RAGGAMUFFIN MUSIC FESTIVAL - FEB 2nd, 2008

For more info please visit http://www.raggamuffin.co.nz/ or
http://www.myspace/raggamuffinamp

Doc Span tours New Zealand with Darcy Perry Band

Doc Span
For more info click here

Thurs, 22nd November. Lifeboat Tavern, Eastbourne, Lower Hutt. Wellington.
With Thomas Oliver Band.

Friday 23rd November. Good Morning Show, Avalon Studios. Wellington.
With Thomas Oliver Band.

Friday 23rd November. Harbour Light, Lyttelton, Christchurch.
With Theresa Nolan.

Sun, 25th November. The Crest, K’RD, Auckland.

Thurs, 29th November. Colosseum, Tauranga.
With Regan Perry & Joel Shadbolt.

Friday, 30th November. Biddy Mulligan’s, Hamilton.
With Mike Garner & Nate Taiapa.

Saturday, 1st December. Blues by the Beach - Waiomu Domain, Coromandel.
With Regan Perry.

Saturday, 1st December. Star & Garter, Coromandel Town.
With Regan Perry.

Early bird tickets at venues! Don't miss out.

For Hamilton Tickets email me!

The Darcy Perry Band

The Best of British Blues in Hamilton

This tribute to the best of British Blues will be one of the best you've seen or heard so don't miss it!

Featuring music by:
Eric Clapton
John Mayall
Fleetwood Mac
Gary Moore
Savoy Brown
Cream
The Animals
and much much more

Saturday 24th Nov, 8:30pm
Gables Tavern, Bryant Road, Hamilton

$10 Tickets from the Venue.

For your chance to WIN a FREE ticket tune into The Blues Room on Community Radio Hamilton (AM1206 or FM106.7) or online at www.communityradio.co.nz each Wednesday from 9pm until the event.

Proudly brought to you by WHITESTAR MANAGEMENT and Ian McCook.
For more info ask Ian: gatman51@yahoo.com.au

Harmonica Masters of New Zealand

Darcy Perry Band join forces with Watermelon Slim and the Workers to blow the roof off the sucker

INTERNATIONAL BLUES FESTIVAL COMING TO NZ

INTERNATIONAL BLUES FESTIVAL COMING TO NZ

The international headline acts from the Great Southern Blues & Rockabilly Festival in NAROOMA NSW, Australia are joining forces with our own NZ Blues Legends for a weekend of traditional and funky blues music for everyone.

Announcing the 2007 Official line up

From the USA
THE HOLMES BROTHERS
ROD PIAZZA & THE HIGH FLYERS
WATERMELON SLIM & THE WORKERS

From NZ
MIDGE MARSDEN
HAMMOND GAMBLE
DARCY PERRY BLUES BAND
BULLFROG RATA
GOSPEL BLUES CHOIRS

NEWS FLASH - BILLY TK Jnr is no longer performing at this Festival.

A fantastic blend of international, national and local artists performing over the one weekend.

September 21-22-23
AUCKLAND SkyCITY Theatre

=========================================
Friday 21st, 8.00 pm
Darcy Perry Blues Band
The Darcy Perry Blues Band has established themselves on the underground blues scene as a force to be reckoned with. Their award winning album (Don't Hold Back) has garnered righteous acclaim from critics and roots music fans alike. With a loyal following from their travels, fans can look forward to the next CD which the band will be recording in October at Revolver.

ROD PIAZZA & The Mighty Flyers
A California-based blues band leader, harmonica player, and singer, Rod Piazza's stratospheric harmonica wailings owe a heavy debt to both Little Walter and George "Harmonica" Smith. Piazza began his professional career as a member of the Dirty Blues Band in the mid-'60s. The Dirty Blues Band recorded two albums for ABC/Bluesway -- an eponymous debut in 1967 and 1968's Stone Dirty. Piazza left the band after the release of Stone Dirty, choosing to hit the road with his idol George "Harmonica" Smith instead.

Over the next decade and a half, Piazza and Smith performed together frequently under the name Bacon Fat; they also recorded the occasional album. In 1969, Bacon Fat released their eponymous debut album on Blue Horizon. While he was performing with Smith, Smith's health began to decline in the early '80s, Piazza assembled the Mighty Flyers -- with his wife Honey Alexander ..boards -- which began playing clubs in 1980.

Between 1981 and 1985, the Mighty Flyers released three albums: Radioactive Material (1981), File Under Rock (1984), and From the Start to the Finish (1985). During the early '80s, Piazza became a session musician, working with artists as diverse as Pee Wee Crayton and Michelle Shocked.

In the mid-'80s, he began a full-fledged solo career, releasing Harpburn on Murray Brothers in 1986 and So Glad to Have the Blues in 1988. Piazza and the Mighty Flyers signed a contract with Black Top Records in 1991; the label later re-released the group's albums on CD. Throughout the '90s, Piazza continued to record and perform with the Mighty Flyers, releasing the occasional solo album, like 1999's Here and Now. Beyond the Source appeared in 2001. Three years later the Mighty Fliers returned with keepin' it Real on the Blind Pig label featuring two new members, Paul Fasulo on drums and guitarist Henry Carvajal. ~ Cub Koda & Stephen Thomas Erlewine.

Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers

=========================================
Saturday 22nd, 8.00 pm

MIDGE MARSDEN & BULLFROG RATA
Midge Marsden and Bullfrog Rata although Stars in their own right remain the number one Rhythm and Blues duo artist in NZ today. A combination of red-hot musicians and unbridled energy combine to guarantee a rage every show. Performing at the festival after their sell-out national tour with Charlie Musselwhite.

WATERMELON SLIM & The Workers
At least once in every man's life everything seems to come together magically. When the road leading to such times is long and grueling, the zenith becomes exponentially more rewarding. Bill Homans a.k.a. Watermelon Slim is the extraordinary wheel man behind this redemption story road trip.

In December 2006 Watermelon Slim garnered six 2007 Blues Music Award nominations for Artist, Entertainer, Album, Band, Song, and Traditional Album of the Year. Only the likes of B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Robert Cray have ever landed six. His self-titled release was ranked #1 in MOJO Magazine's 2006 Top 10 Blues CDs, won the 2006 Independent Music Award for Blues Album of the Year, hit #1 on the Living Blues Radio Chart, debuted at #13 on the Billboard Blues Radio Chart and won the Blues Critic Award for 2006 Album of the Year.

While laid up in a Vietnam hospital bed he taught himself upside-down left-handed slide guitar on a $5 balsa wood model using a triangle pick cut from a rusty coffee can top and his Army issued Zippo lighter as the slide. Watermelon Slim was inducted into the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame on May 27, 2007.

Watermelon Slim and the Workers

===========================================
Sunday 24th
12.00pm
Gospel Blues
Heaven Bent Choir
Calvary Gospel Choir

8.00 pm
HAMMOND GAMBLE
Gamble's powerful stage presence swiftly drew career-altering attention. Chris Hillman, a former member of legendary American band The Byrds, caught a Street Talk performance during a visit to New Zealand and. He's played support, at major concerts, to the likes of The Eagles, Joe Cocker, Talking Heads, Bonnie Raitt, Fleetwood Mac and Tina Turner. And he spent a period in America, on the brink of a major recording deal that never happened but he is a powerful reminder of the undiminished talent of one of our rock and blues music greats.

THE HOLMES BROTHERS
The Holmes Brothers will bring their Rockin' gospel to the Festival with a supercharged set. If you've not heard them, they are a not-to-be-missed trio who never fail to wreck the church/club The spine-tingling harmonies, boundless energy and telepathic musicianship of The Holmes Brothers (bassist/vocalist Sherman Holmes, guitarist/pianist/ vocalist Wendell Holmes, drummer/vocalist Popsy Dixon) mix Saturday night's roadhouse rock with the gospel fervor and harmonies of Sunday's church service. As Wendell says about their blend of the secular and the sacred, "Jesus turned water into wine, not wine into water."

USA Today calls The Holmes Brothers' vision of American roots music "masterful and convincing." Entertainment Weekly says, "The Holmes Brothers are juke-joint vets with a brazenly borderless view of American music." Their chilling harmonies resonate with a passion and conviction matched only by their inspired musicianship and their ability to perform sanctified gospel, low-down roadhouse blues, deep soul, Americana/country and pure pop—all in one set. They've recorded with Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel, Odetta, Phoebe Snow, Willie Nelson, Rosanne Cash, Levon Helm and Joan Osborne, and have gigged all over the world—even performing for President Clinton.

The Holmes Brothers

=========================================
Concert Dates – SkyCITY Theatre Auckland

Friday 21 September 2007, 8.00 PM
DARCY PERRY BLUES BAND (NZ)
ROD PIAZZA & THE MIGHTY FLYERS (USA)

Saturday 22 September 2007
2.00 PM
NEWS FLASH - Billy TK Jnr is NO longer performing at this Festival.

8.00 PM
MIDGE MARSDEN & BULLFROG RATA (NZ)
WATERMELON SLIM & THE WORKERS (USA)

23 September 2007
12.00 PM
HEAVEN BENT GOSPEL BLUES CHOIR
CALVARY GOSPEL CHOIR

8.00 PM
HAMMOND GAMBLE (NZ)
HOLMES BROTHERS (USA)
For tickets
www.ticketek.com Ph 0800-ticketek

OR TUNE INTO
THE BLUES ROOM
FOR WAYS TO WIN TICKETS!!!!!

Proudly brought to you by
TOUR MANAGEMENT COMPANY LTD
Brian Richards
Managing Director

PO Box 100277
NSMC Auckland 0745
New Zealand

brian@tmcnz.com
www.tmcnz.com
tel:+ 64 9 479 2217
fax:+ 64 9 479 2817
mobile:+ 021 293 9724

Blues Revue - The World's Blues Magazine

For a long time I've had my eye on this magazine and now I finally get to read it -at home and not just from the book stand.

