Vacaville Represents at Sac IBC
Mick Martin’s Birthday Party
Northern California Blues Festival
Bodega Seafood, Art & Wine Festival - 8/23/08
B.B. is still the King of the Blues
Mr. December at Constable Jack's - 5/9/08
Daniel Castro - 3/29/08
Daniel Castro lights up the Torch Club!
Forever a favorite of California blues guitar fanatics, Daniel Castro came back to Sac and lit up the Torch Club on Saturday, March 29th. He ripped the place apart from beginning to end with an awesome display of raw blues talent.
Daniel cut his teeth on the blues as just a teenager from southern California, picking up the blues bag and never putting it down. After several trips to northern Cal to play gigs and events he finally made tranistion to the San Jose area in 1995 and has since become one of the most sought after blues acts around.
In anticipation of this show, and yes planning on getting some information out of Daniel for this review, the blues girl and I booked a couple of rooms right around the corner from the club and brought some friends to Sac to see the show with us. We lounged around and then headed down for dinner at the sushi joint right next to the club. We just happened to walk in with Daniel and keyboard player Bill Hancock and sat down to a nice feast before the show. We all shot the breeze and Daniel and Bill each told a couple of blues jokes that I swore I would remember since my note pad was up in the room. Guess what? I can only remember one of them. Daniel says, "What's the difference in a blues musician and a large pizza? ~ ~ ~ A large pizza can feed a family of four! Ha!
So of we went to the club, for us to prepare for the show as we watched Daniel and the band prepare for the show, (there work was alot harder than ours).
Daniel started the show with a nice version of the Clapton classic, "Crosscut Saw" and moved smoothly through a wide variety of blues cuts, including some old stuff thrown in that were as nice as ever, including "Got my mojo working" and Albert King's "I'll Play the Blues for You". Daniel's shows mix the raw, hard guitar blues with the smooth swing style blues on cuts like, "I'll play the blues for you". He had his old telecaster oiled up and workin' at the end of that song with a long, smooth set of guitar riffs that stopped most of the dancing crowd, leaving most just watching in awe. He mixed in newer stuff and even played a great blues version of Rufus Thomas', "Walking the Dog", a song recorded by many and made most famous by Aerosmith in the 70's. Daniel's version was far better, so much for the 70's rockers! Daniel's band was alive and held him up fantastically. It was really a fun night out. Believe me, these boys really know how to put on a show, a show that will make you hit the web looking for their next gig. Not to worry, you'll find them, they are a hard working bunch playing all over norcal.
"Keep your eyes and ears open, the blues are alive in Northern California!"
Cole Fonseca at the Torch Club - 3/28/08
Blues Blowout at Cache Creek - 2/1/08
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