SUOMENNOS TULOSSA LÄHIAIKOINA!
Thursday 10th of March 2005
The long awaited night was here, Hooter´s Blues and Governor Davis gig in
Henry´s Pub, Kuopio.
I was there with couple of friends of mine. They are not blues fans, but they
wanted to show some
good manners by coming there with me when I asked. The gig was immediate success
right from the
start. By that time I didn´t know about Governor´s showman skills, but me and
everyone else found it very soon.
The band added some humour and interactive tricks to their gig. For example
Governor made some looks
with his face and made the guitar talk to women, so basically it was flirting
guitar. He also walked around
the pub while playing his guitar and made the crowd sing along with him the song
"Knocking on heavens door".
Governor also used Jimi Hendrix trick, he played guitar with his teeth. The
crowd was thrilled through the show
and we all had good time. Even my friends who doesn´t like blues, well I quess
they like now.
Hooter´s Blues & Governor Davis in Henry´s Pub, Kuopio
Friday 11th of March 2005
After the gig in Kuopio I was thinking that it can´t be over just yet. So I
asked from Hooter can I join with
the band for a weekend. My request was accepted so I collected my stuff and
headed to experience some
road madness, as Hooter calls it. The journey had a stony road kind of a start
as the "blues mobile" got
broken a little bit. The good thing there was that Hooter´s Blues drummer Tom
turn out to be mechanic.
Not to mention his past as a rally driver (it helped us to be in time even that
it took some time to repair
the "blues mobile"). So after a one hour or so under the car we were back on the
road heading to Kalajoki.
"Blues mobile" inside of repair shop garage
down the road Tom (drummer, mechanic, rally driver, etc.) :)
For those who doesn´t realize, Hooter and co. are hard working band who does
basically everything by
themself. They drive this "blues mobile", they are their own roadie, sound check
guy etc. hell you name it.
Even during the trip from place A to place B Hooter is going through his notes
and contact information
and doing booking for upcoming tours. And now when I had this chance to see this
with my own eyes,
I really have to appreciate these guys. I followed Hooter´s example and did some
booking related
phone calls too as in my role of novice booking agent.
Hooter and me
We were on schedule when we arrived to Kalajoki, so we had free time before
the gig. I did interview
with Hooter and he also told stories from his career. That interview is planned
to be in newspaper before
the next Kuopio gig in June. The gig in Ravintola Dyyni started after midnight,
it was obvious as the
place turned out to be modern nightclub which is open until 4 am. Actually the
crowd wasn´t right kind
for the blues band, but the band did still great job. Governor has been having
flu lately, but this night
he turned it to his advantage. He used the "feel of sickness" as a tool to
create awesome sound and energy
to his playing.
Governor and Hooter in Ravintola Dyyni, Kalajoki
There were a fresh lucky couple celebrating their big day. The band played
for them a beautiful version
of the The Temptation´s song "Just my imagination". Actually as I was watching the
the couple dancing I got
this feeling that I want to have this song played by blues band when I´m having
my wedding dance (God
only knows when that is gonna happen "laughs"). Rock and roll people in crowd
were dancing and
seemed to enjoy the gig most. Anyhow the crowd wasn´t that excited as it was in
Kuopio night before.
I was really excited about cover of "Stairway to heaven" (original of course by
Led Zeppelin).
I have to say that it has to be the best cover of that song I´ve ever heard.
Saturday 12th of March 2005
A new stunning day for the blues was starting. While we were loadig the
"blues mobile" with
instruments and stuff Governor told me some stories about blues world. It was
really interesting
to hear stories about B.B.King, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton etc. During the lunch I
got Hooter´s
story hour. Very interesting stories from down the road and some U.S.A. history
too. If there
is one word to explain that forenoon, it´s thrilled. Because I was thrilled to
hear all that stuff.
Along the way to Kajaani Hooter took acoustic guitar and played us some
travelling music.
Hooter playing some blues
Kajaani, the third and last place for me on this tour. We had many hours of
free time before
the gig. So we were talking about booking gigs etc. with Hooter and drinking
some Viking
vodka on the side. Gig in Kajaani was the most rocking. There were some Jimi
Hendrix,
Chuck Berry, ZZ Top, George Thorogood and Eric Clapton on the set list. The
crowd was just
great, they gave warm welcome applauses right after the first song. Crowd was
dancing,
drinking, laughing and having fun just like it was ment to be. Not even
technical problems
with guitar couldn´t slow the crowd. Governor was just like in Kuopio gig, a
great showman
and playing was highly motivated and improvised. Governor walking around the pub
while
still playing his guitar and making contact with crowd is definitely the must
thing to see.
Kajaani gig was definitely a lot of fun and great experience to crowd and the
band enjoyed playing.
I did record some of the show with Tom´s videocamera. Will add it into website
later.
After the gig and closing time Hooter and me went to have nightclub experience
with local people.
It was nice to have good time except the fact that the second and last place was
way too loud
for us. We couldn´t hear our own thoughts, not to mention what the other had to
say.
Sunday 13th of March 2005
On a sunday morning I woke up quite early and after the hotel breakfast I was
planning gig details.
After others woke up it was time to go back to pub and load up the "blues
mobile" with
the equipment. After that we were just hanging out. Governor and Tom played some
pool
with local people and Hooter and I were drinking coffee and talking with pub
owner.
At three o´clock I took the train and said goodbye to the road madness.
Until next time.
Ville Haatanen (webmaster of Finnish website and novice booking agent pal)