BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
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Lucky Brand Jeans, Oakley, Skecher, Fossil, Guess. What do these brand names have to do with the blues? Well, these stores were all visible from the stage where Duke Robillard set up shop to play to good sized crowd a few weeks ago at the Hollywood and Highland Center in where else? Hollywood, California.
This is not the Hollywood of movie making, nor is it the Westside with clubs like the House of Blues, Viper Room, Key Club, the Whiskey, Roxy, the Troubadour and the Comedy Store.
This is tourist central, where your cousin Joe from Des Moines stares agape at unemployed actors in Transformer suits or in a Marilyn Monroe get up. It was 7:00p.m on a Tuesday evening and I saw only mild curiosity in many faces as they looked to the stage where some older man with black glasses, a four day growth of beard, a straw hat and a Hawaiian style shirt was playing the guitar. Also on stage were another older man behind a stand up bass, some guy on keyboards, and a younger fellow behind the drum kit. There were security guards on both sides of the stage so this must be somebody… right?
Duke who? What kind of music is this? Have I heard of this guy? He is good. Should I know who he is? He doesn't look familiar. I don't remember seeing him on YouTube.
There was a booth where you could get two glasses of wine, as well as a cheese and cracker box from Wolfgang Puck. Proceeds went to Project Angel Food, a charity that helps feed men, women and children who are suffering from HIV, AIDS, cancer and other life threatening illnesses. On site KJAZZ 88.1 FM had a booth. The Cal State University Long Beach based station bills itself as America’s jazz and blues station. The station sponsored the event and according to press helped make it free to the public. It seemed appropriate that Duke Robilard would grace this stage. Duke, like few others in the long history of this music, plays in both the jazz and blues fields. He has brought both these forms together beautifully in his long and extremely prolific career.
I love to go to events like this that showcase music and musicians unlikely to be heard by the ears casually walking by. This music is not widely heard or sought out by the general populace. Circumstances and timing however brought the general public and Duke together for at least one evening anyway. This crowd spanned a wide demographic. There were homeless from the street who wandered in and mingled with the fresh faced, camera toting, tourists and the trendy young crowd shopping at this relatively new cathedral of commerce.
Duke as always put on a first rate show. He didn’t pander or dumb down his set list for the largely unsuspecting crowd. He was nicely received by the audience who didn’t know who he was. Audiences don’t have to be told what to like. You present them with a first rate product and they usually respond. Duke even sold some CDs between sets and hopefully gained some new fans from faraway lands.
Play on Duke. I hope your music sticks in some new ears. If these folks go home with something other than cheap Chinese made tourist crap, let it be your music.
Copyright 2022 BLUES JUNCTION Productions. All rights reserved.
BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
info