Blues Asia Network

Mercy Street Blues Band Returns to Bangkok Blues Scene

Thomas Colvin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:14:11 +0000

Mercy Street Blues Band is a rough and tumble collection of competent blues musicians who play rough and tumble blues whenever they gets together. Mercy Street Blues Band is described as a tight, high energy blues band usually no more than four-piece band, once fronted by Californian Blues legend Greg Carroll – who played with Little Feat’s Bill Payne and was Robert Palmer’s harp player on 2 or 3 albums – now blowing fine blues in a blues club in Bejiing. Nowadays the Mercy Street Blues Band is fronted mainly by Mekong Doctor Blues and word is they are getting together to play the new Tokyo Joe’s on a weekly basis. Just waiting for Decibel Dennis Tennis to return from Oz. They did a CD a while back and we found the demos of some songs here at Noisehead. And they are up on My Space and can be seen at YouTube.

Frontman Mekong Dr Blues has been laying down his take on the Blues in Bangkok for more than 15 years and has run nearly every open floor blues jam in the time he has lived in The Big Mango…he once fronted the Delta Boys Blues Band here and has released albums under the Cadillac Kings tag and as Billy The Mountain and has various blues personas including The Reverend Breakand Burnin John and of course Mekong Doctor Blues.

The man has been promoting the blues all his life and playing at the opening of the first Koh Samui blues festival the Bangkok Post called Dr Blues Thailand’s very own Blues Ambassador. He survived a terrible road accident which involved major brain and leg operations but he bounced back and played the annual Ploenchit Fair with his band The Delta Boys Blues Band just 4 months after being in intensive care. He also owns and operates the musicians’ site http://www,bangkokjungle.com.

A little online research reveals that “Mekong Dr. Blues” is actually Alex Pithie, a Scotsman who has worked in Asia for over 20 years as a journalist with major news agencies. The Mercy Street Blues Band has been active off-and-on in Bangkok since at least 2007, maybe longer, and its revolving door of member musicians has included many of the top expat bluesmen in Thailand. Its main venue over the years has been Tokyo Joe’s.

Glenn Patrik Performs At Tokyo Joe’s

Thomas Colvin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:02:59 +0000

Glenn Patrik is no stranger to playing the blues in Bangkok. Matter of fact, he has headlined the Bangkok Blues Festival two years in a row. Glenn has also brought his particular brand of the blues and style to Tokyo Joe’s and several other venues in Bangkok through numerous appearances with locally based Soi Dog Blues Band.

Blues fans and aficionados will be pleased to learn that Glenn Patrik is in town for only a few days in February and Tokyo Joe’s has been lucky enough to nail him down for a gig on the 14th. For this one time only appearance Glenn will once again be backed by Soi Dog Blues Band.

Mark that in your schedule without further ado. Music starts at 9.30, Glenn Patrik on stage at 10.00pm.

Tokyo Joe’s is a major hang out for music fans in Bangkok albeit with a strong leaning towards blues from it’s beginnings in 2003. More recently TJ’s has evolved into a wider spectrum of music on the playlist with live music from Wednesday to Sunday every week. The current line up is The Fire on Wednesday featuring all the favorite pop/rock hits from the 70′s to present, Jack Band on Thursday with a pleasant mix of southern and slow rock tunes, a rotating headline on Friday and house band Soi Dog every Saturday night.

Sundays feature the well attended traditional Bangkok Jam where players bring their own instruments and in some cases self composed songs as well.

Tokyo Joe’s is located at 25/9 Sukhumvit Soi 26, roughly 300 meters into the soi from Sukhumvit, on the left hand side. It is located diagonally across the street from St. James Hotel and is open every Tuesday – Sunday from 6.00pm onwards.

*****

With several decades of composing & performing experience, Glenn contributes a modern approach to the ongoing legacy of American Blues, with respect to the music from the forefathers of the Blues.

Soon after teaching himself to play the guitar at the age of 10, Glenn was performing and singing in different venues from schools and churches to roller rinks and learning from the older musicians around his Blues and Soul music-drenched hometown neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas. After an early piano lesson with one of the ministers from his Southern Baptist Church, Glenn began to seek out the various Blues musicians that he heard echoing from the neighbor’s turntables and in the juke joints around town.

