DOHENY BLUES FESTIVAL - 2008

My day began by listening to guitar virtuoso Jimmy Thackery rip out some hard drivin rock 'n roll and blues. However, Jimmy showed his versatility by playing an old Ventures tunes (Pipeline), and doing a version of the National Anthem on a par with Jimi's.



I was a little disappointed that the Reverend Bill C. Wirtz only played keyboards in the band and wasn't up to his usual frivolities. The Rev is one of the funniest and most fun loving musicians around with his host of humorous songs, but today he just played straight keyboards for the band. Overall, it was a good way to start the day, like an injection of rhythm and blues.

Bobby Rush was the big surprise of the day. I had heard the name but never seen him, or consciously listened to his music. But I got a chance to "Experience the Rush" on this Sunday. What a trip. It was a show, not just a musical performance. Complete with dancing girls on either side used as visual aids for all the sexual innuendos of his blues songs.



For the male parts Bobby like to thrust his pelvis forward in a way I found disconcerting at first, but the women didn't seem to mind. The man has been in the business for 51 years, and is 75 years old, but apparently he doesn't know this. His version of "Hoochi Coochi Man" contained graphic verses I have never heard before and that would have made me blush if I had not been a hardened Blues Man. I almost had to turn my head the other way when the young lady on staged showed why Bobby was "Henpecked". But with all the sexual content, it was all high spirited and his intimate communication with the audience made it fun for everyone.

Little Feat gave a solid performance and Coco Montoya added some down home blues to the mix.



I was somewhat distracted by the fact that the main stage was so far away when I heard them, or was it the beers I just had? I tended to drift away on the long funked up jams and ethereal floating riffs. But "Dixie Chicken" brought me around again.

Unfortunately, I just got to end of the Watermelon Slim performance and basically missed it.



But I was struck by the large group of fans, and "groupies" crowding the stage at the end. Perhaps it was his down home Dobro guitar had fans clambering for autographs, signed T-Shirts, and a towel thoroughly soused in sweat wiped from his face.


Of course the headliner, Bonnie Raitt, did not disappoint. She put on a thoroughly enjoyable performance. She was very communicative, seeming to enjoy chatting with the audience between tunes, making you feel like you were invited over and were sitting in her living room.



I could have sworn that Bonnie was born somewhere in the south like Louisiana, but I discovered with a little online research she was born in Burbank, CA, in my backyard. With her home-grown old blues ditties mixed with her more popular hits she delighted the audience from start to finish. She may not be from the South but in my book she is reigning Queen of the Blues.

I had a thought on the way home about people who just don't "get it" when you talk about the blues. I could say its an injection of feel-good, but I am not sure that would communicate well. Or that blues is the cure for the blues. I was thinking of other ways to explain it. Then I thought of a physics explanation. Its like blues music resonates with all those things in your soul that cause the blues, even if you don't know they are there, and by resonating with them gets them shaking and vibrating, and just jiggles them all out. Well thats what it does for me. Thanks Doheny.