Roots Review 33

As I write this roots review, HoneyBoy Dupree is driving us through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument area, on our way to Mexico for bargains on smokes and apple juice concentrate. It is spiritually inspiring and beautiful - a 360 degree scenic postcard. BTW - Dupree says hello y'all!

Well, last week's American Roots Live was another fun packed week of hot music by some incredibly talented musicians!

ARL 33 at Crossroads in Garwood, NJ featured a solid line up of serious roots-passionate players including headliner and co-host John Powers, who, joined by JR Bradfield on banjo, put in a stellar set of his infectious, crowd pleasing originals.

Many thanks go to EJ Rice, Josh Gebhardt, Robert Zee, Bones Sanford, Mimi Nowak, Len Depiano, the young and awesomely talented Steve McIntyre, Jim Angelica, Mike Maino, Jeff Miller and Rob "Rock" Bianco among others - yes, even me - now that I'm wearing my new kryptonite belt!

We all appreciate the passion, determination and good will of Win, who has attended all 33 ARL shows since we started in April. Win, a talented photographer, brings his best 11 X 8 1/2 color prints and makes gifts of them to the deserving musicians he appreciates so much. Well... we appreciate Win and we thank him for his generosity, support and enthusiasm.

In Easton at the Bluetone Cafe Thursday, Billy K & the Pocono Players; Ed Moore and Chip Bush turned up the heat. There were dynamite performances by the Bixbys, hot-as- fire-pickin' by Doc Z and Roman on guitars, Vern Mobley, drums, Bones on bass, Paul Berger, guitar, the spirit of Jaimo Flynn and our young improvisational friend, Michael Lopresti, who all made for a great night of music in Easton.

I got home that night after the Bluetone about 3:30 AM - and given the fact that I was being picked up at 6:30 AM for an early flight out of Newark to Phoenix and still hadn't packed - I decided to pull an all-nighter.

I caught a couple of Z's in the air and landed in Phoenix 2 hours before showtime at the Dessert Ridge Market Place in Scottsdale, AZ with HoneyBoy Dupree & the Smoke House Players. What a cool venue. Dessert Ridge is a beautiful open-air mall - think Times Square with palms trees and a large concert stage in the middle of it all.

We performed for thousands of appreciative listeners. The Dessert Ridge has over 30 restaurants with mostly all situated around the stage area with diners and partiers sitting in individual bistro style outdoor dining areas with plenty of seats, tables and kiosks in a common area in front of the stage.

Most satisfying was the number of children crowding the stage dancing and reaching up to touch HoneyBoy's bass as he played.

Our American Roots message was heard loud and clear. One lucky participant named Dave, a bass player from Chicago, took home the grand prize package of a HoneyBoy Dupree & the Smoke House Player's CD, an autographed picture of me and Dupree performing together at our TV shoot during his Jersey visit in August and the current issue of Elmore Magazine and Elmore CD sampler.

Awesome performances by HoneyBoy, Big Mack Mason, Jim Glass and Dave Davis made for a night I will remember for a long time. Thanks to all the wonderful musicians we met.

The Phoenix metro area is a cool place for hot music. I'll tell you more about the trip when I get back and in Roots Review 34.

Many thanks to our venues, ownerships, staffs, players, fans, sponsors, supporters and volunteers.

We wish Ed Pampani a speedy recoverey and hope to have him back with us soon.

See you at Crossroads on the 29th and the Bluetone Cafe on the 30th.

Please be aware that there will be major changes coming for ARL in the very near future so please keep your eyes right here for the latest - you won't want to miss it! Thank you.

Keeping it real,

Ned