double shot Summertime Blues To paraphrase Buddy Guy, you’re damn right Scranton’s got the blues – as in Blues Street, a just opened downtown club/restaurant on Wyoming Avenue. The cozy little room in the former Ritz Theater is actually a resurrected version of an earlier Blues Street, which owner Scott Goldman previously ran in the Connell Building (Off Spruce Street) in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. This Blues Street is tucked off to the back left in the Ritz’s first-floor hallway, but has an option to expand out to the street front should things go well, said Goldman. Blues Street did a dry run last Friday night with a performance by local hero Clarence Spady, who will lead its Wednesday-night Blues Street All-Stars house band. The club expects to receive its liquor license by mid-July said Goldman (I opted for a good cappuccino in the interim), but is open for lunch and dinner business. The man behind the contemporary Southern cuisine is Ben Duckworth, formerly of the Radisson and a chic restaurant in Atlanta called Agave. Goldman closed the original Blues Street in order to start a family, and work as a jazz and blues agent – booking acts all over the world for the past dozen years. “I felt the time and place were right to get back in business,” he said. As for the music, Blues Street will initially feature live acts three nights a week (Friday, Saturday and Wednesday), but expect an eclectic mix of performers. “I’m inspired by the timeframe of the ‘60s and ‘70s, when blues and jazz music were interspersed with the popular music genres of the day”, said Goldman. “That’s what we really want to do here.” Damn right. ---------- July 27 – August 2, 2006 – Electric City/Diamond City i’m with the band Tangles Up In Blues We’re still years away from the next census, but I’ll pretend. I’m a 25-year-old white male with a full-time job. I drive a Volkswagen, and I have an affinity for cartoons. Oh, and I also love blues music. Wait …What? I know what you’re saying … Dave, you’re as close to a bluesman as Ozzy is to Shakespearean actor. You’re right. But look at it this way – the music 25-year-old guys are “supposed to be listening to” comes directly from blues and soul. To put it in biblical terms, Robert Johnson begat Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, who begat The Yardbirds, that did come to be known as Led Zeppelin. Led Zep begat Guns N’ Roses and Metallica, that did inspire Godsmack, Tool, Korn, and countless others. And if you take the other fork in the road from Messrs. Waters and Wolf, you realize that really old blues also developed into funk, soul and R&B, and that dozens of platinum-selling artists such as Dr. Dre and Usher owe their entire careers to the artists who came before them. The reason I went off on this tangent was to tell you about a conversation I had Saturday night. I told a friend that I planned to check out Blues Street, a new club that opened not too long ago where the Ritz Theatre used to be on Wyoming Avenue in Scranton. “Blues? I thought they stopped doing that when B.B. Kind died.” “First of all,” I responded, “B.B. King isn’t dead; he’s still touring. Secondly, anyone who still owns a Low Bega CD has no right to look down on me about anything.” It was billed as an “Open Blues Jam with funky Bassman Q Hakim Band.” Funky bassman, indeed. Q sauntered in wearing exactly what you’d think a traveling bass player would wear – a suit Philadelphia 76er Allen Iverson probably owns with (what I think were) alligator shoes. (I’m no fashion guy, but to me, he just looked the part.) Chris Gratz of Daddy-O and the Sax Maniax fame and Poet drummer Steve Shiposh completed the trio. Jaw-droppingly awesome individual work that blended together seamlessly from all three of them from the moment Q said “Hello everybody” to the moment he said “Good night.” Gratz took center stage for the first set. Even though his amp had more background hum than the transmissions from Neil Armstrong’s moon landing, his Hendrix-inspired solos took flight early and didn’t come down for the rest of the night. Q even had to reel him in a few times when it was time for the funky bassman’s funky bass solos, but isn’t that what a jam night is supposed to be about. “Hey man, enough of your stuff, let me go for a while.” And since only three of them were on stage and everyone needed a solo or two, even Shiposh got to stand alone. Q said after the show that he felt a little rusty on his lengthy slap-bass solos, but if he was, he fooled me. His abnormally long fingers maneuvered the strings with an unreal skill level. With no set list, song choices went something like this: After scorching their way through some Otis Redding, Sly and the Family Stone, T-Bone Walker, and some blues standards, Q, Chris, and Steve took a well-deserved break. While they were enjoying some of the comforts of Blues Street, a man names Ed set up his guitar and amp on stage and joined in for the second set. Par Marcinko also cut in and played drums for a while while Gratz shifted over to bass. While it certainly lacked the creative fusion of the first set, the three of them took the show in an entirely new direction. Blues Street isn’t your typical blues club. First of all, it’s a non smoking venue. Also, until the final liquor license comes through, it’s strictly BYOB. But what it lacks in your ability to cater to personal vices, it more than makes up for in talent. Their upcoming schedule looks astonishing with prominent local acts like Clarence Spady, (Q’s “day job” band), Teddy Young, and the Marko Marcinko Quartet, you can be sure to see me there more and more often in weeks to come. I hope you’ll join me.
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