[ Closed ] waterfront blues fest (Page 2 of 3)

AGREED!!!  BRAVO Steve and WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!!  Indeed, THAT was QUITE the FIRST POST!!!  As a matter of fact, I LOVED IT SO MUCH, I even added a quote from you to my 'signature' (see below - right after that very funny quote by that other funny man - Bill S.!!!  Coinkydink!!!). 

We made certain that our very dear friends from Portland were in attendance for their 'Bonabaptism' (as many around here call it) and, of COURSE, they were COMPLETELY BLOWN AWAY!!!!  I just wish that I could have been there to see it unfold.  For me, the next best thing to watching Joe is to watch someone ELSE watch Joe, for the first time.  Nothing like it. 

I agree with the rest of the spirit of Bill's post too - the thread seems to have taken a left turn.  Might I suggest you open an additional thread in the 'Introductions' category so that even MORE members can welcome you and, at the same time, this particular thread will no longer continue to be 'bumped' to the top?  I just like to keep things upbeat and happy around here. 

Welcome aboard.  There are a LOT of REALLY NICE PEOPLE here who enjoy having fun, sharing Joe's music, sharing information about other artists, supporting one another, etc.  I'm VERY PROUD to be an active member of such a GREAT PLACE.  I have made SEVERAL VERY DEEP CONNECTIONS with people here and am happy to call many people 'friend'.  It IS like a family.  I'm sure you'll feel right at home.

  Libby 

Welcome to you too, Jimmy.  I'm sorry for what you've suffered and do hope this place can bring you some happiness.

Thank you Steve.  I rest my case without myself saying a word. 
OK, a few words....Possibly to be perceived unkind, perhaps that way, but heart felt what I feel is the truth, willing to risk that I've got it wrong, to take the ridicule, in the hope that Jimmy Mac might see some benefit of someone pointing out something he hasn't seen from a different point of view...
Your legitimate opinions are ok, we suffer severe disagreement on SOME points. But welcome regardless!
Joe has trimmed his note flurries since moving to sunnier climates...Check it out and see.  Perhaps one could make a case he's strumming up a storm on Woke Up Dreaming (that's a Tommy topper lyric wise in one singular song), but he does not just twiddle de guitfiddle to befuddle our widdle ears...Even if he did, for crying out loud even Eric Clapton used to do that!
Please no pity party. You only welcome sincere and sincerely deserved ridicule when pity is tempered with tempermental temper tantrums.  The sun is out in Portland (for only a short time), you got no reason to be sad!

I been further under the house, looking for eggs, than you ever been-you humbuggin' the crap outta me!
Them's Rocket's lyrics bub.

Steve E and other Shiny Happy fans....
Rock On & Keep the Faith,
Rocket

"He still doesn't charge for mistakes! "
http://jbonamassa.com/tour-dates/
"Everybody wants ta get inta the act!"
“Now, this isn’t your ordinary party crowd, here.  I mean, there are professionals in here.”

Jimmy..don't assume we trivialize anybody's pain, because we don't. I'm really sorry if you feel we are not sympathetic. I'm just not sure how it relates to the harsh words you used about Joe. I want you to stop for 15 minutes and ask yourself why on Earth you would ever ask another human to chant those words. I've been a nurse for 35 yrs. Half in ICU and half in Hospice. I encourage a more positive internal dialogue. Try it for yourself, please.

We don't doubt your credibility and many here are equal in stature...it's just not important. Opinions about what you heard and how you reacted are personal and only require ears and some kind of soul. So stick around and soak up some of the positives that dominate this forum. Share your knowledge, express your opinions, and again, make NO assumptions.

Now, repeat after me.."I have value, people love me, life is good"    Peace, Cathy

Nice review, not unlike the Monterey reviews. They didn't mention whether Isaac played "Stinky Britches" or "Salty Balls".

                                                                                            Just Wonderin',

                                                                                            J Dawg

That's exactly my problem, you go to a show and it's not your cup of tea. Then you come on his forum, and insult him (calling someone a poser, just because he puts on a show, is an insult). Just chill out... and appreciate Joe for what he does...or not. Joe never claimed to be old school, he's a blues rocker, although he can break out old school blues that will make you cry (Asking Around for You).

This really is a friendly place, you just came on too strong (especially with your first post!). I repeat...just chill out a little. And who knows...now that you know what Joe does, I bet you'll find yourself becoming a fan before you know it...it's almost impossible not to be, especially for a guitar player!

