Three days of music - over 100 bands - on 5 stages - held along First Avenue in the historic warehouse district of Minneapolis! Minnesota's weather forces us to cram most of our outdoor festivals into a three month period that we sometimes call summer. Mill City, held over the Labor Day weekend signals the end of summer and the start of fall and the new school year. It also means the end to our outdoor music season. What a great way to head into autumn.

Mill City, in its second year, had a beautiful weekend of weather with only a brief downpour during the Jimmy Vaughn show Monday evening. What's great about this festival with so many bands performing over the long weekend, is that it gives us the opportunity to get out and see a wide variety of music by some outstanding performers - maybe some we would not normally get out to see.

Carolyn Pershing - 8/30/97 Mill City Music Festival Photo © 1997 by Steve Felling All rights reserved

Kicking off the long weekend was local musician Carolyn Pershing. Carolyn's performance of mostly original folk/rock/pop material was a treat. She has a unique voice that allows her to sing in just about any style, and do good job of it too. She hit some high notes that soared several octaves above her normal singing voice that were amazing. She started singing as a child and sites Laura Nyro as one of her influences. Pershing has been in the Twin Cities for just two years and already has a CD out and is performing around town on a regular basis.

It wasn't always an easy task to choose who to see with 5 different performances going on at one time. The starting times were staggered and the stages were all within a short walk of each other so I was able to catch parts of some shows while walking back and forth along 1st Ave. One show I was looking forward to though was the Minnesota rock reunion held on Saturday at the Fine Line Stage.

Jim Sundquist - 8/30/97 Mill City Music Festival Photo © 1997 by Steve Felling All rights reserved

Local legends The Fendermen kicked off the afternoon with their roots rock 'n' roll and country. You might remember a classic song from 1960 called "Mule Skinner Blues." Well, the Fendermen are the ones who shot to national prominence after the release of this record. The original Fendermen were just two guitar players, Jim Sundquist and Phil Humphrey, who first recorded "Mule Skinner Blues" on a tape deck in Wisconsin in 1960. There was no bass and no drums on the original song. They had 500 records pressed and couldn't get any radio play until they were heard by a Wisconsin DJ. He played the song and within 3 days they had 8,000 orders. With no records to fill the orders they rushed The Fendermen to the Twin Cities to re-record the song and SOMA then released it nationally. It went to number 80 on the charts during the first week.

There wasn't much that separated early rock 'n' roll from country during the 1950's and early 1960's. Jim recalled one tour when he was on the road with The Tornadoes where they joined up with Johnny Horton, who was riding high on the success of his cross over hits "Battle of New Orleans" and "Sink The Bismarck." Johnny Cash, Johnny and Jack, and Kitty Wells were also on that tour. Jim started playing guitar at the age of 15 and said his two major guitar influences were Chet Atkins and Merle Travis. His finger picking style sure does them justice. Jim graduated from Niagara high school in northern Wisconsin in 1955 and from the University of Wisconsin in 1959. It was while at college that he hooked up with Phil and formed The Fendermen.

Sally West - 8/30/97 Mill City Music Festival Photo © 1997 by Steve Felling All rights reserved

Jim Sundquist was joined on stage by Phil Nusbaum on banjo, Jim Chuesberg on bass and Sally West on drums. Sally West has been a singer and drummer for many years and recalled an amusing story at a small St. Paul gig they had a long time ago. The owner of the club said he had a friend who was going to join them on guitar. He said my friend Jimmy is going to sing "Mule Skinner Blues." According to Sally, "when Jim got done I was all excited. I said finally, someone who can sing that song like the record, not knowing he was the guy who made the record." They started playing together after that and Sally has been a part of the current Fendermen for the past 8 years. Sally was given a toy drum set at the age of 7 and has been beating on the drums all her life. She just loves that 1950's music and said "I refuse to die until I back up Little Richard." You could sure tell they were having a ball at this show. The crowd response was overwhelming!

The Underbeats, Crow, The Del Counts and The Castaways played throughout the remainder of the day. Jim Johnson of the Underbeats sure brought back the memories with "Foot Stompin'." Jim also played several new blues compositions that were quite good - one in particular called "It Ain't Over." Later the Del Counts served as host band while they brought up guests. Curtis A joined in on "The Crusher" and gave a dead-on performance of the Trashmen's "Surfin' Bird." Dick Roby of The Castaways came up and sang "Liar, Liar." Drummer Ron Butwin from the Escapades, Del Counts and Chancellors joined in on "Little Latin Loupe Loupe." Around this time there was this funny little guy in an orange shirt out dancing by himself in front of the stage and putting on a pretty entertaining show for us.

