The Blues is Back (continuing story)

It is said before the Blues is Back in Utrecht. Enjoyed the Blues Route? Well there is an upcoming Blues event in Bunnik at Brothers. Also organised by the big little man, our night mayor of the city of Utrecht MISTER CEES VAN LEEUWEN.

The event will take place at May 7th and starts at 16:00 hours.
For the line up please check Jazz, Blues, Roots and Rock Café Cees Place

See you there

Harry (FOG Bluesband)

When I looked in my guestbook tonight I saw an entry from Harry (drummer of the FOG bluesband. You must know I was really suprised. I like to thank Harry for this entry and wish him and the FOG bluesband lots of succes.

Blues Route 2006

Unfortunately I was only able to go to the Blues Route on friday 21st and to the after party in Cees Place on the 23rd, so I missed one night of the blues route. And that was the night I would visit JR band and Fog Bluesband, but you cant have them all and Cees promissed us last night that next year there will be another Blues Route. He did it in a special way, although he was very tired, he had to thank evrybody with a blues song, in which he stated the above mentioned.

On friday I went to see Ralph de Jogh in cafe Het Weerbericht. I like Ralph very much a very shy looking guy but when he takes his guitar and start to sing Ralph transforms into Blues. At that moment every fibre in his body is blues. Its like he is in a trance while on stage. Ralph plays aal kinds of blues styles but he comes the nearest to the original Mississippi Blues.

After I had seen, listened and spoke to Ralph, I went to cafe Nieuwe Dikke Dries, 12 Bar Blues Band was playing over there. I really like the way Kees is playing the guitar and managed to get the real Blues feeling on stage. It was really a Blues party with the 12 Bar Blues Band. They played great.

The Afterparty yesterday night was at Cees Place. It was really crowded. And there were some good performances. I enjoyed the sessions of T Bone Fischer and Jeroen the most.

Thanks Cees for setting up such a good weekend wish you lots of succes with organising the paper note jazz festival later up in the year and with the Blues Route 2007.

Beyond Mississippi

BEYOND MISSISSIPPI

Or: The Blues that left town ............... and took a wrong turn down the right road.

This is the title of a CD I recently bought. The title itself could be the title of a blues song. A very long title but it precisely describes the contents of the CD. It is more or less a historical overview of the Blues styles from the very basic Mississippi Blues to what the blues is now. Some traditional tracks and some very modern ones. It pictures you the development of the Blues over time. With great names like Van Morisson, Albert King, Dr Feelgood, Bo Diddley and many more.

I took no note of the subtitle "The Blues that left town", until I read the subtitle of the Blues Route "The Blues Is Back in Town" on the flyer. And I thought yeah thats what happened to the blues its in my town now. It all started in Mississippi and spreads all over the world. You'll find the blues evrywhere, and everyone can have the Blues.
Our task is "keeping the blues alive". And I hope we do.

@ CEES Place last Night

I was again at CEES PLACE last Night. Dennis and Co were practising for their performance on friday- and saturday night. Dennis & Co is one of the bands that will play in the Upcoming Blues Route.
Yesterdaynight we talked a lot about the Blues Route, and what a succes it will be again, after so many years. We talked about the 12 Bar Blues Bland, Ralph de Jong, and many of the other top bands that are going to play.
Besides that we also made a little music with Henk (guitar; a new guy for me), Appie (drums and bass) and Roy (Tenor saxophone. We made some music and had a lot of fun. At some points it sounded realy good and sometimes there was no harmony at all. Fortunately the cafe wasn't very crowded so we didn't worry about chasing the customer away. The main thing was we had fun with music, we had our laughs and we had the blues. Cause believe me or not it didn't only sounded like blues, it was the blues.

The Clock is ticking

Well the clock is ticking the time away. Still another day or five and then the Blues Route will start. The first performance of the Blues Route will be at 20.00 hours in cafe the "STADHOUDER" at the Stadhouderslaan, all other bands will start at 22.00 hours.

Well the clock is ticking the time away
said the clock is ticking the time away
Well come all to the Blues Route and take a while to stay

The blues is back in town
Yeah now the blues is back in town
Thanks to Cees the blues is back in town

More Blues Route on Blues Route on Tour or Cees Place . CU all.

Gary Moore - Still got the Blues

One of the most beautiful blues ballads in my opinion is this song from Gary Moore "Still got the blues". I lately bought a DVD of Gary featering Albert King, the King of the Blues a marvellous DVD and ofcourse this song is also on that DVD. I play the DVD loud, plug in my guitar an try to play along, that gives me such a kick, I can follow now parts of the solo and just jamming around for the rest of the song. It sounds good, but still not as Gary plays it. For those who forgot the lyrics, I put them in this post.

Gary Moore - Still got the blues

Used to be so easy to give my heart away
But I've found out the hard way there's a price you have to pay
I found that love was no friend of mine
I should have known time after time

So long, it was so long ago
but I've still got the blues for you

Used to be so easy to fall in love again
But I've found out the hard way it's a road that leads to pain
I've found out that love was more than just a game
you play on to win but you lose just the same

So long, it was so long ago
but I've still got the blues for you

So many years since I've seen your face
but here in my heart there's an empty space
where you used to be So long, it was so long ago
but I've still got the blues for you

Though the days come and go there's one thing I know
I've still got the blues for you

My Guitars

At the moment I have four electric guitars, a Samick Hollowbody with 2 humbuckers, nice to play warm sound, an American Fender HSS, beautiful guitar with a perfect sound, an American Handmade Peavy guitar, also HSS, an old guitar I bought from the pawnshop before, has a particular sound, completely different from the Fender guitar, and last but not least a Greg Bennet black acoustic/electric guitar, which I can use as my travelling guitar. Their names, Red, Fat and Black. I only haven't a name for my Fender, I'm still thinking about that. So if you got any suggestions, put it in the comment or mail it.

Blues Route: The City Map

Below you see the City Map of Utrecht. On the city map you find some numbers. These numbers correpond with the numbering of the line up in the program. Each number stands for a different location. So use the program and the map and find your way through the Blues Route in Utrecht Holland on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of April. See you in Utrecht.

THE BLUES IS BACK IN TOWN

Blues Route: The Program

Here is the program for the Blues Route. Also notice that on May 7th the Blues Route on Tour will be held at its initional location Brothers, Bunnik, Holland, instead of the later communicated the Basket at the Uithof in Utrecht. So beware to go to Brothers, Bunnik, on May 7th.

The Blues is Back in Town

The Blues Route on Tour in Utrecht will take place on 2006 April 21st and 22nd.
copyright H.W. de Nijs - Utrecht, The Netherlands

The Dom, Utrecht the Netherlands

The Blues Route will take place in Utrecht, Holland. The beautiful church tower "The DOM" is the most significant building in Utrecht and the largest churchtower in the Netherlands.
In the cafe's surrounding the Dom the Blues Route is organised.

Hi evrybody

On this page I will post all kinds of things concerning blues music. Especially how I am doing in my jam sessions and how my progress is.

Secondly you find the latest developments on Blues activities in my Hometown Utrecht Holland.

Upcoming Blues events are the Blues Route, an event in which 15 cafe's all over town participate. You have to walk from one performer to the other. In the late nineties this event was organized by Cees van Leeuwen, the night major of thecity of Utrecht. And he is doing the organisation this year again, and I am sure it will be a great succes, like in the old days, when over 400.000 people in one weekend, came to visit the Blues Route