If you have ever visited my beloved home of Southern California this time of year you might be disappointed that the famous California sun takes the month off. We call it “June Gloom” out here. It is as consistent a climatic feature that we have in SoCal. Yet the beaches still fill up anyway with locals and tourists alike, as well as young people just getting out of school. They all do what I used to do and forget to put on sunscreen. OK, I still do it or don’t do the sunscreen as often as I should and in fact did (or didn’t) do it during “May Gray” and the Doheny Blues Festival last month. My nose has stopped peeling and I’m ready for summer.

Enjoy two pieces related to that glorious weekend of blues music that is the Doheny Blues Festival. The event is growing into its new location. I have some commentary on that, as well as our annual photo essay covering this premier west coast blues festival.

By June 21^st we will likely see the sun again here in coastal SoCal, but regardless of where you live in the northern hemisphere it will be the first day of summer. Enjoy my thoughts on the best summertime song of all-time Summertime. I also provide you with a list of the ten best versions of this song. Pull out the sunscreen, grab a cold beverage and let the debate begin. What are your favorite versions of this classic song?

Our Monthly Album Spotlight shines on the latest album by an American musical icon, Mavis Staples entitled We Get By.

We also have an album review by a Southern California based band, Lil A AND THE ALLNIGHTERS and their brand-new album Hip Ya.

One of our readers in jest recently referred to BLUES JUNCTION as “The Hollywood Fats Band’s Monthly Newsletter.” I could have been offended by this remark, but I was flattered. It meant not only does this woman from Roanoke, Virginia, have a sense of humor, but she has also been a long-time reader of BLUES JUNCTION. She is right…I am guilty as charged.

We have published this online magazine every single month since 1/1/11 and have had multiple features, interviews, editorials, album reviews, recommended listening and other features since that launch. The number of pieces in BLUES JUNCTION are approaching a thousand. I still think we could be accused of being a little heavy on the Fats Band.

On the face of it, it may seem a little bizarre, as this band made one album, which is celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year, and Hollywood Fats himself has been dead for more than thirty-three years at this point.

We have “published” two separate interviews with the band’s songwriter, harmonica player and vocalist, Al Blake. I’ve written two separate features that involved the Fats Band’s talented pianist Fred Kaplan. Both Blake and Kaplan have made creative contributions to the JUNCTION. I conducted a comprehensive interview with the band’s bass player Larry “The Mole” Taylor. I am also very proud to have conducted an interview with the band’s drummer Richard “Big Foot” Innes, which took place right before he lost his battle to cancer. At the end of that interview there is a link to a complete discography where our readers can find every single album on which the man, recognized as the world’s greatest blues drummer, can be found. All of this kind of coalesced in a feature entitled The Hollywood Fats Band: Revisited. I published that on the 30^th anniversary of the passing of the guitarist from whom this band got its name.  

Every one of these features can be found in the Archives section of the site that you are now visiting. I bring all of this up as there is a brand-new Hollywood Fats Band offering entitled Blues By The Pound Vol. 1. As one might expect my remarks concerning that album can be found in our June Recommended Listening feature.

This brand-new release of old, live material sits in a group of ten albums that may be the strongest group of CDs to ever appear in this regular monthly feature. I urge you to check it out and buy a damn CD. The future of our civilization is at stake.

This month we celebrate Father’s Day. I can’t imagine there being a BLUES JUNCTION without my Dad. Even though he passed away in 1987 he informed my musical tastes very early on in my life. One of these days I’ll tell you more about the original Big Mac. In the meantime, enjoy a piece entitled Father’s Day With Be Bop Charlie.

I hope that gives you plenty to chew on for the next thirty days or so. If you like what you are reading here at the JUNCTION let us know. If you read anything that you don’t like we still want to hear from you.

It was great visiting with so many of our readers out at the Doheny Blues Festival last month. Until we meet again, be well and be in touch.

-  David Mac

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