Topic: Terry Robb Bay Area House Concert

[waxwing]

Wow, I am excited to tell you all that I will be having a House Concert featuring Terry Robb, at our new home in Oakland. We were trying to set up something at the Bay View Boat Club, where I do a monthly set, while Terry is in the Bay Area for a gig at Biscuits and Blues, but it fell thru. So I put out the idea of doing a House Concert and Terry liked it. It will be on Thursday, November 10 at 8 PM. I'll play a warm-up set and Terry will play two sets. I'm really looking forward to this.

If you are into Acoustic Blues you should know Terry Robb's music. He has been a top performer for decades and worked with John Fahey in the '80s. Check out his web site to get an idea of what an honor it is to have him perform in our home.

Since this is my first house concert I'm going to limit it to 20 people. Donation will be $15 to support great acoustic music in the Bay Area.

Please send me an email with "Re: House Concert" as the subject if you would like to attend. You can do this by selecting my name and viewing my user profile. Send an email, not a Personal Message.

Please send me your phone # so I can contact you with particulars and directions. It's not easy to open your house up to the public. I would like to talk to anyone whom I do not know personally, but am hoping to bring together a few new Bay Area Weenies in the bargain.

I will number emails in the order which I receive them to decide the first 20 who sign up. Responding in this thread does not get you on the list.

I will also keep a short waiting list in case of any cancellations.

As of now I have 8 people signed up from my personal email list. If I don't have 20 by tomorrow evening I will post on the IGS Forum and the Woodshed.

I hope a lot of you can make it. This may be the first of many house concerts, I hope.

Boy, am I excited. I practiced for at least 3 hours today.

All for now.
John C.

[waxwing]

BTW, anyone in the Bay Area, or elsewhere, that would like to be on my email list even tho' you can't make it to this event, please send me an email with "Blues Lovers List" as the subject. So far I only send out one a month, sometimes not even that.
All for now.
John C.

[uncle bud]

Sounds like a great time, Wax. Wasn't Terry playing in the clubs at Port Townsend this year? I never made it to the clubs...

[waxwing]

He did, UB, with a three piece band. I missed that, too. He told me he also taight one year a while back, but that was before I started attending. It was too late to set up a workshop this time around, but he comes down 2 or 3 times a year, so if this works out we may do it as a regular thing, and maybe have a workshop in the afternoon. Now that would be cool!

Of course, I also look forward to having other touring acoustic blues artists do the same. Having a few periferal house concerts can make coming to the bay area for a gig at Biscuits or the Freight a little more feasible for folks from Portland or Seattle, or from down south. Boy, I really hope I can get Paul Geremia to do one when he makes his yearly swing thru.

All for now.
John C.

[Bob B]

Hi all

House concerts are a great way to go.  Living in So Calif. we've been fortunate enough to see Pat Donohue, Rick Ruskin, Pierre Bensusan, etc. at Kevin Ryan's house.

We enjoyed Terry Robb at the Fret House (Covina).  He really knows his way around the fretboard and sings with great feeling.  He did an Ishman Bracey tune that just shot the lights out.

Congrats on opening for him, Waxwing.  Knock 'em out!! Keep us posted.

All for now

Bob

[Rivers]

Terry played and taught at Port Townsend, 97 I think it was. Excellent player and a really good bloke. Does a good Blind Blake, Chump Man Blues. I recall Terry did a session co-hosted with JohnM on Charlie Patton in various keys and tunings that was very interesting. Must dig out the tape now my stuff has arrived.

[GhostRider]

Barbeque John:

I know the house concert will be a hoot. When Mary Flower was through Calgary in August, She did a show at a local venue and then a house concert I arranged at a friend's place. She did a set, then we did two together. She was/is a very gracious woman to put up with me.

She played my L-00 and I played a Larrivee OM-9.

I think the crowd enjoyed her playing even more in the intimate setting.

I'm sure yours will go great Stock lots of booze..

