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| Presented to Lonnie Brooks, Ronnie Baker Brooks, & Wayne Baker Brooks Presented by Bruce Igluer on behalf of the Pocono Blues festival |
| Lonnie and Wayne graciously accepts the award |
| WBB & Bernard Allison |
| WBB & Bernard Allison |
| WBB |
| WBB |
| Photos by Tim Holek |
| 14th Annual Pocono ’s Blues Fest – 2005 By Mike Lucci for WeGotBlues.com Friday July 29th, 2005 review only Once again, the weather Gods were gracious and provided three picture perfect mountain rainless summers days of 75 degrees and zero humidity. Michael Powers started the Friday Night show with blistering blues licks ala Jimi Hendrix.The New York native played his one hour set,non-stop revving up the somewhat reserved crowd with songs from his new CD, Onyx Root ,as well as classics by Willie Dixon and How- lin ’ Wolf. Michael was followed by Wayne Baker Brooks, son of Lonnie Brooks, and propelled the music to a more contemporary blues level. Most of the blues played by Wayne were on the rock /R&B and funk side of the blues. These styles are not my personal favorites, however, Wayne presented them with high energy and kept the crowd hoppin’ and dancin’. Eddie Kirkland finished up the evening beginning a little after 11:00 pm. I only stayed for about the first 45 minutes. Unfortunately, Eddie ’s show was not as capti- vating as Michael Powers or Wayne Brooks. Saturday ’s show began with a strong lineup – John Primer,Sharrie Williams, Robert Lockwood,Jr, James Blood Ulmer, Latimore, Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials, and capped off by Ruth Brown and Friends. John Primer kicked off the day with a set of solid Chicago bar style blues that made me feel as if I was downtown, in one of Chicago ’s narrow smoky blues bars. His tight band -consisting of Dan Beaver on harp, the extremely talented Dave Ross on keyboards, Michael Morrison on bass and Vernon Rodgers on drums – kept up the backbeat to John ’s selective solos on songs like “Somebody Have Mercy On Me ” and Big Mama Thorn- ton ’s, “Got My Mojo Working.” Sharrie Williams opened up the Stage 2 line-up with R&B blues as well as a few traditional blues tunes. Her band consisted of a lead guitarist from Germany and a keyboard player from Italy. Her voice draws you into each song as the hard driving rock blues beat kept heads bobbin’ and feet flippin’. She blended in some gospel style blues that were drawn from some of her personal life experiences. My personal favorite was the title track from her new CD, Hard Driven’ Woman. This was the first year that my son and I dug down deep to purchase two of the “VIP ” tickets. These tickets allowed us full access to the front stage press area as well as the pre-show room where all the musicians waited prior to performing. This gave us great photo opportunities as well as autograph opportunities with all of the musicians at the fest. Also, included in the deal were two T-shirts, a commemorative DVD of this year ’s show, free food and drinks (that included beer, if you so desired). I wasn ’t sure if it was going to be a real bargain; however, it was well worth the added expense to see my son ’s appreciation with regards to the opportunities in meeting and chatting with this lot of great blues musicians. Saturday ’s tent performances included encore perfor- mances from John Primer and Sharrie Williams as well as the premier shows for Carrie and Lurie Bell and Travis Haddix. The “Tent ”allows the crowd a bit more of an inti- mate setting. John Primer and his “Real Deal ” Blues Band kick off Saturday ’s Poconos Blues Festival |
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| Pocono Blues Festival 2005 |