North Mississippi Allstars live in Tel Aviv, Tuesday, July 10, 2012

 Luther Dickinson with Israel Blues Society

 co-founder Ilan Jonas

More than 400 music fans from many different disciplines and from all over the country came out Tuesday night July 10, 2012 to the Barby club in downtown Tel Aviv.
A fair contingent of Israel Blues Society members, some dedicated "Deadheads" (Grateful Dead fans),
fans of jambands like the Allman Brothers and Gov't Mule, and just folks who enjoy good music, and heard about the show from friends and on Facebook.
The Barby club is an old warehouse type structure with very high ceilings and metal rafters to support the old roof, huge chandeliers that look over 100 years old hang here and there from the rafters.


The folks start filtering in and getting settled in seats around tables, or standing in the space in front of the stage. Many of us are old friends and acquaintances who see each other at concerts and festivals, and this is one of the biggest events we have shared all year.

Alvin Youngblood Hart comes on stage to open the show solo, playing Charlie Patton, Son House, and Skip James classics as well as a couple of his own songs with impeccable technique on the guitar and a very soulful voice. To tell the truth, many of us came to hear Alvin just as much as the features act. The crowd is warmed up nicely now, and ready for the main show, the air is already highly charged with lovely energy, and about 10 minutes after Alvin finishes his set, brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson come on stage.

 Luther Dickinson with 2 dedicated Blues fans

Cody immediately opens with a New Orleans style quick parade marching beat, as Luther straps on his guitar and begins picking out a song slowly and softly.
The brothers, also known as the North Mississippi Allstars, and also as the North Mississippi Allstars Duo LuCo, It is quite hard to believe how full the sound is coming out of just a guitar and drum set, but these two manage to make it sound like at least a full 4 piece band was on stage.

After an hour with a string of their best songs, going from playing hard and full out and back down to a whisper and gentle fingerpicking, the audience is rocking and swaying, and hanging on their every move, and that's when Alvin comes back on stage, and picks up the bass guitar. Luther sits at the drum kit, as Cody pulls out a metal laundry washboard that is hooked up to a microphone and electronic effects pedals, and literally stuns the audience by making some wild and amazing sound patterns with the amplified washboard. Alvin now takes up a guitar and Luther the bass, as Alvin sings a couple of his own songs, and then switches back to the bass, as Luther pulls out an amplified 2 string cigar box guitar and plays it with a bottleneck slide. Next, Luther picks up a 2 stringed amplified coffee tin guitar and plays it slide style as well as singing through the other end of the tin can like a megaphone...

After all this wildness, they all went off stage for a few minutes as the crowd all stood on their feet and waited for an encore, and encore they got - at least another 20 minutes of the amazing high energy North Mississippi Allstars show. As one person leaving the club said: "That's just what I needed, that music filled me up for a long time!"

Cotton Comes to Tel Aviv

I just got back from a wonderful show of James Cotton's Superharp with
his fantastic band (Slam Allen guitar, vocals; Tom Holland guitar,
vocals; Noel Neal, bass; Kenny Neal Jr., drums)
right here in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The whole band is a very hot group of musicians, starting with Tom Holland who sang a few numbers and played rhythm, solo, and lovely slide guitar.
The major entertainment of the show was handled beautifully by Slam Allen - a great singer with a rich gospel singer's voice, and a very solid guitarist in his own right. He was very funny at times, he has amazing stage presence, always smiling and doing all the intros and knowing exactly what to say at any moment - he had the audience completely at his mercy.

Noel Neal on bass was so much fun to watch,
he really cracked me up for most of the show - he was "hamming it up"
making funny faces and poses, playing the bass with his hand over the
top of the fretboard, but still maintaining full control and playing
amazing bass throughout the show, including a couple of very hot solos
that got the crowd whistling and cheering when his turn came around.


Kenny Neal Jr. didn't stand out much except for one solo, but was
definitely the steady backbeat of the band, which acted as a tight unit and responded to the slightest signs from Cotton or from Slam.

Cotton was solid and enjoyable as ever, he looked like he was himself
enjoying the band!
We should all be so lucky at age 70 plus to be able to travel the world
and perform on stage for hundreds or thousands of people.
What a great show! What an amazing band!

Todd Wolfe - Live

OK, my body is moving toward the car, but my brain doesn't seem to be fully awake yet.
I've got a piece of cake and my portable coffee mug (with a spring loaded seal at the top for drinking and driving) filled with hot Turkish coffee/swill.
I pop a live CD of Todd Wolfe in the player and get going while the getting is good.
It's a nice sunny day today, not hot, just pleasant. As I get onto the highway and start devouring the cake, I realize that some days you just gotta get tough with traffic - you gotta seize the moment and get past all the idiots who are hogging a lane while driving 60 kph while everyone else is up at 80-100 kph.
It doesn't hurt to have the hot guitar work of Todd Wolfe playing "The Cissy Strut" in the background, as I find the empty holes in traffic to maneuver around the slow-pokes and get myself ahead in line and into a more free and open zone of traffic going 100-120 kph.

"Cissy Strut" has become a minor classic instrumental piece favored by Jazz, Rock, and even some Blues artists, it was originally written and recorded by the New Orleans funk band the Meters. I first heard it on one of John Scofield's late 1980's albums, and in recent years I've discovered recordings by the Derek Trucks Band, Gov't Mule, Danny Gatton and Redneck Jazz Explosion, and by Jaco Pastorius playing with Hiram Bullock.

Two tracks later, and Wolfe is doing the early BB King number "Woke Up This Morning" from BB's first recordings in the 50's.
I've now managed to sip at least half the coffee and taste the strong Turkish coffee aroma from the Galilee with cardamom and ginger and other special Yemenite coffee spices that I put in this morning, this is no ordinary coffee at all, it is a festival of flavors.
A little background on Todd Wolfe - he's a hot Blues-Rock guitarist that I was alerted to by someone who returned from a year in New York and was a number one fan of Todd's live shows, and brought me a few CDs of his music.
Wolfe has a good bit of professional mileage behind him, playing in assorted Rock and Blues bands in the 80's on the east coast, followed by a five years working closely with Sheryl Crow both as guitarist and co writer, but then he turned his back on the Rock and Roll fame game, and decided to return to the Blues. More power to him!! for keeping the Blues alive and for reaching new and young audiences with the Blues.

As I approach the high tech industrial area where I work, Todd is singing the Peter Green classic "I Need Your Love So Bad"
I guess that getting tough paid off this morning as it was a relatively short ride with no serious nerve wracking situations...