Carl Verheyen....Live At The Baked Potato!

The Baked Potato
Los Angeles, California
April 21, 2007
9:30 PM

Hollywood is crawling with musicians; all colors, sizes and nationalities. Half of them are probably guitar players.

Now there's a difference between a player and a virtuoso. A player is someone who plays the instrument. A virtuoso, (as listed in Merriam Webster's Dictionary) is:

a)....an experimenter or investigator, especially in the arts.
b)....one who excels in the technique of an art.
c)....a person who has great skill at some endeavor.

Carl Verheyen demonstrates all these abilities becoming one with his instrument; which on this particular evening was a 1961 Fender Stratocaster, I believe in Seafoam Green.

Now the reason I know the difference between a guitar player and a guitar virtuoso is that this writer is a guitar player....Carl Verheyen is a virtuoso. Itzhak Perlman is a virtuoso. Janos Starker is a virtuoso.

Now perhaps you think I'm laying it on a bit thick here and perhaps I am but it's been some time since I have witnessed such dexterity and choice of notes.

You say, "But he's just a guitarist."

Well....the instrument has strings, six of them and many places in which to play lots of notes, hundreds of them in fact. The combinations are in the thousands. If you think it's easy, try it sometime.

Verheyen is forever tasty with the ability to meld hard-edged, searing solos into beautifully crafted phrases of shear beauty; giving birth to quiet, delicate passages with pure astral tones that ring as though they were produced from finely-spun gold. And the man's fingerings are so fast and accurate that it makes one's head swim. How does a man play this way?

Mr. Verheyen has played with the cream of the world's recording artists; hit makers Cher, Supertramp and the Bee Gees. Then turning his talents to Jazz with artists like David Benoit and Smooth Jazz artist, Richard Elliot. Carl has been credited for playing on more CDs than I could possibly name here.

Carl Verheyen has produced some ten releases of his own with his latest titled, Take One Step, an album including a DVD and CD. A stereo CD, enhanced to include website connections, ring tones and pre-ripped mp3s for your I-pod when played in a computer and:

• A DVD with 75 minutes of video
• 5.1 surround HD mix: Audience Perspective
• 5.1 surround HD mix: Stage perspective
• 96K 2.0HD stereo mix
• A 52 minute movie about the making of Take One Step
• Interviews with Chad Wackerman (drummer) and Bernie Dresel (drummer).
• Song chart files to learn a few of the tunes.

Pretty damn good from a man who used to be a ski instructor. (He taught tonight's drummer to ski.)

Of course the lead musician can only be as proficient as the players with whom he surrounds himself. Tonight, at The Baked Potato, Carl had two of the finest players I've had the privilege to hear in a long while.

On bass, the most dextrous Mr. Cliff Hugo, whose wonderful fingering and control of the bottom end was enhanced by the furious and fastidious drumming of Mr. Walfredo Reyes, Jr. Walfredo, fresh off the road with Lindsey Buckingham, played his first set ever with Carl Verheyen this evening and that was no mean feat, as Carl's tunes are not your standard three chord blues. Each work is akin to a tiny symphony....and each song is more interesting and complex than the last.

So how does Carl Verheyen play that way? He's had lots of practice. And as any great musician will tell you....practice leads to mastery of your instrument.

Carl Verheyen is a study in proficiency and excellence. A musician's musician. Catch him live....whenever you can. You too, will be amazed.

Many thanks to Mr. Bob Katz of Groove Tubes for the invitation.

Stay tuned!
John Rhys-Eddins/BluePower.com

Go to Carl Verheyen's web site here!

Learn more about Cliff Hugo here!

Learn more about Walfredo Reyes, Jr. here!
(Thanks to Mr. Reyes' beautiful wife, Carina Reyes.)

BluePower Presents....Watermelon Slim And The Workers....The Wheel Man!

Since BluePower has been forced into taking the independent route, we have received so many great pieces of product that it's hard to believe. They come from all over the world as far as Italy and Spain. We just sit and look at each other in amazement at the shear reach of the Blues and the various shapes the art form has taken.

Today, we've chosen a CD produced by an organization from Canada....Northern Blues and they are producing some very talented artists. Today's Blues treasure is a CD titled The Wheel Man performed by Watermelon Slim and The Workers. Slim has produced several bodies of work prior to The Wheel Man and this time, Slim has gone above and beyond.

The Wheel Man covers a lot of territory from Slim's lament to the victims of Katrina, "Black Water" to the solo vocal and harp piece, "Jimmy Bell" with great songs of all tempos in between. The band is articulate and plays Slim's music with great feel and a foot stompin' rhythm guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

The title cut...."The Wheel Man" features a man we all know, Magic Slim, on vocals and slide guitar.

This is one CD you can pop in your iPod and cruise to all day long or slam the CD in your truck and drive all night, wide eyed and bushy-tailed.

