Ottawa Bluesfest 2013: Day 7

My stint at Bluesfest Thursday night was a short one. I arrived in time to check out Jack Pine & The Fire, stayed for the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and took in a couple of other acts, but I wanted to be at Pressed for 9 p.m. so I didn't linger.

First stop, the River Stage for Jack Pine and company. I saw him at Cafe DeKcuf in March of 2012 and really dug his mountain music style. I was equally impressed with his band.


Jack Pine and The Fire, July 11, 2013

After a few songs from them I went over to the Black Sheep Stage to inspect Les Mosquitos. They had some reggae style grooves and  a high quotient of songs about drugs.


Les Mosquitos at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 11, 2013

Good energy from this quintet.


Les Mosquitos at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 11, 2013

Next stop was the Main Stage (or the Bell Stage, as I suppose I should call it), to check out an old favourite, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Spencer, Judah Bauer and Russell Simmins always put a lot of energy into their show, and Jon's pants brought back happy memories of their sizzling Babylon set back in 2007.


Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 11, 2013

Finally, I went over to check out some of Larry McCray's set (and grab a bite to eat). He was good in 2009, and good this year too.


Larry McCray at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 11, 2013

Then it was time to make a beeline for home and grab my "real" camera for the evening's Damo Suzuki performance - more on that later.

Bluesfest: Rosie Ledet and The Zydeco Playboys

Off to the hard rock stage to see Rosie Ledet; according to her biography she picked up her love of zydeco and future husband at the same Boozoo Chavis show when she was in her teens. (You may recall Boozoo Chavis was scheduled to play Bluesfest back in 2001, but died soon after that year's lineup was announced.) Anyway, adjectives like "sultry" and "brassy" seem to follow Ledet around, and she gave a brisk and forceful performance.

Rosie gives it a squeeze. At right is scrub boarder Maclom Walker and bassist Pernell Babineaux.



Closeup action!



Malcom cleans up!



Percy Walker Jr. (I think?) mans the traps.



Extra (possibly?) Percy!



Whole lotta Rosie!



Accordion action!



Guitar action with Andre Nizzari!



Zydeco action!



That's just how it is ...



Bonus Pernell!



And so on!



She's got a few New England dates at the start of December, than heads off to the West Coast in January.

• Show reminder: Close Your Eyes, Lower Than Atlantis, S3X and The Gillingham Fire Demonstration perform at Mavericks; the League of Rock meets at Zaphod's, for all you over-30 band seekers ...; Garrett Mason & Keith Hallet help The Rainbow celebrate its 27th anniversary. Landslider, Yanis Khamsi, Carry Yourself and Good Young Catcher play the Avante-Garde.

Boxing Day blues

I was scrounging through my banker's boxes, looking for pictures of The High Strung, when I came across my CDs from The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion gig at Babylon on July 19, 2004. I thought most of the shots had been posted at Birdman Sound or on here, but it turns out that apart from a few lo-res photos at pennyblackmusic.com, and a single snap way back in 2005, nothing had seen the light of day. That's just plain silly.

Explosive Explosion action!



"Would someone please return the photographer to the upright position?"



That's too far!



Much better.





Sometimes a man must testify.



Spencer works the audience.



"Yeeeeeeeah!



Off course he came back later with Matt Verta-Ray and The Sadies as Heavy Trash. The band released Jukebox Explosion, a singles collection, on In The Red in October.