This will be a short post since I’m still recovering from all the shows this past weekend. It started Thursday night when the St. Pete Jazz Festival took up residence in the Side Door and packed the place for O Som Do Jazz. Friday night’s Blues at the Crossroads show set a new sales record for our concession stands and Saturday’s Boogie Woogie Blues Piano Stomp was sold-out – the first sold-out Stomp in the four-year history of our two-piano show.
Some Friday highlights – and there were a lot of them – included Kim Wilson’s harmonica mastery. He oversaw the show, with his current incarnation of The Fabulous Thunderbirds. My buddy, who had seen Kim and the Birds numerous times, said this was one of his all-time favorite shows and lineups.
At the end of the first set, Kim walked into the audience and played unamplified harp, which carried throughout the theater and up into the balcony and closed the set with a standing ovation.
Harmonica legend James Cotton ruled the second set and the whole ensemble, including Bob Margolin, Jody Williams and Tinsly Ellis joined in for the finale – “Got My Mojo Workin’.”
Saturday night we sold every seat for the Fourth Annual Boogie Woogie Blues Piano Stomp and I can’t even count all the highlights. Bob Seeley doing Cow Cow Boogie, the big man – Daryl Davis – pounding out the blues then hoisting Bob Seeley up like a babe in arms. The fast fingers of Carl “Sonny” Leyland, who charmed the crowd with his songs and stories, and finally, my partner in planning this show – St. Pete’s Liz Pennock – opened with her original “Six Finger Boogie.”
The Stomp will be back next year and hopefully Kim and the Thunderbirds will be back this way again soon too.
Now, it’s time for a nap!
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