Concert Reviews
The "Boogie Blues Dance Party" began with local band, Factor X. They are comprised of guitarist Jam Acquino (who also plays with Bluzilla), a singer named Tony, and Bluzilla's previous rhythm section. Jam is moving to the mainland later this month, so it's too bad we won't get to watch this group develop. They split their vocal chores pretty equally for a well chosen set of covers that included Cream's "Politician", "The Sky Is Crying" by Elmore James, and Jam's showcase "Voodoo Chile". They did a very fine job of setting the stage for Fito and Canned Heat. Good luck to Jam on his venture to the mainland!
Canned Heat opened their first set with one of my favorites from their "Internal Combustion" CD: Dallas Hodge takes the vocal of "I Used To Be Bad" and, because of Hodge's sheer size, you believe him! :-) Next up was the old Canned Heat favorite "Bullfrog Blues" from their self titled debut album which was released on Liberty Records back in July 1967. While I never did get the chance to ask Fito exactly what the heck "Bullfrog Blues" are, I think we all had 'em by the end of the song. Similar to Fito's uncanny ability to find the right musicians for the band is his ability to mix up the old favorites along with enough new material to keep all of it sounding fresh. The enthusiastic crowd was treated to all three of Canned Heat's biggest hits "On The Road Again", "Goin' Up The Country", and "Let's Work Together", as well as several new songs by this new edition; In particular, a slow blues about a couple who fight all the time called "1-2-3, Here We Go Again". Stanley "The Baron" Behrens was featured on saxophone during an unusual arrangement of Freddie King's "Tore Down".
After two generous sets, Canned Heat returned for a final encore of "It's The Same All Over" from 1969's "Halleluja" album and gave Honolulu the Canned Heat Boogie Seal Of Approval. :-)
.....and Don't Forget To Boogie!"
There were many highlights in his generous set but the semi autobiographical title track of "C For Chicago" stood out. He treated the Peter Green fans in attendance by doing his cover of Duster Bennett's "Jumpin' At Shadows" from "C For Chicago" and Greenie's "Long Grey Mare" from "Wild Cards" a 1995 disc that Steve played on with Delmark labelmate Al Miller. "Fine Looking Woman" is a cool original, based on the "Killing Floor" riff, that is off of Steve's latest CD "I'll Be Your Mule". The title track to that disc was also very enjoyable. "Cool Dream" is an instrumental that is appropriately named. He also did Mike Bloomfield's "Working Man" and Albert King's "Wild Woman".
A big mahalo goes out to Kevan Scott and Mudman Productions for bringing Steve Freund, Dave Specter and other great musicians to Hawaii for all of us to appreciate and enjoy!
Local favorite Willie K, who just got back from a tour with Willie Nelson, fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams by opening for the King. Willie (a Maui resident) hasn't played as a solo artist on Oahu in a few years and his local fans roared their approval as soon as he stepped up on the stage in his slippers and farmer's overalls and plugged his hollow body guitar in. His set was only about a half hour long, but covered an awful lot of musical ground in that brief period of time. A powerful version of "Stormy Monday" was followed by a jazzy "Summertime" with some scat singing that mimicked an entire band including horns,bass and drums.
The beautiful Jimi Hendrix inspired "Waterfall" from his 1992 "Here's My Heart" CD was the only song that he performed from one of his five CDs as a solo artist (not including "Greatest Hits" compilations). His set ended with Willie singing a Hawaiian song (forgive my ignorance for not knowing it's title) in a gorgeous falsetto and for, all of his formidable guitar playing skills, he has a heavenly voice. The shouts of "Hana Hou" brought him back to the stage and for the encore he did his version of "We Are The World" in which he does ALL of the celebrity voices of the original recording. Let's hope he (and Amy Gilliom) will have time to play on Oahu more regularly again.
At the end of each show, B.B. throws guitar picks and trinkets to the audience. Unfortunately some drunken little, low life punk shoved and knocked my wife down and hit several other women in his attempts to steal these souvenirs from them. A complaint was filed with the HPD and he was subsequently arrested, but it's too bad this had to happen and nearly spoil an otherwise very enjoyable evening.
