We wanted to tell you about a very worthwhile and exciting new project from our good friend Matt Kacar...Matt has started The Artists Connection Podcast, a series of interviews with artists he respects and admires, many of them local Lehigh Valley musicians, including our very own Doug Ashby and Dave Joachim of Tavern Tan, who sat down with Matt and talked all kinds of good stuff! In December, Tom Aczel sat down with matt in his basement rock n roll museum for a chat. Check 'em out; these are long-form discussions that last from 45 minutes to over an hour. If you long for the days when the art of conversation meant something, and you need more Dick Cavett and less Jay Leno in your life, than this is definitely worth subscribing to—FREE! Matt is just getting started but he already has great discussions with Mike Watt, Chris Thomas King, John Lee Hooker Jr, Danielle Lubené, Mike Dugan, Bev "BC" Conklin...its all good, pilgrims! Check it out, and let Matt know what you think:

http://artistconnectionpodcast.com

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Tavern%20Tan

Below is a photo by fellow jammer  Monica Cressman, who captured us on our last night in all our sweaty goodness on that final night! Thanks Monica! Keep on playin' that fiddle!

You may have heard that Alex Chilton has passed away. Under appreciated by the general public but hugely influential on just about everything and anything that came after him that has to do with anything good in American Music, he was certainly one of Tavern Tan's musical heroes. Here are two of the best of the many tributes that made the rounds in the last few days, these two by incredible musicians and heroes, who knew Chilton personally. This one hurts:

Paul Westerberg  in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/opinion/21westerberg.html

and Chuck Prophet, from his blog:

http://chuckprophet.com/blog/alex_chilton/

Dougie and Tom scraped some dough from The Fez Monkey Records Fund and visited Larry Holmes’ Ringside Lounge and Restaurant for the big David “Honeyboy” Edwards show. It was a knockout!

At the ripe young age of 94, Honeyboy is one of the last surviving original links to the real lineage of Delta Blues: he listened to Charlie Patton play, and Robert Johnson was one of his pals. Alan Lomax recorded Honeyboy in Clarksdale in 1942; he traveled for years with Big Joe Williams and was in Chicago  in the 1950’s with all the usual suspects: Muddy, Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Sunnyland Slim, Big Walter, Johnny Shines, etc. He is truly an American Treasure. He still records and gigs on occasion, and as he remarked to Dougie  when we thanked him for playing out, “I just keep winnin’, don’t I?”

It is very rare to hear this sort of unfiltered blues anymore…Honeyboy’s style is fierce and direct, and does not stick to standard 12-bar blues forms—it’s all based on feel and being “in the moment”— and his friend, manager and touring partner for over 30 years, Michael Frank, played some excellent backup harp behind him. Honeyboy’s vocals kicked ass, and after a few songs he really warmed up. 

He was also accompanied on guitar by NYC veteran Michael Packer of The Michael Packer Blues Band, who were a solid opening act (they had a good harp player). Packer had a few rough moments trying to follow Honeyboy’s style, but he clearly was living a dream and probably crapping himself somewhat, being on stage with a master, and he kept his volume fairly low.

We chatted with Honeyboy backstage during the break, and he was clearly more lucid than we have ever been.

We also got to hang a bit with The Easton Assassin himself, Larry Holmes, a cool guy workin’ an awesome suit and rock n' roll shoes, who was obviously enjoying his hometown club and the appreciative crowd.

Larry was Heavyweight Champion of the World when that actually meant something , and his Hall of Fame fight career is well documented on the walls of the club with magazine covers, plaques and trophies. No split decision on this one, Pilgrims…it was a GREAT night!

http://www.davidhoneyboyedwards.com/

http://larryholmes.com/