Good luck,
Alex

[uncle bud]

When Mary Flower was through Calgary in August, She did a show at a local venue and then a house concert I arranged at a friend's place. She did a set, then we did two together. She was/is a very gracious woman to put up with me.

You can say that again. 

But seriously, Alex, you need to brag about these things more when they happen. That's great that you did a house concert with Mary. Were you playing any tunes together? Inquiring weenies want to know....

[waxwing]

Of course Mary would be high on my list for a future concert. She was one of the people who first got me started thinlking about it. I talked to her a year ago at PT about playing the bay area, and she was pretty pessimistic about venues. Now that she's doing so well after transplanting to the Portland area, I'm hoping a few more doors will open for her here and maybe the possibility of a house concert here would tip the balance and she could put a little downcoast tour together.

'Course there's a few other PNW folks I sure wouldn't mind seeing in the bay area now and then (hint, hint). Well, we'll have to see how this one goes.

Speaking of which, I've still got lots of seats open. Haven't really heard from any Weenies, yet, except Miller, who's gonna be my doorman. I'm seein' a few pins on ther member map representing folks I'd like to meet, not only for this house concert, but just to start more of a bay area country blues community awareness. But I hope some of you folks can get out and support Terry.

And yeah, Alex, how 'bout a little more info on your concert with Mary. I'll share my decision process about my set list if you come clean.

All for now.
John C.

[waxwing]

So, even tho' Alex let down on his side -G- here's the list of songs I've been practicing a lot, in no particular order. I know I need to winnow down a bit more:

Stella:
Canned Heat Blues - TJ - Drop D, capo 2
Mississippi Blues -  WB - A, capo 3
St' James Infirmary Blues - DvR - Am, capo 3
Kindhearted Woman Blues - RJ - A, capo 3
Back Door Blues - SB - D, capo 3
Tired of Being Mistreated - CG - Spanish @ A, capo 6
Frankie - MJH - Spanish @ A, capo 3
Future Blues - WB - Spanish @ A
Goin' Down Slow - LH - E, capo 3

National Style O:
Policy Blues - BC - Drop D, capo 2
Untrue Blues -  BBF - A, capo 2-3
Walkin' My Troubles Away - BBF - E, Capo 2-3
Jivin' Woman Blues - BBF - C, capo 2-3
New Way of Lovin' Blues - BM - Drop D

Sovereign 12 (Standard @ B):
Broke Down Engine - BWMcT - E
Risin' River Blues - GC - E, capo 5

Yikes, 16 songs! Figuring about 5 minutes per song I guess I need to cut down to 9-10, or maybe 8-9 would be more realistic. They're all pretty strong and I would feel confident playing any of them at my monthly boat club gig. But this will be a little higher pressure so I think I should make sure I have quite a few that I feel very comfortable with. Having a couple fresh ones, like ToBM and BDB, both of which I've worked on a lot recently would probably be a good idea, too. I guess I'll sleep on it and make the final cut tomorrow, so I can practice just "the set" for a couple days.

Any ideas, please let me know. Thanks.

Still a few seats available.

All for now.
John C.

[Mike Billo]

Best of luck, John. I'm going to be out of town, otherwise I'd be there to support the cause.
  Hope you have a full house.

Mike

[GhostRider]

Hi:

Alright, alright.

Yes we did play together, (Mary did a set solo first), mostly doing tunes I knew, with her backing me (talk about the wrong way around).

If my memory serves....:

Early Morning Blues/Black Dog Blues - B.B - C (sang all the words to both)
Diddie wa Diddie - BB - C
Depression Has Gone From Me - BB - E (also sang all the verses from Sittin' On Top of the World)
Walkin' Through the Country - BB - C (Mary played this one, I only sang)

Lead Pencil Blues - Jonnie Temple - E
Don't Sell It, Don't Give It Away - O. Woods - G
Church Bell Blues - LJ - E
Mississippi Blues - WB - A (we recreated our PT duet, with Mary playing BJ's part and me singing)

New Bumble Bee - MM - E
Kindhearted Woman Blues - RJ - A
I Got Mine - FS - C

Now my memory fades, I think we did...:

