Posts Tagged ‘Pinetop Perkins’

  
Sunday, April 12th, 2009

Live Music: Reykjavik Blues Festival, 4/8/09

by Ann Logue

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Wednesday was our last night in Iceland and the second-to-the last night of the Reykjavik Blues Festival. It was a great show to end on, too. Willie “Big Eyes” Smith was hot on harmonica, Pinetop Perkins made a cameo appearance, Icelandic bluesman Mugison brought the house down with his rock lyrics backed by acoustic blues, and Andrea Gylfadottir showed why she’s one of Iceland’s perennial contenders in the Eurovision Song Contest, if not exactly a blues singer.

The crowd at the Hilton Nordica was a little smaller than on Tuesday night, but not by much. And Icelandic crowds seems to be a bit more controlled than American ones. The hotel has plenty of free and easy parking, no one checked my bags, drinks are served in real glasses, and flash photography is condoned. I didn’t see a single bouncer; the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has tighter security. The concert was scheduled to begin at 8:00, and at 8:02, Halldor Bragason opened the festivities. He and the fine Gudtmunder Petursson played guitar for Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, whose eyes are not all that big, by the way. The band was tighter than on the first night, and Willie Smith was hotter. He was a total pro, switching smoothly between voice and harmonica. He was wearing a loose shirt that hid a special harmonica holster, making it easy for him to switch instruments or play without. Smith tried to walk into the audience, but that was tough because his mike was corded.

Pinetop Perkins came on for two songs, “Got My Mojo Working” and “Down in Mississippi”, both of which he had played the night before. The audience was thrilled because they were not expecting to see him; tickets for Wednesday were 1,000 krona (about $8.00) cheaper than for Tuesday because Pinetop wasn’t on the bill.

Mugison came on next, accompanied by a friend. Both played acoustic guitars, and they were fierce. His songs were original, with lyrics in English.

I really liked Mugison. He’s young and brings a fresh take to the blues. His lyrics reflected a modern understanding of relationships, which is a bit more than just “my woman done me wrong”. Instead, we have “your love will pull me though, I owe it all to you”. He brings some introspection to the pain. Mugison is the person who will write the blues song about the banking crisis. His blues are original: not jazz blues, not Chicago blues, but the blues of a European making his way through early 21st century turmoil.

Before the concert began, a man I had talked to the night before flagged me down and handed me a CD of Mugison’s songs, so you can see if you agree.

Andrea Gylfadottir played last, a Nordic beauty resplendent in a long red dress and funky platform sandals. She isn’t a blues singer by training; she mostly sings jazz and classical. Her song selections were straight from the blues canon: “I Put a Spell on You”, “300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy”, and “Lady Sings the Blues”. She seemed too cool for the blues, but the crowd loved her, and she seemed to be having a great time performing.

The Reykjavik Blues Festival was a lot of fun. The musicians were having fun, and it’s always better to see people who love their jobs. The Chicago imports, Willie Smith and Deitra Farr, showed everyone why the blues is so great, and Mugison and Gudtmunder Petursson showed how hot it might be when the legends, like Pinetop Perkins, finally pass on.

My biggest disappointment: the organizers maintained a guest list, so I have no fancy laminated press pass as a souvenir of my foray into music criticism.

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Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Live Music: Reykjavik Blues Festival, 4/7/09

by Ann Logue

The Reykjavik Blues Festival was started in 2003 by Halldor Bragason, a blues guitarist from Iceland who studied music in the United States. Halldor has performed with many of the greats, and now that he is back in Iceland, he brings his American musician friends back once a year. The festival has a lot of fans in Reykjavik, but it also draws people from other parts of Iceland where, I am told, every small town has a blues or jazz club. There is a healthy tourist contingent, too, drawn by the cheap krona, but it’s still small: Halldor talked only in Icelandic, which no one speaks outside of Iceland.

Pinetop Perkins was the centerpiece performer for the festival, playing on April 7 – yes, a Tuesday. Easter is on Sunday, and many Icelanders will be heading out to their summer houses. Before they hit the road, they packed a ballroom at the Hilton Nordica to see the Nordic All-Stars Blues Band, Deitra Farr, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith,, and, of course, Pinetop Perkins. Seeing as he is 95, there may not be many more opportunities to see him.

The concert was scheduled to begin at 8:00, and at 8:03, Halldor was welcoming us to the show. It warmed my Type-A heart, let me tell you; I could never be a music journalist, because I love punctuality too much. The opening act was a guitar and harmonica duo wearing standard-issue Blues Brothers costumes. They were a bit rough, but then I saw them in the lobby at intermission and realized that they were also very young. Twelve? Maybe 15? That was impressive. The Nordic All-Stars features KK, also known as Kristján Kristjánsson (and pronounced like “Kal-Kal” in Icelandic). He is, apparently, a big deal in Iceland, and the man sitting behind me said that he had taken guitar lessons from him. And that’s impressive, because KK played a mean guitar.

