May 2012

Have you heard? The Tuesday Night Blues summer schedule is out! Go to ChippewaValleyBlues.com to get the full listing. The Sue Orfield Band will be opening up the 2012 season on May 29th. If you haven’t figured it out, that is the Tuesday after Memorial Day. I’ve heard a rumor that SOB may have a special guest, but then, maybe not, you never can tell. Either way Sue will be wailing that tenor sax like only she can. There’s no doubt why she was named Best Horn by the Washington (state) Blues Society six times in eight years before she moved back to Wisconsin. With one of the tightest bands around, including Mike Schlenker, Randy Sinz & Dave Schrader, these guys & Sue always draw a crowd.

That’s just for openers! Thirteen more Tuesday’s until Labor Day, and every one of them has a great band playing at Tuesday Night Blues on The River at Owen Park in Eau Claire. Music always starts at 6:30. Our food and other vendors will be back so you can get a bite or a beverage at very reasonable prices while catching some superb music under the trees in the summer in the park.

The 2012 schedule for Tuesday Night Blues is complete and we're hoping to see MANY new faces this year and the friendly confines of Owen Park.

May 29 -- The Sue Orfield Band
June 5 -- The Revolvers
June 12 -- Howard 'Guitar' Luedtke & Blue Max
June 19 -- Rhythm Posse
June 26 -- Code Blue
July 3 -- Mojo Lemon
July 10 -- Pete Neuman
July 17 -- The Jones Tones
July 24 -- Steve Meyer with True Heat Band (Ben Harder & Bill Weiss)
July 31 -- Ross William Perry
August 7 -- Charlie Parr
August 14 -- The Pumps
August 21 -- Deep Water Reunion
August 28 -- Left Wing Bourbon

In case of inclement weather, our shows will be at House of Rock, 422 Water Street

Some of your annual favorites are back again, including those perennial contenders for Best Blues Band (Volume One poll), MOJO Lemon, Howard Luedtke w/Blue Max, and Left Wing Bourbon. Code Blue, Pete Neuman & The Real Deal, Code Blue, and The Jones Tones are all back again. Ross William Perry will be returning for a second appearance and a new version of The Pumps will be returning after some time off. That hardworking blues show band Deepwater Reunion will make the trek from all over Wisconsin again.

Charlie Parr will be making his first appearance at TNB this year, bringing his unique guitar and vocal stylings from Lake Superior. If you went down to the House Of Rock last Thanksgiving to catch the Tribute to The Band’s Last Waltz you got a chance to see some awesome musical performances by many of the members of the above mentioned bands. Two new bands that will be performing at Tuesday Night Blues are direct spinoffs from this great production. The guys who portrayed 4 of the 5 members of The Band will be performing as the Rhythm Posse! They will be featuring some special guests as well. The 5th of that core group, along with the musicians that portrayed Eric Clapton & Bob Dylan have formed another talented group currently known as Revolver. These guys can allo really kick out some jams!

We are really excited by this schedule. It is a difficult thing to put together and more than a couple performers are disappointed they aren’t on it. We had over 36 bands/performers request to be on the schedule, and there are only 14 Tuesdays between Memorial and Labor Day. We had requests from all over Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and even Louisiana, New York, Massachusetts and North Carolina. A far cry from when we started this up and were looking for bands to perform. We, here in the Chippewa Valley, are blessed with so many talented musicians, it’s incredible.

For more details and info on other musical happenings around the area go to ChippewaValleyBlues.com and check out the calendar on the home page. If you want us to list your band send us the info at “contact the webmaster. We will decide if it is appropriate for our site.

Catch Snapshot’s blues show every Sunday morning from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. on WHYS local community radio 96.3. If you can’t dial it in, you can stream it on the web at www.whysradio.org

Well, that’s about it for now, thanks for lending me an ear! See ya around!