The Sarasota Blues and Music Festival
      
Ed Smith Stadium (sort of)
Sarasota, Florida
September 29, 2012

by
Rick Brown

For the second year in a row my wife Yvonne and I decided to check out the Sarasota Blues and Music Festival. As you may (or may not) remember … last year’s festival GAVE me the blues. But the 2012 edition was 100% better. Oh sure, it was still not IN Ed Smith Stadium but a grassy parking lot. Having the wisdom learned last year about the actual location, Yvonne decided we should buy a couple of those low … LOW … beach chairs to take along. And this proved to be much better than a blanket spread on that fibrous stuff that passes for grass in Florida … while I was seated in said beach chair. When I tried to get up and out of the damned thing I literally had to crawl on the ground to stand. I realize at age 60 my knees are shot. But I sincerely do NOT believe I could have done much better standing up and out of this chair at age 16. Fortunately the beach chairs were inexpensive and … blue.

    
What made the festival this year a blues festival was the lineup. That, and the dates were moved from November to late September.  And the giant Bud truck with a roaring generator, the mercury vapor lights … both gone. So the only blues happening was on the stage. And what a great blues lineup it was.
    
Opening the show was a band called Pet Crow, a trio of young teenagers hailing from my hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Paul Thorn was up second. And as much as I would have enjoyed seeing these two acts, the thought of sitting in 92-degree heat … in the sun … on a beach chair 3 inches above the sinewy lawn … for some 10 hours … did not appeal to me. Although, unlike the chair, I probably could have dealt with the heat and duration when I was 16. Seeing how the crowd came and left in waves I think most people felt the same way.
    
And like last year I wore the only black, blues t-shirt I have … a Savoy Brown concert shirt. Last year this prompted about 4 or 5 guys to run up to me and tell me some sort of Savoy Brown experience they’d had. But this year I could tell … because of the actual blues performers … the crowd was chock full of blues aficionados. While walking in (and carrying the dreaded beach chairs) a couple sashayed up to us and excitedly told Yvonne and I about meeting each other at a bar where Savoy Brown was playing, And that here they were, still together after 18 years!

In the course of the entire show at least TEN guys shook my hand and spun their personal “Savoy tales”.
    
“I saw them in ’71 at the Fillmore West!”
    
“Went to see Kim Simmonds (Savoy’s guitarist) a little while ago and although he’s 65 he was playiin’ like he was still 25!!” (Huh?)
    
Because all of the people were very nice … and excited to see a guy who knew of Savoy Brown … I found this charming … in a “we’re all old yet wise dudes” sort of way. One guy, after making a Savoy comment, even said to me “You’re SIXTY aren’t you?” Sigh.
    
Of course he was sixty as well.
    
The acts we did get to hear were super, even while sweating in a low rider beach chair. First was Curtis Salgado. This guy has been around for a while and his chops showed it. Mr. Salgado belted out blues songs with lyrics like “I’ve learned more about the blues in two weeks with you, than 20 years of B.B. King.”  Then segueing from a preacher’s sermon rant about his mom giving him advice as a little boy into “Which came first, the woman or the blues?” this bluesman put a big smile on my face. His gospel inflections were intense. The crowd roared their approval.

    
Following Mr. Salgado might have been difficult for most bands. The term “super group” was terribly overused in the 60s and 70s (as was “superstar”) But given the lineage of Royal Southern Brotherhood (a pretentious sounding moniker if ever there was one) these guys live up to the hype. Devon Allman (Greg’s son), Cyril Neville (of the Neville Brothers) and blues guitar stalwart Mike Zito make up the heart and soul of RSB. Reminiscent of, but hardly derivative, this crack outfit revels in the sounds of southern rock, blues and soul. Their set consisted mostly of tunes from their outstanding self-titled debut CD. But their defining moment was a rousing interpretation of the Allman Brothers’ “One Way Out”. More respectful tribute than cover tune, their rendition rooted them in what may certainly become their rightful place in American musical history.
    
Next up was Ana Popovic. While just recently beginning to get a lot of attention, Ms. Popovic has honed her guitar skills for a couple decades now. Originally from Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia (that’s all the same place isn’t it?) she has earned the respect and shared the stage in the company of such blues royalty as Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Koko Taylor, Ronnie Earle, B.B. King and Solomon Burke. She played a number of tunes from the recent release Unconditional. But it was her interpretation of Jimi Hendrix’s “House Burning Down” that set the night on fire. Stalking the stage in a fiery red dress, Popovic smoked her way through incendiary, innovative solos on her screaming Stratocaster.

    
I was really sweating now.
    
Closing … and headlining the show was Delbert McClinton. At first, his set seemed subdued compare to the previous couple hours of music. But he and his fine band settled into a Texas/New Orleans/country groove that got the audience up and dancing. Now in his 70s, Delbert’s voice is still as strong and raspy as ever.

    
Unfortunately, since Yvonne and I had to begin our long drive back to Ohio the next day, we couldn’t stay for Mr. McClinton’s entire performance. But as we listened to the joyous music as we headed for our car I felt like this year we had been to a BLUES festival. Unlike last year, one filled with wonderful blues music, friendly people, Savoy Brown storytellers and a Hammond B3 organ that never moved off the stage through three different bands. Even the t-shirts (of which I am now a proud owner along with an autographed Ana Popovic CD) were cool for 2012.
    
Next year Yvonne and I will make every effort to go to the Sarasota Blues and Music Festival if it looks like this year’s. It was one fabulous festival. But one thing will change for sure.

I’m taking a taller chair.