Robben Ford Discussion

[BlueRunner]

Was in Santa Cruz, CA, over the weekend, and went to the Catalyst to hear Rod and Honey Piazza and their Mighty Flyers. They put on a tremendous show. I'm excited about hearing them again in just a few weeks at the 25th Annual Long Beach Blues Festival.

The bill included three bands, with the Flyers as the third and final. The second band up was headed by San Jose-area blues harp expert Gary Smith. I'd never hear of him before (must have been leading a sheltered life), but really enjoyed his traditional Chicago-style harmonica. Checked him out a bit when I got home, and discovered that he'd joined up with Robben and Pat Ford in 1969. Info at http://www.island.net/~blues/gsmith.html I'll definitely be looking for him again. In the meantime, those of you in the SF Bay Area might be able to add more info.

The first act of the evening was apparently local: Lou de Luca and his band. I'm curious if any of you from the SF or Monterey Bay areas know more about him. Good, solid electric blues. de Luca may not be a big name, but he's definitely a big guy. Built like an NFL offensive lineman. He played a Music Man that from my vantage point looked like a ukulele in his hands.

Back to the Piazzas: There's a reason for all of those Handy Awards and the big crowds they draw. They closed down the show (at about 1:30 a.m. yesterday) with a jumping number that featured each musician in the band, one at a time, putting down his or her instrument and disappearing off behind the stage, leaving Rod in a spotlight huffing and puffing on his harp. (He gets so many sounds out of the instrument that you don't really need a dummer to keep the beat going). Then, with everyone in the hall dancing to the solo harp, Rod climbed down off of the stage and danced his way through the crowd, still blowing away (using a wireless hookup for the harp mike), followed by a spotlight. At the far end of the hall he stood up on one of the chairs and continued playing while everyone danced around him. Then it was dancing his way back and returning to the stage, without missing one inhale or one exhale on the harp. Then, again one at a time, each band member came back out and started playing, with Honey hitting the keyboard last. Huge finale.

The Catalyst has two show areas. As you file out of the large back hall where the show was, you go past the "Atrium," a dance area with a DJ. The place was packed with folks dancing up a storm to techno-pop and hip-hop spun on turntables, while lights flashed and turned. While there were a good number of under-30's in our crowd, the Atrium crowd was generally a lot younger. All I could think of while I headed out to the street was, "You young folks just have no idea what you just missed!"
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- BlueRunner

[Aeolian]

Man, I was walking around and looked in there and didn't see many folks around. And the Atrium was empty, so we walked up the street and saw the Manchurian Candidate. I've played in the atrium and it's a giant shower stall. Guess all the action was in back and later on. Gary Smith is great. Wonderful balance between over the top guys like Andy Just and those who just do real simple old school stuff.
When did you leave? There's an awesome blues jam in Capitola Village (on the beach just south of SC, where they just rebuilt the original Margaritaville) on Sunday's. I was there, you'd have been welcome to play my 335 and Fuchs. Maybe next time.
Oh, and Garth Weber was playing up in Half Moon Bay Sunday afternoon. Killer show.
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There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
My Stuff: www.stevekirbymusic.com

[juspasinby2003]

Rod Piazza is quite the entertainer, isn't he. We grew up together (both from the same small town); so I've known him for most of my life. I always knew he was destined for something big, but I thought it would be a long prison sentence (just kidding, Rod). Actually, I can point to two attributes of his which I greatly admire. One is that he has always been totally dedicated to the music. Even as a teenager, he devoted all his time to the blues - either listening to and learning from the masters or practicing and performing. Save for an occasional girlfriend, he had no other interests and had no social life outside of music circles. The other is that he never allowed himself to have a "bad day" when performing. He always gave it everything he had and always managed to put in a good performance, even on those days when the band couldn't find the key signature.

I'll be sitting in with him at the Long Beach show and at the Lake Alice Trading Co. show later this month; so come say hello if you go. I'll be the guy with the natural ES347.

[b3bobster]

BlueRunner,

I'm the keyboard player in the Lou DeLuca Band - we indeed were the opening act at the Rod Piazza Catalyst show. We're local to the Santa Cruz area, and have been gigging for about a year now. Our website can be found at www.loudelucaband.com. Cheers.

Bob

[BlueRunner]

b2bobster (Bob): Wow. This is even better than that great scene in "Annie Hall" where Woody Allen is waiting in a theater line with friends, they get into a discussin about what Marshall McLuhan meant by something in his seminal work "The Medium is the Massage," and Allen reaches behind a stand-up poster and pulls the real Marshall McLuhan out to set the record straight!

Thanks for the info, and I enjoyed the band's web site. Really enjoyed listening to the four of you Saturday night. But for such a great night of blues, the crowd should have been a lot bigger.

Also, I was really impressed with how quickly the four of you, your tech people, and the Catalyst's stagehands, broke down your gear. Like watching a NASCAR pit crew!

Best regards, and a hearty welcome to this great BBS. Check in often!
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- BlueRunner

[Bunnylover]

Glad you enjoyed the show. We saw the Mighty Flyers in Newark Sunday and they were great! We had never heard of them before. However, I have been a big fan of Gary Smith since around 1972 (yeah, I'm a fossil). We'll be seeing him tomorrow night and can't wait!

[b3bobster]

Thanks BlueRunner - hope you can check us out again live. Cheers...