Friday night Daddy Mack will be yet another first-timer.   Again, several months ago I was minding my own business (a dangerous thing to do) when Dan approached and asked if I’d ever heard of the Daddy Mack Blues Band.  I admitted I had not, and then he played the CD in the restaurant.  It was in the afternoon, so there were only a handful of us here, but we all got excited.  Go ahead and give them a listen:

http://www.herschelfreemanagency.com/daddy_mack/daddy_mack.html

Here’s something interesting:

“When people say, “Memphis blues ain’t what it used to be,” they haven’t heard the Daddy Mack Blues Band.  All of its members at one time or another played in the Fieldstones, one of the most talked-about urban blues bands since the 1970s.  Led by Mack Orr on lead guitar and vocals, this four-piece group is down-home and funky, and the best band around for cuttin’ loose on a Saturday night.  Their raw approach to blues is something too often missing in contemporary blues.  Since 1998, they have been the house band at the Center For Southern Folklore on Beale Street, where thousands of tourists from all corners of the world have experienced their natural and soulful musical blend.”

Let’s face it, a house band on Beale Street speaks volumes.  Thanks Dan, for bringing them to my attention.

Saturday night The Gretchen Troop Band returns with all their soulful funk, and it’s always a party!

Monday is another BBC with Paul Soderman, fresh from his crowd-thrilling performance in Greeley, and we never know who Paul’s going to line up for the night, but there have been a few that have taken my breath away.  For those of you who’ve not dropped in on the first or third Monday of the month, you don’t know what you’re missing! 

Tuesday is the My Beloved Delta Sonics’ jam, as they switched with Gretchen for this month.  Again, that’s a jam where anything can and often does happen.  They are usually the second Tuesday of the month with Gretchen taking the fourth.  We’ll be back to the normal schedule in July.

The Dustin Pittsley Band returns next Wednesday, and as I missed them the last time, I’ll most certainly be here for their second time.  When I came in the day after their first gig here, I was accosted by several people telling me what a great show I missed, so if you missed it too, come early as I think it’s going to get crowded. 

Now, if I may close this week on a personal note, I have many, many thanks to deliver, and this seems to be the most efficient and appropriate route. 

As many of you know, last Thursday, June 10, 2010, my older brother and only sibling, Kelly, passed away.  It was sudden and unexpected.  On Monday night, he had a seizure of an undetermined cause which arrested his breathing for too long, and he suffered irreparable brain damage.  He was, in essence, brain dead.  My parents and I had to make the horrifying decision to remove him from life support.  I will be leaving in two weeks to escort his ashes to my mother’s beach house on the Black Sea in Turkey.  Kelly typically spent a month or so every summer there, and it was unquestionably his favorite spot on earth.  Many of our lifelong Turkish friends will be with us as we release his ashes into the beautiful Black Sea, mere yards from where we used to camp on summer weekends when we were kids.