What was billed as the Nor Cal vs So Cal Blues Guitar AXEtravaganza took place at Little Lou’s BBQ in the San Jose, California, suburb of Campbell on Sunday, April 6th. This was a once in a lifetime event which happened twice in the same day as there was a 4pm, as well as a 6:30pm show. The principals were Southern California blues guitar royalty Junior Watson and Kirk “Eli” Fletcher. Representing the Northern part of this divided Golden State were one former and one current Nightcat, “Little” Charlie Baty and the not so little Chris “Kid” Andersen respectively.

What made this afternoon and evening of blues music so fun was that the participants were having so much fun. I mean what are your options when the M.C. of the show was Rick Estrin? He, along with the four guitar slingin’, plank spankin’, string abusin’ bad boys of the blues, went into “battle” with their tongues firmly planted in cheeks.  The “battle” was the platform in which to engage in some fun with the audience and fellow musicians, but when it came to their instruments it was all business.   

The first to enter the ring was Chris “Kid” Andersen wearing a boxing robe. He made his way through the crowd buttressed by his shark skin suit clad, cigar toting trainer Rick Estrin. Estrin introduced the show as a four ring circus. Kid fired the first salvo and gave a lesson in his guitar heroes where he acted on Rick's prompting "You better know your roots if you're going to play blues guitar." Kid did as instructed and played in the styles of Lightnin' Hopkins, T-Bone Walker, Otis Rush and B.B. King as well as Albert King.

He then played in his own voice which is a beautiful, melting pot of styles. Andersen actually added that he could play all his “opponents” styles and everything they know too, but chose not to so they'd have something left to add to the event. With Kid you get the whole show. This includes tossing his head back, leg kicks, grunting and even making his guitar bleed all over his face and clothing.

By the time he was through, a little dignity and decorum were in order, so his Nor Cal tag team partner Little Charlie’s musical choices served as the perfect foil for Kid’s set. Charlie played what was closer to a jazz offering touching on everything from Charlie Christian to Django Reinhardt.

After an intermission, which included a change of rhythm sections from the Nightcats bassist/keyboard player Lorenzo Farrell and drummer J Hansen to bassist Kedar Roy and drummer June Core, Kirk “Eli” Fletcher entered the octagon. Kirk, as always, had an affable stage presence. He performed with just as much joy.

An interesting choice was a Stevie Ray Vaughan instrumental, Lenny, from the late Texan’s debut album. Kirk smiled and said, “I bet nobody thought they would hear a Stevie Ray Vaughan tune tonight.” It was a daring choice, that worked. As the show’s producer, Aki Kumar told me after the show “Stevie’s reputation among blues fans would be better served if the bands that cover his material played the cool stuff like Fletcher did in this show.”

The closer was the incomparable Junior Watson. He brought up Lorenzo Farrell to play organ, which was a wonderful choice. In an evening that featured a lot of surprises, the biggest might be if Junior Watson hadn’t played the wonderful slow blues instrumental made famous by Pee Wee Crayton, Blues After Hours. As Watson began the familiar languid opening stanza to this tune you could hear a pin drop in the 100 seat venue. Watson showed what incredible dynamics can be a brought to a bandstand.  

What made the evening so special was, as Kumar so astutely pointed out, that every musician played off each other’s strengths. The fun that involved the boxing style hype, of course, was façade that is in fact the polar opposite of how this very small fraternity of real blues talent feels towards one another. The musical respect these players have for one another was palpable. Congratulations to Aki Kumar and all the folks responsible for this unique event which brought blues fans together from all over the country for an evening of blues revelry.

- Leslie Hagins & David Mac