Down to the nightclub...

I've dropped in on the John Stephan Band a couple of times lately - most recently at the Mainstage Comedy and Music Club in the Queen Anne neighborhood and at the Salmon Bay Eagles Club in Ballard.

John's band hosts a Blue Monday jam at the Mainstage. I have been to a couple of these gigs, and there was a pretty good turnout there last Monday. The club has a nice PA system which they are finally getting tuned up so that the house sound is now pretty good. Now, could someone please turn the floor monitors on?

Jammers at the Mainstage. Left to right: Dan Bonow, Trev Cutler, John Stephan, Dean, and Mikal Rollins

The Mainstage Blue Monday house band: Trev Cutler, John Stephan, and Tom Roesch.

I always have fun playing with John's fine band, but what I especially like about this Monday gig is that I get to play through John's 1955 Fender Bassman. This is a friggin' awesome amp to blow harp through, probably the best Bassman I have ever had the pleasure of using. Give it a test drive if you show up to jam some Monday.

The world's greatest harp amp??

I also saw the band backing up singer/guitarist/harp player Gary Slaon at the Salmon Bay Eagles a couple of weeks ago. Gary currently lives in Arkansas, and is an old friend of Stephan and Seattle bassist John Lee from when they were all playing music in Anchorage, AK in the late '60s. Gary is a very entertaining frontman and played some of his original tunes for us during the gig. The band also backed him up at the New Orleans Creole Restaurant and at a private party that weekend.

Gary Slaon with the John Stephan Band at the Salmon Bay Eagles Club.