During the course of the project, I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of wonderful people and one of the greatest moments for me was sitting in a studio and chatting to Pinetop Perkins. The simple fact is that here is a man who is close to 90 years old and he's still playing the blues on a very regular basis. Sitting next to him, I felt as though I could not come any closer to the blues as I was at that moment. The first segment of this show is a segment with Pinetop Perkins. The video is shot in a very hurried and unsettled manner because I didn't even think he'd agree to me video taping him. When he told me that he didn't mind me video taping him, I was probably in shock. Although, there are some rough edges to this video, it is one of my favourite pieces that I have done - not because of what I did but simply because Pinetop is the blues.
From one of the elder statesman of the blues, the show switches to one of the younger players in the blues. A music video of David Rotundo & the Blue Canadians performing "I'm into It" is featured next. Although, Pinetop has been playing the blues for at least 50 years more than David, David carries with him the same kind of passion for the music that he plays.
One of the joys of this project has been to document the personal moments of the blues. Al Lerman of Fathead is a great story teller and during the course of this show, he shares a couple of blues moments of his life. Al is a great harp player and he discusses a couple of incidents involving his heroes, Muddy Waters and Big Walter Horton.
The final segment of the first six shows is a piece with R.J. Spangler from Detroit sharing his opinion about the difference of being a blues musician and a blues man. R.J. is a fabulous blues musician who has done a great deal for the blues scene in Detroit and for sharing the great blues of Detroit to other parts of the world. This segment leads into a musical performance and some thoughts from someone whom I consider to be one of my favourite singers, Darrell Nulisch. Darrell is featured here singing his tune, "After All" from a show I taped at the Silver Dollar Room in Toronto. This was one of those magical shows where the band was "on" the whole evening. If you ever get a chance to see Darrell Nulisch, do. He is absolutely one of the finest vocalists around.
Details on the next seven shows will be added to this site very soon.
Profile
Al Lerman meet Muddy Waters
Al Lerman
"I'm into It"
David Rotundo & the Blue Canadians
Al Lerman
R.J. Spangler talks about the blues, blues musicians and blues man
Performance
"After All"
Darrell Nulisch