2 September 2007

INTERNATIONAL BLUES FESTIVAL COMING TO NZ

INTERNATIONAL BLUES FESTIVAL COMING TO NZ

The international headline acts from the Great Southern Blues & Rockabilly Festival in NAROOMA NSW, Australia are joining forces with our own NZ Blues Legends for a weekend of traditional and funky blues music for everyone.

Announcing the 2007 Official line up

From the USA
THE HOLMES BROTHERS
ROD PIAZZA & THE HIGH FLYERS
WATERMELON SLIM & THE WORKERS

From NZ
MIDGE MARSDEN
HAMMOND GAMBLE
DARCY PERRY BLUES BAND
BULLFROG RATA
GOSPEL BLUES CHOIRS

NEWS FLASH - BILLY TK Jnr is no longer performing at this Festival.

A fantastic blend of international, national and local artists performing over the one weekend.

September 21-22-23
AUCKLAND SkyCITY Theatre

=========================================
Friday 21st, 8.00 pm
Darcy Perry Blues Band
The Darcy Perry Blues Band has established themselves on the underground blues scene as a force to be reckoned with. Their award winning album (Don't Hold Back) has garnered righteous acclaim from critics and roots music fans alike. With a loyal following from their travels, fans can look forward to the next CD which the band will be recording in October at Revolver.

ROD PIAZZA & The Mighty Flyers
A California-based blues band leader, harmonica player, and singer, Rod Piazza's stratospheric harmonica wailings owe a heavy debt to both Little Walter and George "Harmonica" Smith. Piazza began his professional career as a member of the Dirty Blues Band in the mid-'60s. The Dirty Blues Band recorded two albums for ABC/Bluesway -- an eponymous debut in 1967 and 1968's Stone Dirty. Piazza left the band after the release of Stone Dirty, choosing to hit the road with his idol George "Harmonica" Smith instead.

Over the next decade and a half, Piazza and Smith performed together frequently under the name Bacon Fat; they also recorded the occasional album. In 1969, Bacon Fat released their eponymous debut album on Blue Horizon. While he was performing with Smith, Smith's health began to decline in the early '80s, Piazza assembled the Mighty Flyers -- with his wife Honey Alexander ..boards -- which began playing clubs in 1980.

Between 1981 and 1985, the Mighty Flyers released three albums: Radioactive Material (1981), File Under Rock (1984), and From the Start to the Finish (1985). During the early '80s, Piazza became a session musician, working with artists as diverse as Pee Wee Crayton and Michelle Shocked.

In the mid-'80s, he began a full-fledged solo career, releasing Harpburn on Murray Brothers in 1986 and So Glad to Have the Blues in 1988. Piazza and the Mighty Flyers signed a contract with Black Top Records in 1991; the label later re-released the group's albums on CD. Throughout the '90s, Piazza continued to record and perform with the Mighty Flyers, releasing the occasional solo album, like 1999's Here and Now. Beyond the Source appeared in 2001. Three years later the Mighty Fliers returned with keepin' it Real on the Blind Pig label featuring two new members, Paul Fasulo on drums and guitarist Henry Carvajal. ~ Cub Koda & Stephen Thomas Erlewine.

Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers








=========================================
Saturday 22nd, 8.00 pm

MIDGE MARSDEN & BULLFROG RATA
Midge Marsden and Bullfrog Rata although Stars in their own right remain the number one Rhythm and Blues duo artist in NZ today. A combination of red-hot musicians and unbridled energy combine to guarantee a rage every show. Performing at the festival after their sell-out national tour with Charlie Musselwhite.

WATERMELON SLIM & The Workers
At least once in every man's life everything seems to come together magically. When the road leading to such times is long and grueling, the zenith becomes exponentially more rewarding. Bill Homans a.k.a. Watermelon Slim is the extraordinary wheel man behind this redemption story road trip.

