Memphis is the self proclaimed “Home of the Blue”and it was the place to be in early May for music fans with stamina and a good pair of dancing shoes. The first weekend of May, Memphis welcomed spring with the Beale Street Music Festival. This outdoor multi stage event featured 65 bands, over thirty of them blues related. Following the weekend festivities, Memphis was the host for three days of insane rockin' rhythm & blues with the Ponderosa Stomp. This annual tribute to the unsung hero's of rock n roll and the blues, was temporary relocated to Memphis after the floods in it's home town of New Orleans. The Stomp was held at the Gibson Guitar factory, which is located on the legendary “highway 61” also know as Second ave. once you get to the city limits. Thursday night, moving back to the shores of the Mississippi River, at the convention center, Memphis played host the annual Blues Foundation Awards ceremony and Ball. This years awards program was dedicated to the musicians on New Orleans. Formerly known as the W.C. Handy Awards, this sit down dinner with it's extraordinary line up of talent was attended by the who's who in the Blues industry. Finally finishing up a week of great music in Memphis, what could keep a true blues hound howling for more,than an old time rhythm and blues revue. The Delta Groove All Star Blues Revue at the Daisy Theater fit the bill serving up an amazing line up of talent at the New Daisy Theater showcasing some of the countries best West Coast blues players . The theater with it's great stage, where you can get up close and personal, sit back and groove or jump up and shake what your mama gave you when the feeling hit, was a classic venue. The line up for the revue included, Paul Osher, Mitch Kashmar, The Hollywood Blue Flames, Kim Wilson and topping the night off was The Mannish Boys.

Like all great revues you've got to have someone to hold the show together. The Delta Groove Revue couldn't have happened without Randy Chortkoff. He is the head of Delta Groove Productions,and he is a man wearing many hats. Behind the curtain he is producer and promoter, putting together a winning combination of artist. Then he also jumps on stage the end of the night singing and playing harmonica with the Mannish Boys.

The Mannish Boys may have been the headliners of the night but every act was a stellar performance. Starting off the show was winner of the Blues Music Awards Acoustic Artist of the Year, Paul Oscher in an unannounced appearance. His one man band, singing, playing guitar and blowing a mean harmonica, he set the stage for a night of music on a world class scale. He finished up his set with a tune on a bass harmonica that filled the room with some of the most vibrant tones ever to shake the rafters of that old house.

Second to hit the stage was Mitch Kasmar a soulful singer and powerhouse blues harp player. To keep the show running like clockwork we had drummer Richard “Big Foot” Innes playing all night long with every band in this fabulous revue filled in the bottom with a steady beat . A veteran drummer spending time in the bands of Rod Piazza, Kim Wilson and Little Richard along with countless others over the last four decades. Joining the band on bass was Ronnie James Weber, an in demand player who's worked with Mark Hummel, Dave Myers and Kim Wilson to name a few,. When he's not working with the Delta Groove Revue, Ronnie plays with The Fabulous Thunderbirds. To fill out his band he brought out Jr. Watson and Rusty Zinn on guitars. Junior Watson has near cult status playing and recording with dozens of bands over nearly thirty years. In that time he's only made one recording under his own name “If I Only Had a Genie” on Heart & Soul Records. He's been playing with Mitch for a number of years and they have the feel of a classic harp and guitar duo. Jr's an imposing figure with his bald head and beard until he smiles. Rusty Zinn a youthful red-haired guitarist raised in the mountains of northern California and taken under the wing of Luther Tucker at a young age. While playing with Mark Hummel's band, Kim Wilson invited Zinn to play on his 1993 album “Tigerman” and then joining his band . Rusty's recorded three CDs on his own the newest “Zinfidelity” letting him branch out to reggae and rock as well as the blues. Under Mitch's guidance they got the place jumping with a strong set. His classic sound was really complimented by his song writing. nickels & Dimes the titles song off his new CD is a great example of bringing the blues up to date.

The next set quickly begins with the return of Innes, Weber and Zinn as they are joined by Al Blake on harmonica and vocals to morph into The Hollywood Blue Flames a semi reunion of The Hollywood Fats Band, of which Innes and Blake were original members in 1975. The rather large shoes of Michael “Hollywood Fats” Mann are ably filled by the young Kirk Fletcher who was literally raised on the sounds of the original band. Kirk has spent valuable time with Al Blake, Charlie Musselwhite and Kim Wilson before beginning an association with Randy Chortkoff, which resulted in his solo CD, "Shades Of Blue" and the original guitar player for The Mannish Boys. Missing at this show were Larry Taylor (bass) and Fred Kaplan (keyboards) both original members of the The Hollywood Fats Band. The band had a nice swinging feel and Al's down home vocals sound better the the recordings.

After a scorching set the hot blues shuffle starts again with Kim Wilson taking over on harmonica and vocals for his own set. Wilson had won Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year at the Blues Music Awards the night before. For Kim Wilson working with two great guitar players that had both played on his “Smokin' Joint” CD made the audience the real winners in this set. Doing some songs from his newest CD “Lookin' for Trouble” his showmanship demonstrated that he's an award winner whenever he plays. Kim really showed his winning style by letting everyone play in top form. He even let both Kirk & Rusty step to the front and sing a song or two of their own. This is the real test of an all star revue, getting players that are comfortable enough to mix and match and experienced enough to make everyone look good and throw in some surprises to boot.

After four amazing hours of music most shows would be saying good night and your thinking how could it get any better then this, it's time for The Mannish Boys and it really does get even better. Richard Innes once again demonstrates how to play all night long, while Ronnie Weber gets a reprieve and long time veteran Tom Leavey sits in on bass. The real engine running the Mannish Boys along is the blend of old time veteran players being joined by the hottest younger players to make this an all star revue within a single band. The older veteran players in this band are soulful front man Finis Tasby on vocals and singing piano man Leon Blue. Finis Tasby started as a drummer in the 1950's and has lead his own band for decades. Leon Blue polished his boogie-woogie in the 1940's and played behind the three “Kings” of the blues – Albert, Freddie, and B.B. followed by over a decade with The Ike & Tina Turner Revue. The young pup's joining these old masters for this current edition of The Mannish Boys is the mind blowing hot guitar combo of Rusty Zinn and Kid Ramos. David “Kid” Ramos an outstanding guitar player and quite a presence on stage was a long-time member of the James Harman Band, and later The Fabulous Thunderbirds, among many others. The Kid has also released a series of blistering hot CDs on his own. Rounding out the band is Randy Chortkoff on harp and vocals. He's been the master mind behind the the Mannish Boys. With two guitars that are really this great Randy's harmonica slides in and makes the sound just that much sweeter. An extra added feature to the Mannish Boys was a couple of songs by Johnny Dyer to bring it back down in the alley. Randy evens told the audience “you'd think we had Muddy Waters back on stage again”.

Rather then describe any more of the show just listen to the Mannish Boys new CD “Live and in Demand” a great document of their live show. What you'll hear is what we got.