Sweet Blues Northwest

Okay,, here's the video. "Georgia On My Mind" by Ray Charles, is one of my all time favorite songs, and I'm sure that the way Jimmy performs it has Ray feeling mightly proud. Also,, Jimmy adds a nice twist to the ending. You can see Jimmy Holden every Tuesday night at Hwy 99 Blues Club.

Link: http://www.sweetbluesnw.com/blog/blog4.php

No video this time,, but had to mention my trip to see Jimmy Holden. Make sure you check out the photo blog from time to time,, if I'm not shooting video I may at least be getting stills.

This is audio from March 23rd,, will have a video clip of this up soon. The audio is from 2 condenser mics on the stage, and mic splitters to get direct audio from the vocal and sax.

Link: http://www.sweetbluesnw.com/annieeastwood.htm

I very much enjoyed my time with Kimball & Annie.

And if you're listening to all this with cheap speakers,, shame on you. ;-)

Link: http://www.sweetbluesnw.com/bluesredemption.htm

I'm following the progress of Norm Bellas as he is on a slow recovery from suffering a broken back from a fall. This video is from his recent performance at The Bohemian in West Seattle.

Link: http://www.sweetbluesnw.com/nick-vigarino.htm

Doug Oyler performs "Black Cat Bone"

On December 27th I payed a visit to Uncle Mo's for the Sunday Night Jam session. The WBS Blues Calendar said they'd have a special guest that night. Norm Bellas, keyboards, and I was in the mood to hear some new music. When I got to Mo's what I saw there wasn't at all what I expected. Norm was there alright, but he had - just that hour - been discharged from the hospital with a walker, back and neck brace,, and still dressed in his hospital gown. He had broken his back in a fall off his roof a few weeks earlier and was very lucky to still be alive. He had to canceled many gigs he had lined up due to his subsequent surgery and his long road back to regular life. Norm was determined to show up at Uncle Mo's that night and found a way out of the hospital, barely it seems. Little did I know that night that I would be his ride home, and his new friend. (That's another story)

One week later,, knowing that Norm was going back to Uncle Mo's I brought my cameras to document some of the event this time. Because I'd never seen anyone scrap and claw their way through a broken back the way Norm has. This little background story may help you appreciate the video below.

By Lance Dickie of the Seattle Times

James "Curley" Cooke, master gardener?

Yes, in his own way, which is why the master blues guitarist stirs an improbable link in my mind to King County pinching pennies on extension programs.

Skills, traditions and values are conveyed across generations by people who are not only experts, but also share their passion for what they do.

County extension, a land-grant role of Washington State University, provides farmers with current information and best practices. The Master Gardener program connects city dwellers to the land, while 4-H clubs give young people a wider window on their natural environment.

County elimination of extension services is a false economy for all county residents, not just the farmers and growers who help feed the rest of us.

Cooke applies the same zeal and experience to reaching tough kids and difficult students through Pacific Northwest Blues in the Schools, which he founded and guides, with generous help from other musicians and benefactors.

Cooke is a 40-year veteran of the music industry, and an original member of The Steve Miller Band. More than a dozen years ago, he was inspired by a blues-in-the-schools program in Charleston, S.C., and brought his vision to Seattle.

He successfully launched the program in 1998 with two sponsors, Starbucks and Key Bank of Washington. They are still with him, along with two dozen other blues patrons.

Cooke's magic with the students has a rhythm of its own. After-school sessions run for 12 weeks or so. Students receive a taste of the blues with an opening concert, then learn the instruments and lyrics for the songs they will perform. With patient instruction, the tunes and vocals become the students' own.

Focus, discipline, rigor, teamwork, applause. Some or all are missing in their young lives. I've seen the glorious transformation on stage at Echo Glen Children's Center, the state juvenile-corrections facility at Snoqualmie.

Cooke's vision and professional execution win rave reviews from principals and school administrators around Puget Sound. He has lots of fans and friends.

A few hundred of them packed Immanuel Presbyterian Church two weeks ago in Tacoma for Pastor Dave Brown's Blues Vespers, a regular third-Sunday-of-the-month worship service. That evening, Brown's prayers and reflections interspersed with the blues performed by Cooke and current bandmates.

The talent nestled in front of the sanctuary was a stellar assembly: Paul Green of Cooke 'n' Green; Rod Cook of Double Cookin' and Marty Vadalabene and Rob Moitoza from Blues to Burn. Also sitting in were Doug Skoog and Mark Riley.

Cooke and Green have been featured at Bad Albert's Tap & Grill in Ballard for more than a decade, but the duo and Cooke's performing are taking a break as he undergoes chemotherapy for lung cancer. He told me this week the disease has spread to his liver.

Cooke said the treatment has taken the skin off his hands, and with it the calluses from four decades of performing. By the third song the pain is intense, he said.

Undaunted, he will join his musician friends playing and toasting his speedy recovery Sunday at The Spar, in Tacoma's Old Town. Starting time is 3 p.m.

Cooke developed his talents and shares his gift. Skills, traditions and values nurtured across generations. A master gardener indeed.

Lance Dickie's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is ldickie@seattletimes.com

Rod Cook & Toast at the Curley Cooke Benefit Concert

No Quarter performs at the Curley Cooke Benefit Concert

Deems Tsutakawa at the Curley Cooke Benefit Concert

CD Woodbury at the Curley Cooke Benefit Concert

On November 29th, The Spar in Tacoma hosted a benefit concert for Curley Cooke. There were several featured bands and guest performers. Sweet Blues NW captured the whole 7 hour event on video,, and will be produce DVDs and their proceeds available to continue to support Curley in his fight with cancer. You can contact The Spar, Blues Vespers, or use the contact link on our site to order DVDs. I'm posting a few sample clips to grease the wheels. DVDs of each band's entire set is available now, and a highlight DVD will be a produced by the new year.

What the heck,, this is a keeper,,

Link: http://www.sweetbluesnw.com/kimarcher.htm

Kim Archer at the Hwy 99 Blues Club