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| Kenny Parker (BluesPhotos by Don McGhee) |
Want to see some of Detroit’s blues veterans perform?
The Veteran Blues Reunion, from 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26 at the Scarab Club in Detroit, features award-winning singer and harmonica player Garfield Angove, guitarist Kenny Parker, keyboard master and singer Shawn McDonald, stand-up bass artist Bob Conner, and drummer RJ Spangler.
Angove received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Detroit Blues Society in 2007, and Spangler received the same award in 2005. Parker is another Detroit blues veteran, who played for many years with the Butler Twins; Conner has been playing in blues bands in Detroit since the late 1960s; and McDonald has been described as a young veteran blues master.
All of these veteran players have toured throughout the world representing Detroit blues. At the concert, they will perform classic and original blues tunes and will also relate some of their experiences traveling and playing blues locally and internationally with many Detroit and Chicago blues greats who are no longer with us.
The Scarab Club is at 217 Farnsworth, near the Detroit Institute of Arts.
David Vest in Plymouth
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| David Vest (Photo by Jim Dorothy) |
Although he now calls Canada home, Maple Blues Award winner David Vest is an authentic, Southern-bred boogie-woogie piano player and blues shouter. Born in Alabama in 1943, Vest grew up in Birmingham, Ala. He played his first paying gig in 1957, and by the time he opened for Roy Orbison on New Year's Day 1962, he was a seasoned veteran of Gulf Coast roadhouses and honky tonks.
Over the years, Vest played the Southern gospel circuit and with artists ranging from blues shouter Big Joe Turner to country singer Faron Young.
From 2002 through 2006, he shared lead vocals and frontman duties in the Paul deLay Band. During his years in Portland, Vest won five Muddy Awards from the Cascade Blues Association, including Best Keyboard Player. After deLay's untimely death, Vest joined forces with Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne and various other pianists, including Ann Rabson, to form the supergroup Northwest Pianorama.
He will be joined by guitarist George Bedard and drummer RJ Spangler in concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22 at the Plymouth Elks Club, 41700 Ann Arbor Road in Plymouth. Admission is only $5 at the door.
Detroit Blues Challenge finals
The finals of the Detroit Blues Challenge will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, at Callahan’s Music Hall in Auburn Hills.
Blues musicians Carl Henry and Tony Berci, Sweet Willie Tea, Maggie McCabe and Mike Francis, Eliza Neals, Blues Dog Inquisition, Rev. Robert Sexton, Dirty Basement Blues Band, The Hatchetmen, and The Lost City Band will be competing in solo/duo and band categories to represent the Detroit Blues Society at the International Blues Challenge Jan. 21-25, 2014 in Memphis.
Admission is $10. For information, click detroitbluesociety.org or atcallahans.com.
‘Detroit Blues’ video
Alt-rock singer-songwriter Ife Mora is best known for her work in techno and trip-hop music, but she delves into the blues of her hometown in her new music video “Detroit Blues” from her sophomore album “Fire Inside Me.”
The gritty video for “Detroit Blues” – shot in Detroit – shows Mora sweaty in a mechanic shop, while images of abandoned houses and a broken metropolis are streamed across the screen. A release states that the video shows the hardships Detroit is facing, but Mora wants us to get a feeling of hope from all of the beautiful people who are surviving and fighting for the rise of a grand new city.
“Detroit has always been the foundation for my love of music and has given me a very tough skin to be able to survive hardships in life and endure a tough business like the music industry,” Mora said in the release. “’Detroit Blues’ is all about a woman who can survive anything and look good doing it because of this historical and complex city she is from.”
“Detroit has always been the foundation for my love of music and has given me a very tough skin to be able to survive hardships in life and endure a tough business like the music industry,” Mora said in the release. “’Detroit Blues’ is all about a woman who can survive anything and look good doing it because of this historical and complex city she is from.”
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| Kieron Lafferty, left, as Elwood and Wayne Catania as Jake |
Official Blues Brother Revue
The Official Blues Brothers Revue, a live concert show that combines the comedy and hit songs from the original 1980 hit film as well as the five albums released by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, makes a stop Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts in Clinton Township.
Featuring Wayne Catania as Jake and Kieron Lafferty as Elwood, The Official Blues Brothers Revue and their eight-piece intercontinental rhythm & blues revue band pay homage to the humor, music and mayhem of the Blues Brothers and to Chicago’s rich musical history of blues, gospel and soul music.
The show is produced by Dan Aykroyd, Judith Belushi and original Blues Brothers musical director Paul Shaffer.
Tickets start at $43. For information, click http://www.macombcenter.com/Events/2013-10-19-Blues+Brothers.htm
To send info to JB Blues, please email Joe.Ballor@dailytribune.com
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