Happy 85th birthday Matt "Guitar" Murphy

RIP Famous Dave's Blues Club

Today I got the bad news that Famous Dave's in Uptown will no longer be having be having live music. I knew something was wrong when they stopped having the annual blues festival downtown . Then to make matters worse they raised the prices on their menu in 2013

 and ditched the blues paintings on the wall to make way for some TV's so that they could play football. Famous Dave's Blues Club was my go to place to hear live music. Over the years I was able to place to see Blues greats like Johnny Winter and James Cotton at the club. I also got to see amazing blues guitarists like Guitar Shorty and Coco Montoya. It was also my go to spot for local Minneapolis blues and soul acts like The Butanes, Soul Tight Committee and The Lamont Cranston Band. The festival they had downtown was my first real exposure to the blues. There I was able to see three members of Muddy Waters band Mojo Buford, Willie Big Eyes Smith and Pinetop Perkins. I also got to see blues legends like Charlie Musselwhite pictured above with Dave and Lonnie Brooks. Now they will nothing but a sports bar. Unless they reverse their decision I will no longer be setting foot in any of their restaurants and will take my business elsewhere to places like Minnesota Music Cafe and Wilebski Blues Saloon.

Rock on Joe and Bobby

Joe Cocker 1944-2014

Ten Artists who should have been in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before Green Day

Well I am happy that Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble that was largely overshadowed by the fact that of there are dozens of 50's 60's and 70's bands that deserve to get in and they choose Green Day. So here is my list of the top ten artists who should have been inducted before Green Day.

10.  Blue Oyster Cult

9. Chicago

8.  Danny and The Juniors












 


7. Jethro Tull

 
6. Johnny Winter

5. Steppenwolf




















4. Link Wray














 3. Yes

2. The Moody Blues

 

1.  Deep Purple

RIP Small Faces and Faces guitarist Ian Mclagan

RIP Bobby Keys the wildman of rock of roll

Yesterday we lost legendary saxophonist Bobby Keys at the age of 70.  I was lucky enough to meet him before The Stones concert back in 2005 and then again in 2011 at The Parkway theater. for the showing of Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll. I was only twelve and don't really remember that meeting. I was also just getting into Rock and Roll and and I didn't know a thing about Bobby or how big of a deal he was in the music world. 6 years later we met again. Before the showing of the film told some stories including meeting Buddy Holly in Texas and spending the night in jail with Harry Nilsson. Afterwords I went to introduce myself and tell him I was Kent's nephew. He said that we should call uncle Kent and tell him that we were stuck in jail and that we needed money. Now that I look back I wish I would have called him. 

Keys was primarily known for his more then 40 years with the Stones he also played with all four Beatles including 3 album with John and 2 with Ringo. He was  friends with Harry Nilsson and played on 4 of his albums. He also played on Eric Clapton's debut solo album , Lynyrd Skynyrd's Second Helping, Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs & Englishmen and also on Sheryl Crow's Globe Sessions album. The later which my uncle also played on. My uncle had told me when he was hear back in October that Keys had been to sick to tour and was being replaced with Lenny Kravitz sax player Karl Denson for the Australia and New Zealand leg of the 14 On Fire tour.  He was a really nice man and a legend in every sense of the word. He and his contributions to rock 'n' roll will never be forgotten.