Greetings!
Our buddy John "JC" Chavez just wrapped his fourth (right?) Blues & Brews festival. The first three were at North Mountain brewery and Sunday's show in Apache Junction added another feather in his cap. JC not only provides us with some damned good music and fun, but he also gets to feature our local talent. It's a win/win gig for the whole community. PBS has a great time attending and being included in the scene. More to come, and PBS will be there!!
Laurie Morvan had a fair-sized crowd at the RR Sunday evening and those in attendance witnessed an phenomenal player kick ass with her band. This chick is a must see. She'll be back....
Eldred and the boys tore it up with George Thorogood over in SoCal last week. Hope they don't get too uppity with all the praise. It's been told that Jerry Donato snores like a chain saw.
Chandler Jazz Fest is coming up in a couple of weeks. this is a two-day FREE affair featuring Valley Blues on Friday night and jazz o Saturday. We'll be around both nights and it's always a good time.
Stil lroom for more PBS board-member candidates. Keep in mind,, you gotta be committed.
Join us!!
Have a week!!
. Sincerely,
Jim Crawford, PBS
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Chikan Man
Note: I saw this cat on the Blues Cruise and was taken by his innovative style and his rockin' band. - JC
by Joshua Clark "SOME call it boogie-woogie, some call it blues; I got my rhythm from a fox-trotting mule!" croons James "Super Chikan" Johnson as his golden retriever twirls between his stomping feet, howling right along. Super Chikan winces with the ecstasy of every note as he puts the hurt on his new slide guitar. This isn't just any guitar; it's an electric "Chikantar" he built himself, using a cigar box for the body, a muffler bracket for a tailpiece, a screen door handle for a bridge, an ax handle for the neck, a piece of cyclone fence for reinforcement and a cabinet door latch for a nut. And, of course, his trademark rooster head is carved into the end. The instruments double as folk art on which Johnson paints scenes of his native Mississippi Delta, and they have made some scenes themselves, including the Delta's largest blues festival. "Man, I tore that audience up at the Sunflower Festival last summer," he said. "Dude who was headlining after me got up in a rage, said I didn't leave nothing left for him." Johnson is sitting in his Clarksdale studio just down the road from the crossroads of two highways -- U.S. 49 and U.S. 61 -- the solar plexus of blues traveling, where legend has it that another bluesman, Robert Johnson, sold his soul to the devil so he could play this music. From Robert Johnson and others, a tradition spread that has made this landscape world famous. Super Chikan's unique sound is yet another thing that Chicago and Memphis, Tenn., will never have. Nor will New Orleans, on whose streets the other true American art form, jazz, was born. In fact, my friend Ellen and I drove five hours from the Big Easy, searching for the roots to the blues. We found them within an hour of Clarksdale, this northernmost focal point of the Delta. Our blues tour was a weekend getaway, one full of warm smiles, good food and Southern hospitality. Like Chikantars, which are mostly made from scrap, the blues -- came from what few things people had. "I started out with nothing and still got a whole lot of it left," Super Chikan says. "Heck, got a master's degree in being poor and broke. "I'm left-handed, left-footed, left-brained and left out," he says. A couple of bulbs dangle from his low studio ceiling, where late afternoon sheds blue light through the three small windows. Innumerable paint tubes, brushes, power tools and wrenches are strewn about. He runs his hand over his latest Chikantar, a portrait of Robert Johnson freshly dried on its front. Like Johnson, Chikan is on the verge of becoming one of the rare Delta musicians to get the credit they deserve. "Fixin' to take this one to Japan," he says, beaming. "The governor and I are goin' to represent Mississippi." I ask how long he's been playing. "Oh, not too long," he says with a sigh. "About 100 years." One hundred years ago and 15 miles south, composer W.C. Handy was sitting at a train depot and heard a man playing a guitar: "His clothes were rags; his feet peeped out of his shoes. His face had on it some of the sadness of ages.... [It was] the weirdest music I had ever heard." No one knows who the guitarist was, but Handy put a color to the sound, and the "blues" was born. A rich land THE Delta, which historian James Cobb dubbed "the most Southern place on Earth," is a 7,600-square-mile region of northwestern Mississippi. It begins 400 miles north of the actual Mississippi River delta. Before the levee was built, the river flooded here, forming an alluvial plain of black earth, one of the world's most fertile regions. And it's so flat that the only hills here are Indian