Bone Shake Me

The Boneshakers ain't fuckin' around. They came to play. Under any conditions.

In the news today, they said there's a tornado in Brooklyn. If the Boneshakers were in Brooklyn that tornado would have mellowed out under the bone shaking funk of The Boneshakers.

The Boneshakers consist of a baadasssss group of the music world's most hardcore funkateers. Randy Jacobs is a guitar hero. Like a surgeon, his guitar work is precise and cutting. The man doesn't use a guitar pick - he plays with his fingers, his thumbs, his wrist - his whole damn hand.


Sweet Pea Atkinson is a dapper crooner with an ability to emote like the Smokey's and the Marvin's and the Curtis' did. He's always impeccably dressed and always throws it down. And the audience always responds. God bless Sweet Pea Atkinson.(After the show we sat around and talked about Wattstax and Mavis Staples and Bonnie Raitt (whom he has played with in- addition to Lyle Lovett).


Johnny Kirkwood on drums laid it deep in the pocket and kept it on-the-one all night long. I love that.



T.O. Banks - who I've long been a fan of - plays the funky keys with outrageous ease. He channels the late great Billy Preston, which is really sayin' somethin'.

And the funkiest man in the room - the bassist. Known as J.V. Collier (not pictured) this is the one who holds down the bottom end and is one of the top guys in the biz. Incredible.

Neither tornados, inflamed esophagi, little practice time, tinnitus nor busted kneecaps have been able to stop 'em thus far.

They have several recordings available. I picked up 2 or 3 or 4 of them from a nice lady wandering around the club with a box of discs and a change purse. I'm all set.

This entry posted live from Harvelle's using BlogPress & the iPhone Hipstamatic photo app

Location:4th St,Santa Monica,United States

Harvelle's Weekend : Plan Accordingly!

< -Click to enlarge.

Thursday:

Kirk Fletcher : New-jack blues guitarist (formerly of The Fabulous Thunderbirds).Backing Kirk is Luke Miller/keys, Calvin Turner/bass, Lemar Carter/drums, and Kris Bradley on vocals.

Friday:

Club favorites The Boneshakers bring their super bad grooves featuring the vocals of Mr Sweet Pea Atkinson (Lyle Lovett, Was (Not Was)).

Saturday:

Prepare to dance and let loose, as Arthur Adams brings down the house with his home brew; combining legendary vocals and electric blues soulfulness.

Sunday:

Experience the dark erotic funky burlesque cabaret that is The Toledo Show.

Harvelle's is your one stop shop for an evening out. Located in the heart of Santa Monica's utopian downtown, Harvelle's provides the music, the cocktails, the cats, the dames and the whole dirty deal. If you've been, you know. If you have yet to, check it out; inside it's dark with red booths and a black and white checkerboard dance floor. It's always a great time and I'm usually hangin' out somewhere in the house.

See you there.

Double Trouble : The legions are growing

Ty Taylor on the mic - Rick on the bass

It's the place to be on a Tuesday night. While the rest of you sub-urbanites plug in, turn on and cop out, the cool people are dancing the night away with wild abandon and the soundtrack is provided by Vintage Trouble. The guys have just released their first album entitled "The Bomb Shelter Sessions" <--Click to get it from iTunes!

Richard on drums - Rick on the bass

Nalle - lead guitar

Richard on drums

Tonight's "Trouble Tuesday" started off with the acoustic soul music of Kandace Lindsey. Backed by a trio of exceptional players, KL let her voice do the talking (hehe). She has a new EP coming out in a couple of weeks. It's called "Acoustic Fire". <--Click to get it from iTunes!

She always brings joy whenever I've seen her. Brilliant!

Kandace

Congrats to Charlie Brumbly of Vintage Trouble on the birth of his baby. One more (soon to be) VT fan on the planet.

This entry posted live from Harvelle's using BlogPress & the iPhone Hipstamatic photo app

Location:4th St,Santa Monica,United States

Vintage Trouble : Tuesday Night In Pix

Vintage Trouble have taken over Tuesday nights at Harvelle's!! They have a new album on iTunes. They are quickly becoming the band to watch! Tuesday's has been renamed Trouble Tuesday in their honor. The images above were taken last Tuesday. Come join the party!!

Toledo Show : T Plays It Cool

Labor Day weekend. If you ain't already here... This is THE place to be RIGHT NOW!! But there's a line down the block.


Dames, funk, heroes, villains - the whole damn thing.
(below - Toledo: gettin down zebra style!!)

(below - Walter Davis: blowing the battle cry of The Toledo Show. His mighty saxophone has been heard from the Eastside to the Westside. )


Tomorrow : Labor Day proper. Come out and meet UltraLove. The singer's beginning his Monday night residency, come by, and get down wit yer badself
CORRECTION : Tomorrow is Venice rockstar Stevie Starlight! UltraLove will be here next Monday.

Big ups to David, Cevin, Alex, John, Jackie, Mika, Candise, Melinda, Ray, Stan, Nesto, young Chelsea and the Westside Tribe!! Where's Emily?

Thanks for making it interesting : Mindy, Erin, Ashley, Shamari and lil' Cassandra!! Where's Heather?

This entry posted live from Harvelle's using BlogPress & the iPhone Hipstamatic photo app

Location:4th St,Santa Monica,United States

Vintage Trouble : Black & White

Their sound is a blend of rock 'n' roll and soul, old and new, sweaty as hell with deep pockets full of fresh grooves, an oxymoron, a yin-yang; black and white like the checkered dance floor of Harvelle's.
I got the opportunity to sit with the guys in the band and get to know 'em a bit. Look for highlights from our conversation in an upcoming blog entry! I decided to shoot 'em in black and white tonight.




Coming Up: Getting to know the guys from Vintage Trouble; Watch for it in this blog. In the meantime check 'em out live on Tuesday nights — but only through the end of September.

Their debut album "The Bomb Shelter Sessions" is available on iTunes.

This entry posted live from Harvelle's using BlogPress & the iPhone Hipstamatic photo app

Kirk Fletcher : The Bridge Is Over

Guitarist Kirk Fletcher has been playing at Harvelle's every Monday night for a longtime. Tonight that residency ends. The new jack bluesman with the black Vans skateboard shoes won't be gracing the stage at Harvelle's on the regular any longer. I'm sure we'll see him around the club and I'm pretty sure he's playing one night in Sept. But Mondays are done.


Tonight was a night full of surprises. Backing Kirk was Gary Fegason on drums, Bobby Tsukamoto on bass (pictured above and below)and Josh Sklair on guitar (also above and below Bobby's pic).





This would have been enough. The 4 of them together were supersonic and mighty.


Sitting in were a bakers half-dozen of guests including funky sexy cool singer Lisa Foreman (above) and Page-esque guitarist John Nevolo (below).


The second set opened with singer Sir Harry Bowen (photo below) who took over the night on vocals.


Nothing excited tonights room full o' blues however like the onstage appearance of guitar genius Joe Bonamassa (not pictured).




You could literally feel the room a-twittering and updating their facebook status with the news of what they were watching.


Kirk - I've spent many a night at Harvelle's watching you play the hell out that axe like nobody's business. Thank you.

This entry posted live from Harvelle's using BlogPress & the iPhone photo app

Location:4th St,Santa Monica,United States