Before the lights go down and the show begins, Jonny appears to be a bit shy and more than a little uncomfortable with all of the trappings of the tremendous success he has enjoyed at such a tender age. He has been vacationing here in the Islands and, in fact, has celebrated his last two birthdays in Hawaii! While we are indeed fortunate to have him play here regularly, his staff could sure use a refresher course in ALOHA! He wasn't allowed to (or just plain wouldn't) sign autographs and he didn't talk to the media (not even the Honolulu Advertiser ;-). My wife was even admonished about taking pictures during the sound check by one of his representatives, who condescendingly informed her that this is "'pop', not blues!" Well, excu-u-use me! ;-)
His opening number, "Still Raining," didn't unleash a downpour, but did manage to get the entire audience up on it's feet, swaying and dancing to the music of this dynamic young man and his quintet! Their set showcased songs from both of Jonny's A&M releases, as well as a few new numbers ("Two Very Different Things", "It's Only The Wind", and "My Irish Angel") from his upcoming album.
Bob Jones and Hard Drive (augmented with the Kakaako Horns) opened the evening's festivities and gained themselves some new fans in the process. Their set began with their take on Nick Gravenites' "Born In Chicago", included a cool update of the old Steely Dan tune "Black Friday", along with Albert King's "Crosscut Saw", Stevie Ray's "Cross Fire", and Jimi's splendid "Little Wing". We're looking forward to seeing them again at the Eighth KIPO Blues Night on February 24 at Sand Island R&B!
Little Charlie and the Nightcats and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
The Nightcats played most of their favorites, "Clothes Line", "My Next Ex-Wife", "Don't Do It", and "Dump That Chump", while putting on one of the best shows seen in Hawaii in some time. During a slow blues number, Charlie and Rick exchanged instruments with both musicians doing a credible job with each others axe; although Rick did joke that he didn't know what the hell he was doing with that guitar anyway and upon getting his harp back, he asked Charlie if that was a speck of spam he saw stuck in it's reeds. He then proceeded to stick his harp into his mouth sideways and play a solo. Don't get me wrong, these guys are outstanding musicians who also believe in giving their audience their money's worth by entertaining them. Their encore was kind of a surf guitar tribute to Hawaii by Little Charlie Baty that might have even made Dick Dale envious. Judging from the reactions of people that I spoke with, this band won themselves a lot of new fans here in Hawaii. Some folks may not have known who Little Charlie and the Nightcats were when they walked into the Hawaiian Hut on Friday night, but they sure won't be forgetting them anytime soon.
Unfortunately though, this gig once again demonstrated the lack of a decent venue in Honolulu that can accommodate crowds of this size. The Hawaiian Hut probably only has room to comfortably seat about 400 people, so if you weren't there, you can imagine how overcrowded it was. There were many people who were unable to find any seating, which forced them to stand where they were blocking other people's $35.00 views. After a few (or in some cases, more than a few) of them Kona beers, I heard a few heated exchanges. Thankfully, everyone kept their cool. On the bright side, the next couple of shows will be in larger venues: Jonny Lang will be outdoors at Kaakako Park and B.B. King will be at the Blaisdell.
The wildly ecclectic Sakata had an all star band of local talent backing him; veteran drummer Noel Okimoto, keyboard player Hal Mita, saxophonist Tim Tsukiyama, bassist Dayton Arima and percussionist Sallam Tillman.
Due to the harsh economic realities of trying to keep a band, Vernon plays all of the instruments on his two Woofy Doof Records CD releases "Millenium" (1998) and "Pandora's Box" (1999) so this was the first time this music had been played by these musicians but that was part of what made it so unpredictable and exciting!
"Cuckoo Jazz" as he likes to call it. :-) or "World Jazz Accoustic-Electric Guitar Instrumentals", whatever you wanna call it, it's damned good music!
When a few "little things", like the battery pack he had plugged into this hollow body guitar acted up, or he broke a string on his Strat, Sakata demonstrated his "stand up" talent, engaging the audience in a few good laughs, setting the mood.
They opened their set with "Le Chicken Prance", a cool, funky jazz tune from "Millenium" and during the course of the evening's performance (of over an hour and a half) the audience of about a hundred were treated to masterful interpretations of almost every style of music imaginable. The calypso like "Juju Boy" and the smooth jazz of "Booboo's Day Out" were two of the other tunes from "Millenium" that we were treated to.
