After roasting through the previous weekend at Bluesfest, in 30+ degree weather, I’m so thankful the big guy upstairs graced us with gorgeous weather for the Stewart Park Festival weekend.  I was amazed to hear people arriving from out of town throughout the weekend state they’d almost had to pull over on their drive to Perth, due to isolated torrential rains, while we stayed dry here and enjoyed some memorable music.  It must have been all those positive vibes from our weekend audience of over 25,000 and the 100+ volunteers that chased those rainstorms away.  More on Stewart Park Festival at a later date.

 

Back to Bluesfest.  I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about seeing one of my long time favourite female singers, Etta James, at Bluesfest.  Before her show, I ran into Kingston’s own Georgette Fry who said she’d been singing Etta’s tunes for 30 years and was finally going to hear her in person.  She was on cloud nine as she’d gotten there early and secured 7th row seating and couldn’t wait for the show to begin. 

 

Now I hadn’t read anything lately about Ms. James prior to her arriving on stage so when the band started playing and announced her, I was, needless to say, confused when this trim ol’ gal of 68 minced out on stage.  I say “trim” because the last time I’d seen her live and again, more  recently in a video of a concert several years ago, she was triple the size of the woman before me now.  I learned later that she’d had her stomach stapled a while back resulting in the lost 200 lbs. of weight. 

 

Let me tell ya, she’s still got it.  Early on she sang one of her own compositions, “I’d Rather Go Blind” with the same devotion I’d heard her sing it so many times before.  She’s always been a suggestive performer and she still makes the most of double entendre tunes.  ‘I Want To Ta Ta You Baby” and Randy Newman’s “You Can Leave Your Hat On” showed her strutting her stuff onstage in her own classy way.  She still has great range and control as she showed in her rendition of her most remembered hit “At Last”.  Later, she reached way back with “My Dearest Darlin’”, “All I Could Do Was Cry” and “ Stop The Wedding” which brought many a tear to the infatuated crowd.  Her control, from tender whispered passages to solid growls only confirmed we were in the presence of a master and proof positive she deserves her past induction into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the W. C. Handy Blues Foundation.

 

Speaking of professionalism.  Etta James normally has two sons in her band, one on bass and one on drums.  Well the drummer was unable to make it across the border due to his criminal past so, 6 hours before the show, Ottawa local drummer Ross Murray got the call to fill in with Etta that night.  I caught up with Ross at Stewart Park Festival who gave me the following synopsis of his time with Etta.  When he was asked 6 hours earlier, he ran out and got several of her albums and started listening and practicing then headed off to the gig.  About 1hour before the show he met up with the band who crushed his newfound confidence with her music by being told “she doesn’t do that stuff any more”.  Not only that but there is never a set list and Etta lets them know what she wants from the stage…. Imagine Ross sitting in “cold turkey” with this tight band and still getting kudos’ thrown his way by Etta, including “He’s baaaaaaad” in her sultry style.  Congrats Ross and thanks Etta James for a memorable evening.