Live Review
Heart & Soul
a musical celebration to benefit Camp Heartland
@ Bunker's (outdoors), Minneapolis
May 15 & 16, 1999
by Ray Stiles
|
|
|
Joe Juliano
Photo © 1999 Tom Asp All rights reserved
|
Joe Juliano opened the event on Sunday with a band featuring some new members and more of his great R&B guitar and singing. Andy Bailey added super keyboards and also contributed some nice vocals on several songs that the band is currently recording for their third album. I think Andy is itching to lead a band of his own. One of the premier R&B guitar players and singers in the Twin Cities, Juliano knows how to get a groove going and always delivers the right combination of soul, rhythm and blues wrapped around his unique brand of wry humor.
Mango Jam followed, with their cartwheeling bass player, performing R&B, pop and Caribbean rhythms that was fresh and entertaining.
|
Deborah Coleman
Photo © 1999 Tom Asp All rights reserved
|
Deborah Coleman was scintillating as usual with her razor sharp guitar and intriguing vocals. She also showed up on several of the other sets throughout the weekend jamming and having a great time. After the show on Saturday she even showed up at Famous Dave's and joined Carl Weathersby for some spirited guitar lick trading.
|
Tina
Photo © 1999 Tom Asp All rights reserved
|
Tina and B-Side Movement (by Heather Stiles). Jammin' on stage, Tina's performance really rocked the late afternoon audience. The thrill of the weekend at Heart and Soul wasn't about to stop here. Tina's performance was outstanding, and the way her vocals combined with her music really hooked the audience. Mary Cutrufello, another performer on the heart and soul lineup, made a special showing on stage as well. The other members of the band contributed so much to the motivation of the crowd. The energy and feeling they had for their music really showed through to give an excellent performance by Tina and the B-Side Movement.
|
Mick Sterling
Photo © 1999 Tom Asp All rights reserved
|
Mick Sterling sang songs from his just released CD, "The Best Laid Plans" and was joined by several guests including The Blenders and Kevin Bowe (who helped write a couple of the songs on Mick's new album.) Mick continues to redefine his quality soul sound with captivating vocals and inspired lyrics.
|
Chris Layton
Photo © 1999 Tom Asp All rights reserved
|
Double Trouble, Stevie Ray Vaughan's band, was up next hosting what turned out to be a pretty loose all-star jam session. Tommy Shannon and Chis Layton were joined by Shawn Pittman, Pat Hayes (on harp and serving as MC), Bernard Allison , Wayne Toups, Malford Milligan, Deborah Coleman, Tom Hunter, Kevin Bowe, 9 year old "Shaky" Jake Neuman on harp and several other musicians. Young Jake would have stolen the show if he had stayed on stage longer than just one song. Good move on Pat's part. This was a fun set with the keyed-up players taking their turns at "cutting heads." An hour was also too short a time for the amount of talent that was on stage, they could easily have jammed for several hours. I though it might be a hard act to follow but soon discovered that Susan Tedeschi was up to the task. She closed out the night in grand fashion, keeping the huge crowd, who weathered the rain for several hours, at a heightened pitch right up to the end.
More Pictures of Tommy Shannon, Shawn Pittman, Bernard Allison
|
Susan Tedeschi
Photo © 1999 Tom Asp All rights reserved
|
Susan Tedeschi (by Catherine Kennelly). What can be said about a woman who goes out on stage to put on a show wearing a dress with high heels and nylons? Boy does she know how to put on a good show! Susan had something for everyone -- from gritty, to seductive, to just plain hardcore blues. This woman knows how to seduce a crowd. She definitely has the heart and soul that epitomizes this weekend.
Throughout the two days there were also over a dozen acts inside Bunker's. Two of the highlights were young blues rocker Ross William Perry and a very good soul/R&B group called Best Kept Secret who shouldn't be a secret much longer. Nineteen year old Perry has the guitar chops that sure turns heads and he is also developing into a pretty good slide player (along the lines of Hound Dog Taylor and Elmore James.) He played a song he wrote as a tribute to Hendrix and Vaughan that showed sparks of genius. I look forward to watching him mature as a blues guitar player in the years to come.
|
Ross William Perry
Photo © 1999 Tom Asp All rights reserved
|
The Heart & Soul Benefit was a success on two levels -- fun, entertaining music for the thousands of music fans and a very successful fund raiser again for Camp Heartland. Last year I asked Mick about why so many people are getting behind this event and what he saw for the future of Heart & Soul. His reply from a year ago was pretty prophetic. "There are so many really good people helping out with this event," said Mick. "They are seeing the same thing that I saw when I first talked to the people at Camp Heartland -- that the Camp is worthy of a lot of praise. Their mission is really something that a lot of people can get behind and there is no way this could have gotten as large as it has without some unbelievable people helping out, all the volunteer and music people." Because Camp Heartland offers free summer camp to children from all over the country, Heart & Soul has turned into an national fund raising music event. Speaking about the musicians who have expressed interest in helping out Mick said, "there is something different about this event that may not apply to some other events and I think the musicians see it. I don't quite know what that is. Whether it's just the whole vibe or just the actual mission (of Camp Heartland) itself, but there is something that is going on. Things are happening that are really good for us now. It's going in the direction I would like it to go," said Mick speaking about expanding the Heart & Soul fundraising on a national basis. "My goal for this thing has always been to make it a really legitimate event. Something that musically is very, very strong. It doesn't necessarily have to be one type of music, but a diverse musical event that attracts more national artists. It's a good charity to get behind. It's a legitimate national event that I'm hoping will be as big as some of the major blues festivals. That's my goal." From the turn out and success of this year's Heart & Soul I would say he is well on his way to reaching this lofty goal.
Return to Day One
|
|