| MIDWEST BLUES BEAT |  |
MIDWEST BLUES BEATby Eric Steiner
NO FOOLIN’ AROUND...
I was going to devote an entire column to opera, but I don’t have time for April Fools’ pranks this month. I want to get right down to the blues, and shout about some shows that will certainly be bright spots on the April blues calendar.
GIVE IT UP FOR BONGO DICK...
For starters, I am going to ask you to dig deep on Sunday, April 17th, two days after tax day. Dig deep, because another local bluesman needs a little help from 3:00pm to 9:00pm at Jay’s Bar and Grill on South Cicero Avenue in Crestwood.
Join your local brothers and sisters in the blues at this benefit concert for Bongo Dick Shultz, who’s battling some pretty severe ailments that have landed him in Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey. Like Lonnie Brooks, he recently began his seventh decade on the planet, and has worked hard at the blues trade playing his harp at places like Tommy’s Place in Blue(s) Island.
I’ve had the good fortune to feature him in my column here at Midwest BEAT, but if you go to any benefit jam this month, make it the benefit for Bongo Dick Shultz at Jay’s Bar and Grill. It’s a Chicago Blues Posse production with folks like Hollywood Johnny Cosgrove on guitar and Glen “The Wiz” Wierzbicki on drums leading the pack.
Penciled in to play are some of the brightest blues lights in the region, including: The Chicago Kingsnakes, Killer Ray Allison, Dangerous Wayne, Johnny Butane, Billy King, Planetary Blues Band, John Primer, Chicago Blues Posse, Deb Seitz, Bobby Lee, Big Blue, Dave Dillard, Guitar Red, Delores Scott, Bobby Lee, Josie Johnson, Small Time Dave, T-Bird Huck, Joey Drada & Superstition, to name just a few who’ll lend their time and talent to the benefit show.
The tariff at the door is only ten bucks, so please come out and give it up for one of our own. Local blues fans turned out in full force at the Jody Noa Benefit concert at the end of February at 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park.
I’ve heard that over 3,000 people were there throughout the evening, and I encourage you to once again come out and honor another local bluesman.
Bongo Dick Shultz, as I’ve said in this space before, has been playing the blues for over 39 of his 70 years on the planet. Along the way, he’s played with Hammond B-3 players Tommy Gibbons, Wayne Mason, and Matt Ruskin, with Lenny Capp on the bass guitar.
Last year, Bongo Dick he sent me a soundboard tape from the blues jam at Tommy’s Place in Blue(s) Island, and it was a scorcher of a show, fueled by some of the great local players who will raise a glass in his honor on April 17th at Jay’s Bar and Grill in Crestwood.
BLOOMING BLUES CALENDAR …
April’s music calendar is mighty crowded. I’d start out the month by checking out a hot young sax player named John Ellis, who’s released his first nationally-distributed CD, One Foot in the Swamp on Hyena Records (also home to James Blood Ulmer, who’s Vernon Reid-produced CD, Birthright, will be out next month). Ellis will be at the Green Mill in Chicago on the 1st and 2nd.
Willie “Big Eyes” Smith and Pinetop Perkins headline the Maple City Blues Festival in LaPorte, Indiana on the 2nd, and that same night, Bernard Allison will play Buddy Guy’s Legends on his Higher Power (Ruf Records) tour.
Slide guitar wizard Sonny Landreth will turn FitzGerald’s in Berwyn into a Cajun dancehall on the night of the 10th, and his new CD, Live at Grant Street (Sugar Hill) will likely land on my top CD list for 2005.
Carl Weathersby plays the blues at Buddy Guy’s Legends on the 22nd, while Ronnie Baker Brooks plays Chord on Blues in St. Charles on the 23rd. Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues closes out the month at the Old Town School of Folk Music on the 30th.
Mokena’s Todd Beebe & The 3rd Degree Band are taking a break from working on a new studio CD. This gives Beebe time to play out with his other band, Acoustic Thing, who can be caught in action at The Bone Dry in Highland on March 16th.
Until next month, remember Bongo Dick Shultz with both your prayers AND a donation. | ||
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