Highway 99 Blues Club & Restaurant, Seattle

Mixtapes

2011-09-18T20:56:00.001-07:00

Let's not ignore the elephant in the room. Most people who use the term "mixtape" in the 21st century are too young to ever have made, listened to, given or received a cassette tape. That said, we've been dragged kicking and screaming and have surrendered to the modern vernacular. A mix CD, we concede, is referred to as a mixtape.

Also, to our sensibilities, mix tape should be two words. But we digest...

This weekend, we made two "mixtapes" for the staff. One is called GFY, it comprises music that is entirely off-concept for a rhythm & blues club, mostly rock & roll with an electronic dance club tune and an early industrial tune thrown in for good measure. The other, 99 Drinks, is a musical tour through our specialty cocktail list. Here are the track listings:

GFY
1. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lifestyle – Cake
2. Bitchin’ Corolla – J. Davis Trio
3. Caged Rat – Soul Asylum
4. Until the Good is Gone – Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul
5. Jackie Onassis – Human Sexual Response
6. I Don’t Want What You Got (Goin’ On) – Ike Reilly Assassination
7. So In Love with You and Me – Rockets Over Sweden
8. Balls to the Wall – Accept
9. Epic – Faith No More
10. Rock ‘n’ Roll Nigger – Patti Smith
11. God’s Gallipoli (Arqueen remix) – Poi Dog Pondering
12. Capricorn Sister – Mother Love Bone
13. Touch Me I’m Sick – Mudhoney
14. Favorite Waitress – the Modifiers
15. Can’t Hardly Wait (Tim version) – the Replacements
16. Ticking – Loud Lucy
17. Cat People – David Bowie
18. Everyday is Halloween – Ministry

99 DRINKS
The Robert Johnson
* Have you found yourself at the crossroads? Don’t make a deal with the devil. Have a shot of Rebel Yell bourbon with a dash of Crystal hot sauce. Add a Miller Highlife back for a buck.
1. Sweet Home Chicago
2. Me And The Devil Blues

The Blind Lemon Jefferson Drop
* The Godfather of the Texas blues could not have had a better name for our rendition of the Lemondrop. Pearl Black vodka, blue curacao, muddled lemons, sugar and sweet and sour. Served up in a martini glass with a sugar rim.
3. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
4. Black Snake Moan

The Chuck Berry Cosmopolitan
* We celebrate the unofficial Mayor of St. Louis and the author of all of the great early rock and roll songs and guitar licks with this Sweet Little Rock and Roller. Pearl Pomegranate, Grand Mariner, muddled limes and a splash of cranberry. Served up in a martini glass.
5. Sweet Little Sixteen
6. Roll Over Beethoven

The B.B. King Manhattan
* Take it to Beale Street and drink like a King with this blend of Crown Royal and Grand Marnier. Served over ice with a cherry.
7. The Thrill Is Gone
8. Mother Fuyer

The John Lee Hooker
* The Hook’s beverage of choice will take you back to the post World War 2 boogie scene on Hastings Street in the Motor City. This Beefeater gin and juice will leave you Boogie Chillen.
9. Boogie Chillen
10. Boom Boom

The Muddy Waters Mudslide
* Take a trip to the south side of Chicago and enjoy this concoction of Pearl Black vodka, Baileys, and Kahlua, shaken til ice cold and served straight up in a martini glass with a chocolate rim.
11. Got My Mojo Working
12. Mannish Boy

The Count Basie
* When Count Basie swings, everybody sings. Celebrate the King of “the small big band sound” of Kansas City with Stoli Vanil, Baileys, and Frangelico. Served up in a martini glass.
13. Red Bank Boogie
14. Lullaby of Birdland

The Bluesmobile
* Enjoy this tribute to the late Joliet Jake Blues. A mix of Stoli vanilla, Blue Curacao, pineapple juice and sweet and sour. Served in a mason jar over ice.
“Everybody Needs Somebody To Love”
15. Blues Brothers
16. Wilson Pickett

“She Caught the Katy”
17. Blues Brothers
18. Taj Mahal

The Highway Hurricane
* In honor of the longstanding tradition of music that has shaped its region and American music as a whole this is our house specialty cocktail served with love to you in a mason jar.
19. “Whole Lotta Loving” by Professor Longhair
20. “Fever” by The Neville Brothers

If you'd like a copy of either or both, just shoot us an email at getinfo@highwayninetynine.com and we'll hook you up.

Trademarks and such

2011-03-13T00:40:00.000-08:00

An interesting topic came up this week. Trademarks, copyrights, patents, etc. A talented and cool graphic designer took the trouble to work up some pieces for us. We can't use the work, partly because we're happy with Haradaworld who we use for everything we produce (artists and promoters produce their own stuff and we use that too, but as far as what we have done, we're happy with our guy in Austin) - but we also couldn't use it because it included language that is copyrighted by a corporation which is large and which we respect and know a lot of folks ranging from dishwashers to the VP level. It got us thinkin' about some of the interesting trademark & copyright issues we've been exposed to. Our personal experience surely doesn't even scrape enough off the iceberg to make a Sno-Cone, but here goes.

Ed and I were in Memphis in March '92, 8 months before the original House of Blues opened in Cambridge, MA. We saw a little juke joint called House of the Blues. Took a picture of it. When HoB opened later that year, we thought it was interesting but also figured there must have been a healthy handful of greasy spoons across America called The Burger King well before BK went into business.

SWIMMER '98
I would later learn a couple things about how that stuff works when a friend of ours (mine and Ed's) in Chicago had a GREAT band called Swimmer. This guy, Nicholas Barron, is like Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison and Joe Cocker all rolled into one. Swimmer built some serious momentum in the Midwest, named as a "top band to watch in the midwest" by Playboy at a time when the Midwest was producing tons of major-label, taste-making bands. They were on the circuit of South By Suthwest type conferences where (at the time) that was the primary way bands got record deals (and at a time when getting a deal meant everything). Then some baby band from England called Swimmer signed to Madonna's label, Maverick, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. They trademarked the name and our friend Nicholas got hit with a cease-and-desist order. What he learned was, even if someone else beats you to the punch by trademarking a
name, if you can prove you were using it in trade first, you can challenge and trump that trademark. The irony is, especially when battling a company like Warner Bros., in order to protect what's yours your pockets must be deep. Our friend didn't have the dough to embark on that, and Warner Bros. was offering him [we know how much but let's call it approximately the annual income of the average American at the time] to stop using the name Swimmer, so he took the deal. After changing the band's name, the audience disappeared virtually overnight and his career has not been the same since. That said, Nicholas ranks among the world's smartest motherfuckers and despite the knuckleballs life has thrown him, dude does well and has never done anything other than create and perform music to make a living. But for that Warner Bros. thing, though, our friend would be a household name, counting his millions.

AMAZING SCREW JOB
In '98, there was a great independent psychobilly band out of Rhode Island called the Amazing Royal Crowns. They also had some good momentum, were on the Vans Warped tour and things were happening. There was a swing revival band on Warner Bros. called Royal Crown Revue, not the same name
and not musically similar in my opinion (rockabilly/punk does not resemble fake swing w/ funny suits), but as RCR was riding the wave of the swing revival at the time, Warner sued the Amazing Royal Crowns and they were forced to drop the Royal from their name, becoming the Amazing Crowns. They had just produced a shitload of CDs and t-shirts, too, but if they were caught selling them it would have been trouble. Similar to the Swimmer case, their career tanked in a hurry. At the time I was doing some writing for Original Cool, a small roots/rockabilly/swing magazine, and did a piece called "Amazing Crowns Get Royally Screwed" citing many examples of bands with similar or the same names which never resulted in lawsuits.

HOLY CRAP! ORIGINAL COOL IS DEFUNCT BUT THAT ARTICLE IS STILL ONLINE! CLICK HERE!

^ space bar challenged, I blame the editor. Seriously, major space bar issues. But we digest...

And so we learn:

1. What's in a name? A LOT, Jack!
2. Don't mess with Warner Brothers, they're bigger than RC Cola.

Top Ten Artists from our iPod

2011-03-09T23:57:00.000-08:00

In honor of Spinal Tap, we decided this list goes to eleven.

As blog entries go, this is admittedly some weak sauce. But we thought it'd be fun to share. We scrolled through the club's iPod library to see which artists were most represented among the tunes we all hear when a band isn't playing on stage. In terms of the number of songs in the library, in no particular order:

Taj Mahal
T-Bone Walker
Bessie Smith
James Brown
BB King
Buddy Guy
Joe Liggins
Magic Sam
Bob Dylan
Sam & Dave
Muddy Waters

And that's all for now!

Make Low(rider), Not War

2011-01-29T19:04:00.000-08:00

This blog entry may have a little more piss and vinegar than what you're used to getting from us. In this week's edition of The Stranger, Seattle's more popular weekly feature and arts-oriented paper, ran a preview for the concerts being played by the band War at Jazz Alley this week.

Important: we love Jazz Alley, its owners and staff. It's one of our favorite music venues in America. We attend shows there frequently, we hang with their staff and think Bob ranks among the best and most important music venue owners in the land. Their food, service, and total dinner & show experience absolutely f**king rocks. In no way does anything in this blog entry reflect on Jazz Alley. We love 'em and we're not just sayin' that. Jazz Alley

And now, back to the aforementioned piss and vinegar.

Here's the listing from The Stranger:

Thursday 1/27
War
(Jazz Alley)
A brutally efficient hit-making machine in the 1970s, War laid down hot, heaping plates of saucy Latino funk and streetwise jazz rock while also penning a few sentimental summer jams perfect for family reunion picnics. They often summoned magic with a harmonica and a cowbell. Their greatest hits = party platinum. But the group ultimately split acrimoniously into two warring/touring factions: One goes by the Lowrider Band; the other, led by keyboardist Lonnie Jordan, got to keep the famous bellicose handle. It's usually dicey when a popular unit tries to soldier on years after its peak with one original member and hired hands, but War's best material is so strong and feel-goodly, this show should be worth the inevitable corny reminiscences from the stage and frustration over the rest of the creative core being absent. Through January 30. DAVE SEGAL

And here's the letter our music director wrote to the Stranger's editor and posted on their website's comments section:

Though understandably limited in space, it's too bad Dave Segal's preview of the War concerts at Jazz Alley couldn't more explicitly offer that "War" comprises Lonnie Jordan with some hired hands, while the Lowrider Band comprises War's four other surviving members, including those who "often summoned magic with a harmonica [Lee Oskar, who lives in the Seattle area and performs regularly at Highway 99 Blues Club] and a cowbell [percussionist Harold Brown, who lived around here for a couple years after being displaced by Katrina]." In an early 90s' coup with the band's manager, Jordan trademarked the name "War" and replaced the rest of the band with musicians for hire. Together, the four Lowriders represent the estates of their two fallen bandmates, Charles Miller and Papa Dee Allen. Since the split, the original members, who all received equal songwriting credit on all material released throughout the band's creative period from 1967-1992, have been denied publishing and licensing royalties by "War." They've been in litigation all these years, and the original Lowriders will surely get their due. In the meantime I think it's most responsible to distinguish between these two artists, noting that "War" is little more than a medium-rent cover band while The Lowrider Band is the closest thing to the real War, by a long shot.

It can all be found here

Creative artists being screwed out of the rights and associated income of their output is reprehensible (a word which may be used again here - sorry). When you see an artist who had a hand in composing iconic music which generated millions, living modestly, one of the primary reasons is that artist was shanghaied by someone, somewhere along the line. Sure, some artists blow their riches via bad habits, that's well documented. But in the category of When Bad Things Happen To Good People, talk to people like Sam Moore, Ronnie Spector, or many of the early blues artists who created the soundtrack of our lives but somehow found themselves out in the cold when the party was over. Volumes have been written on this topic, so we won't go off on too long a rant here.

