NOTE from B'dog: You might say this is both a quick write-up of the Show at the
Cameo Theatre last night AND an editorial! Here goes:

I had a fine time at Cameo last night, it was good to see quite a few blues
friends and to hear two top-shelf local acts! The Cameo Theatre can be found
where East Colonial meets Thornton, if you didn't know.

Paul Stott and his current line-up are so fine! They were spot-on tonight, I
can't remember when I've enjoyed hearing Paul this much. And I've heard Paul a
number of ways and had the pleasure of playing with him and it's really cool to
see him and the players around him these days to get to this level. Sheri
Gregoire was in rare form tonight, her vocals on "Wang-Dang Doodle" and "Ball
and Chain" had the crowd at the Cameo beggin' for more! Jann Childers took the
stage with Sheri, Paul and the rhythm section and their whole set was smokin'
from start to finish! I'm so sorry I don't have the names of Paul's bassist and
drummer, they're rock-solid and I wanted to get this post in without taking the
time to dot every i and cross every t. It was the best 45 min of music I've
heard from a local act in a few months.

Bird Dog Bobby is another Central Florida artists I've known, followed and
played with for quite a while. I've known Bobby since the mid-90s and have a ton
of respect for him. He was as good as ever saturday night, picking up where Paul
and Company left off. Reno Mussatto is a fine drummer, a very capable singer and
he has been a very welcome addition to Bobby's line-up. Once again, the
bassist's name escapes me, but the three of them have become a very tight trio
of blusicians and sounded as good last night as they did for the IBC! I'm glad
that Bobby is playing plenty of slide these days and I love his original stuff.
The sound mix was not perfect, the guitar was a bit too hot and Reno's vocal mic
needed to be potted way up. It was, nevertheless, a damn good set by any measure
and I'm glad I was able to catch it all.

Now having cut loose with all that effusive praise, I've got to switch gears a
bit and say that I was not at all impressed with the Jeff Todd Blues Band. I've
just got to be honest about that. It might seem funny that I've gone on at some
length about how great our home-grown players are and that I can't think of
anything mildly positive to say about the head-lining act from Daytona Beach,
but these guys aren't ready for prime-time. They're just not. Yet there was a
very positive buzz about the third act for saturday's show before they took the
stage -- a record deal, a big tour coming soon and so on...

The apparent disconnect between the pre-show hype and the reality of the band's
performance had me so unsettled that I decided to look a little deeper. Here's
what I've found: the band has a My Space page that makes them look good and an
apparent record deal with an outfit called "Blaze Records". I spent about an
hour learning all I could about the J.T.B.B. from the internet and it was a bit
underwhelming.

I could not find one artist with a shred of credibility in the blues world who
records for Blaze Records and am also not at all impressed with this "Blues Hall
of Fame" outfit based in California with which the Jeff Todd Blues Band has some
connection. What I can say with absolute certainty is that there is an actual
Blues Hall of Fame connected with the Blues Foundation and there is this outfit
which copyrighted the name or title of "Blues Hall of Fame" and even "The Blues
Hall of Fame" and they are NOT connected the The Blues Foundation in any way!
They have the copyrighted name of BHoF and the domain, and that's it. Their site
is cheesy and third-rate and even has several misspellings on it. And it's this
"impostor BHoF" which has conferred this honorary title of "Central Florida
Blues Ambassador" on the J.T. Blues Band. And THAT'S the name of THAT TUNE,
blues fans!

Now let me say that I really like to be a positive guy and I'm not down on
anyone who loves music, who loves the blues and likes to take their turn on
stage performing these blues we all love so well. But I still want to make it
clear that The Jeff Todd Blues Band has a record deal with some quasi-label
whose biggest name is *Ashley Catastrophe* who apparently appeared on
"America's Got Talent!" Blaze Records has a decent web site but not one shred of
credibility in the world of blues. Not that I can find. And this phony
California-based "Blues Hall of Fame", that one has me seeing red! Please know
that it may have made The J.T.B.B. its Central Florida Blues Ambassador, but the
org is NOT connected with the Blues Foundation and it is NOT the BHoF with which
many of you are already familiar--you know, the one that inducted Muddy Waters
and Willie Dixon back in 1980 and will induct Charlie Musselwhite and several
others on May 5th of this year! You know, THAT Blues Hall of Fame!

Okay, now I'm feeling better! And let me stress that I'm not dissing Jeff Todd
or any of the band. I commend them for their devotion to the music and I will
work with them and all blues lovers who want to pull together in this common
enterprise to keep the blues flame burnin' bright. But my choice is to do that
with well-established organizations like the Blues Foundation and local orgs who
are ploughin' the ground in local areas like Central Florida.

Support fine local bands like the Paul Stott Group, Bird Dog Bobby and so many
others. Support the Blues Foundation and local affiliate orgs like the Orange
Blossom Blues Society. I don't want to be negative. But I do want to keep my
eyes and ears open and tell you guys what I'm seeing. I enjoyed my night o'
blues saturday night, hope you've been having a good time this weekend too! Talk
to you later...

Have a look here to see "the real deal" in Nat'l Blues orgs:

http://www.blues.org/

The section for the REAL Blues HoF can be found be clicking on the second icon,
the one that's star-shaped.

To visit the Home Page for the OBBS, follow this Link:

http://www.obbs.org



At the BOSS Concert Write-up Desk, I am,

"Bulldog Ben" Basile

http://www.myspace.com/bulldogbenblues


--- In bossofflorida@yahoogroups.com, "bulldogben54" <bulldog236us@...> wrote:

It's amazing how many good things are going on over this weekend. Just for
tonight - saturday night - there are *THREE* first-rate musical opportunities
for you guys to get yer blues on! (It wouldn't shock me if there are more than
that! But these three stand out for me!)

The first one is Beth McKee at McWells. This should be a fine show. I've never
heard Beth Live and I always have a good time at McWells. It's so close to my
neighborhood, I just might head that way tonight.

The second event is a three-band line-up at the Cameo Theatre. That would be
Bird Dog Bobby, The Paul Stott Group and The Jeff Todd Band. This one is
tempting because it's not that common to catch three fine local groups on the
bill together outside of a large-ish Fest; and also because I've never seen this
Venue, to me it's still the building near the Spiral Circle Bookstore! I do love
that part of town, for what that's worth. So this event is on my A-List, for
sure.

Doc's jam at Rusty's is also going on. I had a real good time there last
saturday night, it's also in my front yard, so to speak. I have to give a slight
edge to an event where I get to participate! Throw in my love for the Beef and
Mushroom Pie on their menu and you couldn't be too surprised if I head to Rusty
O'Reilly's tonight. I'm really havin' a tough time with this one...Guess I'll
know what I most want to do as I'm cruising towards one of these events in a few
hours!

So where are YOU going to go tonight? Hey, I just might see ya there!


bulldog ben, undecided in soggy O'do...