burial mounds. Fertile ground for both crop and creativity, it has arguably produced more music and literature than any other landscape in our country. Besides giving birth to the blues, it has produced myriad writers, including Tennessee Williams, Walker Percy and Donna Tartt. King cotton made a few rich and enslaved the poor. But letters and musical notes came free to all. And it looks like they'll be coming for a while longer. From Super Chikan's, we head over to actor Morgan Freeman's club, Ground Zero, also in Clarksdale. A Wednesday-night smattering of locals and tourists pounds pool balls, the dance floor, catfish and cocktails in the warehouse-size venue decorated with Christmas lights and graffiti. Sitting alone at his own table -- a domain Freeman set aside for him -- is a fellow called Puttin'. As far as anyone knows, that's the only name he has. There he sits with his deck of cards, waiting to gain the confidence of his next victim using a scheme called the three-card monte. After Ellen and I graciously lose a few bucks, we hit the dance floor. It's open-mike night, hosted by Homemade Jamz, a band that boasts of once opening for Super Chikan. The oldest member is 13, but "Can they jam!" says a man old enough to be their grandfather. |
| GOT BLUES? If you are a Blues musician, a group, or a club that features Blues music, and would like to be listed, please send your info to info@phoenixblues.org and we'll be happy to list your event in our weekly Out & About section of the newsletter |
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| | Out & About Tuesday, March14 Chuck Hall (acoustic), 7 p.m., Ziggy's, Phoenix Paris James, 7 p.m., D'Vine Wine, Mesa Wednesday, March 15 Sugar Thieves Duo, 8 p.m., Culinary Dropout, Tempe Hans Olson, 6 p.m., JJ Madison's, Mesa Paris James, 8 p.m., II Vinaio, Mesa Bad News Blues Band, Every Wed., 9:30 p.m., Chicago Bar, Tucson Thursday, March 16 Nick Schnebelen Band, 8 p.m., Rhythm Room, Phoenix Hans Olson, 6 p.m., Handlebar, Apache Junction Eric Ramsey, 7:30 p.m., Janey's, cave Creek Leon J & Juke Joint, 5 p.m., Troon CC, Scottsdale Carvin Jones, 8 p.m., The Lounge, Phoenix Friday, March 17 Cold Shott & the Hurricane Horns, 9 p.m., Rhythm Room, Phoenix Hans Olson, 6 p.m., Bryan's BBQ, Cave Creek Rocket 88s, 8:30 p.m., Tilted Kilt, Scottsdale Eric Ramsey, 6 p.m., Duck & Decanter, Phoenix Sugar Thieves, 9 p.m., Culinary Dropout, Tempe JC & the Juke Rockers, 7:30 p.m., Janey's, Cave Creek Chuck Hall, 10 a.m., Carefree Festival, Sundial, Carefree Hoodoo Casters, 6 p.m., Desert Eagle Brewing, Mesa Leon J & Juke Joint, 7 p.m., Mountain View Pub, Cave Creek Blues Review Band, 10 a.m., Stagecoach Village Festival, Cave Creek Carvin Jones, 3 p.m., Tilted Kilt, Scottsdale Carvin Jones, 9 p.m., Good Time Charlie's, Chandler Paris James, 7 p.m., D'Vine Wine, Mesa Saturday, March 18 Riley/Corritore Juke Joint Blues Band, 9 p.m., Rhythm Room, Phoenix Hans Olson, 6 p.m., Bryan's BBQ, Cave Creek Sugar Thieves, 11:30 p.m., Pho Cao, Scottsdale Chuck Hall, 10 a.m., Carefree Festival, Sundial, Carefree JC & the Juke Rockers, 6 p.m., Dillon's Thunderbird, Peoria Hoodoo Casters, 6:30 p.m., American Legion Post 26, Mesa Nina Curri, 5 p.m., Page Springs Winery, Cornville Blues Review Band, 7 p.m., Remington's, Scottsdale Carvin Jones, 9 p.m., Rookie's, Phoenix Outback Blues Band, 5 p.m., Dreamer's RV Park, Salome BluZone, 1 p.m., Crown King Saloon, Crown King Paris James, 8 p.m., D'Vine Wine, Chandler Sunday, March 19 Mike Zito & the Wheel, 8 p.m., Rhythm Room, Phoenix Hans Olson, NOON, Sunday A'Fair, Scottsdale Chuck Hall, 10 a.m., Carefree Festival, Sundial, Carefree Eric Ramsey, 4 p.m., Glendale Folk Festival, Downtown Glendale Nina Curri, 11 a.m., Steve's Greenhouse, Downtown Phoenix Sugar Thieves, 2 p.m., Sunday A'Fair, Scottsdale Carvin Jones, 6 p.m., Desert Eagle Brewing, Mesa Mother Road Trio, 4 p.m., Southside Tavern, Flagstaff Two Flavor Blues, NOON, Copper Star, Phoenix Monday, March 20 Carvin Jones (acoustic), 6 p.m., Monastery, Mesa |
Weekly Jams
Sunday
Ray Ray & BluZone, 5 p.m., Wild Willy's, Avondale
R.d. Olson JAM, 2 p.m., Sally's BBQ, Prescott
Bourbon Jack's JAM w/Kody Herring, 6 p.m., Chandler
MONDAY Ray Ray & Bluzone Every other Monday, Opa Life Cafe, Tempe
Bam Bam & Badness Open JAM, 9 p.m., Char's, Phoenix
TUESDAY NEW JAM Rocket 88s, 6 p.m., Hideaway West, Phoenix
Gypsy's Bluesday Night JAM, 7 p.m. Pho Cao, Tempe
Front Page Blues Band, EVERY THIRD Tuesday, 6 p.m., Far From Folsom, Prescott
Tailgaters JAM, 7 p.m., Glendale
WEDNESDAY Rocket 88s, 7 p.m., Chopper John's, Phoenix Tool Shed JAM Party, 7 p.m., El Dorado, Scottsdale
Bumpin' Bud's 1st & 3rd Wednesdays JAM, 7 p.m., Marc's, Glendale
THURSDAY Tool Shed JAM Party, 7 p.m., Steel Horse Saloon, Phoenix Jolie's Place JAM w/Adrenaline, 9 p.m., Chandler Brad's Place JAM, 7 p.m., Ahwatukee (Every other Week)
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