Why is this story so particularly unconscionable in the case of War?
When they formed in the late 60s, this was a BAND in its truest sense. Multiple vocalists, no singular frontman, racially integrated at a time when that was quite uncommon, every member of the band shared in the spotlight, they wrote and composed music in a communal fashion as represented by the fact that everyone received equal songwriting credit on every song. In War, it was All For One, One For All. On tour, they stood together at racially segregated restaurants and if you know anyone in the band personally, you may know how scary some of those incidents became. Musicians take care of one another. If you know a few of them, chances are you know people who, more than those in other vocations, rise to the occasion to help a brother or sister out: moving, going through a rough patch, relationship gone bad, a child gets sick, in between places, car broke down, someone gets into an accident with no insurance... people who make music are the world's largest co-ed fraternity. Yet courtesy of the band's scumbag manager, Jerry Goldstein, who trademarked the name and enlisted the participation of keyboard player Lonnie Jordan, most of the people who created some of the most widely-known music of the last 40 years have been left high and dry. The tragically ironic disparity between the spirit in which this band formed and thrived for 25 years, and the reprehensibly disgusting manner in which it was dismantled, begs the question: how do Jerry and Lonnie sleep at night?

Since the 1994 split, War's music has been issued on at least 140 compilations and soundtracks that we can find. That doesn't speak to television commercials, the most recent of which may be Pepsi's use of "Why Can't We Be Friends?" Nor does it speak to how many of War's 50 Million albums sold have occurred during that time, and how many of the 100+ soundtracks and compilations their music appeared on before the split have been sold since. Since 1994, Lee Oskar, Harold Brown, Howard Scott, B.B. Dickerson, and the estates of Charles Miller and Papa Dee Allen have not been paid a red cent for any of the music they created.

Seven Top Ten Albums
Eleven Top Ten Singles

Our Friends:
Lee Oskar and Harold Brown have been immediate members of the Highway 99 family since early in the club's history.
Lee has lived in the area for a while and during the last five years has been playing a monthly residency, Lee Oskar & Friends, a series which features a core band for whom we'll stand on file as the finest in all the Northwest, with a rotating cast of special guests. He champions unknown locals on our stage even more than he brings in his rock star friends (but he's done plenty of that as well). Lee Oskar Harmonicas are the second-best selling in the world. Few artists of his accomplishment are as accessible and down to earth.
Harold is so embedded here, he refers to Ed and Eric Maloney as his nephews and when he calls or emails it's always from Uncle Harold. It was Harold, with Howard Scott, who first formed the band which became War. The next two members were Lee and some guy named Eric Burdon. He moved to New Orleans in '86 where he became a historian, a secretary and tour guide for the New Orleans Historical Society. While living in Seattle for a couple post-Katrina years, on the many nights he played here we've never had the pleasure of hosting a more friendly, humble, and self-contained musician than the man we know as Uncle Harold.

What can we say about Lee and Harold? We are blessed with their presence in our lives, personally and professionally.

How do we feel about:
War - in general, we're against violence
"War" - cover band
LOWRIDER BAND - THE REAL DEAL

Harold Brown, original Low Rider '07 (photo by Shoji Onozawa)

Low Rider Band '07 (photo by Shoji Onozawa)

Lee w/ Bobby Rush, July '08 (photo by Jef Jaisun)

New Year's Eve + 2010 Wrap

2011-01-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

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!

On the Waterfront

2010-07-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

Our owners and much of the staff Hit the Highway south last weekend for Portland's Waterfront Blues Festival. There are dozens of stellar blues festivals around the world, but we'll put Portland right there among the elite with Chicago. The line-up is second to none, the locale is gorgeous, and Portland is one of the best cities in the world to spend a few days. Everywhere we looked, we saw and heard artists and musicians who've played our club, and many who play here regularly. Among them: Reggie Houston, Janiva Magness, Jimi Bott, Kolvane, Moreland & Arbuckle, Chris Thomas King, Dudley Taft, Bobby Rush, Duffy Bishop, Capt. Leroy & the Zydeco Locals, David Vest, Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble, Donna Angelle & the Zydeco Posse, Mingo Fishtrap, Jim Mesi, Karen Lovely, Kevin Selfe & the Tornadoes, Jim Wallace, Mz. Dee, Lisa Mann & Her Really Good Band, the Sultans of Slide, Lloyd Jones, the Twisters, Walter Trout, Son Jack Jr. & Michael Wilde, Bill Rhoades, Terry Robb, and of course Robbe Laws Bigger Blues Band (featuring our founder and talent buyer, Steve "Big Sark" Sarkowsky).

We're not sure that people think of the Pacific Northwest when they think of the great blues regions. Naturally, we all think of the midwest with Chicago, St. Louis and Detroit; the south with Memphis, Texas, Louisiana. That's the history, the roots, and in most cases a pretty great present. Don't overlook the PNW, blues fans. Many of the players around here have crazy chops and the pedigrees to go with it. We've done some digging and it seems that after Chicago, whose publicly subsidized (and awesome) blues festival draws around 650,000 every year, Waterfront Blues Festival is probably the second largest in the U.S. Also, the fans at this year's event raised $650,000 and donated 100,662 pounds of food for the Oregon Food Bank.

Here is a pretty comprehensive guide to blues festivals around the land:
bluesfestivalguide.com. We've always found that there's nothing like a music festival to influence the personal travel schedule. A lot of the great blues fests are hosted in "minor markets" or places we don't otherwise consider vacation locales. Which makes this notion that much more appealing.

For those in the Northwest, next weekend is the great Winthrop Rhythm & Blues Festival which is perfect for anyone who likes a weekend camping trip and a kick-ass festival. This year, they've got Little Feat, Buckwheat Zydeco, Curtis Salgado, and much more.

We don't mean to be an infomercial, so we'll stop with the details. But we definitely recommend clicking on the links above to check this stuff out. Nothin' but good times await!

Peter Damann, who books Waterfront and plays a mean guitar (at our place many times, the pleasure is ours) and Erika Olsen who runs Winthrop (photo by Terry Odor):

Ed trying to be classy at Waterfront (photo by Erika Olsen):

Big Sark, beating his skin(s) at Waterfront (photo by Jef Jaisun:

The BBQ Lunch Shack

2010-04-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

introducing...
The Highway 99 Barbecue Shack!
Fri - Sat - Sun, 11am - 3pm

Menu starting Saturday, April 17

1/4 lb. Angus Cheeseburger w/ Chips, Cole Slaw and choice of 20 oz. Coca-Cola beverage

1/4 lb. All-Beef Frank w/ Chips, Cole Slaw and choice of 20 oz. Coca-Cola beverage

1/2 Rack Barbecue Ribs w/ Chips, Cole Slaw and choice of 20 oz. Coca-Cola beverage

------ adding next week -----------

Pulled Chicken Sandwich w/ Chips, Cole Slaw and choice of 20 oz. Coca-Cola beverage

Beef Brisket w/ Chips, Cole Slaw and choice of 20 oz. Coca-Cola beverage

Jambalaya w/ Cole Slaw and choice of 20 oz. Coca-Cola beverage

Patio Seating. Great for when you're in a hurry! Pull up to a space up front, order, and we'll get you fed and on your way real quick!

Recap: A Celebration of Life

2010-04-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

The night began respectfully low key, with no pageantry or fanfare, as Son Jack Jr. & Michael Wilde played an impassioned and tasteful set of back porch blues. The Highway 99 Dance Band (Scotty Harris , Lissa Ramaglia, Andrew Cloutier, Justin Kausal-Hayes , Tony Gable) warmed things up with their cozy blend of west coast swing and classic soul. The great Kim Field sat in for a tune to close their set. Then Jimmy Holden got on stage and commanded everyone’s attention with a heartfelt monologue during which you could hear a pin drop as easily as a tear trickle. He comfortably slid into a slow groove with a makeshift version of his band featuring Danny Hoefer, Butch Harrison, Tony Gable, and Steve Sarkowsky. Lady A sat in for a couple tunes as well. From there, modern day jazz legend and one of Seattle's favorite sons, Michael Powers, demonstrated that an electric ukele can rock the house indeed. Michael arrived solo and assembled his band tonight on the fly - with Tony Gable, Andrew Cloutier & Paul Richardson - and they sounded like they've played a thousand shows together. Michael & Co. blew the roof apart with a set-closing instrumental version of James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)." At this point, Highway 99 owner Ed Maloney delivered a rousing and heartfelt toast to Greg. In the last five years, Ed has possibly spent more time with Greg than with his wife. Add an acute case of stage fright and fear of public speaking to his heavy heart, and clearly, this was a difficult moment for him.It was from the heart, he fought the tears back by removing his glasses to avoid eye contact, and in the end we all raised a glass.

Next up, Bump Kitchen (Tony Harper, Everett James, Mark Bittler, Dave Broyles, Joe Bevens, Tom Mazzuca) re-channeled the energy in the room into a bumpin' dance party. When they closed their set with a raucous version of Bill Withers' "Use Me," Greg's widow was dancing in her booth. Then, Teri Wilson & Suze Sims of the Red Hot Blues Sisters did their thing with a pick-up band anchored by Steve Sarkowsky behind the kit, with Nick Vigarino, Greg Lyons and Tony Gable sitting in. For their closer, the Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There" the sisters were joined by Lee Oskar.

The showstopping set was delivered by Lee Oskar & Friends, comprising Scotty Harris, Lissa Ramaglia, Andrew Cloutier, Tim Lerch, Paul Richardson, Tony Gable, and 2009 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees Harold Brown & Lee Oskar. Suze Sims sat in on percussion. Ed Maloney snuck in there and slapped the bongos during "Low Rider."

As the show was coming to a close, the great Jon Goforth and Steve Banks showed up straight from their gig at the Snoqualmie Casino. They knew the proper show as over but they wanted to jam, so they grabbed Jimmy Holden and played an hour-long set of sweet, casual grooves with drums, organ and sax.

In addition to all who played on this special night, there were many great musicians in the house who didn't get stage time but who just came down to support and honor a friend. Among those folks were Patty May, Jeff Herzog, LJ Porter, Flo Braxton, Greg Roberts, Robin Moxey, and Mark Whitman.

Rich Clark from Triamp Productions donated the backline, without which an event like this is not possible to pull off. For the non-musicians out there, backline means drums, guitar amps, bass rigs, keyboards, and guitar stands. By setting the stage with backline that everyone will share, the musicians only need to bring their instruments, turning the stage over from one band to another does not require breaking down one drum kit and setting up another (20-30 minutes), replacing amps and so forth. This allows for a more continuous flow of music with much shorter breaks, which means more entertainment in a shorter time for the audience, also allowing for more musicians to get stage time. Rich's contribution here can not be overstated.

Scotty Harris, on two days notice, stepped up as bandleader. Herding dozens of musicians to execute a stage production schedule like this one normally requires a whole lot more lead time than two days. We could have done this event a few weeks later with a more reasonable and rational time frame to pull it off. But we wanted to raise money and get it into Greg's family's hands before this weekend's burial, to ensure they wouldn't have to go out-of-pocket for anything. It wasn't easy, but Scotty was up to the task and he pulled it off marvelously.

