The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
St. Patrick’s Day is filled with music
A lot of activity this week with the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Many clubs are holding special events with many different specials. So this week has a lot of green along with the blues.
Black-Eyed Sally’s has a busy weekend coming up. Guitar lovers are going to enjoy the Friday and Saturday shows. Neal Vitullo & the Vipers are on stage Friday.
Always a crowd pleaser, Vitullo and his band are entertaining. Saturday, Jeff Pitchell & Texas Flood come to town. Long an area favorite, they fill the club and keep people dancing.
Sunday, the Connecticut Blues Society returns with the second preliminary in its annual Band Challenge. Set to show their stuff are Richie and the Red Hot Blues, Chicago Dawgs, Sweet Daddy Cool Breeze, and Chris MacKay & the ToneShifters. Preliminary 1 was won by The Ed Peabody Band, who now move on to the finals in Bushnell Park June 22.
Saturday, Connecticut Blues Society continues its collaboration with the Maple Tree Café, presenting the D. Smith Band. A long time on the state scene, these guys really deliver the blues.
Guitar fans have another big show to consider at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center on Saturday. It is the Masters of the Telecaster with GE Smith, Jim Weider, and Duke Levine.
The evening features three of the most prolific guitarists in the world. All three have impressive resumes with time spent playing with Bob Dylan, the SNL band, The Band, Levon Helm Band, Peter Wolf and more. This is sure to be a historic night of blues and roots and rock and roll.
You will hear tunes from Roy Buchanan, Little Richard, Neil Young, Lee Dorsey and Steve Winwood, Sam Cooke and more.
Weider is a master of classic telecaster guitar, is renowned for his rock and blues-based signature sound. He had a long tenure as lead guitarist replacing Robbie Robertson in The Band.
Smith was the music Director and led the Saturday Night Live (SNL) band for 10 years. During this time he also toured with Bob Dylan for four years. He also helped Mike Myers write a song for Aerosmith for when they performed on SNL. He is sought out by major recording artists such as Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Peter Wolfe.
Levine graduated from the New England Conservatory and has released five records of instrumental guitar music. He divides his time between the studio and the road. You can hear his playing on film scores such as “Lone Star”, “The Opposite Of Sex”, “Passion Fish”, “Honeydripper” and “Music Of The Heart.”
Taylor Barton will open the show. She and GE Smith have been writing and performing together for 30 years. This acoustic duo, is a must. A different side of Smith emerges, and there is nothing more intimate then hearing two people who are really connected.
Dean Shot is presenting a musical tribute to blues legend Chester Burnett, Howlin’ Wolf at The Turning Point on Sunday. Having spent almost 6 years playing guitar next to Hubert Sumlin, (Wolf ’s right hand man and guitarist for over 27 years) Shot learned much of what he knows about Howlin’ Wolf from his relationship with Sumlin.
He took it to heart when asked him to carry the music forward and give it to others by Sumlin. Shot has been a student of Howlin’ Wolf‘s music for over 20 years now. Sumlin took Shot under his wing, mentoring the young guitarist from New Jersey during his formative years. Learning priceless lessons and getting the information directly from the source had a profound effect on Shot as a musician and as a being.
He serves as the bandleader, guitarist and arranger for the project. He hopes to honor Wolf, Hubert and all the other great musicians that helped create the original sound with his honest and true tribute to the one and only Chester Burnett, aka The Howlin’ Wolf.
Friday, the James Armstrong Band is at The Falcon. Armstrong regularly brings his vibrant, welcoming live shows of traditional blues and unique songwriting skills to his shows. Thursday, Myles Mancuso Unplugged is there.
The Falcon Underground has Slam Allen Solo on Saturday.
Mark your calendar for the Meriden Daffodil Festival set for April 27-28. This annual event kicks off the summer festival season. The event provides something for everyone, be it music, food or crafts.
The Blues Foundation has “Bricks for the Blues” campaign going on. You can purchase a brick which will be installed at the entrance to The Blues Foundation and Blues Hall of Fame Museum. This is a lasting gift that becomes part of blues music history, education, and its future.
The Blues Foundation is accepting the Generation Blues Application for the 2019 Summer Session. Generation Blues was created to provide financial assistance to aspiring young blues musicians whose limited financial resources might prohibit them from attending a blues music learning opportunity.
This scholarship program is available for those under the age of 21 to study their instrument of choice at reputable camps, seminars, and workshop programs in the United States and Canada. The Scholarship does not fund individual lessons or tuition.
The deadline to submit a Generation Blues Application is March 31. For those interested in applying or have questions regarding the program, review the application and instructions or go to https://blues.org/ generation-blues/.
Get the complete Blues Beat schedule on Thursday at the blog http://bluesbeatnews.word press.com/. Any questions or comments should be sent to Domenic Forcella at TWBlus@aol.com.