Pocono Blues Festival 2006

SUNDAY AT THE 15th ANNUAL POCONO BLUES FESTIVAL
by Anthony Dellaria

The last time I was at the Pocono Blues Festival was on a Sunday in 2003, and the day started with some serious Sacred Steel. The Campbell Brothers were getting things warmed up that day with a little Church for everyone from what I recall! I also recall seeing Magic Slim perform one of the best sets I have ever seen! Oh the Memories.........and I certainly came away this year with some great memories too!

This year the Sunday line-up was as impressive as ever. Michael Cloeren, the festival's promoter always seems to hand pick some of the finest international Blues musicians and put a fantastic weekend of all genres of the Blues together. Always a mix of well known musicians and some relatively new artists, I'm convinced that Michael does his homework very seriously.

The three stage venue is located at the Big Boulder Ski Resort in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania. With two main stages and a tent stage area, there's almost too much going on. This was the only real bummer of the day for me as I had to miss John Hammond's performance. Oh Well! Don't get me wrong, it's all good at Pocono!

For me, this years Sunday's performances started off with the steel guitar of Aubrey Ghent. Aubrey is a third generation steel guitar player (master) and 38 year veteran who has played the instrument since he was six. He definitely had the crowd spiritually in tune, and it was a great way to begin the day! I caught almost the entire one hour and fifteen minute set, and got spiritually fit for the rest of the day. If you were listening to the message, Aubrey was telling some old stories in a great way, embellishing that stuff I used to hear in Church with some great music! It was some of the best Church you will ever get.

After Aubrey's set I headed up to the tent stage and caught the end of Mem Shannon's first set of the afternoon. Mem Shannon, an ex cabbie from New Orleans took firm hold of the audience. Playing mostly tunes from Mem's latest CD, "I'm from Phunkville", the four piece band consisting of guitar, bass, keyboards and drums, pumped up the crowd. Like he says in the song ……….In Phunkville, they "don't allow no standing still," and they "don't allow no squares." I'm not much on 10 minute songs, but this I could handle easily.

Next I was able to catch the last half of John Lee Hooker Jr.'s set on the second main stage. After a brief stop to chat with Finis Tasby from the Mannish Boys, I arrived stage right to catch several tunes from Hooker's latest CD, "Blues with a Vengeance". Hooker Jr. was joined by keyboardist Stephan Ortiz, bassist George Lacson, drummer Michael Rogers, and featured young blues prodigy Jeff Horan on lead guitar. This is the third time over the last year I was able to see Hooker and his band, and although I definitely enjoy him playing his father's material like "Boom Boom", and "One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer", it may take a few more performances to appreciate his own material as much as his Father's.

After catching Hooker it was a brief excursion back over to the tent stage to catch the end of a set by Zac Harmon. Harmon who was raised in Jackson Mississippi, has been involved in many genres of music over the years as a studio musician and producer, and now is enjoying a revitalized career since winning the Blues Foundations 2004 International Blues Challenge as "best unsigned blues band". Playing songs from his latest CD, The Blues According to Zachariah, Zac lulled the crowd. While Zac played his story, and sometimes spoke his story, I got a feeling like he definitely had a way to get the crowd to feel where he is coming from. A true bluesman and a hell of a nice guy to boot! If you get a chance to see Zac, GO!

Well, it now was approaching 3:00 PM, and I headed down to the center main stage for the Mannish Boys. The line up for the Mannish Boys Blues Review was as follows: Randy Chortkoff on Harp and Vocals, "Kid" Ramos on Guitar, Rusty Zinn on Guitar and Vocals, Tom Leavy on Bass, Leon Blue on Piano and Vocals, Richard Innes on Drums, Johnny Dyer on Harp and Vocals, and Finis Tasby on Vocals. With these veterans there was no question as to what I was in for! Having caught these guys with a very similar line-up at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 2004, I knew there would be no disappointments here!

The one-and-a-half hour plus set was nothing but the purest blues, starting with "Kids Jump" and ending with the boys coming out for an encore, breaking into Jimmy Reed's "The Sun is Shining". Playing almost an identical set list off of the most recent CD Live in Demand, the boys took the crowd to school. This was the real deal without a doubt! All of it was a highlight, but several interim highlights were, Leon Blue doing "She Wants To Sell My Monkey", Johhny Dyer performing "Mannish Boy" and "Howlin Wolf", and Finis Tasby performing "Goin' Crazy Over T.V." (one of my personal favorites) and "As The Years Go Passing By".

I literally stood in one spot somewhat center stage and didn't move for the entire set as these guys brought me to that magical place where I know "Everything is Gonna Be All Right!" Truly the blues, these guys put on a Festival within the Festival! I was once again reminded of why I keep on coming to these Festivals, looking to hear the real stuff and often finding bands that keep the blues alive, playing the blues as it was meant to be heard. My thanks to the Mannish Boys for keeping it real!

Afterwards I was able to meet with these guys backstage for a brief interview. The interview should be posted next week at bluessorce.com along with slideshow of photos of the Mannish Boys performance at the Festival. Special thanks to Frank Roszak (Delta Groove Productions), the bands Road Manager, and Michael Cloeren (Festival Promotor) for setting things up!

Well, that was it for the day as I had to depart early. Even though I missed Mighty Sam McClain and KoKo Taylor, I was fine with it having gotten a HUGE dose of blues. A week later today while writing these last words………I'm still feeling it, and that's what it's about!

Chek out the Slideshow of this Festival!

My Regards Blues Fans,
Tony Dellaria

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