It was a Wednesday night, always a tough night to get people out of the house. This thing was put together in five days and nobody saw Greg's untimely passing coming. With the help of many kindred spirits spreading the word via telephone and Internets, most noticeably our friends Chollo Willsin and Michelle Burge, 141 people donated a total of $3208 to the Thompson Family. Terry Gottlieb from American Music, who had graciously donated his time to run sound and production, threw down another $500. Ed Maloney hit the ATM and matched it from his personal bank account, bringing the total funds raised to $4208, which was given to the Thompson Family at the end of the night.

All we wanted to do was raise money for the Thompsons, show the family a good time at a time when they could really use one, and celebrate Greg's life. And with everyone's participation and contributions, together we did it. Not bad for a bunch of like-minded blues and jazz lovers on short notice. Some photos:

Nick Vigarino w/ Suze Sims & Teri Wilson

Michael Powers, Andrew Cloutier (photo by Jef Jaisun)

Lee Oskar & Suze sims (photo by Jef Jaisun)

Bump Kitchen (photo by Jef Jaisun)

Lady A (photo by Jef Jaisun)

Kim Field, Scotty Harris (photo by Erika Olsen)

Teri Wilson (photo by Jef Jaisun)

Scotty Harris (photo by Jef Jaisun)

Jimmy Holden Band (photo by Jef Jaisun)

Ed Maloney (photo by Jef Jaisun)

Gregory Lloyd Thompson Memorial

2010-04-02T23:17:00.000-07:00

First, here is a link to where you can donate to Greg's surviving family:

Gregory Lloyd Thompson Donation Fund

Funeral Services:
Goodwill Missionary Baptist Church
Saturday, April 10th, 2010 11am
126 15th Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98122
click here for directions

Viewing:
Southwest Mortuary
Friday, April 9th, 2010 2pm-7pm
9021 Rainer Ave. South
Seattle, Washington 98118
(206) 722-3675

AMERICAN MUSIC, THE TRIAMP GROUP, and
HIGHWAY 99 BLUES CLUB & RESTAURANT present

GREG THOMPSON, A CELEBRATION OF LIFE
A CONCERT TO BENEFIT THE THOMPSON FAMILY

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2010
4pm doors, 6pm show

On Monday morning, we lost a dear friend, our head sound engineer and member of the immediate Highway 99 family. Gregory Lloyd Thompson was with us from the very beginning. For anyone who frequented this place, Greg's smiling face and contagious energy was a delightful fixture. His presence in our lives was a blessed gift.

Greg's work in the Pacific Northwest music community transcended the small world in which we dwell. During the last 35-40 years, he has run audio and visual production at every theater, ballroom, church, festival, club, and even a few dumps and dives.

On Wednesday, April 7, we host an event to honor and celebrate Greg's life. Many of the area's finest blues and jazz musicians have volunteered their time and creativity to play a concert event for all of us who wish to gather in a social environment, one in which Greg has graced with thousands of his hours during the last five and a half years.

American Music has volunteered to run the production and the Triamp Group has donated all the backline (drums, amplifiers, keyboards, etc.). Sam Marshall has graciously offered Wednesday night - previously booked with him and his trio - for this event.

GREG THOMPSON, A CELEBRATION OF LIFE will raise financial support for Greg's surviving family. With his untimely passing, the Thompsons sure could use some help. The admission for this very meaningful occasion, one which will offer brilliant and inspired performances by many of the Seattle area's top musicians who've owed part of their great sound over the years to Greg, is whatever you can donate to the Thompson Family. Nobody is keeping score or demanding anything. Just come on down, enjoy a wonderful evening with good folks, and give what you can. 100% of the funds raised will be given directly to the Thompson Family.

It just isn't possible to describe the impact Greg, his character and demeanor, has had on us. We will always love and miss him. We will always be better people as a result of him.

Please join us on Wednesday for an evening of fine music, remembrance, A Celebration of Life, and support for the Thompson Family.

Greg Thompson

2010-03-29T19:09:00.000-07:00

Our head sound engineer, Greg Thompson, passed away this morning.

He had a mild heart attack on Friday, at which time we began circulating an envelope among staff and regulars, figuring he'd be out of the hospital within a couple days and we'd have raised enough to cover his weekend pay and send him and the misses to a nice dinner with whatever was left over. On Saturday, he slipped into a coma and after around 40 hours on life support his family made what had to be the most difficult decision, the one they knew Greg would want them to make.

Greg was with us at Highway 99 from the beginning, and his pedigree of running and installing sound around Seattle is legendary. Surely, it was our pleasure to have him. He neither drank, smoked, nor used. At work, he almost exclusively ate gumbo, but he was most happy when we had BBQ on the menu. He was more reliable than a morning sunrise and nobody - we mean this, nobody - ran a better board in a live environment. More than all that, Greg was absolutely the most upbeat, energetic, positive, straight shooter we've known. In the Northwest, where passive aggression prevails, we noticed these qualities in him as much as we enjoyed them. If you walked into a room he was in, he'd find you and say Hi. Didn't matter who you were: a musician he's done sound for, a dishwasher in a club he's worked at, security guy at a festival he did production on, a volunteer at a church where he did a sound system install (Greg did more than a few of those), he'd find you and make your night with his huge smile, wide eyes, the above-the-head wave from across the room accented by the big slap of a handshake once he got to you - it was genuine and that's why it made your night every time.

The Highway 99 Blues Club community will surely be doing something to honor and celebrate Greg, and to extend some assistance to his surviving family in the immediate future. More info on that is forthcoming. For now, if you knew Greg or even just knew his face as a fixture behind soundboards across the Great Northwest, please think of him, reflect on how fortunate you are to have been blessed with his presence in your life. At least, that's what we're doing at the moment.

God Bless You, Greg.

The I-5 Houseparty

2010-03-08T20:44:00.000-08:00

Among all the types of shows and events we host, our favorites are the ones which juxtapose a line-up of musicians you wouldn't ordinarily see on one stage together, the kind of once-in-a-lifetime occasion that makes us all say to ourselves, something that usually ends with, "...and I was there." The I-5 Houseparty is a show we did last year and again this year, where top blues and r&b players from Seattle and Portland - two markets which are normally competitive with each other - play together in a rare offering of musical goodness. These stellar musicians are joined not just by a love of the same kinds of music, but by that golden roadway of the West Coast, Interstate 5. From Seattle, multiple Washington Blues Society award winner The Crossroads Band held down the fort like The Band in The Last Waltz. Out front, Portland's Terry Robb and Jim Wallace tore it up. Our new friend Dmitry Kraskovsky took some marvelous photos and we'd like to share them with you:

RIP, Lil' Dave Thompson

2010-02-16T21:29:00.000-08:00

Lil' Dave Thompson, 1969-2010

Friends,
It is with sadness and a heavy heart that we report what many of you may already know. Lil' Dave Thompson passed away Sunday morning, the result of an automobile accident outside Augusta, Georgia while touring with his band. Nobody else was seriously injured. The band was driving home to Greenville, MS after the final night of a long tour which concluded in Charleston, SC. The van struck a hole in the road, veered into gravel and lost control.

Dave and his band played our club in 2009 and 2008. Our experiences with him were simply first class. He was a professional, dignified, and friendly man.

Our friend Peter Dammann who runs Portland's Waterfront Blues Festival wrote us today: "Dave was a great Mississippi bluesman and wonderful soul. Had him at Waterfront Blues Festival in '02, and saw him again in Arkansas in '07. So sad to lose one of the young standard bearers of this music."

Ed Maloney commented as well: "Dave was a stand-up and good-natured guy who always had a smile on his face. He enjoyed a good laugh, but not at anyone's expense. He was a gentleman. Dave Thompson was the kind of guy you spend some time with and walk away challenging yourself to become more like him."

Lil' Dave is survived by his children: David Jr. (20), Danielle (19), Shequeena (18), Shirleiah (16) and Destiny (13); sisters Patricia, Barbara Denise (twin sister), Jennifer and Pasty Thompson, Zenovia Henderson and Rose Marie Richmond; and brothers John, Sam, Elijah Allen and Tyrone Thompson.

The funeral for Lil' Dave Thompson will be at 2pm, Saturday, February 27 at Bell Grove Mission Baptist Church, 1301 BB King Rd., Indianola, MS 38751.

A support fund has been set up by Dave's family. Contributions can be sent to:
Community Bank
P.O. Box 28
Indianola, MS 38751

Contributions can also be wire transferred to routing # 084204301 for the benefit of Dave "Lil' Dave" Thompson c/o John Thompson.

Direct mail can be sent to Dave's family at:
John Thompson
P.O. Box 512
Moorhead, MS 38761
email to John Thompson: thomp964@bellsouth.net

Finally, to celebrate Dave's music, his video for "Something Come Over Me" is available for free, courtesy of the Thompson Family, by clicking right here.

Heaven's House Band has gained a wonderful man and one helluva guitar player.

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today

2010-02-16T00:53:00.000-08:00

Well, not exactly to the day... but within a week, this totally non-blues, non-musical thing happened. Mike Tyson was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the boxing world, at a time when the world generally knew and cared. Then, an undisputed heavyweight boxing champion was a singular hero to all. Ali, Holmes, Norton, Liston, Louis, Marciano... Today, there are so many more t.v. channels and things like mixed martial arts and ultimate fighting have carved up what used to be the boxing audience. Anyway... point is, celebrating the underdog is not a bad idea. Relative unknown James "Buster" Douglas shocked the world twenty years ago, at once reminding us anything is possible (then) and how f**king old we are (now)...

2009 In Review

2010-01-17T20:02:00.000-08:00

Yeah, yeah, we're a little late on the '09 wrap... the year came in like gangbusters. On January 2nd, the Robin Moxey Band blew the place apart. We hired a gang of monkeys to put the roof back on the dump and were ready for the next night with Chris Stevens and Jack Cook. During the year, we hosted 286 shows and 136 artists played here (not including Jam For Cans when 35-40 artists graced the stage on one magnificent evening). We enjoyed the fine music of artists from fifteen states and three countries, including a nice showing from Louisiana, Oregon, California, Tennessee, Texas, the marvelous province of British Columbia, and artists from Chicago, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Michigan, Rhode Island, and whichever other locales we may have missed in this exercise.

