12 July 2013 - 0 Comments

Chicago, the Windy City.

This is Obama country, home of the Bulls, the Blackhawks, the Fire, the Cubs, and the White Sox.

It’s the third most populous city in the United States, and has the fourth-largest gross domestic product in the world, just behind Tokyo, New York City, and Los Angeles, and ranking ahead of London and Paris.

It’s located in north-eastern Illinois on the south-western shores of Lake Michigan, and one of its buildings even has its own zip code.

It’s the city where the blues went electric and where The Flaming Mudcats will get to play for the first time in the US of A.

It doesn’t get any better than that, for us anyway, as it’s something we've been working hard towards for the last twelve months and something we've dreamed of for years.

Every one of the Mudcats shared an eager anticipation and childlike excitement.

It’s hard to describe the feeling, but if you’re a sports fan it would be like when you're a kid and your team's getting to play on Eden Park for the first time.

We didn’t arrive in the city together but not a moment was lost as on our first night in town we visited Buddy Guy’s Legends.

“No sleep till Sunday” was the rallying cry.

A good deal of shopping in the city’s mind-blowing instrument and record shops and sightseeing for the rest occupied our only free day in town.

That evening we treated to an incredible night.

Catherine, a friend made via the magic of the Internet, took us to two of the iconic blues clubs, B.L.U.E.S. Chicago and Kingston Mines, where we were invited up to play at both these clubs.

This was unplanned, totally amazing and a moving experience for us all.

To be up on the stages where our heroes have stood, playing with some of Chicago's older hands and regulars watching on is an experience that money can’t buy.

It was six weeks since we had last played but this was no time to be rusty or nervous.

It was time to step up.

We played our best and like all good things, it was over so quickly.

Sure, we were a novelty “this band all the way from Auckland New Zealand” but we were warmly welcomed and well received with generous applause.

So, we'd finally got to play in Chicago... this wasn't on the tour schedule and HERE at THESE two places.

WOW!!!

Taco's, and a few kind words from Mike Wheeler, afterwards and back to the hotel by 4 am.

It was an unforgettable night.

2120 South Michigan is an iconic address for blues fans, so we couldn’t stop in town without paying it a visit.

It is the address for Chess Records where Chuck Berry, Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters, Etta James, Willie Dixon, Little Walter, the Rolling Stones, et al, recorded and hung out.

Alas Chess Records is no more, but the building is there and run as a museum by the family of the late Willie Dixon.

Willie was the double bass player who wrote some of the famous blues songs like, Little Red Rooster, I Just Wanna Make Love To You, Spoonful, My Babe and many more.

The building has been “restored” and is protected by the City of Chicago as a heritage site.

If you shut your eyes and listen real hard, you can still hear Leonard arguing with Sonny-Boy, calling him a Mother F**ker, and Little Water wailing on his harp.

Well, we did anyway...

Our first scheduled show was at a joint called Reggie’s and we shared the bill with two other bands: The Royal Hounds: a Rockabilly band out of Knoxville, Tennessee and The Gravetones: a local outfit who, complete with skulls and stuff,  reminded those of us old enough to remember of early Alice Cooper .

Reggie’s was a another cool venue with excellent sound system and stage lighting, customary Xmas lights, neon beer signs, old photos and memorabilia (pretty much standard from what we've seen.) The people and staff were very friendly and curious we were from the land of Outrageous Fortune. We played at our best as we drew on our experiences from the previous night at the two clubs.

After our performance, we all jumped in a couple of cabs and headed for the Waterhole, “Chicago's Juke Joint.”

This is the venue run by our gracious host, Catherine, who took us out on the Wednesday night.

To return the favour, we fronted and played a few numbers.

Our friend, Gary Harvey, finally got to play in the US too Sean handed over his bass for a couple of numbers.

The house band asked Craig and Ian to sit in with them for a few more.

The guys jumped at the chance, and who could have imagined a couple of white boys from Onehunga jamming with these Chicago guys.

We couldn’t leave without signing the wall, so now the Mudcats are right up there with all the other previous performers followed by a photo opportunity capturing our time at the Waterhole.

Catherine is typical of the people we've met here, so happy to help and to make our experience so much more memorable.

Nothing is too much trouble and they make you feel special.

We are all so, so grateful and thankful.

On Friday, safely tucked up in a couple of Hertz rentals, franticly trying to work the GPS system... we were heading up the I90 to Rockford, the city hosting the inaugural Crossroads Blues Festival.

Rockford is another fading city trying hard to re-vitalise after the industry left town for cheaper overseas locations.

There are signs everywhere of earlier, better times.

There are also a lot of people working hard to bring new life to town.

People like Steve Jones and his team of volunteers from the Crossroad Blues Society.

But before we get to the festival we had a show at the Adriatic, a local music venue.

Here, we finally get to meet Link.

Stone dead, nailed on Super-Dude.... this guy should be wearing tights and a cape!

We had of course travelled From New Zealand without band gear except Craig's harmonicas and guitars each for Sean and Doug, so no amps or drum kit.

From first contacting Link three weeks earlier, asking if he could help us out with some gear, he has been amazing.

Nothing was too much trouble.

He arranged with two of his muso buddies, Don and Al, amps and a drum kit.

Once again we are blown away by their generous nature.

The Adriatic gig sounded great with Andy, a pro soundman out front, telling us “I got you guys man.”

Andy is already well into planning the next tour.

It was also great to catch up with Dave Sawtelle, a radio DJ in Rockford who has played our album ‘Gave You What You Wanted’ on his show and also been a tremendous help to us.

It was another great night.

Driving back to the motel we were treated to an awesome demonstration of Mother Nature in the form of another spectacular electrical storm.

Fork lightning turned night into day and sheets of heavy rain washed the road.

After the storm it was so strangely quiet.

As one of the locals so eloquently put it “quiet, real quiet, so quiet you can hear a rat piss on cotton.”

Wouldn’t it have been some kind of luck if festival had been cancelled?

However, Saturday morning was dry, but windy, and the inaugural Field of Blues Festival 2013 was going ahead.

Arriving at the Aviators baseball park, there's Link and Don enthusiastically helping with the stage set up.

They're so pleased to be a part of this and our share in our festival debut.

Our friends from Ohio, along with Lorraine and Craig's wife Margaret as well as Gary join the gathering crowd.

Set up complete and it's show time!!

We open the festival, and there isn’t another band on the planet that can say that!

We give it our all, calling on everything we've learned.

The crowd were great and we got a great response.

We had a blast.

Our CDs sold out quickly as we autographed and chatted with the curious and generous festival goers.

We met up with other performers including Johnny Burgin, Willie Buck and Tail Dragger, as well as other blues legends such as Bob Kieser from Blues Blast Magazine.

Special mention also has to be made to of Sista Jaqui for taking time out to spend some time with us, show us some sights, take us to eat, and supporting us so generously.

We thank you.

The highlight for the band has really been the amazing experience.

We might have said, a once in a lifetime experience... but oh no, we’ll be back.

Going to those places, meeting those people, hearing and listening to those bands was incredible... our actually getting to playing there was just the bonus.

We are all now far, far richer.

Comments

Return to News Archive