Swing Dancing To a Plant-Based Beat

The good folks at the Natchel Blues Network put together quite an event as a final fundraiser to assist two blues acts, Roosterfoot (Seth Stainback and Keith Stainback) and The Bush League, with the expenses of their trip to the International Blues Challenge (IBC) that is being held in Memphis, TN from Jan 31 to Feb 4, 2012. For those of you who may be unaware, the IBC is an international competition where all of the Blues Foundation   affiliates are encouraged to stage a regional preliminary IBC competition, with the winner of that competition representing the organization in the Memphis international competition. I have never been there, but I hear that it is one of those mountaintop experiences for any blues music lover and based on what I heard and experienced at Mojo Bones on this day, I can only imagine what a whole week of this kind of talented musicianship and the blues can do to a person's soul. The day started with a nice 2 hour drive through the countryside, t...

It was a Friday night, the first night in about three weeks that my wife and I had felt even anywhere near well enough to venture past our front door. When we left the house, Denise and I had agreed that we wouldn't push it and probably would turn in a little early. I was feeling well, but Denise was marginal as we headed to the Brews and Blues function at the Capital Ale House . This is a weekly event sponsored by the River City Blues Society  and features great local and live blues. This night it was The Bush League and, having heard them a couple times before, they did not disappoint. With Gwen Frederick (drums) and Royce Folks (bass) holding a strong and steady line on the back end, it allows John Jay (vocals) and Shane Parch (guitar) to play to their hearts' content. There were joined by a few guest musicians, especially Geo Jacopec on guitar. When he takes the stage with anybody, you know something special is going to happen. It has been three times now that...