MUSINGS & RAMBLINGS

The opening act was Mike McGowan (Yolo County supervisor representing
West Sacramento and environs, and sometime Horsemen's Club show
attendee, on drums) and the Mighty Delta Roadmasters (Geoff Goodman
lead vocals and harmonica, Steve Suchil lead guitar, and Rob Gonzales
on bass guitar). These guys have day jobs and I haven't seen them
listed for gigs very often, so I wasn't sure how practiced they were
or what they would play. They opened with a string of blues
classics: Let Me Ride In Your Automobile, She Caught The Katy, Help
Me Baby (I Can't Do It By Myself), Born Under A Bad Sign, and Sweet
Home Chicago. Their playing was better than I expected, better than
quite a few of the bar bands that I have heard over the years.
Although none of the front-men have what I consider to be a
commanding stage presence, you don't notice that while dancing and
the band encourages dancing. As the number of dancers increased, the
song selection turned to rock and roll: New Orleans, I Hear You
Knocking, Take Me To The River, Carol, and Treat Her Right. The band
closed with a Paul Butterfield instrumental that I can't put a name
to.

The featured performer was Barry "The Fish" Melton (Yolo County
Public Defender) on vocals and guitar, playing with Roy Blumenfeld on
drums, Peter Albin on bass and Bill Scholer on guitar. I had heard
Melton and Scholer perform an acoustic set a few years ago and they
had played songs mainly from the folk genre. This time they
were "amped-up" and really cooking. Melton noted that this summer is
the fortieth anniversary of the "summer of love" and if you were in
Nor Cal in the late 1960s, you instantly recognized the sound and
feel of this band's music. They started with some Melton and Scholer
standards: Babble On, Thirty Days, Got Love, Shoeless Joe Jackson,
The Dance, and Back To The Wall (which probably isn't the actual
title of this song). At times I saw the mischievous grin of a
preteen on Melton's face before he played a riff. At other times his
face expressed the strain of reaching the notes that he was playing.
He gave the frets, strings and tremolo arm of his guitar a heavy
workout on some of these songs. The band was really together and put
out a powerful, balanced sound that filled the club. Melton called
McGowan to the stage and he took the vocal lead on Walking The Dog.
With the crowd in the mood to dance, McGowan manned the drums and
Blumenthal came to the front of the stage and sang Mustang Sally.
This was a crowd favorite and brought out the most dancers of the
evening. I found myself thinking of the No Mustang Sally sticker on
Johnny Rawls' guitar when he played at the Sonoma Blues Festival last
year (the design of the sticker is also on the Sonoma Tunes web-
site), but I didn't mention this thought to the talkative distaff
psychologist who had taken a seat at the table that held my glass of
merlot.

When Melton called Gravenites to the stage, McGowan and Scholer
joined the audience. Gravenites introduced himself as an old
folkie. As if to reinforce the point, he sat or leaned on a stool
for most of his set and had his electric guitar tuned to sound like a
Dobro (which is how Melton referred to it when he requested more of
it in his monitor). Gravenites told a little story before each song
and opened with Sloppy Drunk. He reflected on the funeral of his
friend Peter Boyle and played Pride of Man, First Train South Carry
My Body Home (which probably isn't the actual title) and Get
Together. The set took a turn back to the blues with Southside
followed by Born In Chicago, with Scholer now back on stage playing
slide guitar. Gravenites honored an audience request for Drinkin'
Wine (performed similar to the Electric Flag version at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzXUJzC_oM0 ). Scholer's guitar
playing came into its own during this part of the concert. He seemed
to know or sense which way the songs were going and played guitar
riffs and solos that added to the feeling of the songs, while Melton
occasionally had a "what are these guys doing now" look on his face.

After the audience had settled down, Gravenites performed the most
fitting and ironic song of the evening. He didn't say what he called
it, but I imagine that it could be called Things Are Looking Down
(Since The Gas Station Left Town). The song laments the condition of
his hometown (Occidental), which he feels used to be unique but is
now filling with freaky little boutiques. It was a fitting song
because most of the towns along the State Route 16 corridor west of I-505 have lost their gas stations. It was ironic because one of the
purposes of the Capay Valley Vision organization is to develop a
viable economic strategy for the region and I suspect that they would
welcome freaky little boutiques if they would bring "vitality" to the
region. Gravenites closed the concert with Blues In My Bottle.

Even though the concert wasn't as heavy on the blues as I might have
liked, it was an enjoyable three-plus hours.