In December 2006 Watermelon Slim garnered six 2007 Blues Music Award nominations for Artist, Entertainer, Album, Band, Song, and Traditional Album of the Year. Only the likes of B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Robert Cray have ever landed six. His self-titled release was ranked #1 in MOJO Magazine's 2006 Top 10 Blues CDs, won the 2006 Independent Music Award for Blues Album of the Year, hit #1 on the Living Blues Radio Chart, debuted at #13 on the Billboard Blues Radio Chart and won the Blues Critic Award for 2006 Album of the Year.

While laid up in a Vietnam hospital bed he taught himself upside-down left-handed slide guitar on a $5 balsa wood model using a triangle pick cut from a rusty coffee can top and his Army issued Zippo lighter as the slide. Watermelon Slim was inducted into the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame on May 27, 2007.

Watermelon Slim and the Workers







===========================================
Sunday 24th
12.00pm
Gospel Blues
Heaven Bent Choir
Calvary Gospel Choir

8.00 pm
HAMMOND GAMBLE
Gamble's powerful stage presence swiftly drew career-altering attention. Chris Hillman, a former member of legendary American band The Byrds, caught a Street Talk performance during a visit to New Zealand and. He's played support, at major concerts, to the likes of The Eagles, Joe Cocker, Talking Heads, Bonnie Raitt, Fleetwood Mac and Tina Turner. And he spent a period in America, on the brink of a major recording deal that never happened but he is a powerful reminder of the undiminished talent of one of our rock and blues music greats.

THE HOLMES BROTHERS
The Holmes Brothers will bring their Rockin' gospel to the Festival with a supercharged set. If you've not heard them, they are a not-to-be-missed trio who never fail to wreck the church/club The spine-tingling harmonies, boundless energy and telepathic musicianship of The Holmes Brothers (bassist/vocalist Sherman Holmes, guitarist/pianist/ vocalist Wendell Holmes, drummer/vocalist Popsy Dixon) mix Saturday night's roadhouse rock with the gospel fervor and harmonies of Sunday's church service. As Wendell says about their blend of the secular and the sacred, "Jesus turned water into wine, not wine into water."

USA Today calls The Holmes Brothers' vision of American roots music "masterful and convincing." Entertainment Weekly says, "The Holmes Brothers are juke-joint vets with a brazenly borderless view of American music." Their chilling harmonies resonate with a passion and conviction matched only by their inspired musicianship and their ability to perform sanctified gospel, low-down roadhouse blues, deep soul, Americana/country and pure pop—all in one set. They've recorded with Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel, Odetta, Phoebe Snow, Willie Nelson, Rosanne Cash, Levon Helm and Joan Osborne, and have gigged all over the world—even performing for President Clinton.

The Holmes Brothers







=========================================
Concert Dates – SkyCITY Theatre Auckland

Friday 21 September 2007, 8.00 PM
DARCY PERRY BLUES BAND (NZ)
ROD PIAZZA & THE MIGHTY FLYERS (USA)

Saturday 22 September 2007
2.00 PM
NEWS FLASH - Billy TK Jnr is NO longer performing at this Festival.

8.00 PM
MIDGE MARSDEN & BULLFROG RATA (NZ)
WATERMELON SLIM & THE WORKERS (USA)

23 September 2007
12.00 PM
HEAVEN BENT GOSPEL BLUES CHOIR
CALVARY GOSPEL CHOIR

8.00 PM
HAMMOND GAMBLE (NZ)
HOLMES BROTHERS (USA)
For tickets
www.ticketek.com
Ph 0800-ticketek

OR TUNE INTO
THE BLUES ROOM

FOR WAYS TO WIN TICKETS!!!!!

Proudly brought to you by
TOUR MANAGEMENT COMPANY LTD
Brian Richards
Managing Director

PO Box 100277
NSMC Auckland 0745
New Zealand

brian@tmcnz.com
www.tmcnz.com
tel:+ 64 9 479 2217
fax:+ 64 9 479 2817
mobile:+ 021 293 9724