It's crazy busy around Pender Harbour these days as the second annual Blues Festival boogies along on the May 13 to 15 weekend.
Unlike the popular jazz festival held later in the year, there will be no outdoor venues - the weather is too risky. Most of the shows will be at the area's pubs, resorts and community halls.
Local blues boy Larrie Cook has been playing music for 45 years, so organizing concerts is not new to him. He sees this particular festival as part of the community's commitment to open trading with the tourists a bit earlier in the year. He was elated when the community met a few weeks ago to discuss ways to make that happen. The Blues Festival Society fits right in to that. Many of the events are free, sponsored by local businesses.
Cook says that last year's blues festival had only three events and was sold out immediately. Some places have the capacity for only 60 or 75 people, so it will be tricky this year to scoop tickets for headliners such as Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne who will appear May 13 and 14 at 9 p.m. at Ruby Lake Resort. (Tickets are $15 at the door.) The Blues Boss was influenced by Fats Domino and Roosevelt Sykes at an early age. He calls himself the missing link between the past and present day traditional blues and boogie woogie piano, and he also uses a melodica, a wind keyboard instrument. Surprisingly, he's not from the Deep South unless you consider Spokane, Wash. as south, but his Louisiana parents and his time in San Francisco were musical influences. A Juno nominee who won piano player of the year in 2003, Wayne was also nominated in 2004 by the Maple Blues Awards as keyboard player of the year. Other popular gigs will be Jim Byrnes with Zubot and Dawson at the Legion (tickets for $25) also on Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m.
Many people think of Byrnes as a Vancouver musician, but he was born in St. Louis where he started piano at age five. He's travelled the blues highway for 40 years and played with Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins and Taj Mahal. The Juno award winner has acted on several TV series, but his first love is the blues. Recently, he recorded a new CD, Fresh Horses. The name is the result of a fresh new collaboration across the musical generations with the younger Zubot and Dawson band. Gary Comeau and his Voodoo All Stars were a hit at Roberts Creek earlier this year. He plays the Madeira Park Community Hall on May 13 at 9 p.m. for a $15 ticket price. Local vocalist Luci Herder and Highway 101 will appear at the Grasshopper Pub at the Pender Harbour Hotel on Friday and Saturday evenings with no cover charge. On May 14 at 9 p.m. the popular David Gogo (yes, that's his real name) will appear at the Community Hall. Last time he was on the Coast, this Nanaimo-born guitarist was promoting his CD Skeleton Key, a blend of blues, soul and rock. This time, look for some cuts from his new CD, Vibe. Tickets are $15 at The Paper Mill.
The Garden Bay Pub will be the heart of the festival - the place that regularly runs jams every Sunday. A super jam, a free event, takes place there on Sunday, May 15, from 2 p.m. until late in the evening when Cook will invite Doc Fingers to the stage and hopes for some duelling pianos with Kenny "Blues Boss." History could be made. On May 13 and 14, Billy Dixon and the Soul Train Express will appear in a free evening event at the Garden Bay Pub. A returnee from last year's festival, Dixon runs a tight band doing great Motown songs. Dixon was born in Vancouver and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, at an early age to sing in a gospel choir. When he returned to Vancouver later in life, he worked the 1960s as part of Night Train Revue, an rhythm and blues band.
Save some time for Wes Mackey, "The Bluesman," who recreates blues classics on guitar and mouth organ at the Irvine's Landing Pub on May 13 and 14 starting at 8 p.m. (no cover charge).
From South Carolina, Mackey grew up listening to the last of the Mississippi Delta blues men in the 1950s and 60s. He's worked the honky tonks in Georgia, recorded in New York. He's had reason to sing the blues after suffering some speech challenges, but he's worked his way back into music. You'll hear his latest to be released in June of this year, Who Do Da Voodoo?
Another white boy lost in the blues, Powell River's Ron Campbell will be at the Madeira Park mall on May 14 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and at John Henry's Marina from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. He's a solo performer and a one-man band on blues harp, guitar and drums. He likes the folk blues music of the 1930s and also performs his original acoustic blues. Latest news is that the Bill Johnson Band has been added for a free show at the Madeira Park Community Hall on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. and at the Garden Bay Pub on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. Check out www.phblues.com for updates. Tickets are at The Paper Mill in Madeira Park. Phone 604-883-9911.