The List
Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne, The Twisters, Wes Mackey, Handful of Luvin', Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps, Terry Evans Band, Nathan James Trio, Rick Estrin & the Nightcats, Maria Muldaur's Garden of Joy Jug Band, Candye Kane, Craig Caffal Band, Debbie Davies, Magic Slim & the Teardrops, Eddie "Devil Boy" Turner, Sammy Eubanks, John Nemeth, Moreland & Arbuckle, Tab Benoit, Travis Matte & the Kingpins, Horace Trahan & the Huval-Doucet Band, Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble, Rockin' Jake Band, Leroy Thomas & the Zydeco Roadrunners, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Dikku Du & the Zydeco Krewe, The Red Stick Gamblers, Mark St. Mary, Chris Thomas King, Harper, The Bottoms Up Blues Gang, Lil' Dave Thompson, The Insomniacs, The Essentials, The Strange Tones, DK Stewart & the Soul Survivor Horns, Robbie Laws Bigger Blues Band, Kolvane, Lloyd Jones Struggle, Rick Welter Band, Jim Wallace, Bill Rhoades, Duke Robillard, The Scarlet Tree Allstars, The Highway 99 Dance Band, Sourmash Stevedores, The David Samuel Project, Son Jack Jr. & Michael Wilde, Becki Sue & Her Big Rockin' Daddies, Dana Lupinacci, The Red Hot Blues Sisters, Hot Rod's Rhythm & Blues Revue, John "Scooch" Cugno's Delta 88 Revival, Chris Stevens' Surf Monkeys, Purty Mouth, The 1Uppers, Maxwell Street Revival, DoctorfunK, The Randy Oxford Band, Nearly Dan, Memphis Radio Kings, Ruby Dee & the Snakehandlers, Vince Mira, The Sam Marshall Trio, Miguel Salas, Bill Brown & the Kingbees, Lee Oskar & Friends, Brothers of the Empty Tomb, Little Bill & the Bluenotes, The Crossroads Band, The Curtis Hammond Band, Felonius Funk Orchestra, JD Hobson, Sonic Funk Orchestra, Soul Provider, Westerly, Joey Jewell, The James Howard Band, Lady A & the Baby Blues Funk Band, Two Sheds Jackson, The Kim Archer Band, Cee Cee James, Dudley Taft Blues Overkill, The Blues Orbiters, Karen Smith, Alice Stuart & the Formerlys, Ravinwolf, The Mary McPage Band, Chester Dennis Jones, Ratfish Bone, Howlin' Hound Dog, Hard Money Saints, Nasty Habits, Little Ray & the Uppercuts, Billy Dwayne & the Creepers, Golden Robot Army, Satellite 4, Michal Miller, Snake Oil, The Fat Tones, Wired, The Bouchards, Paul Green & Straight Shot, Strange Jerome, Dan Tyack & the Gospel Revival, Gravel Road, Mark DuFresne, Steve Bailey, Hot Roddin' Romeos, Zoe Muth & the Lost High Rollers, Kissing Potion, Kim Field & the Mighty Titans of Tone, Type A! Band, Nick Vigarino's Meantown Blues, The Starlings, Soul Deluxe, Mark Whitman, Bill Mattocks, Country Dave & the Pickin' Crew, Robin Moxey, Miss Mamie Lavona the Exotic Mulatta & Her White Boy Band, Sugarsmacks, Captain Leroy & the Zydeco Locals, Gertrude's Hearse, The Roy Kay Trio, Marshall Scott Warner, Squirrel Butter, Eldridge Gravy & the Court Supreme, Swamp Soul, Jack Cook, Mark Stewart & the Bastard Sons, Jason Ricci & New Blood, Tony Coleman & All the King's Men, Alvin Youngblood Heart, Seth Walker, Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King. If our keyboard forgot you, our heart has not.

Whew! What we're most proud of is our ongoing commitment to homegrown music. At the risk of being a bunch of stat geeks, we did the arithmetic and found that while continuing to grow as a nationally recognized music venue whose stage has been graced with many of the world's finest and most accomplished artists, winners and nominees of W.C. Handy and Blues Music Awards, Grammies, Oscars, Blues Hall of Famers and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees... still, in 2009, 64% of the artists who played here reside in the Seattle metropolitan area. On the 2010 calendar so far (we're booked into May), depending on which month we're looking at, that number sits between 70 and 80%. Very few music venues on the national landscape can say this. We can say this, and we're proud of it.

Thanks for a great 2009 and here's to an even better Twenty Ten!

(below, Kevin Selfe tries to give Murph a guitar lesson)

Heading Into the New Year

2009-12-27T22:15:00.000-08:00

We have nothing special to say at the moment. However, we will share this musical gem from Otis Redding and Carla Thomas.

More later.

Jam For Cans

2009-11-28T23:18:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month, we were proud to host Raven's 9th Annual Jam For Cans, which unites 30 or so of the best and most generous rhythm & blues musicians of the Pacific Northwest to play together for six or seven hours while raising money and food for Northwest Harvest, the region's largest food bank. In a tough economy, people's ability to give is only rivaled by the greater need. While we are displeased to understand that in 2009, food banks everywhere are experiencing a higher demand as homelessness and hunger continue to increase, we are pleased to know that this year's Jam For Cans raised more than $3,000 and 3,000 pounds of food.

Larry Williams gave us a disc of his photos from the event. Here are some of his shots - if you like, he shoots families, weddings, events, etc. Larry can be reached at lwilliams.jr@hotmail.com

The Battle of the Burge

2009-11-13T20:47:00.000-08:00

Our friends, regulars, blues enthusiasts, and nifty photographers Tim Burge and Michelle Castro Orebia Burge are the best kind of people. They frequent our club as well as all the other clubs in the area that put rhythm & blues music on their fine stages, truly supporting live music and the folks who play it. Here are some photos they took at the club earlier this year:

Son Jack Jr. & Michael Wilde

John Nemeth

Robin Moxey & Eddie "Devil Boy" Turner

Ed Maloney and Harper, expressing their mutual affection

Handful of Luvin'

Awards

2009-11-02T21:17:00.001-08:00

We just won this thing for the second consecutive year. They sent us the html code to post the banner and link above. It's strange, these things that involve voting, contests, declarations of "best" and such. We've enjoyed many decorations of success via awards and nominations, including the highest in our field. Our official response is the same as the one expressed within our walls at staff meetings... something along the line of, "aw, shucks, thanks for noticing!" There are a lot of good joints out there and we are but one of them. We don't compete with other venues, we only compete with ourselves; that is to say, we can only do the best we can, whether it's booking the shows, staffing, menu-planning, execution from the kitchen to the front of the house, marketing, advertising, promotion, branding... all the things any business must address if it wishes to exist next week. Sometimes we lose a good show to another venue and that's okay because other times another venue loses a show to us, and over time it's a wash, we get some good ones, they get some good ones, there's room for all of us, we're all friends and we're all part of the Seattle music community. All we know is, we work hard to provide the best experience for the music fan and the musician alike. We like to think that we do pretty well there, we know the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. While nobody can please all the people all the time, we tend to be proud of what and how we do, while always working to do better. Anyway... when we get noticed in the form of an award for doing well, we're willing to take a moment - just a moment, too much work to do! - to say "aaaah..." and enjoy one of the many tasty fruits of our labor.

We Love Uncle Bobby

2009-10-10T21:42:00.000-07:00

We love Bob Dylan. We love his new album, and that he's gone in a decidedly blues-oriented direction during the last 15 years or so. We loved his show at the Moore Theatre last week. When the Seattle Times ran Jonathan Zwickel's concert review, we were pleasantly surprised to see our name in print. Here's the mention:

"Backed by a crack quintet, including Texas-born ace guitarist Charlie Sexton, he spent the next half-hour doling out rote boogie blues jams - tight, sure, but the Highway 99 Blues Club is equally so on any given Tuesday."
Is this a compliment for us and the Tuesday night Scarlet Tree All Stars series? Is it a mild slight toward Dylan? A little bit of both? Who knows. Overall, the review was positive. All we can say is, it's quite an honor to be mentioned in the same breath as Bob Dylan. Click here for the full Seattle Times review

Our comments on the show:
We (the Maloney Brothers, Eric and Ed) have been huge Dylan fans all our lives and have seen dozens of his shows. Boston, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, Minnesota, Wisonsin, Seattle... We were at the Moore and while the show was at times simply awesome and at times kind of mundane, overall we were happy for its favorable balance of strong points. Rarely played chestnuts like "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking" and "Shooting Star" plus inspired takes on "Ballad of a Thin Man", "Don't Think Twice" and "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" outweighed our opinion that he ignored the true gems of the new album (we wanted to hear "My Wife's Home Town" and "It's All Good").

As we talked about the show over slices at Belltown Pizza that night, we discussed the idea of "What would be your ideal Dylan show?" Tough question, even when you limit the answer to current realities and avails (he can't reunite with the Hawks, for example). Some nights, Dylan is "on." Other nights, not so much. The set list is always different. You never know what you're gonna get. It's not as simple as an artist favoring the new album - we've seen him play a lot of brand new stuff and then very little brand new stuff, within the same tour. At the Moore, he played two songs from the new album, four from Modern Times (2006), three from Love & Theft (2001), one each from the late 70s gospel period and the 80s, and five from the 60s. Nothing from the albums many argue as his career best, Blood on the Tracks and Blonde On Blonde. The following night, a mile down the road at Wamu Theatre, Dylan's set list comprised not even half of the songs we saw and heard at the Moore. The following night, exactly half the songs had been played at either of the two Seattle shows. The night after that in Eugene, same deal, half the set list had anything in common with the prior two nights. As we watch these set lists from town the town, there's not even a formula, as in, "he always opens with a song from Album X, the first song of the encore is always something from Album Y, there's a 3-song piece in the middle that's always the same" and so on. There is no apparent structure or architecture. Dylan plays a song one night as the opener, he may not play it again for 20 years, or he may play it again a few days later but it's done mid-show, or in the encore; one night, he may favor his newest material; another night, he may favor something from the previous album (as he did at the Moore); yet another night, he may favor any particularly identifying slice of his career, be it a period, an album, a subject matter, a style or genre, or none at all. It could be seemingly random. As Jonathan Zwickel so thoughtfully wrote in his Seattle Times review, It's Dylan being Dylan. You don't get the Dylan you want. You get the Dylan you get.

We decided that we like it the way it is. If Dylan felt compelled to get on the nostalgia circuit and play a bunch of his major hits every night, he may as well take it to the casinos. He stopped having anything to prove a long time ago, yet from his late 50s to late 60s he's been putting out material that stands aside his classic stuff of three and four decades ago. The only artist who comes close to Dylan in terms of issuing artistically and musically endearing stuff in his 60s is Tom Waits. Springsteen just turned 60 and to qualify for the discussion, he'll have to do better than he did in his 40s and his 50s. We love Bruce and his output of the last 20 years, but in terms of rivaling the output of his 20s and 30s in his 60s, all signs point to No. Anyway, that's all we've got for now.

The moral to this story is that we are all very lucky to have Bob Dylan as an active, productive artist who tours as actively as he does. He is not just a great journeyman troubadour. He is the most prolific and profound recording artist we can think of, and he continues to create new music, albums, and plays about a hundred shows a year. Not bad for a 68 year-old guy. His legacy as a recording artist is far greater than any other. If anyone has massive laurels on which to rest, it his Bob Dylan. But while far lesser artists do that, he doesn't. Artistically, the guy has balls of steel and an ambitious output of work to back it up.

Redemption, Sanctification, Gospelization

2009-10-04T13:07:00.001-07:00

The other night, we hosted the secular debut of a gospel band called Brothers of the Empty Tomb. What we did know: they're a very good band, a nine-piece whirlwind of rhythm & blues, gospel and soul music complete with horns, backing vocals, a dynamite organist, a hard-driving rhythm section, and what makes them truly dangerous are the soaring lead vocals of James Armstrong and the mind-boggling, filthy, nasty, furious guitar work of Gareth Best. What we didn't know: how many people would show up to see a band which has only played in its church, and on a Thursday night, never mind the matter of how nervous the band might be. The result? Totally sold out, and they blew the roof off the dump. They played traditional hymns re-worked as soul and r&b rave-ups, original gospel tunes, rhythm & blues covers by the likes of Sam & Dave and Freddie King. Here's some video of the song that closed their first set, a souped-up cover of Parliament's "Testify."

Photos by Bill Zude

2009-09-18T21:33:00.000-07:00

There are some awfully nice folks who shoot marvelous photos at the club. If you're reading this, chances are you're familiar with the work of people like Jef Jaisun and Tom Hunnewell. Recently, another great shooter named Bill Zude gave us some of his work for display. We've uploaded a more expansive gallery on our website, but here's a sample of some of the stuff Bill so generously graced us with:
Leroy Thomas & the Zydeco Roadrunners, 8/14/09

Alice Stuart & the Formerlys, 8/15/09

Robbie Laws' Bigger Blues Band, 8/1/09

Thanks, Bill!

