Mannish Boys at Winthrop Blues Festival

I pulled up to Paris Slim's place (now in Southeast Portland) and he loaded up his bag and guitars in my car. We pulled away and drove down S.E. 39th. I hopped on I-84, got on I-5 North and I was on the road with the Mannish Boys!

On an international summer tour that includes blues festivals in Italy, France and Canada, I was along on The Mannish Boys' Pacific Northwest swing through Washington State with shows at Port Townsend's Upstage Club, The Triple Door in downtown Seattle and a headlining performance at the Winthrop Blues Festival.

Along as their staff photographer, Pacific Northwest, I was there to photo-document the events and occurrences that take place at a Mannish Boys show and all that takes place with a national level act on tour.

The Mannish Boys are an all-star blues revue on the new Delta Groove Productions label in Los Angeles and include lead vocalist Finis Tasby; slide guitarist and vocalist Frank "Paris Slim" Goldwasser; lead guitarist Kid Ramos; legendary pianist Leon Blue; the great Mississippi blues harmonica player and vocalist Johnny Dyer; bassist Tom Leavy; Richard 'Bigfoot" Innes on drums; and DeltaGroove CEO, harp player and vocalist Randy Chortkoff. On tour to support their #1 debut album That Represent Man , The Mannish Boys are also promoting Chortkoff's Delta Groove label.

Day one: Portland to Port Townsend's Upstage Nightclub: We were on the road at 10 a.m., driving up I-5 with Paris Slim. It seems he needed to drive to the shows to get back to Portland on Sunday night to catch a 10 a.m. Monday flight to Italy. So I knew it would be a long Sunday night drive back to Portland from Winthrop. Goldwasser has been staying in Portland with friends while he is in the process of moving to Portland permanently and buying a house! That’s yet another testament to the strength of the Portland blues scene!

Loaded up with a cooler of sodas and some road snacks, we drove straight through to Bremerton, all the time talking about the Portland blues scene and his move from Paris, France. At Bremerton, we took a break and stopped and looked at the mothballed U.S. Navy aircraft carriers U.S.S. Constellation and U.S.S. Ranger. Goldwasser had never seen an aircraft carrier up close! And guess what ship was mothballed there? My old destroyer I was stationed on for four years, the U.S.S. Oldendorf, DD-972!

So, it was back on the road to Port Townsend to wait for the rest of the band that had flown into Seattle and was taking the ferry across Puget Sound.

After arriving in Port Townsend, Goldwasser took a nap and I went and explored the town. I visited the Upstage Nightclub and then went fishing at the city park pier and caught five rock cod! In the meantime, the band arrived at the Upstage and started setting up and doing sound checks. Then it was back to the motel and the confusion of getting room assignments. I ended up sharing rooms with Paris Slim both nights.

Next, it was showtime ! With everyone dressed to the nines, we did a posed photo session with the full band and then took some promo shots of Finis Tasby at the Upstage. The Upstage is a small and cozy upscale restaurant and bar with a upstairs loft and small dance floor. The band barely fit on the stage.

But when it came time to play, they hit it! With Kid Ramos' power guitar leading and Chortkoff's hammering harmonica lead, the band got right up in the crowd's face and got the people up on the dance floor. Then came Johnny Dyer's soulful and vintage delivery on Hootchie Coochie Man with Leavy and Innes laying down the groove and Leon Blue pounding the 88's, along with Tasby leading the group. The band and the crowd had their mojo workin'! After the show, it was autographs and mingling with the crowd, then packing up and back to the hotel. There was also a pizza party for the band before leaving.

Day Two: Port Townsend to Seattle: We were up at eight, had coffee and donuts in the lobby, loaded up the vans and we were back on the road to Seattle's Triple Door. Today, I had a second rider in my car. Legendary pianist Leon Blue! He thought the van was too crowded so he decided to ride with Paris Slim and I. So it was down the road to the Bainbridge Island Ferry.