Yip, I splashed out $20NZ and bought the Aug/Sept copy. Boy am I glad I did! I'm so happy with this magazine that I went online and subscribed for a year.

Features include:

• Columns from top blues people such as Bob Margolin and Doug McLeod (hey, thats the same Doug that's been here to NZ!)
• Guitar instruction
• Harmonica instruction
• New and Reviews
• Concert reviews
• CD reviews (stacks of em)
• Feature articles - Aug/Sep highlight: Johnny Winter, James Blood Ulmer, Deanna Bogart, Matt Schofield and the 2007 Blues Music Awards

And much much more. I had to add the much much more because there is much much more like colour photos & classifieds, links to websites and stuffs a blues lover would love.

http://www.bluesrevue.com/

M Y S P A C E . C O M - Is it really my space?

OK, so it took me a while to cotton on to what all the hype was about regarding this MySpace thang. To be honest I wasn't interested. I had no time for MySpace, I was trying to work out to use this Blogger site!

So I finally joined and now I'm converted. I dig MySpace for what it offers me FREE of charge. However, I'm not so sure it's altogether 'my space' entirely. I guess I was a little naive to think I would have a place on the web where I get to control of what happens. Well to a large extent I can control my profile, I have the power to edit as I please, but I don't have control over who decides to SPAM me! And once spam arrives it then become MySpam!

Some 17year old Thug Rapper from India inviting me to subscribe to his blog of which there was none. An artist, well-intentioned I'm sure, wanting me to view her work (which I don't fancy in the least) and some then theres the folk who want to send you every minute on the minute a floral e-card with some deep and meaning quote like: Soar with the Eagles - Reach your Potential.

Anyways, if you're reading this you yourself might be wondering just what am I doing by writing this? Point taken, heres my likes and dislikes about MySpace(MS) so far, they might change next month.

Likes:

• Networking -MS has put me in contact with so many people from around the globe that I would not have met otherwise. Varied people of all ages, cultures and creeds with interests both similar and otherwise.
  
• It FREE - Yay!
• Music - MS is growing in terms of band and musician profiles plus many of them have samples of their music and FREE mp3s for downloading.
• SPAM - theres a feature once you join whereby all the people you accept as your friends can post you (and all their friends) a bulletin. These bulletins don't show up on your profile which is great. And then what comments do show up on your profile can be deleted if they aren't to your liking.
  

Dislikes:

• Cumbersome - to start with it was a nightmare! But once I found my way around it was fine. I learnt quickly that if theres something I see that I like by someone else I just need to ask them how they did it. I've made two great friends this way - they are now invaluable.
• SPAM

Check out my M Y S P A C E . C O M profile
http://www.myspace.com/nzbluesroom

KOKOMO - Music with attitude, blues and beyond

KOKOMO have been a steady arm of NZ blues and on their latest album, Kokomo - a gogo, recorded LIVE during two concerts at Baycourt Theatre, NZ you get to see why. Although the only new song is "Home Of The Blues" a song about the hurricanes and flooding in New Orleans which happened a couple of months before the concert, nearly all the other songs are considerable rearrangements of - and improvements on - their original version. The band all agree that this is their best album so far.

Hear their new album here http://www.kokomo.co.nz/html/kokomo_a_gogo.html

And hear Derek Jacombs LIVE in the Blues Room on air with me this Wednesday, from 9pm.

Bay of Islands Jazz & Blues Festival, Northland, NZ - 2007

AUGUST 10, 11 &12

Every year jazz and blues musicians gather from all over New Zealand and overseas for the annual Bay of Islands Jazz and Blues Festival. The many venues in Paihia, Waitangi and Haruru Falls host over 150 hours of quality jazz and blues during the three-day event.

There are more than 50 acts featured.

Street performances, in Kawakawa - Jazz on the Steam Train, Paihia and Russell each morning add to the atmosphere of the festival. Street performances in the towns of Kawakawa, Paihia and Russell each morning add to the flavour of the festival.

Admission into the venues will be by badge only unless stated, they can be purchased at all Venues, B.O.I. ‘I’ Site in Paihia 0800 363 463 and Wards Music Shop in Whangarei 09 438 9063 or online www.jazz-blues.co.nz

Badges cost $40 which includes a programme, access to all venues during the weekend and shuttle buses between the venues at Paihia, Waitangi and Haruru Falls.

The 2007 programme will be available closer to the festival dates - August 10, 11 and 12.

~ FREE TO BLUES ROOM LISTENERS ONLY ~
Your chance to WIN free festival packages!
!! Badges, transport, accomodation and Dolphin cruises !!
Tune in to The Blues Room on Wednesdays from 9pm up until August for your chance to WIN.
Community Radio Hamilton
AM1206 & FM106.7
Or online www.communityradio.co.nz

For more information on the Bay of Islands Jazz & Blues Festival programme, contact: Shirley May,
phone 09 404-1063
email maysplace@actrix.co.nz