Jim Abbott

Orlando Sentinel

What You Need is a Dose of the Blues

Published November 18, 2005

Somehow, I lost touch with the blues.

It's one of the many things I feel guilty about, but unlike some of the others, I have a chance at redemption this weekend.

When the Downtown Orlando Blues Fest 2005 takes over Wall Street Plaza from 2 to 10 p.m. Saturday, it showcases an assortment of local, regional and national acts. There will be barbecue, too, which sounds delicious even if it won't do anything for my guilt about eating too much barbecue.

The lineup features a variety of styles: Traditional blues from James and Lucky Peterson (7 p.m.), the father and son combination known for collaborations with King Snake Records founder Bob Greenlee; R&B-flavored sounds from Central Florida's Beautiful Bobby Blackmon (4:30 p.m.); rock-oriented stuff from Orlando's Shaun Rounds (2:30 p.m.); more old-school blues from nationally known Sarasota Slim (5:45 p.m.) and Orlando's Smokin' Torpedoes (2 p.m.); and jump-swing sounds from California's Little Charlie and the Nightcats (9 p.m.).

"This is kind of a grass-roots effort to build the blues back in Orlando," says festival organizer Jeff Willey, of the Smokin' Torps. A similar event last year attracted only local bands, but the scope has broadened this time.

Willey, also a founder of the Orange Blossom Blues Society, sees a bigger interest in the blues at a handful of nightspots including Tanqueray's in downtown Orlando, the Alley in the revitalized Sanford business district, Backroom Bluz in Eustis and the Scotch & Sirloin club at the Comfort Inn at State Road 434 and Interstate 4 in Longwood.

The latter will host a free preshow party and blues jam tonight that is slated to include Lucky Peterson and Sarasota Slim, among others. Members of Little Charlie and the Nightcats might also perform, if the band arrives in time from the airport.

Singer and harmonica player Rick Estrin, a founding member of the Little Charlie band more than 30 years ago, says I'm not the only one in need of a new dose of blues appreciation. He senses that the genre has lost momentum since a boom in popularity in the early 1990s.

The last time his band played Orlando, the Social was called the Blue Note. The only other thing he remembers is "a great, great shoe store right there in the same neighborhood as the Blue Note.''

That place, Sam Behr's shoe store, is long gone now, but the blues are back.

Along with guitarist and founding member Charlie Baty, the current lineup features drummer J. Hansen and bassist Lorenzo Farrell, who joined in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

"We're fortunate because of the fact that we've been around so long and we have such a loyal fan base,'' says Estrin, 55. "We're still able to work as much as we want to work, go all over the world, make records and all of that."

Is there another Little Charlie band out there? Another Buddy Guy, who happens to be performing tonight, at House of Blues?

"It's possible, but I think it will be difficult,'' Estrin says. "I can see the blues mutating even now. A lot of what is called blues now is more like rock or soul music.

"What we play is all based in music from another time, but we're playing it now, and we're feeling it now. We're not like a museum piece.''