This weekend treat yourself to a triple dose of hot rockin’ blues from the
good doctor himself when Springfield Shaky doles out three gigs in five days.
First, Shaky (sorry, can’t tell you his real name) does his regular 7:30 to 1 slot starting Thursday night (doesn’t that seem like a very long time?) at Café Kanichi-Wa. He then returns to the scene of the crime on Friday with his infamous Shaky’s Whorehouse Band. Words on paper can’t describe the rare and indefinable beauty or the vast proportions of incredible talent displayed by this touching and magical group of bluesmakers. What they are exactly must be experienced in the flesh.
After those spectacular nights of blues and booze, our hero takes off Saturday and Sunday and spends time with his wife and children. Or something like that.
Continuing on to the third leg of our highly touted inner-city tour, go to the Alamo to see the only guy in town willing to attach the name of our fair city to his own. There, Springfield Shaky hosts the Illinois Central Blues Club’s Blue Monday Jam. For you uninitiated, this is the place to be for world-class blues music at the unbeatable admission cost of one American dollar. Highly acclaimed touring acts and greatly respected area bands work the room every Monday night from 8:30 on. Around 11, the stage opens up to musicians wanting to sit in and play the blues.
Shaky has used, dare I say, countless players in the past to fill the bass and drum section of his three-piece blues outfits. I’ve had the wonderful privilege of being one of those many bassists and believe me it’s as wild of a trip playing with him as it is for the audience watching.
Armed with a song list as long as the Hilton is tall and an encyclopedic knowledge
of the blues, and loaded with the heart of a showman and the soul of a wild
man, he is ready to fire off in any direction that moves him. The spontaneous
song selection and impromptu jams that evolve from the mood of the moment and
the mind of the master are what drive a Shaky show. And you get to come along
for the ride.
This article appears in Nov 18-24, 2004.