In the coming years Glenn would find himself working in the Bands of Kansas City’s top Blues artists such as Chick Willis, Provine “Little” Hatch, Millage Gilbert, Leon Estelle & Annetta “Cotton Candy” Washington. These associations led Glenn To Chicago where he found work with Abb Locke, Buddy Miles, Lefty Dizz and a variety of other sideman jobs playing guitar. The next move was to Long Beach, California to spend several years with the Joe Houston Band. Since then, Glenn has been performing his own brand of Blues worldwide and has enjoyed critical acclaim for his first two releases on Shakehouse Records, Mr. Blues Jr. & Nuthin’ But A Thang!. With the release of his third album, Original Blues, Glenn has given us eleven more original tunes to add to his already plump songbook.

Coming Clampdown on Music Uploads

Thomas Colvin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:25:30 +0000

courtesy of mysarahjane

If you are a musician or music fan who uploads music composed by someone else, your freedom to do so is about to end.

The US Congress is considering legislation that will outlaw uploading any material not created by the uploader himself. Known as SOPA – Stop Online Piracy Act [US House Bill HR-3261] – the legislation is backed by corporate heavy-weights in the film and entertainment industry in the US. Under terms of the legislation, the US Congress will hold internet sites such as YouTube and Facebook liable for any infringements, turning them into the “internet police.” Failure to do so by such internet upload sites will result in loss of their domain name. Can you imagine Google losing its www.youtube.com domain? As I understand it, one persistent complaintant can bring down Google or Facebook. Rather draconian, especially for a country that has championed freedom of speech. And the threat of such legislation is spreading: Spain just enacted a law with similar design.

Protests against this legislation, which will be debated in January in the US House of Representatives, are mounting, but political observers are currently predicting passage. It is sure to be a major debate. Google, Facebook and Twitter have come out strongly against the legislation and are even threatening “blackouts” as a way to bring the legislation to the attention of the general public. Domain registrar GoDaddy originally signed on with the House of Representatives in support of SOPA, but a huge rebellion among its users caused a reversal of position a few days ago. But observers predict that common internet users will not prevail in a debate that pits them against Hollywood and corporate entertainment giants, who pour vast sums of money into the campaign war chests of politicians facing a challenging election year.

What does this mean for musicians? If passed, you or your band will no longer be allowed to upload performances of cover songs to YouTube or Facebook.

As host of BLUES ASIA TV, we have been following this political debate in the US, which began several months ago with introduction of similar legislation in the US Senate, the Protect Intellectual Property Act [US Senate Bill No. 968]. For clarity, allow me to state the concept and practice behind BLUES ASIA TV. We are blues musicians who set up the online TV program to help musicians in Asia and the Pacific gain broader attention around the world for their work. For us, it is a labor of love. We draw our material principally from YouTube itself, where musicians and their fans upload video to capture public attention world-wide. Additionally, we make a “best effort” to contact the person uploading the material for specific permission to replay. We also try to contact the artist featured in the video as well. So far, no one has turned us down. Why would they? We are helping to spread their message.

Google’s YouTube is quietly preparing for the worst, in order to protect itself. It has already implemented a system that identifies uploads to YouTube that contain material from a website that has registered its content. YouTube has, for example, already tagged two of our shows as containing “copyrighted” material, even though we have obtained specific permission from the website owner to replay its videos on BLUES ASIA TV.

And in a move barely mentioned beyond initial press announcements, four weeks ago Google bought RightsNow, a company that has developed software that can identify specific songs that are uploaded onto the internet. RightsNow has over 30 million songs in its database. Last week, BLUES ASIA TV was informed by YouTube that our last upload contained a copyrighted song within our hour-long program. Clicking on a link, we were informed that currently there is no consequence for our upload. But I am sure, once SOPA passes, that YouTube will be forced to block our show from ever reaching the public. Eventually, there may develop a payment system for use of copyrighted songs, similar to annual contracts radio stations sign with ASCAP and BMI. But that may take a long time to work out.

This legislation may mark the end of communal music such as the blues. Blues, after all, thrives on a common repertoire, shared by blues musicians world-wide. Imagine the consequences if blues bands can no longer share performances of “I’ve Got My Mojo Working”?

FOR UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION, check out this link, which pulls in a list of the latest information online.

TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR ONLINE MU*SIC, PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

YouTube acquires RightsFlow (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
YouTube acquires RightsFlow to help license music (sfgate.com)
YouTube Snaps Up RightsFlow Music-Copyright Specialist (mashable.com)
Google, Facebook and Twitter considering blackout to protest against SOPA (100gf.wordpress.com)
Spain Gets its Own SOPA-Style Anti-Piracy Law For Shutting Down Websites (readwriteweb.com)
Dump ‘Go Daddy Day’ Headache for Company (myfoxphoenix.com)
Congress just as bad at piracy as those they want to push under the SOPA bus (inquisitr.com)
YouTube Announces January 16 Deadline for Becoming a YouTube Music Publisher (socialtimes.com)
New & Innovative Ways to View YouTube (apartmenttherapy.com)
How to optimise a video for YouTube (marketing.yell.com)

BLUES ASIA TV: International Blues Challenge – 1

Thomas Colvin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:30:18 +0000

FOR MORE THAN A DECADE, musicians from Asia and the Pacific have been participating in the prestigious International Blues Challenge [IBC], sponsored by the Blues Foundation and held each year during the first week of February on historic Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. The 24th IBC is coming up 31 January through 4 February 2012. With today’s program, we are launching a series of shows documenting Asia’s participation in IBC, past and present.

The International Blues Challenge is hugely important. It’s the Olympics and major international trade show rolled into one event. Each year it has grown, and in 2012 participating will be 118 blues bands and 86 solo-duo acts, along with 22 entries in the Youth Division [musicians age 20 and below]. Altogether that’s 226 competing blues acts from around the world, including France, Croatia, Finland, Norway, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Canada, the Netherlands, Israel, South Africa — AND Taipei, Manila, Melbourne, Sydney, Southeast Queensland and Auckland. With all this emerging blues talent congregated in one place, it is no wonder that music industry movers-and-shakers converge on Beale Street looking for the next big international act.

In this show today, we look at some of the bands from Asia and the Pacific that have participated in IBC in the past — and who have received top recognition. Unsurprisingly, all of these bands and performers have gone on to become giants in the music scene in their home country. And equally important, they have all brought back home knowledge and experience that helps to elevate musicianship among their peers. We at Blues Asia Network hope to see increased participation in IBC by regional bands.

Here’s what is in today’s show:

00:00 — Introduction

03:40 — Peter “Madcat” Ruth [US], Christmas greetings from US to Asia

07:50 — Chicken Shack Revival [Singapore], Christmas greetings from Asia to the world

10:47 — Brendan Power with Bleu Rascals in Manila, 7 December 2011

20:38 — Introduction to the International Blues Challenge

22:42 — UBlues [Singapore]

27:40 — Ray Beadle [Australia]

34:37 — Geoff Achison and Fiona Boyes [Australia]

43:16 — Soulmate [India]

52:02 — UBlues [Singapore} and Lampano Alley [Philippines] at Mosaic Music Festival 2005

THANKS & LINKS to these bands and sources:

Peter “Madcat” Ruth, http://www.youtube.com/user/petermadcatruth – Chicken Shack Revival, http://www.youtube.com/user/ChickenShackRevival – UBlues, http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ublues – Ray Beadle, www.raybeadle.com – Geoff Achison and Fiona Boyes, Fur Peace Ranch: www.furpeaceranch.com and www.youtube.com/user/furpeaceranch – Soulmate, http://www.myspace.com/soulmateshillong – Lampano Alley, www.lampanoalley.com, Cath Butler, http://www.myspace.com/cathbutler

FULL LINE-UP announced for Australian Blues Music Festival 2012

Thomas Colvin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 01:54:20 +0000

The Artist line-up for the 2012 Australian Blues Music Festival has been announced with over 30 artists and bands to feature at the event in Goulburn, NSW next February.

The Australian Blues Music Festival is four days of Blues & Roots Music held annually in the Southern-NSW city of Goulburn. In 2012 the festival runs from Thursday 9^th to Sunday 12^th February and will feature over 70 free-entry performances as well as several ticketed shows across eight venues including the family friendly APRA-AMCOS Stage in the beautiful Belmore Park.

The full line-up for Goulburn 2012 is:

Eugene ‘Hideaway’ Bridges (USA) – Chase The Sun – Glenn Cardier Trio – Dreamboogie – Hat Fitz & Cara Robinson – Darren Watson & the Real Deal Blues Band (NZ) – Diana Wolfe & the Black Sheep – P.J. O’Brien Band – Claude Hay – Shaun Kirk – Rory Ellis – The Resonators – Dan Hannaford – Alison Penney Trio – Tabasco Tom & Doc White – Mississippi Shakedown – Jack Derwin – Cal Williams Jnr – Marissa Quigley – Luke Wilton – Morningside Fats – DJ Gosper – Liza Ohlback – Quasimodo Blues Band – The Widowbirds – Kathryn Hartnett – Leroy Lee – Halfway To Forth – Paul Robert Burton – Rick Steward and Sid Barone.

The festival kicks off on Thursday night the 9^th Feb with the Australian Blues Music Awards. The awards will be announced at a free event staged at the Goulburn Workers Club.

