King of the Blues Monterey County Herald :: By Beth Peerless Is all this rain and freezing weather getting you, well, wet and cold? Are you beginning to dream of summer on the Central Coast, with at least a fair bet that better weather will prevail? Memorial Day, the holiday weekend that kicks off the summer season, always has lots of events and activities to choose from, but I'd say this is the year to attend the 14th Annual Santa Cruz Blues Festival at the beautiful Aptos Village Park. The official release of the lineup is here now and it's awesome. The biggest name for the May 27-28 bash is blues legend B.B. King, on what is being considered his last worldwide tour. He tops the Saturday, May 27 lineup, with Roomful of Blues, Coco Montoya, Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers and Mighty Mike Schermer providing a fine lead-up to the spectacular finale. Sunday has a couple bands headlining that are quite certainly influenced by the blues, but most don't consider them blues acts. Los Lobos takes the top spot on Sunday, May 28, with John Hiatt a close runner-up. North Mississippi All-Stars, Dave Alvin & The Guilty Men and The Boneshakers round out the dazzling package for the two-day festival. The Santa Cruz Blues Festival is a whole’nother deal from the annual blues party in Monterey. It's held in a grassy bowl surrounded by a gorgeous backdrop of evergreen trees. It's all for one and one for all, meaning there's one big stage for all the acts. It's compact in comparison, but always a high-octane level of intensity and quality. Festival promoter Bill Welch and crew know the music scene inside and out. All are seasoned music industry professionals, and Welch books music into Moe's Alley year round. Know that your ticket is buying the best. Tickets are on sale now online at www.santacruz bluesfestival.com, and beginning March 17, available through Moe's Alley and at Streetlight Records in Santa Cruz and San Jose. Find more information at the Web site and by calling the festival hotline at 479-9814. Sons of Champlin were up to the task of breaking in a few new songs from its recent release, "Hip Lil' Dreams" at The Catalyst Saturday night. The title cut was one of those gems, and it is like the name says, a journey into the depths of one's consciousness. The arrangement had several levels, one being the underlying rock riff that has heavy bass drum and guitar, and the vocal harmonies suggesting an ominous portent. But the song's writer Bill Champlin has a way of floating a lighter vibe on top of the rock tune's heavy message of a love going down the drain. The live version sounded great, with guitarist Carmen Grillo giving it added life with his cool solo. The album was a project in the making for more than two years, so many of the new songs were last played by the band back in the early stages of recording. While hanging out with the guys before the show, keyboardist/vibraphonist Geoff Palmer told me the band had only enough time to work up a couple songs for performance. That was fine, as lots of fans do still want to hear the older tunes like "Dream On," "For Joy," "Maybe," "Freedom" and "Get High." The Sons are a funky dance band, but the players' chops are the main event. Two Tower of Power alumni were supplying the horns. Mic Gillette swung between tuba and trumpet effortlessly. That's a mind-blower in itself. Personally, I was stoked to have the chance to connect with guest saxophonist Skip Mesquite, who was a founding member of Tower of Power and a former neighbor of mine in the East Bay suburb of Castro Valley. On top of being one of the great songwriters/musicians of our times, Champlin was his usual charming self. |