Greg Thompson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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