North of the Quarter The Alley Tones Big Mike Aguirre and the Blu-City All-Stars Miss Molly Simms with Adam Andrews Bob “Bumble Bee” Kamoske Pamela Devine with Vincent Saletto Dawn Weber’s Swinging Blues Review Al Holliday & the Eastside Rhythm Band St. Louis Blues Challenge Final Judging Sunday, October 13 3 pm to 8 pm Kirkwood Station Brewing Company THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE SAINT LOUIS BLUES SOCIETY October 2013 Number 64 The St. Louis Blues Society Officers Chairperson BluesLetter John May The Monthly Magazine of the St. Louis Blues Society Vice Chairperson The St. Louis Blues Society is dedicated to preserving and perpetuating blues music in Jeremy Segel-Moss and from St. Louis, while fostering its growth and appreciation. The St. Louis Blues Society provides blues artists the opportunity for public performance and individual Treasurer Jerry Minchey improvement in their field, all for the educational and artistic benefit of the general public. Legal Counsel October 2013 Number 64 Charley Taylor Secretary Contents Lynn Barlar Volunteers Needed 2 Communications Mary Kaye Tönnies Discounted Events for Members 2 St. Louis Blues Society IBC Blues Challenge 3 Board of Directors St. Louis Blues Society IBC Blues Challenge Who’s Playing 4 Ridgley "Hound Dog" Brown Bernie Hayes BLUES TO DOS 9 Glenn Howard Benefit for Tommy Bankhead’s Headstone 10 Rich Hughes 12 Greg Hunt Were You There? Eric McSpadden CD Review: Buddy Guy Rhythm & Blues 13 Paul Niehaus IV Musicians Directory 14 Johnny Willis blueSunday October 27 Jim Cady and Mike Apirion 15 BluesLetter Editor On the Cover.. Mary Kaye Tönnies The St. Louis Blues Challenge Final Competition will be held on Sunday, October 13, 2013 at Creative Direction Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, 105 East Jefferson, Kirkwood MO from 3 pm to 8 pm. Jeremy Segel-Moss Photos submitted by artists except Big Mike Aguirre photo by Reed Radcliffe. Staff Writer Bruce Olson DISCOUNTED EVENTS FOR BLUES SOCIETY MEMBERS teer with the Contributing Photographer show your Blues Society Membership card to un receive discounts at these venues: ol Reed Radcliffe V St. Louis Blues Society THE SLBS NEEDS YOUR HELP BB’s Jazz Blues and Soups Contributing Writers 700 South Broadway Oct. Vicki Stewart BLUESLETTER - volunteer for creation of HALF-PRICE DISCOUNTED EVENTS Road to Memphis Artists content and advertising representation. MEMBERSHIP OUTREACH - help sign up 12 Sharrie Williams Blues Revival 10 pm new members and arrange for new membership The St. Louis Blues Society is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit 13 Gina Sicilia 8 pm benefi ts. Missouri corporation. Memberships to the Blues Society are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. 18 Pete Anderson 7 pm EVENT COORDINATOR - help coordinate all 20 R J Mischo 8 pm SLBS events and work on promotion. 26 John Long 8 pm EDUCATION - help create curriculum for Blues St. Louis Blues Society in Schools and fi ll SLBS website with content. P. O. Box 78894 27 Davina & The Vagabonds 8 pm BUSINESS OUTREACH - help get more local St. Louis MO 63178 businesses involved with the SLBS. www.stlouisbluessociety.org [email protected] STREET TEAM - help with getting the word out Broadway Oyster Bar facebook.com/St-Louis-Blues-Society about the SLBS by hanging posters, passing 736 South Broadway fl iers and distributing BluesLetters. WELL DRINK SPECIAL $3 every Monday night Contact Jeremy Segel-Moss to volunteer Blues Jam with [email protected] the Soulard Blues Band 314-482-0314 St. Louis Blues Challenge Sunday October 13 Earlier this year, the St. Louis Blues Society announced the 2013 blues competition to select one blues band and one solo/duo act to represent St. Louis at the 30th International Blues Challenge (IBC) presented by the Blues Foundation in Memphis Tennessee January 21 to 25, 2014. Interested artists were invited to attend an informational workshop in May. Acceptable band and solo/duo applications were submitted by August 31, 2013. Submissions were further checked for adherence to IBC rules and completeness. The St. Louis Blues Challenge Final Competition and Judging will be held Sunday, October 13, 2013 at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, 105 East Jefferson, Kirkwood Missouri from 3 pm to 8 pm. The Blues Foundation recommends that all Affiliated Organizations in their competition use established IBC scoring criteria for local challenge judging. Scoring categories include Talent, Vocal, Blues Content, Stage Presence and Originality. 