From the more recent "Pandora's Box" we heard "Dreaming of Sleep", a beautiful song that sounds pleasantly reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix "May This Be Love" which he performed on a nylon stringed hollow bodied guitar. In celebration of Puerto Rico Day, "Chili's Cha Cha", some mui caliente latin jazz in the Santana vein. "Hippity Hop" is one of those things that would be pretty difficult to categorize but has a nice "A Go-Go" vibe like John Scofield on his latest recording with Medeski, Martin & Wood, "A Go-Go".
A "Special Guest" female vocalist delivered a touching "Wait In Vain" by Bob Marley which was well received but even more surprisingly they delivered a killer version of "Red House" which mutated further into an incredibly adrenaline charged "Johnny B. Goode".
When the audience demanded yet another encore, Vernon protested that they did not know any more songs so would have to repeat one that we had already heard and closed with a grand finale of "Le Chicken Prance" (Revisited ;-).
Both CDs are currently available at Tower Records and we recommend that you buy both of them. Help support Vernon Sakata and our other talented local artists!
Blue Rooster Productions and the Kona Brewing Co. threw a Blues Bash and Dance Party at the Hawaiian Hut in the Ala Moana Hotel on Wednesday night, September 20th featuring the Legendary Guitar Shorty and his rock solid backing band, the Central Avenue Rythm & Blues Band with bassist Howard Deere. Howard has made all three trips to the Islands with Shorty but on this night he had laryngitis which unfortunately prevented us from hearing his amazing vocal range. He did open the show with B.B. King's "Everyday I Have The Blues" but handed the vocal duties over to the band's rhythm guitarist for the next tune. While Shorty was being introduced to the audience, he could be heard playing from behind the curtains, he emerged playing a turbo-charged version of another B.B. King staple . Shorty was already "on fire" and needed to swallow a full glass of water after this rendition of "Why I Sing The Blues" and I thought I saw steam coming out of his ears :-). He then changed the pace a bit with the smoldering slow blues "I Wonder Who's Sleeping In My Bed" from his latest release, 1998's "Roll Over Baby" on Black Top Records .
Guitar Shorty was married to Jimi Hendrix' sister-in-law, Marsha from 1962 until 1970 and somehow, on this occasion, two nights after the thirtieth anniversary of Jimi's untimely demise he summoned up the Holy Ghost with "Hey Joe", Jimi was in the house! Shorty walked through the crowd, stopping at tables to play the guitar behind his back, with his teeth, his arm, his okole and even his feet! The man puts on a show!!! They closed out the first set with "Roll Over Baby" and Shorty's version of "Johnny Guitar"-"They Call Me Guitar Shorty and I've Come To Play In Your Town" and then resurrected Jimi again with a powerfull "Star Spangled Banner" which mutated into "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". He could presumably improvise all night long, what an imaginative guitarist.
Shorty was very generous with his time, signing countless autographs and "talking story" with anyone and everyone who approached him during the set break. When the band returned, the rhythm guitarist got the second set going with Little Johnny Taylor's "If You Love Me Like You Say".
Shorty fortunately did not get "writer's cramp" signing all of those autographs and after a (relatively) short instrumental, Jimi was summoned one more time with a long jam on "Voodoo Chile" (with a shot of "Third Stone From The Sun"). Next up was Shorty's own "Sugar Wugar" also from "Roll Over Baby". He brought things down to a slow boil with a soulful "I Ain't Gonna Worry My Life Anymore". Some cool "Hendrixian" sky church surf guitar music which will be on Shorty's upcoming release "Guitar Shorty Is On A Mission" gave us something to look forward to. A broken string during "The Blues Done Got Me" from his second Black Top Records release .
"Get Wise To Yourself" gave the rhythm guitarist another chance to show his stuff while Shorty restrung his axe. The set ended with an absolutely outasight instrumental version of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready". Shorty and his band even returned for an instrumental encore. There undoubtedly were some in the audience who may have been a little disappointed that he didn't perform any of his acrobatic stunts at this particular show I still think that Guitar Shorty may deserve the title of "Hardest Working Man In Show Business"!
To Return To Our Home Page Click Here
Page 4, Choice CD's Considered
Page 5, More Choice CD's Considered
Page 7, Pictures Of Beautiful Hawaii
Page 8, Our Look Back At The "Millennium" In Music
Page 9, The Latest News and Entertainment Headlines...