Harpmaster J

2009-09-12T01:24:00.001-07:00

Let's cut to the chase. We love Jason Ricci. Whenever a young artist is knocking it out of the park on a nightly basis and shaking up the world of rhythm & blues in ways that are best described as good, ambitious, challenging, and artistically endearing, the blues community tends to call it "the future."

We can curse here, right? Shit, it's our blog. We own this. And so we say, Fuck That Shit.

This is the Present.
We see artists like Jason, Bob Log III, Nathan James, Ben Hernandez, the Black Keys, the Blues Explosion, the sadly gone Sean Costello, Eddie Turner, Reverend Dead Eye's No Man Gospel Band, Gravel Road, and a whole shit ton of others who are taking the traditional form and while keeping it as their musical center of gravity, blowing it to pieces and taking it to new and exciting places.

Jason Ricci, who is playing on our stage at this very moment, is playing rhythm & blues music. He is also playing American roots music, pop music, rock & roll music, he is playing live music. He is not only giving props to his band, he is featuring these musicians frequently throughout the course of the show. He is engaging the audience, through his on-stage actions reminding us that the word "concert" means that the audience is in concert with the band, part of what's going on. Jason's performance style recalls some blend of Howlin' Wolf and a young Bruce Springsteen: it is at once real, viral, organic, personal, combustible, musically impressive, engaging, professional show business.

Let's stop pontificating and start showing. Here's a clip we shot with our garden-variety digital camera from behind the bar earlier tonight - this may take a minute to load, but trust us, it's worth it. Ladies and Gents, we give you our brother in arms, Mr. Jason Ricci:

International Blues Challenge

2009-08-24T22:35:00.000-07:00

Each year, the Blues Foundation hosts a battle-of-the-bands type event called the International Blues Challenge. It's a long-weekend-long festival in Memphis at which every state, province, and nation is represented by its rhythm & blues artists of choice, most of the artists having won qualifying competitions by their local and regional blues societies. Yesterday, we hosted the Washington Blues Society finals to determine which artists will travel to Memphis to represent the Great State of Washington to the blues world. We're not into music and the arts as a competitive landscape, but Mother Necessity says there must be a democratic way to determine which one gets the opportunity when far more than one would love it. All the bands were great, the turnout was fantastic, everyone had a blast, and here are some photos courtesy of Ricky Peto:

The Randy Oxford Band will represent Washington in Memphis next February:

Tony making sure everyone knows the dealyo:

Nick Vigarino brings the house down with some back porch blues:

The Mary McPage Band:

Jessica takes a breather from the floor to chat with our fearless doorman Carter:

The Jam Finale:

Jada Amy of the Randy Oxford Band:

People shaking a tail feather on the dance floor:

Chester Dennis Jones Band:

Chester takes his axe for a walk through the audience:

Say hello to Murph. She's a bartender, also a mathematics genius and a softspoken bad-ass. Trust us, you don't wanna mess with her. She's tougher than you, AND smarter than you:

Cee Cee James:

Mia Vermillion and Orville Johnson:

James Luther Dickinson, 1941-2009

2009-08-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

Legendary Memphis musician and producer Jim Dickinson passed away yesterday in his sleep, while recovering from a recent heart surgery. During his colorful half-century career, he was a highly-touted session player for Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Ry Cooder, and the Rolling Stones; and as a producer he worked with artists ranging from Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Jason & the Scorchers to such groundbreaking rock acts as the Replacements and Big Star. He was the patriarch of a musical family which includes his two sons, Cody and Luther of the North Mississippi Allstars. He was one of thew few people whose work was followed by blues and indie rock enthusiasts alike, as in, "It's a Jim Dickinson [band/album/project]. Of course I'm gonna check it out." He was prolific as ever during his final years, cranking out a handful of good albums this decade while producing a bunch and he had just started a new rock band in Memphis this year. Just last week, a benefit concert led by John Hiatt was done in Memphis to help defray his medical bills. Jim was 67 and his wife said he went in peace.

We Don't Care

2009-08-15T00:46:00.000-07:00

about Michael Vick, American Idol, the Mentalist, the lady with eight babies (well, we do feel bad for her and hope the blues club in her town does a fundraiser for her), we also don't care about Sarah Palin or the new Harry Potter movie (we're not six), nor do we care about how Michael Jackson's estate/debt/etc. gets sliced up. We're just blogging tonight to remind you we're still vertical. Check out these marvelous news items from the last couple days:

BOB DYLAN PROFILED IN NEW JERSEY
from CNN: How does it feel? To be on your own? A complete unknown? Bob Dylan might know.
A police officer questioning Bob Dylan recognized his name but wasn't sure it was him.

The rock legend was stopped in July by police in Long Branch, New Jersey, who were responding to a call about a suspicious person roaming the neighborhood, police said.

According to Long Branch Police Department Sgt. Michael Ahart, Dylan had been peering into a window of a house that was for sale, which prompted a neighbor to call the police on July 23.

One of two responding officers, Officer Kristie Buble, 24, approached Dylan and asked him for his name.

"She recognized the name, she just really didn't believe it was Bob Dylan," Ahart told CNN. "He was soaking wet because it was raining and he was wearing a hood."

So Buble asked the musician for identification, but he had none.

Buble and her partner, Officer Derrick Meyers, 24, then asked Dylan, 68, to accompany them to where his tour buses were parked. Once they arrived, Dylan showed them identification.

"Dylan was really cool about the whole incident," Ahart said. He said he asked the singer why he had been walking in the rain and was told, "I just felt like going for a walk."

Dylan, who is on a national tour with musicians Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp, was in Long Branch on the Jersey shore prior to his performance at a baseball stadium in nearby Lakewood.

JOAN BAEZ DIFFUSES PROTESTERS OUTSIDE HER CONCERT... BY GOING OUTSIDE AND TALKING TO THEM
This is an awesome story, best told by the link below which is the account of someone who was there. Click Here For The Story

We like Dylan and we like Joan. Dylan, by the way, has released what so far sounds like the Album Of The Year. It's a delightfully dirty, slow-groove, blues masterpiece.

That's all for now. We'll be barkin' atcha again soon.

Koko Taylor, 1928-2009

2009-06-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

"QUEEN OF THE BLUES" KOKO TAYLOR
1928 - 2009
From kokotaylor.com

Grammy Award-winning blues legend Koko Taylor, 80, died on June 3, 2009 in her hometown of Chicago, IL, as a result of complications following her May 19 surgery to correct a gastrointestinal bleed. On May 7, 2009, the critically acclaimed Taylor, known worldwide as the "Queen of the Blues," won her 29th Blues Music Award (for Traditional Female Blues Artist Of The Year), making her the recipient of more Blues Music Awards than any other artist. In 2004 she received the NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award, which is among the highest honors given to an American artist. Her most recent CD, 2007's Old School, was nominated for a Grammy (eight of her nine Alligator albums were Grammy-nominated). She won a Grammy in 1984 for her guest appearance on the compilation album Blues Explosion on Atlantic.

Born Cora Walton on a sharecropper's farm just outside Memphis, TN, on September 28, 1928, Koko, nicknamed for her love of chocolate, fell in love with music at an early age. Inspired by gospel music and WDIA blues disc jockeys B.B. King and Rufus Thomas, Taylor began belting the blues with her five brothers and sisters, accompanying themselves on their homemade instruments. In 1952, Taylor and her soon-to-be-husband, the late Robert "Pops" Taylor, traveled to Chicago with nothing but, in Koko's words, "thirty-five cents and a box of Ritz Crackers."

In Chicago, "Pops" worked for a packing company, and Koko cleaned houses. Together they frequented the city's blues clubs nightly. Encouraged by her husband, Koko began to sit in with the city's top blues bands, and soon she was in demand as a guest artist. One evening in 1962 Koko was approached by arranger/composer Willie Dixon. Overwhelmed by Koko's performance, Dixon landed Koko a Chess Records recording contract, where he produced her several singles, two albums and penned her million-selling 1965 hit "Wang Dang Doodle," which would become Taylor's signature song.

After Chess Records was sold, Taylor found a home with the Chicago's Alligator Records in 1975 and released the Grammy-nominated I Got What It Takes. She recorded eight more albums for Alligator between 1978 and 2007, received seven more Grammy nominations and made numerous guest appearances on various albums and tribute recordings. Koko appeared in the films Wild At Heart, Mercury Rising and Blues Brothers 2000. She performed on Late Night With David Letterman, Late Night With Conan O'Brien, CBS-TV's This Morning, National Public Radio's All Things Considered, CBS-TV's Early Edition, and numerous regional television programs.

Over the course of her 40-plus-year career, Taylor received every award the blues world has to offer. On March 3, 1993, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley honored Taylor with a "Legend Of The Year" Award and declared "Koko Taylor Day" throughout Chicago. In 1997, she was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame. A year later, Chicago Magazine named her "Chicagoan Of The Year" and, in 1999, Taylor received the Blues Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2009 Taylor performed in Washington, D.C. at The Kennedy Center Honors honoring Morgan Freeman.

Koko Taylor was one of very few women who found success in the male-dominated blues world. She took her music from the tiny clubs of Chicago's South Side to concert halls and major festivals all over the world. She shared stages with every major blues star, including Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy as well as rock icons Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.
Taylor's final performance was on May 7, 2009 in Memphis at the Blues Music Awards, where she sang "Wang Dang Doodle" after receiving her award for Traditional Blues Female Artist Of The Year.

Survivors include Taylor's husband Hays Harris, daughter Joyce Threatt, son-in-law Lee Threatt, grandchildren Lee, Jr. and Wendy, and three great-grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements will be announced.

Note from Highway 99:
Koko was 80, her death was not tragic but it's sad. We saw her many times in Chicago. Super nice lady who deserved all her success and then some. Unlike too many artists and musicians, she really appreciated her audience and always made time to talk with fans, laid many hugs and kisses on many of those who approached her to sign a record or CD. She was also an active philanthropist. We met her a few times, in non-public situations where if she wasn't the person fans knew from the clubs and festivals, her true personality would bleed through. Her true personality was just slightly less energetic but at least as warm and engaging. If the world was full of people like Koko, many of the world's problems would not exist. RIP, good woman.
- Eric and Ed Maloney, Highway 99 Blues Club, Seattle

Moreland & Arbuckle, Gravel Road

2009-05-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

Staying on our ongoing theme of 21st Century Blues... on Friday night, we had a fine bill of entertainment that warmed our hearts. Moreland & Arbuckle, the tirelessly touring trio from Kansas, brought their tasteful, vintage sound. To open the show, the Seattle-based Gravel Road made their Highway 99 debut and delivered a compelling brand of dark blues, a style which delightfully marries the traditional sounds of the Mississippi low country with a minimalist rock sensibility. As we've said, Blues, like any genre, can be a lot of things. Like fans of any art form, we long for the old masters, the pioneers who made it possible for all who followed. But we also embrace the present and enjoy those who are doing it now, honoring the forefathers (and foremothers) while bringing their own contemporary elements to the party. And that's what Friday was all about. As we think of comparisons to other genres, we love rock & roll originators like Ike Turner and Jerry Lee Lewis, and we also love modern artists on the charts today like Green Day and Kings of Leon. Speaking of good music, we've got to wrap this entry up because the Crossroads Band's I-5 Harmonica Houseparty is blowing the roof off the joint at the moment. Do you know any roof guys who work Saturday nights? (pictured above, Moreland & Arbuckle; video below, Gravel Road closes their set by paying tribute to R.L. Burnside)

21st Century Blues

2009-04-16T01:21:00.000-07:00

You could poll 100 people on the matter of "what is the Blues?" and you'd probably get 100 different answers. Most of them would probably be right in various ways. To some, if it ain't acoustic and recorded south of the Mason-Dixon Line, it might be bluesy but it ain't the Blues. Some prefer the post-WWII electric stuff (Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Bo Diddley) and regard the earlier stuff as anything from "early country" to "folk blues." Some prefer the Blues of the Classic Rock Era, Mike Bloomfield, the Paul Butterfield Band, the J. Geils Band, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin... Then there are those who only know the stuff which made commercial radio in the 80s: George Thorogood & the Destroyers, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, and a Pacific Northwest treasure named Robert Cray. There are many destination points in between those, but you know what we mean. It's all a matter of taste and it's all Blues.