The festival proper continues across the weekend with markets on Saturday and Sunday and the Busker’s Competition on Saturday.

For more information check out the website www.australianbluesfestival.com.au

For artist interviews contact:

Cathy

Laing Entertainment

p: 0422059075

e: cathy@laing-entertainment.com.au

BLUES ASIA TV 6.1: John Ferreira and Howard Levy

Thomas Colvin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:05:04 +0000

WE OFFER AN UNPRECEDENTED SHOW TODAY! Globe-trotting music producer John Ferreira popped up in Manila for 3 days, and Blues Asia Network was able to grab him for the show. John is also good friends with harmonica virtuoso Howard Levy. Ah ha, we said. Let’s also feature the work of Howard on the show, we proposed — and John within hours got personal permission from Howard for us to present some of his best video in today’s program. [ THANKS, HOWARD! ]

First, John fills us in, explaining WHY he is in Asia. In fact, he has even set up a recording studio in Singapore, joining his other production studios in Chicago and Cancun, Mexico. In his view, Asia will soon be emerging as a major international center of music. “There is so much talent out here,” John says. Check out Mix Magazine for an excellent profile of John.

John also shares some personal stories and insights into Howard Levy, who is recognized as one of the most awesome and innovative diatonic harmonica players in the world. I am particularly pleased to have this opportunity to bring Howard to the attention of musicians and fans in Asia, where he is not so very well known.

The harmonica is very popular throughout Asia, but interest is focused on chromatic and tremolo harmonica. The diatonic harmonica does not receive very much attention, except in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. At the 8th Asia-Pacific Harmonica Competition in Singapore in August 2010, each major category of competition attracted 80 competitors or more — except for diatonic, with less than 10. I hope that Howard Levy can help change that by challenging the gifted Asian players to tackle the diatonic as a real, and major instrument. Hopefully, more diatonic players will show up at the next Asia-Pacific Harmonica Competition, scheduled for August 2012 in Malaysia.

There is, by the way, some talk about Howard performing in Asia next August. We will inform our followers on our Facebook Page about developments in this regard.

IMPORTANT LINKS:

JOHN’S WEBSITE: www.genuinemusic.tv

HOWARD’S WEBSITE: www.levyland.com

HOWARD’S ONLINE SCHOOL: www.howardharmonica.com

PROGRAM CONTENTS:

00:02:16 – Who is John Ferreira?

00:06:25 – A tour of John’s Chicago recording studio

00:12:55 – John talks about his experience in Chicago, the future of music in Asia and what is the essence of the blues

00:22:20 – Introduction to Howard Levy, and Howard playing blues in many keys with one diatonic harp

00:27:12 – How John met Howard

00:32:23 – Video profile of Levy

00:45:15 – Tomcat discusses harmonica organizations and learning opportunities

00:51:00 – Howard plays “Amazing Grace”

00:57:46 – How to record harmonica, and harmonica “tone”

01:02:36 – A quick romp through the blues: Evanston Express

01:05:41 – An admonition: ALWAYS be working on something!

01:07:25 – Howard plays Beethoven Violin Concert, demonstrating advanced harmonica techniques

01:12.53 – Howard’s online harmonica school — Asian musicians can learn from Howard!

BLUES ASIA TV 5.2: Spotlight on Japan

Thomas Colvin — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 04:00:33 +0000

SPOTLIGHT on JAPAN, plus a glimpse into the Himalayan Blues Festival.

Again, we feature some video shot only within the past few weeks. And we’ve made yet more new friends. I particularly enjoyed online communication with “Weeping Harp” Senoh of Japan, who has been a major figure in the Japanese blues scene for over 40 years. And following our focus on Australia in a last segment, we have established a warm friendship with Cath Butler — and you’ll be hearing a lot more about her starting in January.

The BLUES ASIA NETWORK is indeed growing. This week we met up with globe-trotting music producer John Ferreira, who is intrigued by the music scene in Asia. In fact, he’ll be our guest on our next show — which will be a MUST-VIEW show for anyone remotely interested in the future of music in Asia.

YOU can do your part to spread the word about the blues scene in Asia. SHARE THIS VIDEO with your Facebook friends. The success of our effort really depends on you, the viewers.

