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August already & it’s jammed

with festival & club dates.Vancouver’s premiere JumpBlues band The Twisters kickoff August with a CD ReleaseParty at The Yale on Sat Aug1st showcasing their new CD,“Come Out Swingin’”. This

BC Day long weekend, it’s the 14th AnnualMount Baker Blues Festival in Deming WAwith Jason Ricci & New Blood, Shane Dwight,Ana Popovic, Sonny Landreth, and JohnnyWinter, among others. Mark Hummel & theBlues Survivors with Rusty Zinn play The YaleFri & Sat Aug 7 & 8th. They’re also at the MapleRidge Jazz & Blues Festival the afternoon ofSat Aug 8th. Tinsley Ellis is at Jazzbones onSat Aug 8th, then at the Burnaby Roots &Blues Festival Sun Aug 9th along with SmokeyRobinson, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, theKeb Mo Band, David Lindley, JJ Grey &MOFRO, & others. San Francisco’s Chris Cainplays Highway 99 on Fri Aug 14th. SalmonArm’s Roots & Blues Festival is Fri Aug 14th

to Sun Aug 16th with Johnny Winter, Dr. John,Ana Popovic, Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’Malcom, Trombone Shorty & OrleansAvenue, the Soul of John Black, MurrayPorter, plus others. Dr. John & the Lower 911begin a 6 night run at Jazz Alley from Tues Aug18th thru Sun Aug 23rd. Seattle’s WoodlandZoo has Susan Tedeschi, plus JJ Grey &MOFRO on Weds Aug 19th. Keep an eye outfor Michigan Bluesman Larry McCray atHighway 99 on Fri Aug 21st. That same nightCurtis Salgado is at The Triple Door in Seattle.Fri Aug 21st & Sat Aug 22nd Powder Blues playThe Yale in Vancouver. Tues Aug 25th

Northern Blues recording artists Moreland &Arbuckle are at the Green Frog Acousticavern in Bellingham. And finally, Soul LegendAl Green’s at the Tulalip Amphitheatre onThurs Aug 27th.

Sadly, the 1st Annual Seattle

Bayou Festival scheduled forSat Aug 1st has beenCANCELLED. That festivalwas supposed to feature theDavid Grisman Quintet, ChrisThomas King, & the Wild Magnolias.No reason was given for the cancellation. TheDavid Grisman Quintet will still be performing atthe Edmonds Center for the Arts in the Seattlesuburb of Edmonds. This is a fund raiser forParkview Services, an agency that providesaffordable housing options for people withdisabilities. Tickets may appear to be a bitpricey at $125.00 U.S. per ticket, but then it is afund raiser for a very worthy cause.

This B.C. Day holiday

Monday, Aug 3rd, Kenny“Blues Boss” Wayne will turnThe Yale into a Piano Bar, a

“Blues” piano bar that is, when he delivers somebouncing Boogie Woogie & pumpin’ piano Blues.Kenny’s been referred to as the “missing link”between modern-day Blues piano players andBarrelhouse Legends of the past. If you likeyour Blues with a honky-tonk chaser then makesure check it out, all for the price of a deliciouscocktail or cold brew or two or three… Just besure you don’t drink & drive.

Just a hop, skip & a

jump over the border,Chubby Carrier’s brotherTroy, a.k.a. Dikki Du &his band, the ZydecoKrewe, will be doing aspecial outdoor show inBellingham on WedsAugust 5th as part of theDowntown Sounds Summer Concert Series inthe 1300 Block of Bay Street which is locatedbetween Holly Street & West Champion Street indowntown Bellingham. This will be an all agesshow, but confidentially, there’ll be a beer gardenfor those 21 and over. Can’t make it to B-Ham forthat free show? Don’t fret Zydeco fans, becausethe next night Dikki Du & the Zydeco Krewe willbe at the Rock Fish Grill in downtown Anacorteson Thurs Aug 6th.

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Also on Thurs Aug 6th

you’ll find Tinsley Ellis & hisband at the Triple Door inSeattle. This gig’s inaddition to the previouslymentioned appearances atThe Burnaby Roots & Blues

Festival, and Jazzbones. If you like drivin’ Blueswith a Southern Rock chaser, then be sure tocatch Tinsley while he’s here, because it may beawhile before he’s back. Remember he & hisband played The Yale last July, but it had beensomething like 10 years before that, they’d lastplayed Vancouver.

We just noticed that The

Twisters have justdiscovered the RockFish Grill in Anacortes.Or is it the other wayaround? Anyway, thefolks down that way areabout to have a solid jump Blues band take themby storm on Fri Aug 21st. Anacortes is a quainttown on the water to the west of the BurlingtonOutlets on I-5 and the Rock Fish Grill serves upgreat food with cold micro-brews & a superfriendly attitude. Now that’s a perfect fit, ‘causeThe Twisters serve up Blues with a fun attitude.