On the old stuff, few will argue the value and enjoyability of everyone from Robert Johnson to Son House, Magic Sam to Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie to Big Bill Broonzy... we could yammer on for weeks about the things we love about the Blues of the 20th Century. Hell, we've got a club based on it. In this blog entry, we offer up a couple artists and labels who are, in our opinion, carrying the torch and evolving the genre into the post-2K era. And to avoid being accused of self-promotion, we'll make a point to not include artists who've played our club. So here goes:

ARTISTS:
The Black Keys - guitar-intensive blues-rock. If you dig Zeppelin and the Black Crowes, we guarantee you'll love this band. Minimal 2-4 piece arrangements, they don't try to get cute, not even when their last album was produced by Gnarls Barkley member Danger Mouse.
Rocco DeLuca & the Burden - imagine Jeff Buckley as a Blues artist. Heartfelt vocals and personal songwriting make this guy's albums a staple in your car, your mp3 player, wherever you listen to music. He's been flying below the radar but that's about to change.
Gravelroad - now we're part guilty, because this Seattle-based band is playing here w/ Moreland & Arbuckle on May 8. Gravelroad represents a new guard of Blues, fused with heavier, punk rock sensibilities. In '09, they've partnered with the legendary T-Model Ford for a road-intensive national tour.

ALBUMS:
Not the Same Old Blues Crap - the first in a series of compilations by the great Fat Possum label. They specialize in marrying traditional/older and contemporary/younger artists in ways that are awesome and more importantly, relevant. Far from gratuitous the standard "old meets new" schlock we see in other genres, this stuff is compelling and, if you fancy yourself a blues fan, necessary.

Stax Volt

2009-04-05T21:57:00.001-07:00

Admittedly, we are not good bloggers. At least, we don't blog as often as folks who accept the term "blogger" tend to do. We're trying to get better at this, while also running a club in a rhythm-n-blues-challenged market and keeping up with all the internets (myspace, facebook, and now twitter, not to mention our own website). In this brief post, we'd just like to extol the virtues of Stax Records. We're currently digging the hell out of their nine-disc collection, The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968. It's got all kinds of stuff you won't even find on the Best-Of compilations from the artists. If you threw a party - dinner, BBQ, nighttime, or otherwise - and only loaded this set into your jukebox of choice, you'd be a star among your friends for having such great taste in music that's sadly not been heard enough in the 21st century. Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, Booker T & the MGs, Eddie Floyd, Albert King, the Mar-Keys... If you're not feeling saucy enough to buy a nine-disc set in a retail environment, we understand. We bought it used, too. The used bins at local stores like Sonic Boom and Easy Street are the sources of many great finds. Online, we really love half.com, an ebay subsidiary where people sell used records, books, videos and such. That's all for today.

Here's a good source of

February 3, 1959

2009-02-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

50 years ago today, "the day the music died."

So long Buddy, so long Richie, so long J.P. "Big Bopper."

And yes, the story of how Waylon Jennings gave up his seat on the plane.

Hard to believe Buddy put out all that music in such a short time. He was 22. Richie Valens was only 17. The Big Bopper was 28. Holly was living in Greenwich Village and getting involved in the burgeoning folk scene at the end of his life. This is a few years before Dylan got there. Who knows what he would have done. Rave On, sir.

From thisdayinmusic.com:

A young Bob Dylan attended the Duluth National Guard Armory show on 31st January 1959, two nights before Holly's death.

The family name was "Holley". When Buddy received his first recording contract from Decca Records in 1956, they inadvertently spelled his last name as "Holly". He kept it that way for the rest of his career.

Buddy failed his draft physical because of his poor eyesight.

Many groups from the era named themselves after insects, they did the same and choose "Crickets" as it was the only insect, which made its own "music", by chirping. (They almost named themselves the Beetles!).

Buddy had watched the John Wayne movie The Searchers. Each time that Wayne became disgruntled with something someone said, he'd mutter "That'll be the day". That catch phrase became the title of the first hit record by Buddy.

"Peggy Sue" was an actual person. Peggy Sue Gerron attended Lubbock High School and was the girlfriend and eventual wife of Jerry Allison, Buddy Holly's drummer.

Buddy Holly and the Crickets were the first all-white group to perform at New York's famed Apollo Theatre.

He was one of the first rock 'n' rollers to use overdubbing when one-track recording was the rule, and one of the first to use strings on a rock 'n' roll record.

Their tour busses kept breaking down and when they arrived in Clear Lake, Iowa to perform at the Surf Ballroom the evening of February 2, 1959, Buddy decided to charter a small plane to their next stop.

The Beechcraft Bonanza, named "Miss American Pie," took off from Mason City, at around 1:50 AM on February 3, 1959. The weather was cold and snowy. The plane crashed just after taking off. The pilot, Valens, Richardson and Holly were all killed.

Don McLean's 1971 "American Pie" is inspired by the day of the plane crash.

Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Holly No.13 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Paul McCartney owns the publishing rights to Holly's song catalogue.

The 1992 Nirvana video for "In Bloom" is filmed in Black and white using 1950s era television cameras and shows the band appearing in 1950s attire, (including Kurt Cobain wearing Buddy Holly style glasses) in an apparent tribute.

Weezer's self-titled debut album features the single "Buddy Holly."

On Feb 29th 1980, the glasses that Buddy Holly had been wearing when he died were discovered in a police file in Mason, Iowa after being there for over 21 years.

Tommy Is Our Homeboy

2009-01-24T21:25:00.000-08:00

Tom Hunnewell just gave us a disc with some of his photos from 2008. Enjoy!

Guitar Julie. She's photogenic. Whatdyagonnado?

Charles White & Guitar Julie.

Duke Robillard with Eric "Two Scoops" Moore

David Vest

Harper: everything from a didgeridoo to a damned if I don't

Harper and Big Mo

Polly O'Keary & the Rhythm Method

Mark DuFresne

Son Jack Jr. at Jam For Cans

Chris Leighton, Duffy Bishop, Rob Moitoza, & Raven at Jam For Cans

Ed Maloney asks not what his blues club can do for him, but what he can do for his blues club.

Magic Dick, tellin' tales, singin' the blues, his harmonica wails and he takes us to school.

Sean Costello

Studebaker John

Lloyd Jones Struggle

Kevin Selfe. The matter of "did he steal that axe from Judas Priest?" the authorities have said some things are best left unresolved.

The Tony Coleman Band

Peter Damann

Dennis Ellis

Alice Stuart: acoustic, electric, red hot, en fuego!

2008, What a Year!

2009-01-01T22:42:00.000-08:00

Looking back, we’re tickled over how many truly awesome nights, days, and moments have “hit the highway” in 2008. Taking a look back…

The Jam: the house band of Justin Kausal-Hayes, Scotty Harris, Lisa Ramaglia, Andrew Cloutier, and Eric Brisson brought many of our most memorable musical moments.

Resident Artists included Lee Oskar & Friends, Brian Nova, Son Jack Jr., Purty Mouth, JD Hobson & Friends, the Dudley Taft Blues Overkill, Gertrude’s Hearse, the Satellite 4, John “Scooch” Cugno’s Delta 88 Revival, the Danny Massure Breakdown, and the Belltown Soul Band.

Purty Mouth introduced us to a bunch of new (to us) artists such as Golden Robot Army, MoZo, Zoe Muth, Jerry & the Philbillies, Southbound Union, Thornton Creek, Sourmash Stevedores, the Half Brothers, Squirrel Butter, and Strange Jerome.

CD Release Parties were thrown by Kim Field & the Mighty Titans of Tone, the James Howard Band, the Red Hot Blues Sisters, Ruby Dee & the Snakehandlers, Fiona Boyes, Tim Casey & the Bluescats, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Polly O’Keary & the Rhythm Method, and Robin Moxey.

Locally-Based Artists continued to be our backbone. If our keyboard forgets you here, our heart does not. Nick Vigarino, Becki Sue & Her Big Rockin’ Daddies, Doctorfunk, Paul Green & Straight Shot, , the Crossroads Band, Brian Butler, the Type A Band, John Stephan, Double Scotts on the Rocks, Little Bill & the Bluenotes, Robin Moxey, Buckets of Rain, Tim Casey & the Bluescats, Sam Marshall, Randy Norris, Lady A & the Baby Blues Funk Band, Alex Weed, Lonesome Shack, Roger Rogers, Michael Kahler, Ratfish Bone, David Gordon, Jevon Powell, Bump Kitchen, Kim Field & the Mighty Titans of Tone, Nearly Dan, Dirty Dale, Audio Pirati, the Fabulous Roofshakers, the Dandelion Greens, the Randy Oxford Band, Chris Stevens’ Surf Monkeys, Kim Archer Band, Chris Nelson, and Junkyard Jane.

Regional / Pacific Northwest Artists included David Vest, Robbie Laws’ Bigger Blues Band, Kevin Selfe & the Tornadoes, the Joe McMurrian Quartet, the Insomniacs, the Strangetones, Kolvane aka the Rose City Kings, Lloyd Jones Struggle, the Fat Tones, and the Essentials.

We welcomed Fiona Boyes & the Fortune Tellers to the Pacific Northwest by way of Australia, and said goodbye to Johny Broomdust as he headed east.

We shared a warm hello – and had to say a sad goodbye – to Sean Costello, as his Highway 99 debut was followed by his untimely passing just a couple months later. After his show here, Sean hung out until breakfast the next morning, bulls***ing with staff, watching movies, sharing jokes, getting to know us, and we all looked forward to his next tour. We'll miss him, a remarkable young man who represented, by our estimation, an integral part of the present and future of Blues music and a good friend.

Little Bill led a memorial and benefit concert for Hans Ipsen that only those who were there will ever know about. Hans was a central part of the rhythm & blues scene in the Puget Sound for many years, and we are humbled to have hosted the occasions which honored his impact on the music community.

Musicians rallied behind Mark Whitman, threw a marathon show to kick in for his hospital bills, and our club was graced with his return to the concert stage just a few weeks later.

Roots/Americana/Rockabilly music Hit the Highway in the form of Billy Duane & the Creepers, the Juke Joint Gamblers, the Rainieros, the Souvenirs, Johnny Mercury, Dragstrip Riot, James Hunnicutt & the Revolvers, Hard Money Saints, the Load Levelers, Dr. Hellno & the Yesmen, Hot Roddin’ Romeos, Marshall Scott Warner, Wired, Little Ray & the Uppercuts, the Busted Downs, the Haul Off And Smack Somebodys, the Black Crabs, and the Whiskey Wailers.

Burlesque: Miss Indigo Blue and Kitten LaRue of the Atomic Bombsheels rang in 2008 at the stroke of midnight, and throughout the year our stage was graced with such lovely ladies as the Heavenly Spies, the Can Can Castaways, Sinner Saint Burlesque, the Shanghai Pearl, Ravenna Black, Meghan Mayhem, Drew Blood, and members of the Sockit Wenches.

