New Year's Eve + 2010 Wrap

Whew! We're finally recovered from the fifth installment of the "Hayride To Hell" New Year's Eve bash.

The format for this annual extravaganza includes 3-4 artists of Americana music with an emphasis on rockabilly, some live burlesque and cabaret dancers, and a DJ playing records on stage from the time doors open until the live entertainment begins (2 hours) and during all the in-betweens (a handful of 10-20 minute pieces) as we quickly turn the stage over between bands and dancers. The idea and result: continuous live on-stage entertainment from 6pm til 1am.

The concept is, while so many clubs charge an extraordinary price for what usually amounts to an ordinary show (haven't we all at some point paid $50-70 for a ticket to see a show we can otherwise see for $15-25 on any other date?), at Highway 99 Blues Club we simply reverse the trend and charge an ordinary price ($15 this year) for an extraordinary bill of entertainment (4 live music artists + 2 world-class burlesque performers and a DJ).

This year's line-up:
Music
Tumbledown: insurgent alt.punk.country led by MxPx frontman Mike Herrera. Holy CRAP, this band is GOOD.
Ruby Dee & the Snakehandlers - Austin-based honkeytonk juggernaut, imagine Loretta Lynn fronts a band with Springsteen on lead guitar and Bruce, aka Jorge Harada, gets to hog all the solos.
The Black Crabs - one of Seattle's few tried and true (best? I'll make that case) traditional rockabilly bands.
MARK PICKEREL - a very special solo performance by an artist whose pedigree includes being a founding member of Screaming Trees, an early member of Nirvana, and whose credits include work with Neko Case and Mark Lanegan.

Burlesque & Cabaret
The Shanghai Pearl performed solo, and also with the bands. Most notably, she danced while Tumbledown played Link Wray's "Rumble" after midnight.
Fuchsia Foxx killed with her arty belly dancing and holiday-themed cabaret.

2010 WRAP
In Twenty Ten, 127 different artists played the club and here's where they came from:
Northwest Washington: 84 or 66%
Portland, OR: 19 or 15%
SoCal: 9 or 7%
* Various Other: 15 or 12%

* British Columbia, Louisiana, Bay Area, Chicago, St. Louis, Texas, Michigan, Idaho, Rhode Island

Applying the weight of monthly residencies and multiple appearances, Northwest Washington bands played here on 77% of the nights we've been open. 90% of the weekend artists have been from within a 3-hour driving distance of Seattle (57% local, 26% Portland, 7$ Vancouver BC). We're as proud of our commitment to showcasing and developing local and regional artists as we are of landing the high-profile, name-brand touring acts. Here's a list of who played here in 2010, and please forgive us if we missed anyone:
SAM MARSHALL
GARRET & WESTCOTT
BUMP KITCHEN
BLUES ORBITERS
PAUL GREEN & STRAIGHT SHOT
KEVIN SELFE & THE TORNADOES
SCARLET TREE ALLSTARS
HIGHWAY 99 DANCE BAND
FILE GUMBO
SONIC FUNK ORCHESTRA
STUDEBAKER JOHN & THE HAWKS
BECKI SUE & HER BIG ROCKIN' DADDIES
PURTY MOUTH
SOURMASH STEVEDORES
MAXWELL STREET REVIVAL
NICK VIGARINO'S MEANTOWN BLUES
RAVINWOLF
INSOMNIACS
ROBBIE LAWS BIGGER BLUES BAND
LEE OSKAR & FRIENDS
JAMES HOWARD
HOT ROD'S BLUES REVUE
JD HOBSON
GEORGETOWN ALLSTARS
FABULOUS ROOFSHAKERS
JUNKYARD JANE
KOLVANE
RICHARD ALLEN & THE LOUISIANA EXPERIENCE
MARSHALL SCOTT WARNER
BLACK CRABS
ANGELATINI & THE TREBLEMAKERS
DOCTORFUNK
LLOYD JONES STRUGGLE
CROSSROADS BAND
TERRI ROBB
JIM WALLACE
JIMMY HOLDEN BAND
BOTTOMS UP BLUES GANG
DK STEWART
SULTANS OF SLIDE
FOLICHON
NEARLY DAN
KAREN LOVELY
HARPER
CANDYE KANE
SKIP HELLER
MZ. DEE
SUGARSMACKS
SATELLITE 4
ELLEN WHYTE
RICK WELTER BAND
LITTLE BILL
STILL CREEK BROTHERS
ROY KAY TRIO
JOEY JEWELL
ERIC "TWO SCOOPS" MOORE
JANIVA MAGNESS
MIKE LYNCH
JOHNNY MERCURY
TWO SHEDS JACKSON
CURTIS HAMMOND BAND
TERRY EVANS BAND
LISA & THE PO'K CHOPS
TOO SLIM & THE TAILDRAGGERS
KIM ARCHER BAND
LISA MANN & HER REALLY GOOD BAND
BLUES VAULT
NEW IBERIANS
KIM FIELD & THE MIGHTY TITANS OF TONE
TERESA JAMES & THE RHYTHM TRAMPS
CHRIS STEVENS
TUMBLEDOWN
SQUIRREL BUTTER
RANDY OXFORD BAND
JOHN NEMETH
WHOZYMAMMA
JORDAN FRISBEE & TATIANA MOLLMAN
MICHAEL POWERS
ROCKIN' JAKE BAND
KENNY "BLUES BOSS" WAYNE
WIRED!
VAUGHN JENSEN BAND
ROAD DAWGS
BLUES REDEMPTION
CODY RENTAS BAND
STACY JONES BAND
CLEO'S CONFESSION
CHRIS EGER BAND
STANISLOVE
BRIAN LEE
CUGNO & BRAUNEIS
JOHN WILLIAMS
PORCH STOMP FEVER
REVEREND KEN "HONEY BUCKET" JOHNSON
WALTER TROUT
TWISTERS
HARD MONEY SAINTS
BILLY DWAYNE & THE CREEPERS
JULIE BRYANT & THE STRAIGHT SHOOTERS
MINGO FISHTRAP
RIPTIDE RAMBLERS
JAMES HARMAN
RED HOT BLUES SISTERS
DUDLEY TAFT
NATHAN WADE
URAL THOMAS
SON JACK JR. & MICHAEL WILDE
T-TOWN ACES
RAMPART RHYTHM REVIEW
LYDIA PENSE & COLD BLOOD
DUFFY BISHOP
LJ PORTER
JACK COOK
BRIAN BUTLER
DAVID VEST
BRUCE KATZ BAND
MARK PICKEREL & HIS PRAYING HANDS
JOHN LEE HOOKER, JR.
RICK ESTRIN & THE NIGHTCATS
DUKE ROBILLARD
TWANGSHIFTERS
JUKE JOINT GAMBLERS
BACK PORCH STOMP BAND
CD WOODBURY BAND
ANTOINETTE & MOTHER SPONGE
FELONIUS FUNK
JAMES KING & THE SOUTHSIDERS
RUBY DEE & THE SNAKEHANDLERS

See youz in Twenty Eleven!