SHOW CONTENTS:

00:00 - Opening comments and some news

04:20 - Quick clips from Himalayan Blues Festival’s special gig at Blue Frog in India

FOCUS ON JAPAN:

04:47 - Dekasu

16:00 - Mitsuyoshi Azuma & the Swinging Boppers

23:09 - Weeping Harp Senoh

SPOTLIGHT ON YOUTH:

35:20 - Ryunsuki Yamagishi, 11 years old blues star

INDONESIA:

47:00 - Uncle Traff

BLUES ASIA TV 5.1: Spotlight on Australia

Thomas Colvin — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 07:41:59 +0000

IN OUR FIRST EIGHT MINUTES, we discuss blues news from Bangkok, Jakarta, India, Singapore and the Philippines. Blues is thriving. We put the spotlight on AUSTRALIA in this segment, particularly featuring videos contributed by Matt “Harpdog” Dunn, our newest content partner. And in our YOUTH SPOTLIGHT, we watch a 12-year-old Aussie boy bang out the blues at a recent blues festival.

Feedback continues, leading us to a number of new artists featured this week in segments one and two. We encourage musicians, fans, venues owners and festival organizations to feed us news and links to video of potential interest to our viewers. Our email address is: bluesasia@gmail.com. And we encourage all viewers to subscribe to our weekly email newsletter, which will keep you up to date with regional blues news and the detailed contents of our TV shows. Subscribe at our website: www.bluesasianetwork.com

SHOW CONTENTS:

00:00 – Opening comments and news

06:52 – Brendan Power’s Asia Tour [courtesy of Brendan Power]

14:51 – Dom Turner & the Backsliders [courtesy of Dom Turner]

22:51 – Jimi Beavis [courtesy of Matt Dunn]

31:08 – 12-year-old Bailey Judd [ courtesy of Matt Dunn]

36:56 – Collard Greens and Gravy [courtesy of Ian Collard and Rooster McBlurter]

42:50 – Dutch Tilders [courtesy of Rooster McBlurter]

47:39 – Ross Ward [courtesy of Beachblues]

BLUES ASIA TV 4.2: Making Videos, Brendan Power’s Asian Tour and more…

Thomas Colvin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 10:25:30 +0000

YouTube videos of live band gigs flood the internet. But are they good advertising for bands? Mostly, the poor quality does not show off a band in a good light. BLUES ASIA TV addresses this problem in Episode 4.2. Dom Turner of Australia’s Backsliders plans a drop-in appearance at Crazy Elephant in Singapore. Brendan Power, voted Top Harmonica Player of 2011, tours Asia, beginning 22 November and providing workshops in concerts in India, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and Indonesia. Plus blues performances by Little Duke and the Mekong Blues Messengers [Cambodia] and Nan and Zhin [Malaysia]. Plus our spotlight on a young musician of note.

Lots of “insider” shop talk in this episode. SEND US your comments about our observations. Do you agree? Do you have additional suggestions to share? LET US KNOW!

00:00 – Opening comments

02:20 – Dom Turner news and new album

08:46 – Producing Your Video: Tibuan’s new video

20:09 – Producing Your Video: Little Duke & the Mekong Blues Messengers [Cambodia]

30:53 – Some blues news

31:48 – Brendan Power

43:35 – Nan and Zhin [Malaysia]

52:28 – Spotlight on Youth: Sungha Jung [Korea]

Bangkok: Adhere the 13th Blues Bar

Thomas Colvin — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:42:17 +0000

Adhere the 13th Blues Bar, owned by musician Pong, is one of Bangkok’s blues secrets. Our correspondent Ron McMillan rather brashly declares it “the best blues bar in the world.” Ron has graciously provided us with directions on how to find the obscure music gem.

*****

Address: 13 Samsen Rd., Banglumpoo (opposite Samsen Soi 2; tell taxi drivers: Banglumpoo Samsen soi song)

On the Samsen road, it is half way between Pinklao and Rama VIII Bridges. On that stretch of road there is only one hump-backed bridge over a smelly canal. Just as you get over the bridge heading roughly north, or AWAY from Khao San Road, the bar is tucked down on the left. It has a tiny turquoise sign that says something like Live Blues.

Here’s a map to a new hotel across Samsen Rd from Adhere. If you went to the hotel, you’d be one minute’s walk from the bar.

http://www.nouvocityhotel.com/map/

It has been voted by a knowledgeable committee (of which I make fifty percent) The Best Blues Bar in the World. That’s official.

Pong and the guys are there most nights, but the best crowds and best atmosphere tends to be on Friday and Saturday.

BLUES ASIA TV Episode 4.1: Spotlight on Thailand (bluesasianetwork.com)
Tokyo Joe’s in Bangkok Reopens (bluesasianetwork.com)
Thailand-Europe-US Blues CD Project Underway (bluesasianetwork.com)