2008 also saw the club debut of belly dancing as Bella Jovan performed interactively for the Lee Oskar & the Living Dead Halloween Show, and we had calendar girls hoop dancing for the NW Pin-Ups 4 Troops benefit.

From the theatre community, hostesses Rebecca M. Davis and Anita Goodmann held things together on some our zanier nights, including our annual “A Celebration of Pride” benefit for the Dunshee House.

Zydeco – we kicked it NOLA style with the Pine Leaf Boys, Dikki Du & the Zydeco Krew, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Mark St. Mary, Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble, Leroy Thomas & the Zydeco Roadrunners, Captain LeRoy & the Zydeco Locals, the Zydeco Flames, Motordude Zydeco…

Raven’s 8th Annual Jam For Cans was, as always, a huge success for Northwest Harvest and one of the most memorable nights of music all year. This venerable Who’s Who of PNW rhythm & blues produces truckloads of food and thousands of dollars for Northwest Harvest every year and we’re honored to host the occasion.

Our fundraising partnerships with Home Alive and the King County Coalition Against Domestic Violence continued to raise money, awareness, and entertain the hell out of everyone in attendance.

The Delta Roadhouse Showcase featured Alice Stuart, Orville Johnson, Terry Robb, JD Hobson and Mark DuFresne in a down-home, front porch Sunday afternoon.

Seattle N.O.W. Benefit - the Red Hot Blues Sisters, Polly O’Keary & the Rhythm Method, Lady A & the Baby Blues Funk Band, LJ Porter, Stacy Jones, and Paula Maya raised money for the Women’s Voter Project.

The Harmonica Houseparty brought the mind-boggling collective of Lee Oskar, Magic Dick, Tim Gonzales, and Jay Maybin in a once-in-a-lifetime harp extravaganza.

The Road to Memphis helped send Alice Stuart to Memphis for the International Blues Challenge. The Bluez Dawgz, Becki Sue & Her Big Rockin’ Daddies, Curley Cooke & Annette Taborn, Teri Wilson & Suze Sims, and of course the Formerlys played all day and raised some dough to send Alice to Beale Street.

The West Coast Guitar Killers Showcase featured Nick Vigarino, Robbie Laws, Tom “T-Boy” Boyle, and Tim Sherman

Slide Guitar Beyond the Blues featured Dan Tyak, Orville Johnson w/ Unsanctified Gospel Quartet, Eric Madis w/ Hawaiian slack key, Kinney Alverz on pedal steel and host, Nick doing slop jar delta funk with Rob Moitoza and Chris Leighton on rhythm.

Nationally Touring Artists included our friends Bobby Rush, Duke Robillard, Lil’ Dave Thompson, Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, Harper, Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne, Mem Shannon & the Membership, Nathan James & Ben Hernandez, Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King, Delta Moon, Kelly Richey, Debbie Davies, Maria Muldaur, Moreland & Arbuckle, the Terry Evans Band, Eddie “Devil Boy” Turner, Phil Berkowitz & the Dirty Cats, Jason Ricci & New Blood, Sonny Rhodes, Janiva Magness, the Chris Bergson Band, the Craig Caffall Band, Mingo Fishtrap, the Tony Coleman Band, Lydia Pense & Cold Blood, Delta Highway, Studebaker John & the Hawks, Charles van Zandt…

Whew! All we can do is THANK YOU and THE ARTISTS who make all this possible. We provide a place for this stuff to happen, we work hard to schedule a well-rounded palate of American Music with an emphasis on rhythm & blues, trying to balance the traditional comfort of the familiar with the fresh energy of the new. We try to offer an environment that’s just the right balance of cozy and gritty, uptown luster sprinkled with juke joint sawdust. The menu, we hope, uses traditional ingredients to bring a mix of stand-by dishes with ones that are new and inventive. Anyway, without an audience of music lovers who are willing to keep coming out for music they know and don’t know, and without the artists and musicians who hit the road and play it on our stage, we wouldn’t have the pleasure of doing this thing.

THANKS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hayride Hangover

2009-01-01T03:51:00.000-08:00

Thanks to EVERYONE involved with the 3rd Annual Hayride to Hell New Year's Eve Bash! More Show For Less Dough - that's how we roll on New Year's Eve. We take pride in keeping the ticket price down while offering an enhanced bill of entertainment, and this year we kicked it up a notch by hosting Seattle's first Happy Hour of 2009, offering all our Happy Hour prices and deals from midnight til close. The bands were great: the The Wages of Sin, Ruby Dee & the Snakehandlers, Purty Mouth. The burlesque performers were great: Drew Blood, the Shanghai Pearl, Miss Ravenna Black, and Meghan Mayhem. The crowd was great: after a couple weeks of being hunkered down with the most snow Seattle has seen in more than a century, one of the biggest crowds we've ever seen showed up en masse to ring in the New Year. The economy is tough, more than 20,000 jobs have been lost in the Seattle metro area in the last six months, and we know you think more carefully about how and where you spend your discretionary dough because so do we. As such, from the bottom of our hearts, we're tickled over every one of you who chose to ring in the new year with us. You could have played it safe and conservative by kicking back on the couch with Ryan Seacrest, Kathy Griffin, Dick's Rockin' Eve, some Domino's and a box of Mallomars. Instead, you spent it with us.

RIP, Eartha Kitt and Rick Darnell

2008-12-27T10:22:00.000-08:00

Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died, a family spokesman said. She was 81.

Andrew Freedman said Kitt, who was recently treated at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, died Thursday in Connecticut of colon cancer.

Kitt, a self-proclaimed "sex kitten" famous for her catlike purr, was one of America's most versatile performers, winning two Emmys and nabbing a third nomination. She also was nominated for several Tonys and two Grammys.

Her career spanned six decades, from her start as a dancer with the famed Katherine Dunham troupe to cabarets and acting and singing on stage, in movies and on television. She persevered through an unhappy childhood as a mixed-race daughter of the South and made headlines in the 1960s for denouncing the Vietnam War during a visit to the White House.

Through the years, Kitt remained a picture of vitality and attracted fans less than half her age even as she neared 80.

When her book "Rejuvenate," a guide to staying physically fit, was published in 2001, Kitt was featured on the cover in a long, curve-hugging black dress with a figure that some 20-year-old women would envy. Kitt also wrote three autobiographies.

Once dubbed the "most exciting woman in the world" by Orson Welles, she spent much of her life single, though brief romances with the rich and famous peppered her younger years.

After becoming a hit singing "Monotonous" in the Broadway revue "New Faces of 1952," Kitt appeared in "Mrs. Patterson" in 1954-55. (Some references say she earned a Tony nomination for "Mrs. Patterson," but only winners were publicly announced at that time.) She also made appearances in "Shinbone Alley" and "The Owl and the Pussycat."

Her first album, "RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt," came out in 1954, featuring such songs as "I Want to Be Evil," "C'est Si Bon" and the saucy gold digger's theme song "Santa Baby," which is revived on radio each Christmas.

The next year, the record company released follow-up album "That Bad Eartha," which featured "Let's Do It," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "My Heart Belongs to Daddy."

In 1996, she was nominated for a Grammy in the category of traditional pop vocal performance for her album "Back in Business." She also had been nominated in the children's recording category for the 1969 record "Folk Tales of the Tribes of Africa."

Kitt also acted in movies, playing the lead female role opposite Nat King Cole in "St. Louis Blues" in 1958 and more recently appearing in "Boomerang" and "Harriet the Spy" in the 1990s.

On television, she was the sexy Catwoman on the popular "Batman" series in 1967-68, replacing Julie Newmar who originated the role. A guest appearance on an episode of "I Spy" brought Kitt an Emmy nomination in 1966.

"Generally the whole entertainment business now is bland," she said in a 1996 Associated Press interview. "It depends so much on gadgetry and flash now. You don't have to have talent to be in the business today.

"I think we had to have something to offer, if you wanted to be recognized as worth paying for."

Kitt was plainspoken about causes she believed in. Her anti-war comments at the White House came as she attended a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson.

"You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed," she told the group of about 50 women. "They rebel in the street. They don't want to go to school because they're going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam."

For four years afterward, Kitt performed almost exclusively overseas. She was investigated by the FBI and CIA, which allegedly found her to be foul-mouthed and promiscuous.

"The thing that hurts, that became anger, was when I realized that if you tell the truth — in a country that says you're entitled to tell the truth — you get your face slapped and you get put out of work," Kitt told Essence magazine two decades later.

In 1978, Kitt returned to Broadway in the musical "Timbuktu!" — which brought her a Tony nomination — and was invited back to the White House by President Jimmy Carter.

In 2000, Kitt earned another Tony nod for "The Wild Party." She played the fairy godmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" in 2002.

As recently as October 2003, she was on Broadway after replacing Chita Rivera in a revival of "Nine."

She also gained new fans as the voice of Yzma in the 2000 Disney animated feature "The Emperor's New Groove.'"

In an online discussion at Washingtonpost.com in March 2005, shortly after Jamie Foxx and Morgan Freeman won Oscars, she expressed satisfaction that black performers "have more of a chance now than we did then to play larger parts."

But she also said: "I don't carry myself as a black person but as a woman that belongs to everybody. After all, it's the general public that made (me) — not any one particular group. So I don't think of myself as belonging to any particular group and never have."

Kitt was born in North, S.C., and her road to fame was the stuff of storybooks. In her autobiography, she wrote that her mother was black and Cherokee while her father was white, and she was left to live with relatives after her mother's new husband objected to taking in a mixed-race girl.

An aunt eventually brought her to live in New York, where she attended the High School of Performing Arts, later dropping out to take various odd jobs.

By chance, she dropped by an audition for the dance group run by Dunham, a pioneering African-American dancer. In 1946, Kitt was one of the Sans-Souci Singers in Dunham's Broadway production "Bal Negre."

Kitt's travels with the Dunham troupe landed her a gig in a Paris nightclub in the early 1950s. Kitt was spotted by Welles, who cast her in his Paris stage production of "Faust."

That led to a role in "New Faces of 1952," which featured such other stars-to-be as Carol Lawrence, Paul Lynde and, as a writer, Mel Brooks.

While traveling the world as a dancer and singer in the 1950s, Kitt learned to perform in nearly a dozen languages and, over time, added songs in French, Spanish and even Turkish to her repertoire.

"Usku Dara," a song Kitt said was taught to her by the wife of a Turkish admiral, was one of her first hits, though Kitt says her record company feared it too remote for American audiences to appreciate.

Song titles such as "I Want to be Evil" and "Just an Old Fashioned Girl" seem to reflect the paradoxes in Kitt's private life.

Over the years, Kitt had liaisons with wealthy men, including Revlon founder Charles Revson, who showered her with lavish gifts.

In 1960, she married Bill McDonald but divorced him after the birth of their daughter, Kitt.

While on stage, she was daringly sexy and always flirtatious. Offstage, however, Kitt described herself as shy and almost reclusive, remnants of feeling unwanted and unloved as a child. She referred to herself as "that little urchin cotton-picker from the South, Eartha Mae."

For years, Kitt was unsure of her birthplace or birth date. In 1997, a group of students at historically black Benedict College in Columbia, S.C., located her birth certificate, which verified her birth date as Jan. 17, 1927. Kitt had previously celebrated on Jan. 26.

The research into her background also showed Kitt was the daughter of a white man, a poor cotton farmer.

"I'm an orphan. But the public has adopted me and that has been my only family," she told the Post online. "The biggest family in the world is my fans."

