LONG BEACH BLUES FESTIVAL
1999

Day Two: Sunday, Sept. 5

CLARENCE CARTER
Just as I had thought, this Sunday turned out to be one of the strongest single day in all of this Festival days that I attended in the past. I think I would name it a Blues & Soul Dynamite. Almost every minute of the performances this day was a blast, and I'm not exaggerating! KLON announced that the crowd they had this day was the biggest in the whole history of this Festival, and there were about 3,000 people who couldn't get in because there was a word from the Fire Dept. that no more people should be allowed in. Yes, surely the place was packed. The large crowd filled up the field, and it reached the food booths at the end of the field, and there were very little space to line up for food.

Usually, Sunday morning at this Fest starts with a little churching up. But this year was exception, and what an exception it was! Clarence Carter, who made a debut appearance at this Fest, came on to play his brand of soul music filled with nasty sexual lyrics. He went on to tell stories about what happened when he made love, his 5 marriages, and how the wives took the money from him and went away, etc. He sure was entertaining people with his stories alone, but his music was of course a treat. Classic songs like "Slip Away" were mellow and great, and showed that he was still very much alive and well. Near the end of the set, he told the audience that he was going to play a blues song since it was a blues festival, and he played "Love Me With A Feeling", the X-rated version that he does on his record. He even threw in an extra verse which is not on the record, that was probably the nastiest one of them all! I can't write it here, so you got to go and hear him if you want to know. Then he closed the set with the new song "Strokin'".

JOHNNY RAWLS with ROY GAINES
To be honest, I haven't been following Johnny Rawls at all after he released that great album "Can't Sleep At Night" on Rooster Blues, a collaboration with L.C. Luckett, Jr., and this was the first time that I saw him live. He started with the title track of that Rooster Blues album, and was sounding like a good soul party already. Though his voice seemed a little harsh, it still was very tasty and soulful. He played some very good lead guitars, too. You can't find a guy like him very often who can sing soul and play blues guitar solos both so well. By the way, the red stratocaster he was playing had "No Mustang Sally" sticker on it (grin). Very funny...

The guest for Rawls was Roy Gaines. I had seen him a number of times before, but this time he seemed very different from my previous impressions. He was like a big bomb that exploded on stage. He kept moving around the whole time he was playing. I had never seen him so hyperactive before. I had an impression before that he was the cool gentleman type, but this time he was one hot dude! He played the guitar on his back, and lied down, rolled around, etc. Just was so powerful. He didn't get much into the T-Bone stuff he's known for, but he made a strong impression on me. I don't remember what he played, but he played well. Rawls continued after Gaines left the stage. In the latter half of the set, he put down his guitar and concentrated on singing. With a lot of gestures and actions, he naturally looked more like a soul singer.

LITTLE MILTON with BOBBY RUSH
Unlike the guests for other artists who came in at the middle of sets, Bobby Rush, the guest for Little Milton, performed first. He opened up with the funky song "I Ain't Studdin' You" backed up by Little Milton's band. Though he didn't have any dancers with him, he was able to please the crowd with his strong character and presence. On the next song, he told the audience a hilarious story about the big fat woman he used to have. He took out and showed a big, big pair of panties which he claimed was hers! His performance was short but very good, and entertaining.

Little Milton came out and had the rest of the set to himself. He said he was going to kick back and relax, and sat down on a stool. He was sitting the rest of the time which I had never seen him do before. Maybe he's gotten old? I'm a huge admirer of Milton's music and I thought he played okay this day. But since Bobby Rush left with such a strong impact, I felt that Milton paled to Rush. These two guys have characters too different from the other to be squashed into a single set. I really thought it was better to have them do full sets separately. At the end of the set, Bobby joined Little Milton to sing the song " The Blues Is Alright" together. That was okay.

AL GREEN
This had to be one of the most memorable show put on here at the Long Beach Fest. Though I did feel that he's gotten old since those Hi days (with shorter hair and glasses, I thought he looked kind of like Malcolm X), his distinctive voice was still strong enough to draw me into his music. The first half of the show mainly focused on the religious side of him. And the latter part was a soul show. Either way, it was a set with true showmanship, and the crowd really went crazy. The last two songs were "Love and Happiness", and "Take Me To The River". Throughout the set, he sang with red roses in his hands, and he kept throwing them to the audience. I think no less than 5 or 6 dozens of those roses were thrown by him during his performance!

His show kind of reminded me of Sam Cook's live album recorded at the Harlem Square Club. Not because Al sang Sam's song "Bring It On Home To Me", but because of the highly energized soul show with shomanship. His prensece had the compelling power to make everybody in the audience to turn to him, and to be a part of the show. I don't believe there was a single person at the Fest then who was bored seeing him, regardless of his/her music taste. You just had to get excited. It was that kind of show. The gorgeous twelve piece band really fueled the atmosphere, too.

BOBBY "BLUE" BLAND
After the strong set by Al Green, Bobby Bland did his usual stuff to close the day. He was polite enough to ask the audience to applaude for Al Green at the beginning of the set. Bland came to Japan last summer ('98), and I think basically what he did this day was the same as what he did at his shows in Japan. He didn't sing "Members Only" though. I don't know why. In the past years I have been thinking that he's gotten older and weaker, but at this show I thought he was looking pretty good, and singing pretty good. I hope he continues to stay healthy so that he could perform and record for years to come.