Rolphy Heads Down to Marin County for the Falkirk Fest.
The Falkirk Foundation Summer Concert
August 26, 2001
The three band concert this afternoon was interesting. It took place in the county with the highest per capita income in the United States, Marin County California, in the County Seat, San Rafael, home of many musicians.
First up was Mother Hips. They are an adorable pop band, kinda like the Turtles or the Dave Clark Five. Very retro, very good old time pop, they are really into it. They have a lot of nubile girls in tight clothes hanging around. The lead singer has blond surfer hair. They did a very good pro show in their pop mode. Deja Vu all over again. I kept looking around for Herman and the Hermits.
Second up was Alvin Youngblood Hart. He was there with a rack of old guitars and pedals and he had trouble with all of them. His sidemen were young guys who put their whole bodies into every single note. The Drums were louder than any thing (partly the fault of the sound guys). Alvin played a bunch of Stones and Hendrix covers and stuff off his 'new thing' third album. He's not a strong vocalist and all of his guitars sounded the same: loud and grungy. I don't understand why a guy who is a top acoustic guitarist has to play loud repetitive riff grunge music. The sophomore jinx. Lets hope he grows out of it. Something malfunctioned on his Telecaster and he went off stage to fix it leaving the drums and bass to play on. All three of them were wearing crummy T-Shirts and the whole thing seemed unprofessional and unfocussed. Maybe he's supposed to have 'attitude'.
Last up and the headliner was Joe Louis Walker and the Bosstalkers. They had attitude: Professional attitude. On a blistering hot day the three front line guys (guitar, keys, sax) wore gig shirts. No pineapples or palm trees, just colorful full cut 'bowling shirts'. The backline bass and drums wore presentable T-Shirts. They had bombproof equipment: Fender and Roland. Joe Louis Walker had ONE guitar, a Les Paul Custom 'Black Beauty'. When he wanted to change tones he didn't change guitars, he changed settings on the guitar and his Fender Bassman. When the sound system had troubles they just coped with it and kept going.
And man did they play- with groove, dynamics, and musicianship. Really wonderful. They did originals from several CDs over years. When they did tunes by other people they did them their way with their arrangements. When they did "T-Bone Shuffle" they did it their way. Joe Louis did one eight bar stretch quoting T-Bone, and that was it. The crowd got up and really danced for the first time. We danced his whole set
"It was a little place, too small to be a town,
It was a little place, too small to be a town,
I fell in love with this girl, She saw me hanging 'round."
And over the course of the show Joe Louis had J.J. Malone, grand old man of Bay Area blues piano sit in. He had a good harp player sit in. He had his regular piano player showcase the boogie-woogie piano he can do. He showcased his fine sax player. And his great drummer. Then in a stunner, on his encore, he handed his guitar to a heavy set, bearded guy: Otis Grand. Otis played his butt off.
All in all, an almost stunning contrast in "attitude" vs. professional attitude. We bluesers all quietly know it in the Bay Area: around here Joe Louis Walker is King. There are contenders, but they gotta go thru Joe.
Joe Louis Walker
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