This swingin’ Blues

Legend, guitarist, singer,songwriter, & producerwas just here a fewweeks ago as part of theVancouver Jazz Festival.If you missed him, oreven if you caught him,you may want to head to

Seattle. Touring to support his new “Jumpin’ theBlues Tonight!” CD on Stony Plain, the DukeRobillard Band will be at Highway 99 for oneevening, Fri Aug 28th. By the way, this new CDonce again puts the focus on Duke’s playing,songwriting, & singing, along with some tasteysax from long time band member Doug James,that definitely shows how comfortable thesemusicians are with top notch material that canbest be described as reflective of where theBlues met early Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Will you be hanging around

for the Labour Day longweekend? You can expect

things to heat up, because The Red Hot BluesSisters will be making another the trek northfrom Seattle to The Yale in Vancouver, withperformances scheduled for Fri Sept 4th and SatSept 5th. How long’s it been? Seems like agessince frisky Blues felines Suze Sims & Teri AnneWilson and the rest of the gals in the band havegraced us with their presence, no doubt due totheir growing popularity on Club & Festivalstages throughout the U.S., Canada & Europe.

Not too long ago the

words “Supreme SlideMaster” appearedabove his name on thecover of GuitarMagazine, ranking him

up there with names like Eric Clapton, MarkKnopfler, & Robben Ford. Pretty headycompany and yet the man seems quite humble &very personable when you meet him. He’splayed to capacity crowds the past couple oftimes he’s played The Yale, and while he’s notscheduled there this time, he will be appearing inSeattle & on a weekend. Sonny Landreth & hisband will be sliding into The Triple Door inSeattle on Sat Sept 5th.

Chicago Blues

band StudebakerJohn & the Hawksare travelling theWest Coast andlucky for us theiritinerary includes,

not one, but two successive nights of electricChi-cago style Blues at The Yale. I rememberhow much I enjoyed this Italian-AmericanChicago born Bluesman & his band the first timeI saw them, coincidentally at The Yale, about adozen years ago. He’s released at least a dozenalbums since his first recording 31 years agowith his last “Waiting on the Sun” released in2008. Make sure you circle Fri Sept 11th & SatSept 12th on your calendar & then head down tospend a night with Studebaker John at The Yale.

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It looks like there’s

more Blues action onFri Sept 11th, becausewe’ve noted thatfrequent PacificNorthwest visitors,Jason Ricci & NewBlood, will take to thestage at Highway 99 in

Seattle. While they’ve defied categorization,they are gaining notoriety as their shows includea solid mix of harmonica-Blues, Funk, R&B,Fusion, Jazz, & Psychedelic, with a little Punk &Jam for good measure. Find out for yourselfwhy, at age 21, Ricci won the Sonny Boy BluesSociety contest. Now approaching 30, JasonRicci & his band are gaining momentum andaccolades like a tornado in hyper-drive.

They’ve got a brand new

CD out on Alligator Recordslabel. Called “Lay YourBurden Down”, the firstalbum for BuckwheatZydeco in 4 years and itcoincides with the band’s30th Anniversary Tour, which by the way, willbe coming to The Yale on Sun Sept 20th. Getyour tickets early, because Buckwheat Zydeco,one of the greatest Party Bands ever, alwayssells out when they play The Yale. Trust me,you’ll have a F-U-N-tastic time!!!

Looks like The Yale is

making up for the drought oftouring acts during thesummer. If it wasn’t for some“Legendary” sidemen, manyBlues Legends might neverhave been. Perhaps… justperhaps, Howlin’ Wolf mightnot have been as big aLegend, if it wasn’t for side-

men like Sax player Eddie Shaw backing him upon stage. Eddie Shaw & the Wolf Gang will bemaking the trek from Chicago to The Yale on FriSept 25th & Sat Sept 26th to bring you two nightsof Chicago Blues, some of which will transportyou back to when Howlin’ Wolf prowled thesmoky Blues Clubs in the Windy City.

All aboard! The

Legendary Rhythm &Blues Revue tour isheaded north again. Ilove the fact that theychange the artist line-up

around from time-to-time. On this go-around therevue line-up will be featuring the 2008 BluesMusic Awards “Entertainer of the Year” winnerTommy Castro Band, along with Kenny Neal,John Németh, & Janiva Magness. They will bestorming the stage at The Triple Door in Seattleon Thurs Oct 8th. Watch for Castro’s newrelease “Hard Believer” on Alligator Records.It’s scheduled to be released August 11th, butapparently you can pre-order it now throughTommy’s website www.tommycastro.com. Inreviewing their schedule I noticed they haveopen dates Oct 5th & 6th, plus they have a TBApenciled in for Fri Oct 9th. Hmmm, wonder if thatmight mean a date here? The last time theRevue played The Yale there was a solid turnout. Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed.

Legendary, y’up there’s ‘that word’ once

again, New Orleans pianist, singer,songwriter, and producer, Allen

Toussaint will be appearing at the PortWarehouse located in Anacortes, during theAnacortes Jazz & Blues Festival on Sat Oct17th, and also at the Seattle Art Museum onSun Oct 18th as part of the annual and verypopular Earshot Jazz Festival.

Another great New Orleans pianist,

Henry Butler, will tickle the ivories withsome Blues and Jazz when hestops by The Triple Door inSeattle on Sat Nov 28th.

December & 2009 will wrap up with

the San Francisco Bay area’s Towerof Power playing the River Rock inRichmond on Thurs Dec 30th, then NewYear’s Eve, Fri Dec 31st at the RedRobinson Show Theatre in Coquitlam.

***It’s a Blues Thang! Mo Soon!***Your next Blues Horizons update soon.