It was on March 19th, 1996 that I got to see the blues legend Bo Diddley play the Thunderdome here in Edmonton. Opening the show and sitting in with Bo was Edmonton's own Rusty Reed on harmonica. This show was so damn good. Glad I got to see Bo Diddley in concert.
Back on August 20th, 1989 I went to the Sunset Of Summer Music festival at Hawrelak Park in Edmonton. This one off festival was a smattering of local bands such as Idyl Tea, Rusty Reed and The Southside Shuffle, Killing Time and Jr. Gone Wild among others.
So it was back on February 15th, 1994 that I saw the legend B.B. King in concert at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton. Opening the show was Alberta's Triple Threat the band that consisted of Tim Williams, Johnny V and Rusty Reed. Great opener!
Day three of the Edmonton Blues Festival was going to be a good one, the weather was awesome, I recognized all the bands on the bill, and I had a clear head.
The first band up for the day was the local rockin' blues band Jimmy & The Sleepers with special guests Big Dave McLean out of Winnipeg and local harp player Rusty Reed. I was excited about seeing this performance having heard good things about Jimmy & The Sleepers and of course Big Dave McLean is a legend in his own and it had been a few years since I last Saw Rusty Reed play. I
I have been a fan of Rusty since my teens having seen him play many many times. He is in my eyes and ears the best harmonica player I have ever seen, and the man can sing too. He only sang a couple of songs on this day but backed up the band on the harp through out the whole set. I was very impressed with the set by Jimmy and guests performance. A great way to start Sundays events.
Next up was The Rockin' Highliners another Edmonton band who just got back together after a ten year hiatus. Their style of jumpin' rockin' blues had the dance floor packed during their set. This was the second time seeing them having last seen them in 1999 opening for George Thorogood.
The third band of the day was Henry Gray backed by the West Coast All-Stars. Henry Gray is a boogie piano player/singer from Louisiana, and at the age of 90 years old sounded incredible. Henry Gray has played with many legends in his time including the Stones, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf just to name a few. The man is a legend himself and I am very happy that I got to see him play in person. A great show by Henry Gray.
Second last band of the festival was Janiva Magness from Detroit, Michigan. This was the second time I have seen this blues/soul singer in concert, and again she was excellent.
The headliner for Sunday was Canned Heat. I was hesitant about being excited to see the band, at first I was wondering if there was even an original member in the band anymore. But after doing some research I learned that two of the members, Larry Taylor on bass and Adolfo de la Parra on drums were in the band when they played Woodstock back in 1969. And of course originals Bob Hite, Alan Wilson and Henry Vestine have all since passed. Stepping in there place now-a-days and doing a damn good job of it are John Paulus on guitar and Dale Spalding on vocals and harmonica.
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of Canned Heat being a band, ya the band has been a revolving door of band members, this band playing today was top notch. Their psychedelic blues boogie rock was top notch. I remember the first time I heard of the Canned Heat was watching the Woodstock movie many years ago. I thought they were excellent then, as I did on this day forty-six years later.
Some of the songs performed on this evening were Going Up The Country, Let's Work Together, Have A Good Time, On The Road Again and Rollin' And Tumblin'. The crowd ate up their tunes right from the start, a very strong set and very entertaining. Highlight of the weekend for me for sure. Good times!!!
It was twenty-four years ago today that I went to the Sunset Of Summer Festival at Hawrelak Park here in Edmonton. Some of the bands on the bill, all local bands were Jr. Gone Wild, Rusty Reed and the Southside Shuffle, Idyl Tea and Killing Time.
Also on this day nine years ago, I saw the band Maximum RnR play a bar called Stars in Edmonton.
Today's poster is from a Roots and Blues Festival that was held in Stony Plain, Alberta just outside of Edmonton. This festival was in the mid 90's. I had volunteered to help at the festival with some prodding from a buddy of mine (Dixon). I thought what the hell, it's a way to see the 3 days of music for free, and there were some bands I wanted to see, like, Triple Threat which was Rusty Reed, Tim Williams and Johnny V all playing together as band, Fist (which was weird to see them on this bill), Ellen McIlwaine, Bobby Cameron and Tacoy Ryde among many other bands.
Well, all didn't workout that good. We got there and met whomever it as we needed to. I was assigned to do security, walk around with a security arm band and a walkie talkie and make sure people were behaving,hmmm, anyone that knows me, knows I am not much of a guy that likes authority, let alone be authoritative. I did this for about an hour. Not my thing, especially when a lady asks me if I wanna join her in her tent and drink some gin. That was enough for me. I handed in my security arm band and walkie talkie and enjoyed the rest of the evening checking out some good music. Needless to say, I didn't make it out to the other two days of the festival. I never volunteered for another festival after that. Good times!!!
Today's poster is from one of the many times I saw local harmonica player/blues musician Rusty Reed play live. This particular show was at a short lived blues bar called Sneaky Pete's in the basement of the old Mayfair Hotel in Edmonton. This show was in the mid nineties. Rusty still plays around Edmonton quite often and always puts on a great show. The man is amazing on the harmonica and was a big influence on me in my teens, turning me onto the blues when I worked in the kitchen of Billy Budd's, which used to book blues bands back in the late 80's.
Today's t-shirt is from the Sunset Of Summer Music Festival that was held in 1989 in Hawrelak Park on the Heritage Amphitheatre stage in Edmonton. This was an all day outdoors concert with a bunch of local bands playing. Some of the bands that played this day were Jr. Gone Wild, Rusty Reed and the Southside Shuffle (Rusty now owns and runs a blues club in Edmonton), Killing Time and Idyl Tea among a few others. I remember it being a sunny hot day and a very fun music fest that highlighted some excellent local bands of all genres,it's too bad they didn't continue this kind of thing. This was the only year it was held. I went to this with my friend Nerraw, good time was had.
Today's ticket stub of the day is from the time Hurl and I went to the Bo Diddley and Rusty Reed concert at The Thunderdome here in Edmonton in 1996. This was a chance to see a blues legend in concert with local harp player Rusty opening and then sitting in with Bo. What an awesome fucking show this was.
