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)