Blues On Stage - Lonnie Brooks

Lonnie Brooks
@ The Cabooze, April 17, 1998

Lonnie Brooks
The Cabooze, 4/17/98
Photo © 1998 by Tom Asp. All rights reserved.

Lonnie Brooks walked in the back door of the Cabooze about 50 minutes before he was to go on stage and proceeded to get involved in a pool game. After he polished his opponents off he just meandered around visiting with old friends and new fans. That pretty much sums up the approach to his shows. They are fun, relaxed, family parties that always have a few surprises thrown in. But no matter how much fun they are having or how loose they appear on stage, the music is always top drawer.

Wayne Baker Brooks & Biscuit
The Cabooze, 4/17/98
Photo © 1998 by Tom Asp. All rights reserved.
The Lonnie Brooks show is definitely a family affair. Sons Ronnie Baker Brooks and Wayne Baker Brooks always open the show playing exceptional guitar. These guys ARE the blues brothers. Dave "Biscuit" Miller on bass is almost like a son to Lonnie. Patrick "Howdy" Doody is on drums and they had a new keyboard player this time who really let the fur fly.

Lonnie Brooks
Photo © 1998 by Tom Asp. All rights reserved.

Lonnie has a unique quality to his voice that falls somewhere between hard core blues and smooth sounding soul. He plays a wicked guitar and is a consummate entertainer. He was right out there on the edge of the stage playing to the fans most of the night. This was one wild show that kept getting more unbridled as the evening went on. At one point Lonnie got next to Ronnie and were playing each others guitars at the same time. Then Wayne joined them and all three were playing two guitars at the same time with Biscuit looking on. And this was just a warm up, things only got better from there.

Ronnie, Lonnie, Wayne, Biscuit
Photo © 1998 by Ray Stiles. All rights reserved.

Lonnie did his traditional walk about the audience using a beer bottle at one point and a shot glass at another to play some slide guitar. He entered the center bar area and mixed himself a drink while he continued to play, and then proceeded to drink it with a straw while he played his guitar behind his heard. At another point he was playing with his tongue and just egging on the audience. When he walked out of the center part he handed his guitar over to Jelly Bean Johnson who continued on the round without missing a beat (well almost, there was so much noise by this time I don't think anyone could really tell). In fact most of the audience who couldn't see over on that side of the bar didn't even know Lonnie wasn't playing any longer.

Jelly Bean Johnson
Photo © 1998 by Ray Stiles
All rights reserved

This was now turning into a free-for-all as things just kept getting wilder and more fun. Jelly Bean returned to the stage to trade licks with Ronnie and was joined by both Lonnie and Wayne. These guys let it all hang out when they play and sure know how to have a ball.

See Interview with Lonnie Brooks

E-mail Ray Stiles at: mnblues@aol.com

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Copyright © 1998 by Ray M. Stiles
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