Closing the festivities that night was Hydroyum, one of my favorite
new bands these guys really know how to fuse different genre into a
Edenic blend of jazz, rock & rhythm.

Sunday started out to be hot, hazy & humid and keeping the heat
up, the band Misbehavin with Pat Hunter and Danny Keane satisfied all
with there repetoire of Rythm and Blues and down right good feeling
music! Next up the venerable Ed Travers hit the stage with his band.
The infatigable Travers really stepped it up a couple of notches, with
Dave March who also spent the entire weekend helping out setting up the
stage for the bands. The Margaritaville and filled band keep the
seabreezes going with their crowd pleasing songs and usual banter.
Unfortunately Strawberry Fields the Beatle tribute band had to be
cancelled due to the rain gods dousing us all with an instantaneous
downpour. With the stage hands rushing to cover up the equipment and
hoping the sun gods would shine upon us again so the Electrix could
finish off the weekends festivities as plan. But that was not to be. an
optimistic called to the weather station had our hopes up high but the
rain eventually did us in. Thanks again to Mike the engineer, Ed, Dave,
Augie, Bob , Joseph and John for doing and exemplary job of sound and
stage setup. Kudos to all the sponsors especially Blue Point Brewery
and thefreeartistnetwork.com! Till next year! PEACE...

It was a fine weekend at the river! Despite some inclement weather the Seafair Festival kicked off on Friday with Ed Travers doing his usual fine job of singing, strumming, cracking jokes and drinking some of Blue Point Brewery's Pale Ale. I was running ragged going from the tap tent to the stage with refills! LOL Any how, next up was Blues Box at 5pm. They did a great job of warming up the audience with their eclectic blend of Blues, R&B, Soul & Funk. I must say that Mike & Ed with the help of MTD's Dave March did a fantastic job on engineering the sound for the show! To close out the night local legends Karmasutra gave us all a taste of brothers Jesse, Craig, Noah & companies original, spirited brand of music that was just the right finale for the evening.

Saturday proved to be an exciting, hot, humid, sunny day with Jay Scott & Friends opening up the show, Jay introduced us all to his tasteful style of originals from his latest album "Homegrown". I picked up a copy and listened to it later that night. I thought it was excellent and showed that the local singer/songwriter has blossomed into a performer to be reckoned with! With the beer flowing & some fine food from The Brickhouse Brewery, Bobbique and many other vendors, next up was that party jam band Reckoning. Charlie, Kevin and the rest of the guys never fail to entertain. Their interpretations of the Grateful Dead and other groups from the love/peace era are really exciting and kept the crowd dancing and prancing. At 5pm with the sun really taking us all to the UV max the Mojo's hit the stage and continued to entertain with their seasoned blend of bluesy, rockin, butt kicking music! These pro's did a fine job of entertaining and a fine time was had by all.

Sunday afternoon truly was a beautiful day... The warm sun, blue sky & the LIBS's presentation of New Orleans prodigy Henry Butler. An amazing musician and wonderful spirit. Mr. Butler showed all how his creative and mischievous execution of blues piano could light up an audience. His chord mutations on Otis Reddings Dock of the Bay were romantic and riveting. His mastery of the black and whites was enlightening. He seem to use the percussive range of the piano as if he were drumming while tinkeling away at the the top with ease and grace. Don't miss this Pianist the next time he's in town!

Opening the show was Long Islands own, Jack Licitra. It is so wonderful to know that Long Islanders can call Jack their own. Raised here he has performed at many, many venues, and has had a very sucessful career writing, singing, playing, teaching and recording. So having Jack open up for Henry was an excellent choice. Tommy Keys performed a number for us and it was a pianist show as expected.

Hope to see you all at The Seafair on June 6th.

Joseph

And a fine time was had by all... Last Sundays line-up at The Brickhouse Brewery was everything it promised and more. Jerry put together a fine line-up of Local and not so local talent. Kerry, as usual did a masterful job performing his Kearney Blues, and what can I say about Jack Lacitra. I remember the Sundays at the Sage Cafe, where Jack would perform and as always he got everyone up and involved in his special blend of spiritual gumbo. The Smoke Daddies w/ special guest Pamela Betti kept the outside stage going, Tommy Keys , always the entertainer and Danny & Chantuese Pat of Misbehavin slayed the audience w/ Donnie Celenza on guitar. Gary Sellers was in fine form and C&B were well represented. Jimbo & company served up the handcrafted Brews for the Blues with their usual pleasantries. Ms. Lea took some mean shots of the festivities and James was his usual amiable self.

Josie Wales kicked off his usual Sunday night Jam w/ Joseph of Blues Box performing w/ Donnie Celenza, Josh of Jack O Diamonds and Barry on guitars, Nathaniel on the kit, Paul Gilmore on bass, Dan Giacomini & Mitch on Sax's & Tru Doty on the Keys. Jim Coleman always brings it to the table and this past Sunday was no exception. Hey, with all the talent in the house that night he didn't need much help! Come on down to one of the Jams some Sunday, all musicians are welcomed.

I must mention that Stevie Cochran was across the street at Bobbiques and did a great job there, you should catch him sometime, A real 3 piece powerhouse! Well, the SEAFAIR is coming up soon, so I'll be blogging those festivites and giving everyone and update.

Till then.

Ciao,

Joseph