Chump Man Blues - BB - drop D (with some verses from Police Dog blues mixed in)
Big Road Blues - TJ - drop D
Howlin' Wolf - FPS - A
Rollin' From Side to Side - LHJ - G

Mary was great in concert. At the venue gig, she got a most enthusiastic encore (multiple requests). The best moment was her doing a Memphis Minnie tune (Joliet Bound?) and Tim Williams backing on mandolin. Superb

My 15 min. of fame is up,
Alex

[uncle bud]

Most impressive, Alex. Bravo. What's next, Cephas and Wiggins opening for you?

[waxwing]

Wow, what a blast. I'm still buzzing and can't possibly go to sleep. Too bad only a handful (made smaller by illness and work issues) of people made it. Terry is a tremendous player. I caught his show (with PTer Walker T. Ryan sharing the bill) last night at Biscuits and Blues and I was pretty amazed. I would have to say I was intimidated to play before him, but he is also such a genuine person that I was really put at ease as we sat around talking with Miller Wise and Terry's friend, Cassie, before folks arrived.

I started off a little shaky, but settled in with Canned Heat Blues. (set list below) Terry wanted to play some together, so I saved Mississippi Blues for the end of my set. He joined me effortlessly and took great breaks. We followed that with the DvR version of Saint James Infirmary and when he wanted to do another I suggested M & O Blues. This was the high point of the evening for me, Terry playing the second part just like the Patton/Brown duets, and I was really able to cut loose with the vocal. Man that was fun.

Terry's set was great, Every piece was excellent. Starting with John Jackson's Boats up the River, blending into a medley of  Rev. Gary. Miller could do more justice to the names of the songs, but I remember  Ishmon Bracey's Trouble Hearted Blues, Son House's Depot Blues and Tommy Johnson's Travelin' Blues, as recorded by his younger brother Mager, and Judge Bouchet(?). He also did his truly phenomenal version of Blake's Chump Man Blues and also That'll Never Happen No More.

When he took a break to do a quick radio interview over the phone everyone said it was past their bed time so when he was done he and I played Lightnin's Going Down Slow and DvR's version of Come Back Baby for Cassie. Even Dr. Wise had left due to morning surgery.

Terry really seemed to enjoy himself and we talked about doing another house concert when he comes down in the spring. I hope we can schedule it on a Friday and get a full house. The rest of you Bay Area Weenies better not miss him the next time he's down.

Here's my set list:

Untrue Blues
Canned Heat Blues
Back Door Blues
Frankie
Risin' River Blues
Broke Down Engine
Policy Blues
Jivin' Woman Blues
Future Blues
Kind Hearted Woman
Mississippi Blues

All for now.
John C.

[GhostRider]

BJ:

Congradulations. Sounds as though the evening went perfect. Sorry I missed it.

Alex

[markm]

Sounds like a hoot, John.  I really wanted to come down on Thursday but I had to coach my daughter's basketball team last night for their tournament so I knew I couldn't make it.  Walker stayed with us last week while he was playing some dates up here in Santa Rosa and he was very excited about playing with Terry at B and B.

I am sure there was a lot of great music going on.  Keep us posted on upcoming activities and if you get something together for us all to participate I would love to make it.

Mark

[GhostRider]

What's next, Cephas and Wiggins opening for you?

Right. Only if they work for bird seed, which is all anyone would pay to see me in concert.

Alex

[Johnm]

Congratulations on pulling off the house concert, John C.  It sounds like it went really well.  It is a great way to hear music.  I think it is definitely much more stressful hosting and performing rather than just performing at such an event.  Maybe there are other people down there with suitable houses who would be willing to make them available for concerts so that next time you don't have to pull double duty.  It's a great thing to get started, and once people realize how well you can hear the music at such shows, I don't think you'll have any trouble getting capacity crowds.
All best,
Johnm

[dabluz]

i was fortunate enough to see terry on thursday night in livermore at babe's place. he is awesome