BBQ Events: Blues BBQ

Here's something to do this weekend. If I go, it'll be for the music. That may be a little harsh. I've never been to Mara's Homemade or Dallas Jones, but none of these places intrigue me. Nothing's intriguing me lately. I got them mid-summer time blues.

Blues BBQ

Pier 54 at W.14th St.

August 23, 2-9pm
Rain or shine!

Back for the 10th year, Hudson River Park’s annual Blues BBQ Festival brings the best Blues bands from across the country together with 4 of the 10 Best New York City BBQ restaurants (2008 Citysearch) for a fantastic summer day on the river. This feast for your senses brings you the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of a true southern BBQ experience!

2009 line-up:
2:30 Eden Brent
3:45 Homemade Jamz Blues Band
5:00 Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater
6:15 Diunna Greenleaf
7:30 Michael Burks

Restaurants:
Brother Jimmy's BBQ, Dallas Jones Bar-B-Q, Dinosaur Bar Be Que, Mara's Homemade

Sruttin' with Some Barbecue

What can I say? Sruttin' with Some Barbecue. In the old sense of the word. Them was the days. Enjoy

BBQ Music

Here's a couple of music recommendations to keep you dancing while you stoke your barbecue fires during this holiday season. I know that most of these aren't new, and you may or may not have heard them before, but take a listen. If you're like me, you'll enjoy them.

First up is the Alligator Records Christmas Album. I love this blues inspired Christmas album. It's fun, not sappy and a different take on the traditional holiday music.

Artists include: Charlie Musselwhite, Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown, The Uppity Blues Women, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, Kenny Neal, Koko Taylor and many others.


Next - let's switch to the totally other end of the spectrum, take a listen to The Little Drummer Boy by the Harry Simeone Chorale. Here's the version of the Little Drummer Boy you remember. Listen to the soaring vocals and choirs. Listen to the white guys trying to put soul into Go Tell It On the Mountain.

This is the Christmas album I grew up listening to. Very slick, very well produced and to me, just drips with Christmas and sentimentality. But it's still the album I listen to after the kids are in bed and it's just me, a beer and watching the lights of the Christmas tree.

And what's Christmas without a new Beatles CD? This year it's Love. The remix and mashup of just about every Beatles song for the new Circus De Solie act in Las Vegas. I don't know how I feel about this CD. On one hand, it's great to have some new Beatles music. On the other, it reminds me a lot of the old "Stars on 45" remix of the Beatles hits which always bothered me.

I wish the Beatles would get off their royal asses and just remix and reissue the original CDs. There's snippets in the Love album where you hear the cleaned up version of a song and just marvel at it's clarity, beauty and strength. Listening to George singing Something is a new and moving experience. Apple has promised digital versions of the whole Beatle catalog. How long do we have to wait?