Leon Blue can tell some stories! He is a walking font of blues history. The entire way, I listened to him tell stories of legendary people he's performed with such as B.B. King, Albert Collins and Ike Turner. It was one of the most amazing discussions I've ever listened to! Perhaps sometime I can get him to tell his stories into a tape recorder for posterity!

We stopped at a gas station to get fueled up, buy some cigarettes and snacks. It was intriguing watching the employees working and them not having a clue that Kid Ramos, Leon Blue, Finis Tasby and Johnny Dyer were all in their convenience store at one time!

Then we were back in the cars and on to the ferry. While we were waiting in line, security checked vehicles with bomb dogs and underside mirrors. Got on the ferry and everyone settled in for the ride. Leon Blue and Finis Tasby had a bit of lunch, Richard Innes enjoyed a sandwich. Kid Ramos and Randy Chortkoff wandered up to the bow and took in the view as we approached Seattle. Of course, I shot pics of Seattle and a couple of them with the cityscape in the background-it's my job!

We pulled up to the Triple Door and checked out the venue, then went to the hotel to freshen up before doing sound checks. Goldwasser and I then took a side trip to the Pike Street Market and explored downtown Seattle. We took a few minutes and watched the salmon-tossing show at the fishmarket at Pike Street. I found an amazing instrument store and got a set of really cool shots of harps, banjos and violins hanging from the ceiling.

From there, it was back to the venue to do sound checks and set-ups. Later it was showtime and the band was hanging out in their own private skybox. The Triple Door is one of the most elegant venues on the entire west coast. With elegant booths, private skyboxes and even crystal service on the tables, it's much more of a fine theatre than just a nightclub. For this performance, the band had two new surprises. One was an amazing Spanish flamenco guitar solo by Kid Ramos to open the second set. The other was Leon Blues singing a song for the very first time on a Mannish Boy show, She's Gonna Sell My Monkey . The crowd ate it up and it’s now become a regular feature of the act. The show consisted of two 75-minute sets followed by autographs with the fans.

Day Three: Long day ahead. On the road to Winthrop, it's a beautiful sunny day. We stopped for breakfast at a coffee shop in Marysville. I shared a table with Johnny Dyer and sampled the usual coffee shop fare. Afterwards, it was back on the road for a long four-hour drive through the gorgeous Skagit River Valley and North Cascades National Park, over the pass to the Methow River Valley and the Winthrop Blues Festival.

We pulled up backstage as Portland's DK Stewart band was just loading up to leave, with Too Slim and the Taildraggers getting ready to go on. I got to say hello to lead guitarist Peter Dammann and he visited with the band for a bit. I talked to the lovely Polly O'Keary lead singer, composer and bassist of her band Polly O'Keary and The Rhythm Method. I ended up doing an impromptu photos shoot session with her!

Taking the stage, The Mannish Boys launched right into their set and immediately got the crowd up and dancing and they didn't sit back down for the entire set. The high point was Johnny Dyer doing Hootchie Cootchie Man .At the end, the crowd was hollering for an encore. So, Chorkoff came out and said, "You want some more of this?" The crowd roared it's approval and the band rocked them one more time. After the show, there was a jam session under the tent led by O'Keary and friends.

After that, it was a long 400-mile drive back to Portland with Paris Slim (he had to catch a 10 a.m. flight to Italy for a blues festival in Rossano, Italy with The Mannish Boys). On the way, he talked about moving to Portland from France and an upcoming recording project with Leon Blue. He mentioned the main reasons for moving to Portland were the number of friends he has here and particularly the strength of the blues scene in Portland.

Finally, at 6:30 in the morning we made it back to Paris Slim's place. We unloaded his things and I went on home. I was back from being on the road with The Mannish Boys! What a trip! Three cool shows, lots of very interesting blues history stories and a taste of what it's really like to be on tour! Not a bad way to spend a weekend! Hey, maybe next year they'll take me on European tour with them! Stay tuned and we'll see! You can see more of the Mannish Boys at their website www.themannishboys.com.