MANNISH BOYS RETURN TO WATERFRONT BLUES FESTIVAL
June 30, 2008
That's Los Angeles' one band blues festival supergroup The Mannish Boys.
In their first return appearance since the 2004 Waterfront Blues Festival, The Mannish Boys and DeltaGroove Review have received multiple Blues Foundation Award nominations both for individual categories, as a group and for best CD. They have concluded both national and European tours and have released three highly-recognized, traditional blues CDs, including a live set since last visiting The Waterfront Blues Festival.
Each band member is legendary in their own right with most having long and storied recording careers. The Mannish Boys are: Drummer Richard "Bigfoot" Innes; on bass, Ronnie James Webber (The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Little Charlie and The Nightcats); and a returning original member; on guitars are the great Kid Ramos and Kirk "Ely" Fletcher and Franck "Paris Slim" Goldwasser; the vocalists are the band's leader Finis Tasby and newcomer Bobby Jones.
The band's harmonica aces are the legendary Johnny Dyer (vocals also) and DeltaGroove CEO and Emcee Randy Chortkoff, who also does some singing. Their return appearance will feature an afternoon blues cruise show, a mainstage show just before fireworks on the 4th of July, a guitar workshop presentation and participation in the Bill Rhoades Harmonica Blow-off show. Phillip Walker will be appearing on Sunday and perennial favorite Elvin Bishop will be headlining in support of his new DeltaGroove CD release.
The original act of the new blues recording label DeltaGroove Productions, The Mannish Boys are the foundation of the label's amazing growth. Since it's inception only a few years ago, DeltaGroove has signed such traditional blues heavyweights as Phillip Walker, Tommy Castro, the late Sean Costello, The Hollywood Blue Flames (the original Hollywood Fats band), The Phantom Blues Band, Portland's own Insomniacs and, most recently, Elvin Bishop.
In addition, DeltaGroove has added a second music division, EclectoGroove Records, signing artists of a more eclectic nature. Additionally, DeltaGroove has partnered with Big Sky Productions to produce the feature films What Love Is, starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Anne Heche and Spring Break 83 featuring John Goodman, Lee Majors and Erik Estrada.
CEO Randy Chortkoff talks about the momentum and positive effect that appearing at previous Waterfront Blues Festivals had on DeltaGroove's development; "I think our early live gigs started at the Waterfront Blues Festival. It really helped us to stay together and become an international touring act." He explains the effect of bringing back Kirk "Ely" Fletcher and Ronnie James Weber; "It's kinda like the same faces, but going back to the roots of the original studio album by bringing Kirk 'Ely' Fletcher and Ronnie James Weber back. The rhythm section of Ronnie Weber and Richard 'Bigfoot' Innes is like a two-man wrecking crew."
Chortkoff mentions the newest addition to the band, singer Bobby Jones; "He was very young in the '50s and '60s. When Junior Wells left the band called The Aces, with Dave and Lewis Myers and Fred Bedo, then The Aces, which was Little Walter's band, Bobby became their lead singer and frontman. He's a very powerful singer and a strong entertainer."
Chortkoff mentions his reason for originally putting the Mannish Boys together; "It was pretty much my favorite Southern California players. I wanted to hear them play together as a supergroup." He also discussed the Portland Connection with DeltaGroove, with Franck "Paris Slim" Goldwasser, one of the original band members living in Portland, and the recently signed Portland band The Insomniacs. Along with those is the always strong reception that all DeltaGroove artists receive when they appear in Portland. He specifically mentions The Insomniacs, who where nominated for Best New Act by the Blues Foundation. He says, "I love the Insomniacs. They were nominated by the Blues Foundation. They appeared at the DeltaGroove Blues Review show in Clarksdale, Mississippi. They just about stole the show and sold more CDs than any of the other acts."
Chortkoff tells a story of what happened with the Insomniacs, "Duke Robillard was there as a fan. After seeing the Insomniacs, he bought a CD and asked Vyasa Dobson (lead guitarist and singer/songwriter) to autograph it. Vyasa was overwhelmed by that!"
As a concert promoter for many years in the LA area, Chortkoff has a strong appreciation for the work that goes into signing the acts and coordinating the shows at an event like the Waterfront Blues Festival. He specifically had this to say about show booking agent Peter Dammann; "To put on a show and book a festival of the magnitude of the Waterfront Blues Festival is a monumental task. I simply have so much respect for him." He wanted to close by mentioning the bottom-line purpose of the festival in the first place 'to support the Oregon Food Banks' ongoing food drive and fight against hunger in Oregon; "I want to mention one of my main reasons we love to play at the Waterfront Blues Festival is not only the reception the city gives us, but we are doing something for the Oregon Food Bank which is heartfelt!!"
That's what it all really comes down to, doing something heartfelt for the Oregon Food Bank and people who are less fortunate than yourself and that you don't even know. So make that a reason to bring some cans of food, contribute with the admission price and come down and see not only The Mannish Boys DeltaGroove Revue but all the performers on all the stages all weekend long on 4th of July weekend. It really is an amazing value for just a few bucks and a couple cans of food.
Don't miss it!! See website www.waterfrontbluesfest.com for complete schedule.