But Trash with Will Lovalot on guitar, Steve Welles on bass, and I believe it was Max on drums.

San Diego Blues

San Diego Blues Calendar: June 23rd – 29th

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Blues Calendar - Jun 23

This is a pretty typical week for San Diego blues around town, although it is light at Humphrey’s Backstage on Shelter Island. But in another week, Kona Kai Lounge should be open again and hosting regular blues bands. Patrick’s has mostly blues this week, which means there is live blues music every day of the week. Enjoy!

San Diego Blues Calendar: June 16th – 22nd

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Blues Calendar - Jun 16
I’m happy to say that Patrick’s Pub in the Gaslamp has a full week of San Diego blues, and most of it straight up blues. Unfortunately I’m not in town to enjoy it, although I did go to a great bl…ues gig last night in Newburyport, Massachusetts hosted by Parker Wheeler with his friends (this week it was SuperChief Trio).

There are a few highlights this week to check out… Whitney Shay and Robin Henkel will be at 98 Bottles doing a tribute to Little Richard, and Tyler Ray Davidson (a super talented young guitarist who often plays at the Youth Blues Jam) will have his own blues band performing at Hennessey’s on Saturday afternoon. I’m sorry to miss both of these, so I hope you get to catch one of them.

 

Good Night at JammingOut at HOB

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I got to the blues jam late, but I still caught a few sets with musicians who have become regulars at the jam.

Here is Rich Giglio performing cover song Jump Jive An’ Wail, supported by Junya Isogawa on guitar, Victor Franklin on bass, David Lewis on harmonica and local newcomer to the jam, Jonathon Bachelor on drums, who says he’ll be back!

Next up on stage was Nicholas Butterfield playing guitar and singing cover song Fire, with Judd Austin on guitar, Lisa Viegas on drums, Kevin Cooper on bass.

And then they did cover song Freight Train.

San Diego Blues

 

 

 

San Diego Blues Calendar: June 9th – 15th

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Blues Calendar - Jun 9This is a light week for San Diego blues, but you will still find some good live blues every single night in the Gaslamp.  There is also Saturday afternoons at Hennessey’s!

I’m sad to see that Patrick’s Pub is shifting to more rock and Humphrey’s Backstage has less blues, but Kona Kai’s lounge will be re-opening in July.

Terry Hanck Band Comes to San Diego

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Years ago, blues sax player Terry Hanck played in San Diego with Elvin Bishop when he was on tour out of San Francisco.  He was back in town on Sunday with his band at Patrick’s Pub.  Joining them on stage was Johnny Vernazza, who  used to play with both Elvin and Terry.

Patrick’s isn’t an easy place to get good quality video, but for the Terry Hanck fans, it will be fun to watch.

San Diego Blues

San Diego Blues Calendar: June 2nd – 8th

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Blues Calendar - Jun 2

It is a pretty typical week for downtown San Diego blues, with most of it happening at the SpeakEasy and Patrick’s in the Gaslamp.

Hopefully Kona Kai’s renovations will wrap up soon on Shelter Island, and they will resume their schedule of blues a few times a week. It is a nice complement to Humphrey’s Backstage schedule (which is now a mix of blues on Mondays & R&B on many Thursdays and Sundays – along with their predominantly jazz calendar).

We seem to have more R&B bands getting booked this spring, which suggests the venues are getting more people out for that. I’m hoping we will see a trend back to more blues in the summer.

One other trend, that is drawing a nice crowd, is the 2-5pm blues at Hennessey’s/SpeakEasy. This past weekend was the Youth Blues Jam, which is always impressive, and this coming Saturday we will have John January & The Rare Creed!

San Diego Blues Calendar: May 26th – June 1st

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Blues Calendar - May 26

Memorial Day kicks off another full week of blues around town. This week most of the live blues is at the Gaslamp SpeakEasy, Patrick’s Pub and Humphrey’s Backstage Lounge. So it’s a bit light, but still lots of good music every single night.

At JammingOut at HOB this Wednesday there will be a local featured band, as they do now the last Wednesday of the month. This time it is Bi-Polar Express, who is also playing at the Harley Davidson in Little Italy next Saturday from noon-1:30.

And we have a band coming in from out of town on Sunday night, the Terry Hanck band (Terry plays sax) – based out of San Francisco, which will be playing at Patrick’s. They won the blues category in the International Songwriting Competition last year and are now back out on tour. I checked out their website, and they sound great!