Sunday, March 28, 2010

another Tuesday jam

Okay folks, there will be at least one more Tuesday night jam at A Dough Re Mi, this coming Tuesday night, March 30th -- let's make it a party!!

And thanks to those who have sent along your suggestions for a new venue -- we're working on it. . .

Thursday, March 25, 2010

good news / bad news

Hi Blues Club friends -

Well, the good news is that we had a wonderful jam last Tuesday, and signed up lots of new Lowcountry Blues Club members. The bad news, very bad news in fact, is that our home for the Tuesday night jams, A Dough Re Mi, is closing its doors very soon. So soon, that we don't even know for sure if they'll be open next Tuesday, but they may be. For the latest news, check the Lowcountry Blues Club's page on Facebook, if you can. We'll also update you through this blog/email, but there's a lag time for when the emails are sent out of up to 24 hours, so that takes some time to get to you.

We are so grateful to A Dough Re Mi for being the home of the LBC jams for about two and a half years now. The owners, Dave and Beth Clark, have been wonderful supporters of our club, and of live music in general, and we're going to miss the Dough terribly. More good news though: Dave and Beth are looking to open a new place soon, so we'll update you with news of this when we get some details. We also want to thank Stuart Johnson for his part in making the jams happen, as the sound guy, and also as general organizer and booking agent for the Dough. We hope he'll continue to be a part of the club in its new space.

Speaking of a new space - we need one!! Various members of the club have been talking to various venues, looking for the right spot. We'd like to find a place with a stage and sound system, and with plenty of tables and chairs with a good view of the music. We'd really like to find a club that would be willing to pay the core band $150 each week ($50 each to the drummer, bass player, and jam master). We'd like non-smoking, and we'd like to have access for the teens, who have been a big part of this club from the beginning. So that's our wish list, and if you know a place that fits some of this bill, let us know so we can consider all the options around. Just send us a note at lowcountrybluesclub@gmail.com - thanks!

As we wrap up our time at the Dough, we also want to thank our core group of musicians who show up early and stay late each and every week: Greg "The Motor" Levkus brings his drums and sets them up each week, and lets them be used by all the guest drummers who show up - he's a great guy, and we thank him so much for all his hard work, his reliability, and his great drumming!

Our main bass player now is Mark Schleis, and he's been great! We hope he'll stick with us as the club moves to a new location. And we have to also mention our bass player before Mark - Landon Moore, who moved back to Memphis, but who made lots of great music for us while he was here, and whom we miss a lot. And before that, there was Dave Jones - thanks to him as well!

Last, but certainly not least, we thank our jam master Dan Wright for all the wonderful music, and for his part in keeping the jam moving along each night -- not an easy task! When there's a group of musicians on stage, making great music, it's hard to stop them, and send up a new group to play. But it has to be done, or the jam would go on till 4 am, and everyone would be too tired to show up for work the next morning, and that would be bad. So Dan and Greg and Mark make sure that everybody who signs up gets to play at some point, at least most of the time... It's true that once in awhile there's just more musicians than we can accomodate, but that doesn't happen very often.

We don't want to forget to thank Derek Curry, who originally started this club, and Tommy Thunderfoot who was the jam-master for the first year. Also thanks to the original board members - you know who you are!

Okay, I guess it's time to talk about what's going on this weekend in music. For those of you on Facebook, I suggest you check out a new page called Charleston Live Music. This page gives everyone the chance to post news about what bands are playing where. And if you have a favorite band, this is a great place to say so, and invite others to come see them play. The page is for all kinds of music, not just blues, but I'm sure they welcome any info they can get.

This weekend, the Battle of the bands continues at A Dough Re Mi. Check out www.ozziethedog.com for the latest news. And as usual, Smoky Wiener's jam takes place on Friday night at Bowens Island - lots of fun! Saturday there's a Blues and BBQ cruise with Shrimp City Slim, and Sunday there's the Cajun festival at James Island County Park, 12-6pm, with two great zydeco bands for only $10 -- always lots of fun! We often suggest that you get on Shrimp's email list, because he's involved with so many great blues events that we just don't have the time and space to list them all for you here - so check that out if you haven't already, www.shrimpcityslim.com.

So, if the Dough is open on Tuesday, we'll have a jam. If it's closed, we may need a week or two to re-group, but will let you know as soon as we know something. I don't have the space to individually thank every one of the musicians who comes out on Tuesdays to make music for us, but please know that the Blues Club jams are special because of the input of ALL of you, and we hope you'll all continue to be a part of the club as we grow and change. . .

Lmw, March 25, 2010

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Greetings Blues Fans,

The Battle of The Bands is returning to A Dough Re Mi. This Friday and Saturday night six local bands will be competing to be in the final round of the battle of the bands. It is $5 to get in so don't miss out on a great night of music. For more information and a listing of the competing bands check out www.ozziethedog.com.

Don't forget to check out Smoky's regular friday jam at Bowen's Island, and of course the Tuesday Blues Jam at the Dough.

On Friday March 19th Skye Paige and the Original will be preforming at Jimbo's Rock Lounge. And The Wyatt Garey Band along with many other local musicians will be preforming at the One Love benefit for Haiti concert. It is on March 25th at the Wando High School preforming arts center. This will also include other bands such as The Whisperjets and Joel Timmons of Sol Driven Train. So come out and support Haiti with the power of love! For more information check out www.awendawgreen.com.