Do yourself a favor and check out....The Wheel Man!

Todays music is:

1)...."Hand Clappin' "....Red Prysock....Mercury
2)...."Black Water"....Watermelon Slim....Northern Blues
3)...."I Know One"....Watermelon Slim....Northern Blues
4)...."Truck Drivin' Mama"....Watermelon Slim....Northern Blues
5)...."Jimmy Bell"....Watermelon Slim....Northern Blues
6)...."Rattlesnake"....Watermelon Slim....Northern Blues
7)...."The Wheel Man"....Watermelon Slim/Magic Slim....Northern Blues
8)...."Hand Clappin' "....Red Prysock....Mercury

Enjoy the show!
John Rhys-Eddins/BluePower.com

Play....BluePower Presents....Watermelon Slim And The Workers....The Wheel Man!

To purchase a copy of The Wheel Man, go to Northern Blues!

To find out more about Watermelon Slim, click here!

To see Watermelon Slim's tour dates, click here!

Record company has granted BluePower the right to play the music for promotional purposes!

A BluePower Book Review!

Blue Monday And The Lost Dawn Of Rock 'N' Roll
Author: Rick Coleman
Publisher: Da Capo Press
______________________________

As I sat down this morning to write about Blue Monday, I put on a stack of 45s and drifted back in time to when I first heard those wonderful three minute masterpieces of rhythm and blues. To a time before desegregation in the south, a day when this writer was growing up and listening to the music of Fats Domino. I started to smile as I always do when I hear any of Fats' records.

I did not anticipate the results of my reading Blue Monday. The book held my focus by its shear attention to detail. The never ending one-nighters, the problems with musicians, racism and heartache were not what I had in mind when I started on what I thought would be a comfortable journey.

Rick Coleman has done a brilliant job of illuminating Fats Domino's life with all the side stops thrown in for good measure. This is a non-stop, shake 'em up ride of a book. This thoughtfully written piece of history of American music which emanated from the city of New Orleans tells the story of Mr. Domino's rise from a poor, working-class young man to one of America's first black superstars.

What this writer never realized was Fats Domino's relationship to the dissolving of segregation in America. How his music and concerts resulted in the mixing of blacks and whites during a period when segregation was considered the norm in the USA. Mr. Domino's concerts often resulted in riots which were the direct effect of interference by the police and city fathers who would not tolerate their white sons and daughters mixing with blacks. The kids however, could not be stopped. Long before the staunch walls of segregation were torn down, Antoine "Fats" Domino was in the trenches; battling the threats, the hurtful epithets and the thrown bottles, to help black Americans overcome the racial barriers in those tumultuous days prior to the arrival of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Mr. Coleman shows us an accurate picture of how the independent record business came about as a result of the record company entrepreneurs who were exposed to the major talent found in New Orleans. Roy Brown, Little Richard, Shirley and Lee, Lloyd Price, Smiley Lewis, Irma Thomas and dozens of other artists recorded major hits at tiny J&M Studios with genius engineer, Cosimo Matassa. As thousands of boxes of rhythm and blues records were cut, pressed and sold to millions of white teenagers across the USA, the walls of segregation were torn down, song by song.

One such independent record man was Lew Chudd, owner of Imperial Records; Fats Domino's record label for many years. The irascible Mr. Chudd, though short on humor, was long on recognition of talent and marketing acumen, building Imperial into one of America's largest independent record companies which became a starting point for many of New Orleans' finest musicians and artists.

One talented musician in particular was a boon to Mr. Domino's conquest of the record charts. Dave Bartholomew recognized Fats' talent both in the recording studio and on stage. Their association, though turbulent, proved to be very productive as Bartholomew became both co-writer and arranger on many of Fats' biggest hits; taking the backseat in the spotlight of live performances but turning all the right knobs in the studio and eventually becoming head of A&R (Artist and Repertoire) for Imperial Records.

From the riots at Fats' concerts to the promoters he endured, Blue Monday gives a more than complete picture of Fats' life. Snapshots of his troubled family life, the deaths of many of his musicians due to drug abuse, his life on the road while dealing with his own addictions to alcohol and gambling as well as his nerves of steel while performing are all disclosed in Blue Monday.

One can see why it took Rick Coleman twenty years to write Blue Monday. One look at the eight page Bibliography and the thirty pages of notes used as references attests to the authenticity of this biography. Mr. Coleman truly captures the remarkable times, places and people within the pages of Blue Monday....Fats Domino And The Lost Dawn Of Rock And Roll. And yes....Rhythm and Blues truly is the precursor of Rock and Roll.

For anyone who is interested in the history of American Popular Music or simply just reading the great story of a true American hero.... Blue Monday is a "must read".

John Rhys-Eddins/BluePower.com
Edited by: Lori Rhys-Eddins

See Rick Coleman at Da Capo Books here.

Order Blue Monday now from Amazon.com.