Darlene Love - 8/30/97 Mill City Music Festival Photo © 1997 by Tom Asp All rights reserved

There were a number of highlights throughout the weekend but the most pleasantly surprising one was Darlene Love. Darlene was just a sophomore in high school when she was discovered by Sam Cooke and asked to join a new girl group called The Blossoms. This began a remarkable recording career with Phil Spector. Darlene sang lead vocals with The Blossoms, the Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans who recorded some of the greatest pop hits of the 1960's - "He's A Rebel," "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Today I Met The Boy I'm Gonna Marry." She even sang background vocals on the classic Sam Cooke recordings of "Chain Gang," and "Everybody Loves To Cha, Cha, Cha." Throughout her career Darlene has performed with Elvis, Dionne Warwick, and The Righteous Brothers. More recently she even starred as Danny Glover's wife in the Lethal Weapon films. She has starred on Broadway in Grease, is writing her autobiography, and is working on a film based on her life story called "The Boy I Love."

But her singing is what sends me. She has a classic soul/R&B voice that just won't quit. She is an expressive singer and very personable on stage too. She also had these neat little heart shaped ear rings that complemented her name. She put on a show at Mill City that was peppered with soul and R&B classics as well as her greatest hits. She has one of those "big" voices that ring so clear and true. When she sang "Don't Make Me Over," she said this was a great song 40 years and the way she sang it, it's still a great song. She also did the Jackie Wilson hit "Higher and Higher," Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," and many other classic soul songs. All I can say is we want you back soon Darlene!

Etta James - 8/30/97 Mill City Music Festival Photo © 1997 by Tom Asp - All rights reserved

Right before Etta James took the stage at 6:30 on Saturday there was a beautiful cloud formation with the sun streaming through that was almost angelic. This was another dazzling visual display similar to the double rainbow we saw earlier this year at Midway Stadium during the Twin Cities Blues Festival.

Bobby Murray is a flashy guitar player who has been on the road for 10 years with Etta James. His guitar playing was a crowd pleaser. Etta came on dressed in black with long black finger nails and launched right into one of her bawdy, suggestive songs "I'd Rather Be Blind." She was in a very playful mood for this performance. Sticking her tongue out, pouting, and giving us those great stares. As a result she put on a very good show. Much better than her performance at last years festival where she wasn't feeling very well. She also did her Jimmy Reed medley which is always a treat for me.

Ziggy Marley - 8/30/97 Mill City Music Festival Photo © 1997 by Tom Asp All rights reserved

Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers closed out the first day on the main stage with a rousing show of roots reggae mixed with contemporary and classic R& B. The dreadlocks and pot were out in force. The surging crowd were packed as tight as bark on a tree in front of the stage and were jumping right along with the high energy displayed on stage. The band, 14 members strong, had Ziggy, brother Stephen and sisters Cedella and Sharon up front. They were backed by two keyboard players, two bass players (who would take turns on different songs - one would play while the other sat on the elevated drum stand), two guitars, drums, percussion, sax and trumpet. This was a real family affair. Many small children of band members also joined them on stage during the encore. The Marley tradition continues to grow. Their performance captured the sounds, textures and colors of Jamaican music drawing heavily on their heritage as well as infusing more contemporary themes and musical styles in their songs. Father Bob Marley is the focal point of their music - the soul upon which they build. The Melody Makers embrace his music with espouse a deep political and spiritual awareness. As a tribute to their father there is also a banner with Bob Marley's name on it hanging from one of the stands.

Stephen Marley - 8/30/97 Mill City Music Festival Photo © 1997 by Tom Asp - All rights reserved

At one point Ziggy said "it's good to see the people together like this, its like rainbow country," as he looked out over the huge crowd and launched into the song "Rainbow Country." They performed many classic reggae tunes as well as many of their own songs from the 8 highly acclaimed albums they have released since the mid 1980's. There was a definite positive theme running throughout their entire show, from the lyrics of the songs to the small talk between songs. Their message is one of optimism, hope and awareness - "never forget your dreams," "freedom," "rainbow," "positive attitude," "tomorrow's people," "positive track today," "stand up for your rights," "so we never give up the fight."

One of the many highlights of the show was the Curtis Mayfield classic "People Get Ready." It was performed with such an intense spirit that it was infectious. This was a very uplifting performance of reggae and rhythm & blues.

Mill City Music Festival Day Two

Mill City Music Festival Day Three

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

---

Table of Contents:
HOME

Free web pages from www.mnblues.com