ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 26, 1996
By Steve Newton
What is it with Vancouver residents who can’t stand the sound of music emanating from an outdoor venue? I remember how the folks living in the Hastings-and-Renfrew area used to beef about the volume of daylong rock concerts at Empire Stadium in the mid-’70s, as if anybody living in the vicinity of the PNE wasn’t used to a little racket.
But lately the whining has gotten out of hand, as when people housed across from Nat Bailey Stadium were interviewed on TV complaining about the intolerable noise levels reached by easy-listening faves the Moody Blues.
Now it seems as though you can’t even have a blues band play on Granville Island without the condo owners in False Creek getting all bent out of shape. What’s the world coming to when the unsettling roar of an Indy car takes precedence over an emotive guitar lick?
We showed up on the first day of the weekend Granville Island Blues Festival last Saturday (September 21) at about 4:30 p.m., while Brickhouse was in full swing, entertaining an all-ages crowd of about 200 coffee-sipping, ice cream–licking music fans. The band was riffing through a few originals and the occasional B.B. King cover, warming up for a gig at the Lamplighter that night, and the calls were already coming in about the excessive noise.
Now, Brickhouse is a band that exudes a lot of energy, but does it more with instrumental dynamics than sheer volume. I couldn’t wait to hear the bellyaching once the next act, the Wailin’ Walker Band, started flailing away.
I didn’t have to wait long. During the band’s third selection, Peter Green’s slinky “Jumping at Shadows”, security quickly marched up to deliver the news about continued griping from False Creek residents. “I’m gonna tell you what I tell everybody when this always happens,” announced Walker, “that we’re turning it down right now.”
Then the buzz-saw boogiemeister lowered the level on his amp about one-twentieth of a notch and let his red Telecaster rip, Johnny Winter–style, on a tune called “Drinking Beer”. “Yeah, that’s turning it down,” he proclaimed later, after making me think about fighting for a seat at the nearby Backstage Lounge.
Next up on the canopy-covered stage were the Vaqueros, but they didn’t seem bent on pushing the volume envelope quite so much. Maybe they realized that, at 6:15 p.m., it was getting past bedtime for the area taxpayers. Guitarist Tony Robertson got brownie points for his choice of instrument alone—the classic white Strat with maple neck—and his soaring Texas-blues licks contrasted nicely with the linear, Danny Gatton–style speed-riffs of the Vaqueros’ other string-bender.
The band knocked off a couple of standard 12-bar shuffles before calling venerable local R&B heavyweight Long John Baldry up to close things down with his inimitable, growly-voiced style. With a Greek captain’s hat topping his lanky frame, Baldry looked typically dapper and appropriately marinelike, but the deep power of his voice quickly outshone any fashion statements when he started into the ever-popular B.B. King’s “Every Day I Have the Blues”.
Baldry then paid tribute to his onstage predecessor by performing two songs by “Wailin’ ” Al Walker, which gave local keyboard ace “Sneaky” Pete Sweetzir the opportunity to rattle the piano keys with some serious honky-tonk. Baldry ended the show with the T-Bone Walker classic “Stormy Monday”, switching the words at one point to get a thanks in to “Storman” Norman, the local musician and radio personality who organized and emceed the event.
I was hoping that Norm would get up there and top things off with some of his wild harmonica-playing, but I guess it’s good he didn’t, as there’s nothing like the sound of someone totally groovin’ to get the party poopers within earshot up in arms.
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Dave Martone, 2020
Ian Gillan of Deep Purple, 2006
Joss Stone, 2012
Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest, 2005
Jack Blades of Night Ranger, 1984
Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard, 1992
Colin James, 1995
Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown, 1998
Tom Cochrane of Red Rider, 1983
Ed Roland of Collective Soul, 1995
Taj Mahal, 2001
Tom Wilson of Junkhouse, 1995
Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, 2003
David Lindley, 2002
Marty Friedman of Megadeth, 1991
John Hiatt, 2010
Nancy Wilson of Heart, 2006
Jeff Golub, 1989
Moe Berg of the Pursuit of Happiness, 1990
Todd Rundgren, 2006
Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, 2001
Steve Earle, 1987
Gabby Gaborno of the Cadillac Tramps, 1991
Terry Bozzio, 2003
Roger Glover, 1985
Matthew Sweet, 1995
Jim McCarty of the Yardbirds, 2003
Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars, 2001
John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls, 1995
Steve Hackett from Genesis, 1993
Grace Potter, 2008
Buddy Guy, 1993
Trevor Rabin of Yes, 1984
Albert Lee, 1986
Yngwie Malmsteen, 1985
Robert Cray, 1996
Tony Carey, 1984
Ian Hunter, 1988
Kate Bush, 1985
Jeff Healey, 1988
Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi, 1993
Colin Linden, 1993
Kenny Wayne Shepherd, 1995
Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, 1986
Elliot Easton from the Cars, 1996
Wayne Kramer from the MC5, 2004
Bob Rock, 1992
Nick Gilder, 1985
Roy Buchanan, 1988
Klaus Meine of Scorpions, 1988
Jason Bonham, 1989
Tom Johnston of the Doobie Brothers, 1991
Joey Spampinato of NRBQ, 1985
Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers, 2003
Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash, 2003
Steve Kilbey of the Church, 1990
Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde, 1990
Dan McCafferty of Nazareth, 1984
Davy Knowles of Back Door Slam, 2007
Jimmy Barnes from Cold Chisel, 1986
Steve Stevens of Atomic Playboys, 1989
Billy Idol, 1984
Stuart Adamson of Big Country, 1993
Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, 1992
Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule, 1998
John Bell of Widespread Panic, 1992
Robben Ford, 1993
Barry Hay of Golden Earring, 1984
Jason Isbell, 2007
Joe Satriani, 1990
Brad Delp of Boston, 1988
John Sykes of Blue Murder, 1989
Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, 1998
Alice Cooper, 1986
Lars Ulrich of Metallica, 1985
Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon, 1992
Myles Goodwyn of April Wine, 2001
John Mellencamp, 1999
Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, 1999
Kenny Aronoff, 1999
Jon Bon Jovi, 1986
Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers, 1992
Little Steven, 1987
Stevie Salas, 1990
J.J. Cale, 2009
Joe Bonamassa, 2011
…with hundreds more to come