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Blues anthem writer Rick Darnell dies - Published: December 27, 2008

A bad breakup for Rick Darnell led to a great song.

The end of a relationship would prompt Mr. Darnell to co-write one of the best-known blues songs, the B.B. King standard "The Thrill is Gone," said Carl Eggleston, a friend of Mr. Darnell's and owner of a Farmville funeral home.

Mr. Darnell died Christmas Eve after a brief illness. The family will receive visitors from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Carl U. Eggleston Funeral Home.

Mr. Darnell co-wrote "The Thrill is Gone" with Roy Hawkins in 1951. Hawkins' release became a minor hit. After King released his version in 1970, it became a classic and turned into King's signature song.

The song has since been performed by the likes of country musician Willie Nelson, R&B artist Roberta Flack and opera legend Luciano Pavarotti, said Alicia Darnell of Mechanicsville, one of Mr. Darnell's three daughters.

The song has also been sampled by rappers 50 Cent and Lil' Kim, she said.

Alicia Darnell said her father never tired of his association with the song or being asked about it, but he continued to collaborate with various artists.

Mr. Darnell was born in Galveston, Texas, but his involvement in music prompted him to live in places across the country. He moved to Farmville in 1987 after purchasing radio station WPAK-AM, Alicia Darnell said. Mr. Darnell sold the station in recent years, his daughter said.

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Darnell is survived by his wife, Lula Mae Darnell of Richmond; and two other daughters, Pearlina Cockran of Williamsport, Pa., and Tanya Rachels of Farmville.

Tom Hunnewell Photo Gallery

2008-10-28T22:43:00.000-07:00

Among the many marvelous folks who do a lot of nice things for us and the blues community, is our friend Tom Hunnewell. He's a fantastic photographer and a true supporter of blues music and culture. He keeps a low profile while amassing an impressive collection of photos which capture the look, feel, and essence of being inside a blues club. Here are just some of the shots recently given to us by Tom:

Becki Sue & Her Big Rockin' Daddies, Nov. '07

Tommy Castro, November '07

Devon Allman & Honeytribe, August '07

Duffy Bishop, June '07

G.C. Cameron (Spinners, Temptations), December '07

Hans Ipsen Benefit, December '07

The Insomniacs, October '07

John Nemeth, March '07

Charlene, Debbie Davies, & Ed Maloney, August '07

Junkyard Jane, December '07

Kevin Selfe, January '08

Lady A & the Baby Blues Funk Band backstage, June '07

Lady A on stage, June '07

Larry McCray, February '07

Little Bill & the Blue Notes, October '07

Lloyd Jones Struggle, December '07

Lydia Pense & Cold Blood, September '07

Maria Muldaur & Craig Caffall, February '07

Mark DuFresne, March '07

Mem Shannon & the Membership, September '07

Patti Allen, Raven, Randy Oxford @ Jam For Cans '07

Terry Evans, May '07

Tim Sherman, October '07

Delta Roadhouse Showcase

2008-09-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

We are so fortunate to host as many cool shows as we do. I mean, we work hard at everything and they say you create your own luck, but we still find ourselves delightfully experiencing an increasing number of "holy crap!" moments. One thing we try to do, above and beyond the normal business of booking good shows and providing a good environment for music, food, and beverage, is putting on special shows - shows with themes, concepts, and purposes that are unique to anything else, with multiple artists playing in unique combinations and settings. Our friend, resident artist and Northwest Americana treasure JD Hobson recently approached us with this wonderful idea to put a bunch of blues & roots oriented guitarists on stage for an evening of Mississippi Delta style acoustic music. There was Alice Stuart, whose career goes further back than she'd want you to know 'cause she's, like, seventeen-goin'-on-somethin'... There was Orville Johnson, veteran of the St. Louis scene and whose music has been heard on more than a hundred (literally) albums as well as the Tonight Show, PBS, and various soundtracks. There was Terry Robb, one of the West Coast's top acoustic blues guitarists - um... TWENTY-time Muddy Award winner for Best Acoustic Blues Guitarist - who has toured with Buddy Guy and Steve Miller and whose mantle includes some Grammys and Emmys; add Mark DuFresne on harp, and we've got the Delta Roadhouse Showcase! Here on the blog, we try to give some off-the-cuff recaps of some of the happenings here at the club, and the quality of the photos and video that garnish the posts will vary. Mostly, they come from our digital cameras. We're still waiting for MTV to return our call. On that note, here's a little slice of the Delta Roadhouse show:
Okay, we can't figure out how to upload this video for the blog, but you can watch it - all you gotta do is CLICK HERE

Guns N' Poses Variety Show

2008-09-20T17:38:00.000-07:00

On the third Wednesday of every month, Purty Mouth brings its special brand of "countrypolitan camp" to Highway 99. In recent months, they've gone above and beyond what most bands do, especially on mid-week gigs when not as many folks go out for live entertainment and the adult beverages that normally accompany a night out. So rather than throw in the towel and consider their Wednesdays a "paid rehearsal" (note to bands: never use that term when talking to a club owner!), Purty Mouth puts together a variety show by bringing other bands and entertainers, they produce a new showbill and flyer every month, they even give each show a different name and theme - they take what most bands are inclined to treat as an ordinary weeknight and turn it into a unique and exciting event. Their monthly show consistently offers new and interesting performances, and it's always a blast. The other night, it was the Guns N Poses Variety Show with hostess Rebecca M. Davis, the two-step honkeytonk of The Rainieros, and the lovely ladies of Heavenly Spies Burlesque, who performed on their own as well as on stage with Purty Mouth. What a marvelous show!
Country + Burlesque = Fun!

The Heavenly Spies!

Purty Mouth & James Blonde in a patriotic performance:

The Rainieros take things down to a nice respectable level:

Duke Robillard, Sonny Rhodes

2008-09-11T11:48:00.000-07:00

Last week was another special one for us. In addition to the packed house on Saturday for the CD release party with the Red Hot Blues Sisters, we enjoyed three touring artists making their Highway 99 debut: Roomful of Blues founder, former Bob Dylan and Tom Waits guitarist, Grammy and BMA winner Duke Robillard hit the Highway on Wednesday; on Thursday, it was Delta Highway from Memphis; ; and on Friday night, Sonny Rhodes came in from from California by way of Texas. We had remarkable experiences with them all, and we hope each of them will visit and grace our stage with their music again soon!

Duke Robillard plays a delicate ballad:

Sonny Rhodes and his band rock the joint:

Video of Sonny singing Goodnight:

Joe McMurrian Quartet, August 30

2008-08-31T19:17:00.000-07:00

Below - photo and video from the club debut of the Joe McMurrian Quartet, a fine group from Portland with monster chops and a fresh, musically sophisticated, jazzy take on Delta blues. Great guys with a great sound.

Janiva Magness, 8/10/08

2008-08-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

Our webmonkey has been on vacation for a couple weeks, so we don't have a bunch of notes and content at the moment. We do have some nice photos of the Janiva Magness show from August 10, courtesy of our main man, Jef Jaisun.

Jason Ricci, New Blood, Nathan, Ben, + the Devil Boy

2008-08-04T18:47:00.000-07:00

What a fun week we just had! It jumpstarted in a rockin' way on Wednesday with the latest installment of the Dudley Taft Blues Overkill. Then we had the pleasure of hosting the Highway 99 debuts of two oustanding, internationally-touring, critically-acclaimed and highly-respected artists: Nathan James & Ben Hernandez, winners of the 2007 International Blues Challenge and a couple o' really nice guys. Friday marked the debut of Eddie "Devil Boy" Turner and holy crap can that guy PLAY.
(below, photos of Eddie on stage and at the bar with Highway 99 Blues Club proprietor Ed Maloney)

On Saturday, our old friend Jason Ricci was in town to play with his band, New Blood. We love these guys. Jason is from Maine, and as the Maloneys are from Boston, we became fast friends a couple years ago when he first played the club. Last weekend, Magic Dick asked us to call and let him know how Jason did, as Magic appreciates Jason's playing. Our report back to Boston is a knock-down, drag-out rave. Jason & Co. always blow the roof off the joint, and every show is the best one we've seen. He's such an engaging frontman, dazzling us with his harp and riveting us with his stories.
(Below: photos & videos from Jason's first set)

Harmonica Houseparty!

2008-07-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

(photo L-R: Jeremy Kidder, Tim Gonzalez, Magic Dick, Lee Oskar, courtesy of Shoji Onozawa)

As a celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Lee Oskar Harmonicas, and in conjunction with Lee's monthly residency at the club, we threw The Harmonica Houseparty which featured an all-star cast of harp players including (of course) Lee Oskar, Magic Dick, Tim Gonzalez, and Jay Maybin. Our friend and esteemed harp player & author Kim Field also sat in. They were all backed by a house band of Andrew Cloutier (drums), Eric Bryson (bass), Jeremy Kidder (guitar), Scotty Harris (sax), and Telvis Ward from the Lowrider Band (keys). What a show. What a night. Thanks to Lee for getting such great harp players on the bill, especially Magic Dick, of whom we've been a fan since our earliest memories as kids growing up in Boston, worshipping the mighty J. Geils Band. Magic was in town for a few days and we enjoyed our time with him very much. He is as nice a guy as he is a tremendous musician and we only hope to have him back at Highway 99 anytime he's up for it. Tim Gonzalez, still in town on Sunday, showed up to sit in with the band on the Sunday Blues BBQ jam, while Lee and Magic came down for some dinner and to cheer him on. Later, the three harp surgeons ended up taking some harmonicas apart to share some reed grading and alteration tricks of the trade. If Friday was the Harmonica Houseparty, Sunday was definitely the Harmonica Geek-Out.
Below: Magic Dick playing his signature song, "Whammer Jammer"

Also this past weekend, the Robbie Laws Bigger Blues Band played on Saturday night, and Lloyd Meadows of the Zydeco Flames came up from Oakland to stir some s**t up with his squeeze box. Earlier in the week, the Johny Broomdust Trio returned on Wednesday, and Brian Nova's Felonius Funk Orchestra played on Thursday.
Below: Steve Sarkowsky (drums), Robbie Laws (guitar)

Below: a clip from the Harmonica Houseparty grand finale jam

Bobby Rush

2008-07-21T02:59:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the maiden voyage of Hit the Highway, the online blog for Highway 99 Blues Club. We'll try to update this every week or so with photos and notes of what's been happening down at the club. The photos in this inaugural entry into the blogosphere are all courtesy of Jef Jaisun, a great blues shooter, friend and regular of the club, 2007 winner of the Blues Foundation's Keeping the Blues Alive award.

On July 20, we had the honor of hosting two shows with one of the great all-time rhythm & blues legends, Grammy nominee and multiple Blues Music Award winner, Bobby Rush. You may recognize the fellow on stage with Bobby in the top two photos - that's our friend Lee Oskar, who plays the club on the last Friday of each month.

The fourth photo is Bobby gittin' down with the Big Booty Dancers. The shows were tremendous. Bobby is as charming and engaging a performer as a B.B. King, as captivating and sweaty as a James Brown. Everyone in the room, audience and club staff alike, were eating out of his hands at every moment. The music ranged from funk, rap, and r&b, to straight ahead Chicago-style blues. The content was at times racy and R-rated, but in a classy way that probably wouldn't offend anyone from Mrs. Rush to the Man Upstairs. He worked the crowd like a dignified gentleman hosting a dinner party. In fact, at the end of the late show, he walked off the stage and into the audience, where he shook hands and said Hello to everyone in the room before saying Goodnight and hitting the showers.