The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
The Blasters and J. Geils’ Magic Dick in city this week
NEW HAVEN — It’s a rock-solid week coming up at Cafe Nine, with The Blasters blowing into town on Tuesday, following closely by Magic Dick (of the J. Geils Band) and Shun Ng on Saturday.
In both cases, the opening act is no slouch either.
The Blasters will be supported by the Hudson Valley’s rockin’ Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones.
Magic Dick and Shun Ng will have as their “openers” the Bouchard Brothers — featuring brothers Albert and Joe Bouchard, both former members of Blue Oyster Cult, along with Joan Levy Hepburn.
The Blasters show begins at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets are $25, available in advance at cafenine.com.
The Magic Dick and Shun Ng show begins at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $17 in advance at cafenine.com or $20 at the door.
For the uninitiated, here’s some of what you need to know:
The Blasters: There are some things that are a given in the world of rock ’n’ roll — and in the world of roots rock, it’s just a given that no Americana or roots band on Earth
rocks harder than The Blasters.
Even after all these years, we’re talking hard-headed, veins-bulging-out-of-your-neck-and-forehead rock ’n’ roll.
OK, so even in The Blasters’ early days, when Downey, Calif., brothers Dave and Phil Alvin were young men and they were playing with the original band, no one ever blew up mid-song on the stage like those Spinal Tap drummers did.
But sometimes it seemed as if they might.
That’s how hot they were. Well, guess what? They’re older now, definitely more mature. Dave Alvin, who left the band in 1986 but has occasionally popped back in, isn’t touring with them.
But they still play pure, high-octane American rock
“Shun’s sound simply made me feel very alive and induced in me a synchronous alignment of musical DNA.”
Magic Dick, legendary harmonica player, J. Geils Band
’n’ roll that’s as good as it gets. The current Blasters are vocalist-guitarist Phil Alvin, original drummer Bill Bateman, original bassist John Bazz, and guitarist Keith Wyatt, who has been with the band since 1996.
Magic Dick and Shun Ng: Magic Dick, the legendary harmonica player for Boston’s equally legendary J. Geils Band, has recently hooked up musically with guitar and vocal sensation Shun Ng to create music they describe as “soulful blues, rockin’ yet thoughtful and performed by arguably two of the top musicians at their respective instruments.”
Magic Dick has toured the world since 1969, playing everything from clubs to the largest stadiums with the J. Geils Band.
“From the moment I first heard Shun Ng’s CD, ‘Funky Thumb Stuff,’ I knew that a manifest musical collaboration was about to happen,” Magic Dick says in a promotional blurb on the Cafe Nine website. “Shun’s sound simply made me feel very alive and induced in me a synchronous alignment of musical DNA as if it was his intention, as well as mine, all along!”
Shun Ng was born in Chicago, raised in Singapore and is now based out of Boston. At age 24, he is already a soulful, worldclass guitarist, vocalist and electric performer.