This and that...

I noticed the other day that the ye olde digital camera was filling up with photos, so it's time to publish a few, I reckon. Check these out:

Andrew Lynch and Ron Ussery. My son Andrew was having problems playing this one certain note on his alto sax a while back, and it was really freaking him out. So, I called Ron Ussery up and he was kind enough to have us come over to see if there was something wrong with Andew's axe. After evaluating the horn and Andrew's technique, Ron suggested switching to a lighter reed, and waddya know, that fixed the problem - thanks Ron!

Kurt Crandall & True Story at the Blarney Stone Pub in downtown Seattle. Left to right: Kurt Crandall, Patty Mey, and Tim Sherman. That's David Hudson back there on the drums.

Kurt Crandall and fans

Bubba McCoy at the Salmon Bay Eagles, filling in for me for a few songs. I was very sick that night and probably shouldn't have even showed up for this gig. You The Man, Bubba!

Brian Butler and Chris Leighton at the Salmon Bay Eagles.

Left to right: Jimie Jean, Eddie, and singer Blackie Jo James at Brian Butler's gig at the Salmon Bay Eagles. Blackie Jo promised to sit in at my next gig -you better be there girl!

These photos were created at the legendary DJ Early Byrd's birthday party hosted by the John Stephan Band at the Salmon Bay Eagles Club in April. Early Byrd split split shortly after the first set, so I didn't get a photo of him. Lots of great musicians jammed during this show.

Left to right: Brother Maynard, Trev Cutler, and Tom Roesch

Roger Lindgren and guitarist Bill Lovey.

Rhea, bassist Charlene Grant, Penny, and Jill

The Blues Boss, guitarist Mike Edwards, and singer Dana Lupinacci.

Left to right: Unknown, guitarists Jack Cook and Daddy Treetops, and bassist John Lee.

Eric "Two Scoops" Moore

Marcia the Kitchen Wench

Left to right: Daddy Treetops, Jeff Herzog, John Stephan, Trev Cutler, and Tom Roesch

Speaking of the Salmon Bay Eagles, here's another video created by John Gulla at the club during their 18th anniversary party on 1/17/08. That's Brian Lee on slide guitar and vocals, Kirk Tuttle on drums, Mark Dalton on bass, and Brian Butler on guitar.

Dis and dat...

My mailbox has been filling up again with band photos, so it's time to publish some of 'em. Check it out:

Kurt Crandall

Kurt Crandall, a fine singer and harp player, recently moved to Seattle from Chicago with his fiance Stephanie. Kurt is working at the VA Hospital in Seattle and is living on Capital Hill. I've seen Kurt sitting in at a couple of clubs in town now, and I'm here to tell ya, he's a good 'un. Wait until you hear him play the difficult chromatic harp, baby! Rumor has it that he is already starting a new band with veteran guitarist Tim Sherman.

Welcome to the Jet City, Kurt and Stephanie!

Kurt Crandall playing with the Dana Lupinacci Band at a recent outdoor festival in Kent, WA. Photo by the Blues Boss.

Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival - Portland, OR

I played with the Washington Fryers at the WBF this year. This was an all-star band put together by Tom Boyle that consisted of Becki Sue & Her Big Rockin' Daddies, plus guest artists Eric "Two Scoops" Moore (piano/vocals), Dennis Ellis (tenor sax), Polly O'Keary (vocals), Tim Sherman (guitar) and yours truely. Big fun!

Check out the photo of the Brown Sugar tribute band, with Lloyd Jones on drums and Mark Dufresne filling in for the late Paul deLay. I will be posting a couple more photos from this gig as a part of John Lee's next blog.

Left to right: Jim King, Dennis Ellis, Tom Boyle, and Mike Lynch. Photo by Phil Chesnut.

Left to right: Tom Boyle, Tim Sherman, Jim King, and Eric Moore. Photo by Les Hutchinson.

Brown Sugar Tribute Band - left to right: Jim Mesi, Lloyd Jones, and Mark Dufresne.

The Doheny Blues Festival

Phil Chesnut, Jet City Blues' staff photographer, was working on a piece for Blues Revue magazine at the Doheny Blues Festival in southern California where he took these photos. Thanks for sharing these with us, Phil!

Honey Piazza and James Cotton

Kim Wilson, Rod Piazza, and James Cotton

Kim Wilson and James Cotton

Kim Wilson and his sons Hunter Morganfield (left) and Steven Jacobs

Kim Wilson and Seattle area resident Lee Oskar

The Dana Lupinacci Band

I played a fun gig with vocalist Dana Lupinacci early in June at JR's Sports Bar in Everett. JR's is a nice place, with a large stage and dance floor, plus pro sound. However, they have been struggling to get blues fans in there. We had a pretty good crowd for the first set, with several members of the Washington Blues Society in attendance, but the joint was pretty empty for the rest of the night.

Left to right: Garrett Smith, Mike Lynch, Dana Lupinacci, Mark Dalton, and Billy Spaulding. Photo by Katha Dalton.

Where's Billy?? Photo by Katha Dalton.