And the et. al means I could not keep up with the names of the 33 musicians who showed up to play at what is becoming "the event" for blues musicians in the Bay Area. Organized by local blues musician Akarsha Kumar, a.k.a. Aki, who plays harp and vocals for Tip of the Top.
Aki is a charismatic organizer who has made the Dell Saloon on Thursday night a special place for musicians. They come, sign in with Aki, and rotate through songs with the beneficiary being the crowd that comes to listen. More and more, big blues names are showing up, just to play and hang out with their peers. Last night was a big night of names, which I unfortunately don't know them all. Terry Hanck was the feature, and he as Aki plans, plays later in the evening. Terry is a distinctive looking and sounding blues musician who sings and plays sax.
And boy does he get it on!
And when he blows the sax, well the place goes wild!
What is interesting, the smiles on the other musician faces sitting and standing in the audience. They clearly enjoy the performances by fellow artists and likewise the performance is serious because you are playing in front of your peers. But it all starts off with Aki, who is the "Master of Ceremonies" for the Thursday night event. Here is one of the early rotations with local musicians and Aki playing and singing. You can see how intimate the setting, which is wonderful for the audience.
As the night plays on, others come to the stage for a few tunes, return to talk with friends and fellow musicians, all the while enjoying the atmosphere and camaraderie of it all.
The morale of the story and my guess, if you like blues, come soon and come early. The reason being, it would not surprise me to see a line out the door in the not to distant future as word of this music hub spreads amongst the blues listening community. Places like this don't exist anymore, harkens back to 60's when this was fairly common. Money, big stages, and ego's changed all that except for this little part of Campbell Ca. at the Grand Dell Saloon.
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