I apologize for my apology...wait, that makes no sense LOL

I was sent a note off forum that was oh so sweet and just the tastiest gumbo. She help put things in perfect perspective for me. I think it might be helpful for y'all to know I took lessons from Robbie Laws and Mark Stefani (Robbie's teacher). People familiar with Portland Blues and the Waterfront Blues Fest know the name Robbie Laws or they just haven't been paying attention. I'm no Robbie Laws, but I'm getting there. I was actually a jazz guy before coming to the Blues, studying under Dan Balmer (http://www.danbalmer.com). I'll tell you what people, Dan Balmer can match Joe note for note on speed, knowledge of the fret, knowledge of chords, on anything guitar wise. I'll make this claim, that is no one more masterful on the guitar than Dan Balmer. I've seen all the greats, Joe Bonamassa, Jimmy Thackery, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Pat Metheny, John Scolfied, Mike Stern, Bill Frissell, Robert Fripp, Frank Zappa, Joe Pass, Vernon Reid, Gary Hoey, Al DiMeola,... Any guitar hero that's played Portland in the last 28 years, I've seen them, and Dan Balmer is every bit as good as any of them. At that level, it is an apples to oranges comparison, who to you compare genius? Yes, I know some of you didn't hear it when I said it before, I believe Joe Bonamassa to be a guitar genius, on the path to becoming a music genius. Dan Balmer is already both, and what makes him different for me, why he's my favorite, is he's Oregon. Dan's music seeps, bleeds Portland, Oregon. Everything that is herky, jerky, freaky Portland Oregon comes out in Dan's alt jazz. You other Portlanders who go out to Jimmy Mak's on Monday nights to see Dan play with Jeff Leonard, George Mitchell, or Carton Jackson (there's a Blues name other Portlanders should recognize), or to hear Dan's band Go By Train, or to hear Dan play with one of Mel Brown's (Diana Ross's former drummer, band leader of band that won the Playboy Jazz Compititon) configurations, or maybe you have Diane Schurr's (http://www.dianeschuur.com) latest CD, Dan plays in her band now. Dan taught me to play moveable scales and chords over jazz changes at bepop tempos. I thanked him by joining a hard rock bank, The Butchers (see my MySpace site http://www.myspace.com/fastjimmysjam). I guess the Blues revealed by my playing on these tunes on my MySpace site gives some indication of my playing. This is all way before my 4 year depression. This is circa 1995, not sure...That's a Mexican Strat, Tube Screamer, Cry Baby Wah, and Fender Super 60. Current rig is a Pod XT into this 100 watt Fender Keyboard amp. Raise the hell hounds and the devil himself I can LOL

Well, time to get down the Waterfront. It's Gospell day, Linda Hornbuckle and Janice Scroggins, I'll be talkin' in tounges before it's over

Love you Joe Bonamassa peoples!!!!

Thanks, Jeff! The strat has Kinman pickups, which I like a lot better than the stock texas specials. Probably 20% pickups and 80% the rig. I'll bring over the thinline tele next time, it sounds like no other tele you've heard (custom design Bill Lawrence pickups on that one), and it's light as a feather.

You gotta walk a tight rope to keep from getting your hand slapped in this forum...some of the most nit picking people on the internet I've ever come across. I mean seriously, in the context of a thread on JB's performance at the WBF I wanna contrast Joe to Dan Balmer I'm suppose to jump over to the Other Artists Forum? Does that really make sense? Maybe post it both places, but man, in other places I hang on the internet I'd be justified in coming down on you with all the weight I could muster for this kind of nit picking. That would be the weight of all the water that sits on top of the Marianas Trench (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Trench).

My wife keeps reminding me people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. She keeps forgetting after I moved from that place I had at the bottom of the Marianas Trench I moved into a card board box under the Burnside Bridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnside_Bridge). If my box gets all tore up, I just walk around for a short while down by the warehouses between the river and Martin Luther King Blvd (http://maps.live.com/?where1=438%20Sout … R,%2097214), South of Hawthorne, North of the Ross Island Bridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Island_Bridge), until I find another box to my liking. Then I head back under the Burnside Bridge and start throwing them stones all over again LOL

Hey, man, JB was hands down the best guitar player at the WBF this year. Nobody else even came close, at least in my estimation. There were some other really, really good players, so this is a huge compliment I'm giving JB here. In terms of the music, well, for my tastes, I'd stack it up as follows:

Isaac Hayes
Paul Thorn
Reggie Houson and the Manamals
Curtis Salgado
Ben Rice & Mac Potts (Blues Cruise, friends of mine, 20 & 17 years old)
Arthur Adams
Joe Bonamassa

Isaac Hayes being on top of the list is as big a surprise to as I'm sure it is to you, especially if you were there, and saw that stroke addled old man barely able to make it on stage to sit down to his keyboard. Being a guitar junky and a practitioner of Jimi's stage antics I want hyper-energy from a front man. But Isaac hayes is Hot Buttered Soul, Black Mosses, and Shaft on a Sunday afternoon making slow and easy love with his lady. I think folks who thought Isaac Hayes was no big deal were projecting the movie Shaft onto him as a black action hero, like a black Rambo, and were expecting him to come out like a house a fire and  tear the place down. OK, I guess I'm just speaking for myself. Once I got that expectation out of my head, clued into the genius of the arrangements, the orchestration of synthesizer, guitar, bass, and vocals, that these elements had been expertly combined to create a lush hot buttered sound that simply filled all available space, as long as you open to it and listen.   

It's obvious to me the reporter from the Oregonian simply wasn't open to what Mr. Hayes was doing and missed why he has such a huge spot in the history of pop music. Mr. Hayes was rapping before the term was invented. Mr. Hayes' arrangements did in soul context wh  had never been done before, fill up all available space with that hot buttered sound, that spacious synth sound creating the back drop, the horns way over there, the guitar up and yonder, the bass way down low and heavy, and then the vocal strong, calm and in control, but oh-so in your face, telling you, I'm a tall, big, black man, and I ain't crossing the other side of the street to walk on that side walk for no white person. Just put it into historical context. 1968, Mexico City, a black man on the podium, medal around neck, black fist raised high in power and defiance. That music the Mr. Hayes played to close the night when JB played was all this and oh so much more, and it all went right over that Oregonian reporters head, as well as a good chunk of the crowd there out on the grass in the fish bowl as we WBF veterans call it.

So, here I am, y'all, just speaking truth. This is what I do. I'm not criticizing or trying to tear down, shout down anybody, just explaining how I see it, how I feel about it. Mr. Isaac Hayes has a huge spot in the history of music in the USA and I feel it's relevant I bring this up in this form because this thread is about the WBF, and the issue has been raised via an article in the Oregonian that JB stole the show from Mr. Hayes. Obviously I beg to differ in the strongest of terms. I would say Joe was a very admirable runner up, but common, man, how could Joe compete with Shaft, let alone Black Mosses?...:) LOL

Take care,
Jimmy Hale, aka Fast Jimmy
www.fastjimmy.com