Blues Bash 2 was on Saturday, which dawned sunny a…
Blues Bash 2 was on Saturday, which dawned sunny and warm, especially for November. Sandman and I caught a cab from Bitan since we were loaded down with so much equipment. I need to get a luggage cart for all my instruments these days. By the time we got to the Estrogen Mall, where the event was being held, it was beginning to cloud over. A large red Budweiser stage truck was opened up in the square, and a few people were milling around a few stands. I was disappointed to learn that there was actually no barbeque at this one, something I’d been looking forward to. All they had was fried noodles in plastic cups, and of course there was a line at the Mister Donut. I went downstairs and bought some bread to fill me up.
On the stage was a group called the Beaver County Rangers, and they were great. I kept asking people if the group had an album, but apparently they’ve only just gotten together. Though the songs were rocking, there was a large empty space in front of the stage where nobody dared enter.
After the Rangers and some annoying patter from the foreign MC, we saw Les Chats Noir, which featured a really good trumpet player. More and more people began to arrive, mostly foreigners. Caleb and Shirzi arrived, as did Dean, as Boogie Chillin owned the stage. They were even better than last time, they were electric, they were the bomb, they were amazing. Shirzi, of course, brought some of the Japanese Chu-hi drinks he’s so fond of, in different flavors. I took a can up on the Budweiser stage with me, though we weren’t supposed to.
At first the sound guy gave us some trouble. “Can we get these mics in these places?” David asked him, showing him a chart.
“No, you can’t,” the sound guy replied, and seeing our incredulous expressions, added, “We can’t do that.”
“But all I need is to take a mic off the drum set and put it under the washtub,” I said. He just shook his head. Eventually, however, he relented and actually set about doing his job. I never did learn the reason for his truculance. Maybe he was pissed about the Chu-hi.
By now the sky was overcast, but the crowd was a lot bigger. Unfortunately, the foreign MC was now wearing a Taiwanese high school girl’s outfit, complete with short skirt and wig. I hadn’t thought he could be any more annoying, but somehow he managed. Our set went well, though, thanks to David thinking ahead and giving us the heads up early on for each song. I played trumpet on only one song, mostly euphonium and washtub bass during the set. In between songs I slugged down the Chu-hi sitting on the amp behind me.
After our set I was hungry again, so I broke down and went down to Mister Donut to stand in the 10-minute line. I was pretty irritated by the time I got to the counter and saw the last donut of the kind I liked being bought, so I released my anger by being hit by the sliding doors on the way out. Serves me right, I suppose. I’d bought three other kinds, anyway, and went to find Shirzi and more Chu-hi. I think cherry is the best flavor for that stuff. I talked to a cool Sri Lankan guy named Parthi who was filming the show on his little DV camera. I hope I didn’t say anything embarrassing; I was not a little drunk by that point.
The stars of the show came on, an Argentinian guy and a Japanese guy, and then the time we’d all been waiting for, the final jam. The stage was packed, most of us sharing microphones. We had three tenor saxes, including Sandman, but only one trumpet. I shared a mic with Thumper, but one of the harmonica players donated his so I could do solos and actually be heard. It was great.
After all the post-show walking around, back-slapping, tent-striking and walking about in a daze, we piled into taxis and went to the opening night of Bliss, the former Chocolate & Love. I got some Cantonese noodles, a glass of whiskey and CC, and talked to Jojo, Chris and Twonavels as a couple of cover bands played upstairs. Sandman wanted to do a jam session, along with Kevin Smith from the BC Rangers, but apparently the new soundproofing isn’t up to the job, so we left. I couldn’t stay up til dawn in any case, as I had to get up for filming the next day. More about that on the production journal soon.