The
sky is crying, like a woman who caught her man with her best friend.It's
as bone-chilling cold as the dude kicked to the curb by his lady.The
puddles are deep as philosophy, the rain goes on and on like cellphone
blabber and the sun's in hiding, like someone who owes you money.It's
a wet, dark January in Seattle, and it's not getting any drier...
Oh yes, Seattle has the blues, the is-it-ever-going-to-stop-raining
blues. A fitting complement to the weather — and many moods — is the
musical form known as the blues; maybe for that reason there are so
many good blues bands playing around town — and beyond.
From Everett to
Tacoma, Port Townsend to Puyallup, the Puget Sound is all about the
blues. Check out Legends in West Seattle; Doc
Maynard's, the New Orleans
Restaurant and Highway 99
in the Pioneer Square area; Bad Albert's
in Ballard; the Hungry Goose in
Puyallup; the Rockfish in Anacortes; Jake's
Ales in Federal Way; and dozens of other neighborhood spots
around the Sound. You'll find makeshift stages hosting bands of middle-age,
savvy musicians, playing to a like age group.
The blues is slower,
grittier, often more intense (though it can be lazy) and — when done
properly — ultimately richer than rock, its twisted, raucous, delinquent
stepchild. The blues, at its pantheon, is Ray Charles howling, John
Lee Hooker growling, B.B. King making his guitar gently weep, Aretha
and Etta wailing about being wronged.
Everyday blues
is veteran local players, perhaps best evidenced at regular "jam"
nights, such as Spanaway's Silver Dollar Pub on Sundays,
Crazy Fish in Port Angeles on Wednesdays, Bad Albert's
on Thursdays.
Also on Thursday
nights at Legends, just over the West Seattle Bridge from downtown,
you can catch the savvy vet Tim Turner running a
regular jam. It's sort of a professional karaoke, with guitarist Turner
and his band playing favorites and being joined by fellow musicians
and singers.
On Jan. 12, the
night of Rain Day 25, Turner started a groove, and Charles
Key, who was watching in the audience, clapped his
hands and said, "No guts, no glory" as he made his way to the stage.
Turner handed Key a microphone, and soon the latter was singing, "all
I want to do is start all over again."
Bass player Laurie
Miller, in sunglasses, cowboy hat and leather pants, nods her head as
she lays down a steady groove; Doug McGrew, the drummer, looking like
a refugee from a metal band, pounds a relaxed, forward-moving beat as
Turner leads the way with searing solos. Turner is one of the busiest
musicians around. The guitarman is a regular at Jake's Ales in Federal
Way; the Oxford Saloon in Snohomish; Elmer's Pub in Burien; and Legends,
his home base.
Cure for
the blues = Seahawks playoff win On the night of Rain Day 27,
the Pioneer Square blues scene was pumped up by the Seahawks victory
that afternoon in nearby Qwest Field. Revelers, with rain pouring off
their Seahawk hats and jackets, hopped from bar to bar as the night
wore on.
Many of them hunkered
down for Creole food and entertainment at the New Orleans, a top-shelf,
old-school blues bar. The New Orleans is a long, narrow, railroad-car-style
performance space and restaurant (jambalaya, gumbo, red beans and
rice, etc.)
Saturday night,
the small New Orleans stage was filled by the Cadillac Jack
Revue, five well-dressed gentlemen with graying hair playing
slow, easy, down-home beats — jams as long as Seattle winter. One
of the lengthier songs featured a pass-it-around solo, first the guitar
player, over to the organ, kick it to the drums ...
A block
north
The Randy
Oxford Band was tuning up at Doc Maynard's, which switched
from punk-metal bands to blues last year. Trombonist Oxford played
"Happy Birthday" for a fan, then launched into the splendid Van Morrison
ballad "Carrying a Torch." Next, singer Jerry Lee Davidson howled
"Texas Hurricane," a sizzling, classic-sounding original of his that,
if there is justice in the music world, should be a big hit ... but
you know how that goes.
Oxford and company
will be traveling to Memphis to compete in a blues competition next
week, after playing at Tacoma's Jazzbones on Saturday
night.
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