310,000 people came to see the fireworks by this years ‘Rhein in Flammen’ in Bonn. Some 90,000 of them were at the Rheinaue so it’s fair to say that a lot of people were out to enjoy the sunny skies. A lot of them enjoyed THE Sunny Skies Rockband too, and it was undoubtedly an evening to remember musically as well as visually with ‘The Skies’ providing plenty of onstage musical fireworks .
Category Archives: Reviews
Singing in the May
‘Spring’ was the theme at this month’s Bonn Folk Club meet in Haus Müllestumpe. Songs with ‘May’ in them are of course plentiful. There’s ‘Maggie May’ for example, or ‘May Each Day’, even ‘MAYbe it’s because I’m a Londoner’? Well, okay, not quite so easy. Would, or even could, anyone run with the idea? MAYbe…
Popa Chubby – Roar Power
“Motörhead meets Muddy Waters” is how Ted Horowitz aka Popa Chubby describes his own musical style. With a love for the Blues and musical roots buried deep in the Punk scene of his native New York City, Chubby concluded that if Blues is the root of contemporary music then it should be at least as ‘dangerous’ as the Rock and Punk it spawned. At least that’s how I explain the steely edged Stratocaster shrieks, and the volume that occasionally threatens to reach mark 9 on a scale of ten, but for the most part remains at it’s 10 max. Even the bodies packed tightly into every available orifice of the Harmonie couldn’t absorb so much sound. There’s a sticker on Chubby’s guitar saying ‘Support your local Hells Angels Geneva’ Maybe it should say instead – ‘This guitar can seriously damage your health’. Certainly the skulls emblazoned on it’s strap are a warning.
German Blues Project Blows into Bonn
Come on now Bonn. Okay, there was football on the telly and it was a Wednesday evening – but the Harmonie was offering not Only the popular Richie Arndt’s BluEnatics but the overall winners of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Georg Schroeter and Bluesharp Maestro Marc Breitfelder – history makers in fact for German Blues!
The five goals from the footie you can relive on the Internet anytime, but those magical Blues sounds from The German Blues Project are now gone forever.
Ana Popovic – Can You Stand The Heat (AErec003)
“I wanted to capture the hot Memphis summer, the greasy Stax sound,” – Ana Popovic
For all those people who identify Ana Popovic purely with the Blues it’s worth noting that she has been using words like ‘Funk’ and ‘Jazz’ in descriptions of her sound since the early days of ‘Hush’ in her native Serbia. Certainly, if you didn’t catch those styles within the laser grooves of her previous discs then you undoubtedly will on this one. ‘Can You Stand The Heat’ is probably the closest she has come to producing the sound that was in her head from those early days, and if I say closest’ it’s only because, perfectionist that Ana is, I suspect she is already working on any weaknesses that occurred on the new CD. Has she got a lot to work on? Find out here.
Pee Wee Ellis – Third Time Lucky
John Harrison goes to Church – and it’s not even Sunday. On this occasion though he had good reason to celebrate, as the legendary Pee Wee Ellis, ably assisted by Lillian Boutte, stopped off at St Paul’s Church in Friesdorf on Thursday to deliver his Jazz message. Dear Lord, let us play!
Rory’s Band of Friends
When it comes to Band names, every song, lyric and uttering from Irish guitar legend Rory Gallagher must have been snapped up by a coverband now. Fitting then that when Gallagher’s bass guitar sidekick Gerry McAvoy put a band together to commemorate his former boss it should not try to compete. McAvoy is adamant indeed that they are no ‘coverband’ when I speak to him. This is very simply a Band of Friends. Of course it’s not just any friends and certainly not any music that explodes onto the stage at the Harmonie; and when guitarist Marcel Scherpenzeel calls out “Let’s get to work” he’s plugging his Stratocaster not just into an amplifier, but into a legend.
King Kings of the Castle
Airless, hot, smoky, overcrowded, why is it that tiny pub gigs are so much fun? The sort of gig that Mick Jagger can only dream about now. Musicians and music that can physically reach out and touch the audience. Alan Nimmo could almost physically touch the far wall of Godorfer Burg in Wesseling on Friday night it was so tiny. Whilst small pubs and clubs are of course where great music is born and raised it’s quite clear after another blistering show that King King are about to ‘fly the nest’ bigtime.