I had the great pleasure of attending the celebration of life event for John Catt last night. It was a truly amazing night of memories, stories, positivity, and music! Very inspiring in regard to how many lives John touched and the incredible impact he had on people through his love of Blues music.
The event was held at the Tivoli Turhalle theatre room on the metro/UCD campus in downtown Denver. The room was at capacity. The event was very nicely put together with free drinks and food provided and a nice tribute wall to John with memorabilia from his different events/festivals over the years.
While everyone was gathering they had a nice slideshow playing of pictures of John over the years. The event then began with many people getting up and speaking about John. They included: Kai Turner (host of the radio show Strictly Blues and who also MC'd the entire event), one of John's sons, a childhood friend, individuals who worked with him, Don Ritter (owner of Category 5 Amplifiers), and some of the artists John supported. Joe B and Kate Moss got up together and both had very nice things to say about John's impact on them and their careers. Joe went so far as to say he never would have been able to stand on the Red Rocks stage 4 years ago playing to 10,000 people if it weren't for John. There were then several artists who couldn't attend in person that recorded video messages they sent for the event. The video messages included: Mike Zito, Walter Trout, Deanna Bogart, Zac Harmon, etc.
The live music portion then began and was honestly one of the best sets of live music I have seen. Incredible and emotional performances and tons of artists collaborating. Performers included: Kate Moss, Steve Marriner ( Monkey Junk), Austin Young, Michaela Rae, Sadie Johnson, Tommy Castro, Danielle Nicole, My Blue Sky, Jimmy Hall, Kara Grainger, Joe, and Reese.
Reese sat in for a song earlier in the show with Kate Moss and Steve Marriner that was great. Joe was the last featured performer of the night. He was backed by My Blue sky for his portion. Reese was obviously on stage for Joe's portion as well. Joe first played "look over Yonder's Wall". Kate Moss came on stage and joined in for the majority of the song. Joe then played "the thrill is gone". Kate stayed on for this song and Joe brought up Tommy Castro to play too. Joe indicated he and Tommy have known each other for 15 years but have never shared a stage. So, that was very cool. That was it for the "Joe" portion but everyone then came on stage for a finale with all the artists. They played "keep on smiling" which is an old song by Jimmy Hall's band Wet Willie.
Just an absolutely incredible night to honor the life of an incredible man. Very blessed to have been part of it.