1. Blues Content: Everyone has his or her own interpretation of what is and is not Blues. Thus, any given three-judge panel will include members with varying opinions of Blues, covering the spectrum of Blues whenever possible, from the most traditional to soul blues and rock blues. Bands should pick material carefully. At the Memphis quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals, the judges are Blues professionals, not a bar crowd, and are likely to be unimpressed with song selections that are uninspired. (Call this--with all due respect to Sir Mack Rice and Wilson Pickett--the “no Mustang Sally rule.”) 2. Vocals: The act’s vocal skills. 3. Talent: The act’s instrumental skills. 4. Originality: Original work is encouraged. Cover tunes are allowed but playing the recorded rendition lick by lick is discouraged; will not be looked upon favorably by the judges; and will be reflected in scoring. 5. Stage Presence: Over the years, the quality of talent has risen so dramatically that the Blues Foundation no longer considers this an “amateur” competition. Most contestants have performed on stage enough to know that they are not simply playing music, but putting on a show. This category rates how “sellable” a band may be. To reflect the relative importance of each category in the success of a band, a band’s score in each category is weighted. Raw scores for Blues Content is multiplied by four, Talent and Vocals by three and Originality and Stage Presence are multiplied by two. The total in each category represents the weighted score for that category. Total possible weighted score is 140. EIGHT ACTS (FIVE BANDS AND THREE SOLOS/DUOS) WILL COMPETE ON OCTOBER 13 FOR THE CHANCE TO REPRESENT ST. LOUIS AT THE IBC IN JANUARY 2014. WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE COMPETITION. THE WINNERS OF EACH CATEGORY AGREE TO PERFORM TOGETHER IN A SHOWCASE AND FUNDRAISING EVENT AT BB’s JAZZ, BLUES AND SOUPS ON DECEMBER 8, 2013, 8 PM TO 12 AM. AL HOLLIDAY & THE EASTSIDE RHYTHM BAND BIG MIKE AGUIRRE AND THE BLU-CITY ALL-STARS BOB “BUMBLE BEE” KAMOSKE DAWN WEBER’S SWINGIN’ BLUES REVIEW MISS MOLLY SIMMS WITH ADAM ANDREWS NORTH OF THE QUARTER PAMELA DEVINE WITH VINCENT SALETTO THE ALLEY TONES The following pages contain each act’s bio and photograph as submitted with their application to the Blues Society for your review. St. Louis Blues Challenge Sunday October 13 The St. Louis Blues Society BluesLetter 3 Al Holliday & the Eastside Rhythm Band It seems that every day, it is so very hard to find something that is truly genuine. Al Holliday, with every bit of help from the East Side Rhythm Band, brings just that. The name of this band pays tribute to the burning Rhythm and Blues music that has come from our beloved Metro-East. This band is deeply influenced by this music, along with classic Soul, and the music of New Orleans - to create their own natural sound. The East Side Rhythm Band is built on the rock solid foundation of the deep rhythm section of Neil Ghanti and Caleb Klinger. Roll- ing deep with a battery of horn players, set this band up, and let them blow! Over the top of the whole thing, Al Holliday testifies, and there is not one jive bone in that man’s body. Big Mike Aguirre and the Blu-City All-Stars When you hear Big Mike Aguirre play guitar, you know where he’s coming from: the East Side where the blues isn’t for tourists, it’s for survivors. Big Mike is from Belleville, Illinois, and he sounds like he’s cut his teeth in every working-class juke-joint from Brooklyn to Wellston. He began his career at the age of 19 playing under the tutelage of St. Louis blues legends David Dee, Big George Brock, and Boo Boo Davis. In 2010, he founded the Blu-City All-Stars, a world-class group comprised of St. Louis’s finest blues musi- cians. Now 32, he recently completed his first international tour in the Netherlands in April of 2013. In February 2014, he will take a shot at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Make no mistake, BluCity All Stars are taking St. Louis Blues to a whole new level. A grinding and slashing player, he channels the overdrive of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Luther Allison but also possesses a lyrical acuity that shows how closely he’s listened to Keith Richards and Magic Sam. While he has been known as a talented guitarist on the St. Louis scene for quite some time, his real secret weapon is his vocals. He is a gifted and soulful singer, one who continues to grow in talent and scope all the time. Whatever shape his blues St. Louis Blues Challenge Final Judging Sunday October 13 take, the sound is scrappy and soulful. 4 The St. Louis Blues Society BluesLetter After four decades of live gigs, “The Bumble Bee” still plays every Kirkwood Station Brewing Company 3 pm to 8 set like it was his last. City, country, fingers, picks, or slide, Bob lays down the foundation of all American Music: The Blues. Chicago shuffles, bluesy swing, and country twobeats merge like the mighty Missouri and Missis- sippi Rivers just above the great music city of St Louis, Missouri.