Day two of the festival

I saw three acts today, whereof the middle one was the best and everyone else faded in comparison. Therefore, I start with them.

The second band I saw was Black River Bluesman & Bad Moon Hudson and, as I hinted above, was blown away.

This duo, guitar and drums, like the White Stripes, only better, played a modern version of blues, like Danko Jones, only better. They had a brutal sound to them, very raw and primitive guitarplay, a much needed kick up the arsehole of hippies who play endless guitar solos. To that, add a vocalist who sounds like count Dracula and could easily find employment in a psychobilly band. There's not much to say, they were simply brilliant. I think they come very close to the feel of blues ages ago, the same spirit that you could experience in clubs in Chicago when the migrants from the south had a day off and would go out clubbing. I think. I wasn't there, in Chicago, that is.

I had always thought that us from Skåne, the south of Sweden, that is, had the best voices for singing blues and the right feeling in us, but I must admitt, theese Finns come a long way close to excellence.

Black River Bluesman & Bad Moon Hudson's gig was one of the best I've experienced, all categories included. 90,2% in rate of satisfaction.

The third act I caught was John Primer & CPH Slim Band. Primer has worked with Muddy Waters and received Grammy nominations, which make him a legend. One could argue that what he played was blues by the numbers and a bit boring, but then again, the best gig I've ever been to was with the Warriors in Oslo ten years ago or so and I wasn't disappointed because they played numbers like Working class kids or Violence in our minds. If you've helped to define the genré of music you play, then you're entitled to go down memory lane.

It was a perfect gig in some respects, a real crowd pleaser, still, as an amateur in the blues field, I wasn't really that satisfied. I would have wanted something that stood out from the classical stuff.

78,3% in rate of satisfaction.

The first act I caught today was also the weakest. YO Combinations played a mix of blues with funk and southern rock. I liked it a bit, but not that much. They played a lot of covers and two of their own numbers, their own being their weakest.

Apart from that, there was nothing wrong with their craftsmanship. They know how to handle their instruments, I really liked the guitarplay at times.

 

58,3% in rate of satisfaction.

Day one of the festival

So, I went to the Eslöv city blues festival yesterday and I got tickets for tonight's show as well.

I am not really that into blues. I like it, but it's not a passion. It is however, the basic foundation of all African-American music and as this blog is about American culture, I think it's ok to review it here.

Friday's show started with two short plays by a free theatre group. I saw the first one and was not really that convinced it had something to do with blues, so when I discovered there was a geezer sitting in the café room playing electric guitar, harmonica and singing, I decided to give him a listen instead of watching the second play. I think his name was Christian, but I ain't too sure. I really liked his music, though. I think it had a country feeling to it's bluesiness and I got thinking along the terms of Townes van Zandt, even though this bloke first of all wasn't as good as Townes and, secondly, had his own sound. I really liked his guitar playing though.

As the clock approached 9 pm, the headliners of the night entered stage, The Big Bang Group. This group celebrated their 25th anniversary as a band this year an had, for that purpose, invited a lot of mates from throughout their career that they had enjoyed playing with. There was a few oldies, like vocalist and harmonica playing Bill Öhrström, as well as young vocalist Susanne Eriksson. All their guests were hugely talented though and even if I really liked Erikssons singing, it's unfair to say that one was better than the other.

Credit must also go out to guitarist of the day, Mange. The usual guitarist of the band had called in sick yesterday and just a few hours before the gig, they had called Mange and asked if he wanted to play with them as a stand-in and he agreed.

Together, they made one heck of a show! The basics of all the music was blues, but the band and their guests then went on picnics in jazz, as well as r&b/soul. I really liked the r&b-ish stuff. Sure, I can listen to a bit of jazz, as well, but I have a soft spot for r&B and soul, there's no denying that!

One of the highlights of the show was the Fats Domino tune Blueberry hill. Ulf Johansson Werre, who sang it, made a real crowd pleaser of a scat-singing at the end of it, which he evloved into a "Jojk", a Lapplandian singing style, that is.

Some tunes were in English and some in Swedish, but they were all good!

I enjoyed myself thuroughly throughout the show yesterday and am looking forward to tonight's show. Not sure I'll watch all of it, as I must get up early and go to church in the morning, but I'm really pleased that my little town can arrange a good festival like this one.

Big Bang Group made one heck of a great show and gets 81,3% in rate of satisfaction!

The Eslöv city blues festival

Just reminding people of the Eslöv city blues festival.

Programme in English avaiable here!

I went last year and had a blast, watching the band Cajun Peppar, was reason enough to go and I believe this year will great as well. I've naturally got my tickets for it.

So, if you're in the area in late October and would like to catch some good blues acts, come to the festival!

Film: "Rio Grande"

/ TITLE: Rio Grande / GENRÉ: Western movie / FORMAT: DVD /

Alright, to start off, this film is probably very politically incorrect and won't go down well in some quarters. But then, again, films reflect their time and what politically correct today might be incorrect at another time and this film is full of evil native americans (who are obviously called "in'juns") and a stereotypical irish-american seargeant, who likes his drink and fights and don't think too much.

The other thing which really struck me about this film, which is from 1950, is how much plot and drama there is to it. Western movies were to that generation what action flicks were for me, growing up in the 80's/90's and John Wayne, who does an excellent job at playing the lead character, Kirby York, was to them what Arnold and Sylvester was to my generation. It's all boys movie, this one. The women are beautiful, the US cavalry rides good, shoots lethally and party hard, whereas the native americans are genuinely evil and can't shoot.

But the big difference between this movie and today's action movies is of course the plot. When you watch an action movie today, like the Bourne trilogy, you get loads of shooting and spectacular stunts, but not much of a plot. This film was made at a time when you hadn't the same budget or technique for special effects and so, the plot and amount of drama is important and you get action as well as a very and genuinely good seeing-experience.

The other thing which stands out in this movie is the fact that it's full of good late 40's/early 50's Americana music and even if you don't like the plot, at least you can watch the film for the music in it. And if you don't like that kind of music, why the hell do you read my blog?

The story goes as follow, colonel Kirby York, with the US cavalry has trouble fighting native americans of the apache nation. The apaches keep making deadly attacks against the fort commanded by colonel York and then they retreat into Mexico. York is sickened tired with this and wants to move into Mexico and them apaches down and kill the lot of them. He asks for reinforcements, but is in for a rude awakening when first his son, whom he hasn't seen for fifteen years, arrive as a volunteer and then his estranged wife appears at camp, with the intent of bringing her darling baby boy home.

You get, as I've said, a lot of plot to this movie and there is a romantic undertone in the drama all the way, but there is also action with a few fights and skirmishes before it all ends in the anticipated showdown with the apaches.

Wayne plays the usual character he always plays, a man of duty, but also of morals. He doesn't like what the decisionmakers in DC are up to, but he defends his country's interests.

I loved this movie and if you're into western movies, you'll love it too. There is no room, however, for the revisionist western fan, this is traditional, good vs evil.

I'd recommend it to all my readers. A good flick like this lands a flippin 78,3% in rate of approval!