Pinetop Perkins went on last, and he was okay. His voice is weak with age, but he still puts on a show. He had his pork-pie hat and forest-green suit, and he gave the crowd a good show. He played for about a half-hour, joined by Willie Smith on harmonica and Gudtmunder Pedersson, also known as Gummi Pi, on guitar. He didn’t play “Pinetop Boogie Woogie,” but he had the crowd going with “I’ve Got My Mojo Working.”

The real mojo worker was Deitra Farr. The Nordic All-Stars did a fine job playing uptempo standards until she came out and turned them into a tight rhythm and blues machine. She knew who she wanted playing behind her voice, and when, and how, and she let the band know it – and without the slightest bit of condescension. She just wanted them to be their best, and they were when she was on stage.
Blues may be a men’s genre. I so often want to shout, “maybe if you’d treat your woman right, she wouldn’t be leaving you on your own.” And yet, it’s the ladies who often give the music the right measure of pain and joy: Koko Taylor, Billie Holliday, Bessie Smith. Last night’s show could have stopped with Deitra Farr, and we would have gone home happy.

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Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Live Music: Reykjavik Blues Festival, 4/6/09

by Ann Logue

spaceballIn Icelandic, it’s a klubbar blueshatidar — a blues club — at least for the week of the Reykjavik Blues Festival. The rest of the year, the Cafe Rosenberg is a 100-seat cafe serving fresh food and Viking beer. It has a tiny stage mostly showing local musicians, although it is thrilled to showcase international musicians as well. Jonathan Richman played there last week.

The festival has two main venues, the Cafe Rosenberg for Icelandic acts and the Hilton Nordica for the international musicians. In a country with just 300,000 people, though, there aren’t enough blues bands to fill the bill for five nights of shows. Hence, the programmers have to be creative. On Sunday, the klubbar featured rimur chant musicians, who sang some of the sagas of the complicated conquests and struggles of people living in a desolate country. In a way, it’s Iceland’s own version of the blues.

Last night, the cafe drew a good crowd for jazz blues music. The first act was the Budget Blues Band, a five-piece jazz combo. They took the stage shortly after 9:00, although the keyboard player, Arni Karlsson, ran up after the music started. The trumpeter, Birkir Matthiasson, was fabulous. They were joined by Olaf Stolztenwald on bass, Asgeir Asgeirsson on guitar, and Magnus Tryggvasson Eliasen on drums. And here’s the thing: they group formed two weeks ago just to play at the blues fest. Arni told me that they musicians had played together in different permutations over the last ten years. “In Reykjavik, everyone kind of plays with everyone else,” he said.

After there set was over at about 10:00 pm, the Budget Blues Band cleared the stage and went into oblivion. In no time, Tomas R. Einarsson was up with his combo, playing a mostly acoustic set, complete with a bongo player. The musicians were strong, but they weren’t playing the blues.

Fewer musicians play the blues these days, whether in Chicago or in Reykjavik. As great as it can be, it’s a genre of a time and a place and a people. Rimur chants aren’t being written about the decline in the krona, nor are there new blues songs about the struggles of General Motors. Tonight, Pinetop Perkins is playing; he’s 95. Is he the beginning of the end?

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Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

NXNE: Reykjavik Blues Festival, Part 1

by Ann Logue


I’m a Chicagoan on a working vacation in Iceland, writing about the financial crisis for a hedge fund trade magazine and taking in geysers. When I realized that my trip would overlap the annual Reykjavik Blues Festival, running from April 4-9, well, I had to cover it, too. After all, the only people who love the blues more than white people from the north side of Chicago are white people in Europe. Pinetop Perkins, darker than any Inuit, took the redeye here to sing the blues.

No matter what we look like or where we live, we have all been downhearted, baby, ever since the day that someone left. Right? And the Icelandic people have a lot to be downhearted about these days, between their heavy debt load, their deflated economy, and their stint on the U.K.’s list of terrorist nations, an attempt by the British government to recover British deposits in Icelandic banks. Throw in the fact that the British blue band Led Zeppelin wrote one of its big hits, “The Immigrant Song,” about Iceland, and you have a festival setting that Memphis and St. Louis would envy.

Only some of the musicians and fun this week are imported, but it started with the cars. Saturday’s kickoff event involved the Reykjavik Cruiser Club members driving their classic American cars down the narrow Bankastræti. The lead car was fixed up like Jake and Elwood’s Bluesmobile. Every driver was on a mission from God: to have some fun at the end of a long winter, in the midst of a recession, by showing off their much-loved vehicles.

The Sevar Karl Gallery had a display of classic guitars. Gallery is a loose term here; it’s in the basement of the Sevar Karl boutique. Upstairs, the racks of Dolce & Gabbana sweaters were all 60% off, and the merchandise wasn’t picked over; there simply aren’t buyers for fancy imported sweaters in a country known for its knitting. Downstairs, everyone admired Andy Summers’ guitar.

But here was the best part: local musicians were playing blues in the street. They added life, which was sadly lacking inside the shops. Some of the players seemed professional, but most appeared to be groups of friends who thought it would be a goof to get together and play some blues standards for all the folks walking around outside. The musicians and their audience were having a great time, especially considering that the temperature was in the thirties and rainy. And isn’t that was the blues should do?

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