Great and grande

Having seen Dan Bern, I figured a nice way to cap the evening would be to watch some laid back southern rock courtesy of Allman Brothers founder Dickey Betts and Great Southern. With a newly minted three-guitar lineup I expected some pyrotechnics. The crowd was certainly in a hopeful mood. Several members were in a state of rapture even before the band was on stage. Unfortunately, like the Allmans and its various offshoots, Betts and Co. have taken a turn for the jammy and I quickly grew bored. Can these guys play? Oh my yes. But they couldn't keep me interested.

The man himself.



Hand percussionist and vocalist Twinkle Schascle - also a very fine vocalist.



Andy Aledort.



Bass player Pedro Arevalo and Andy (with Twinkle at back).



Duane Betts, son of Dickey.



Southern action!









After about a half hour I was feeling twitchy, so I went over to the Black Sheep Stage to see the Grande Mothers. I'm not a big fan of Frank Zappa, but I do have some of his albums and figured there might be a bit more of the rock I was hankering for - and indeed there was. Actually, the Grande Mothers rank as one of the most pleasant surprises of the festival. The bright side of no expectations, I suppose. Scratch that; even with high expectations they would have exceeded them.

Sax man Napoleon Murphy Brock is a great vocalist, and not afraid to show off some fancy moves, including a karate kick.



Don Preston, with Zappa from 1966 to 1974.



Roy Estrada started with The Soul Giants, which turned into the Mothers, then moved on to found Little Feat with Lowell George. He was also Orejon in Captain Beefheart's Magic Band and played on The Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot albums.



Ken Rosser was drafted in from the Quarteto Nuevo - as was drummer Christopher Garcia (of whom I have no decent photo).



Maternal action!







A couple of ladies were so moved by the music they vaulted on stage to cavort briefly before security hoofed them off.



Saved the day, they did - I was humming snippets from What's The Ugliest Part of Your Body? for several days afterward.

• Show reminder: The Marble Index and Donkeypunch play Zaphod's.

Bluesfest: Day Six

I'm back from going back and forth - between the Black Sheep Stage and the MBNA Stage, that is. I was going to head directly to see the Centretown Wilderness Club at the latter venue, but the hard strumming of Hamell On Trial drew me in as I walked down Lisgar. Hamell's humorous assault on all things right and proper was very entertaining, and he spared few. As I scuttled past him with my camera he joked "There goes the guy who gave me a cavity search at the border".



After listening to a few tunes on the state of right-wing pundit/lunatic Ann Coulter's nether regions and the importance of parents lying to their kids, I headed over to see the Centretown Wilderness Club. They sounded great as always. And since I figured out I was setting my shutter speed way to low (at 1/200th of a second when 1/1250th was more what was called for) the pictures turned out pretty sharp as well. When I arrived Dietrich and Aalya were slowdancing on stage.











I was wondering whether to stick around for the Hackensaw Boys or head over to watch Dan Bern when the stage left PA began cutting in and out, effectively massacring the Club's final Carter Family tune. Might as well go and see some Dan Bern while technical difficulties were dealt with, so I wandered back to the Black Sheep Stage for Hamell's last few songs and a short break before Bern headed on stage. He has a serious Bob Dylan influence. Some of his lyrics are a bit dafter, but he's far less obtuse.



Having watched a good chunk of his set, I decided to head back to the MBNA Stage to see Dickey Betts and Great Southern. I enjoyed myself for about half an hour, but to be honest the performance wasn't holding my attention. These guys like their Les Pauls, that's for sure.



Their comely conga player also helped out on vocals.



Back to whence I came to see The Grande Mothers. Three Frank Zappa vets and a pair of ringers from the Quarteto Nuevo did more than justice to Frank Zappa's music. In fact, after listening to some of the performance I have to say they sounded like they were enjoying themselves a lot more than Frank ever did.

Roy Estrada and Don Preston started with Zappa back in the 1960s.



Saxophonist and flautist Napoleon Murphy Brock did a great job on vocals.



I was never a huge Zappa fan, but I have a new appreciation for his stuff now. Unfortunately my pictures of their set mostly stink, but ears before eyes I always say.