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Ronnie Baker Brooks|Tommy Castro|Magic Dick|Deanna Bogart|Knuckleheads 
Subject(s): Ronnie Baker Brooks, with Tommy Castro, Magic Dick and Deanna Bogart. Friday, February 8, at Knuckleheads. 

Why is it that blues guitarists these days can sound as stiff and cold as a plate of day-old scrambled eggs? Ronnie Baker Brooks doesn't have to bother pondering the issue. Come to think of it, neither do you when he's in the house. I got the skee-uhls to pay the bee-uhls, he proclaims on his latest album, The Torch. Talk is cheap, but you can't put a price on the record's expert production values, which bring together elements of blues, rock, funk and soul with a vintage touch and a fresh twist. And Brooks, for all his boasting, knows how to conquer with restraint. Rather than burn up the fretboard or solo predictably, he pours his soul into his rocked-up rhythms and lets the band swagger along until the heat builds and it's time to hit the high notes.