My son, who lives in Le Suer, MN invited me down to St Peter for an early Father's Day present of two of my favorite things, live Blues music and good beer. Thanks to Curt Obeda and the Butanes and my good foresight to bring my own beer (Bald Man Brewery's Tupelo Honey), I can proclaim my experience a qualified success.
The St. Peter Ambassadors are to be commended for doing many things right. First of all the venue, Minnesota Square Park in "downtown" St. Peter is simply gorgeous. The park boasts an almost brand new band shell, sidewalks and one of the lushiest lawns I have ever set foot on. There were three or four food trucks offering typical music fest fare (Mexican, bar-b-que, chicken wings, etc.) at relatively reasonable prices. There were numerous vendor booths doing a brisk business in local made arts and crafts. The relatively limited selection of beers (mainly local Schell's products) was more than offset by the price, $5, which is downright cheap (even cheaper if you brought your own, like me). To top it off, the Ambassadors' BluesFest was a free event, which is quite amazing when you consider the quality of some of the acts, be they regional, like the Butanes, or national, like Destini Rawls Soul Review.
Come to think of it, yesterday was a great reminder to all of those who live in the rural America, Fox News grievance and manufactured outrage bubble, of the fine job the Biden Administration has done reigning in post-covid, inflationary price increases from where they were a year ago with its economic tightrope walking that would make even the Great Wallendas envious (i.e. not only keeping the economy out of recession, but actual economic growth, while we continue to experience record low unemployment). But I digress...
So where did the Ambassadors' BluesFest fall short? Promotion is one area where they could have done a better job. I was heartbroken when, after arriving just in time for the start of the Butanes wonderful set, that one of my all time favorite soul artists, the great Johnny Rawls made an unannounced cameo appearance during his daughter Destini's set. Had I known this I would have skipped mowing my lawn and beat it down to St. Peter in time to catch this legendary performer.
I had not seen the Butanes in probably 20 years and I must say they never sounded better. I can remember a young Butanes breaking into the West Bank circuit, a rather daunting task given the dominance of stalwarts like Willie & the Bees and Lamont Cranston. What really won me over to the band were their performances at the Blues Saloon in Frogtown. Impeccable taste in material and sticklers for getting the tone right, they seemed a natural fit for when the Blues Saloon booker/empresario, Micki Mulvihill, would book a blues legend and needed a back-up band. As any musician who ever backed Chuck Berry knows, it can be a thankless task. But Curt Obeda and the Butanes would take the time to get it right. The Butanes will always have my admiration and respect for the work they did with Little Johnny Taylor late in his career, at a time when just about everyone, including himself , had given up on the man. The Butanes further burnished their reputation with their work with New Orleans legend Earl King.
The second area where I thought the BluesFest promotors could use a little improvement, and I know these things are a matter of personal taste, was in their selection of a headliner. I just wasn't that impressed with Mark Joseph & the American Soul featuring the Northside Horns. Maybe it was the somewhat pretentious name, perhaps it was resorting to the old send the horn section out into the audience in a northern attempt at a second line stroll trick just three songs into their set (something usually reserved by most bands to near the end of a performance) and definitely the fake banter from Joseph directed at his "lost" or "on strike" horn section was simply silly and insipid. Furthermore a second line beat seemed to be over the heads of the rhythm section.
Not to be mean, but Joseph and his band of over wrought performers had all the subtlety of a flying hammer. While the band was capable and well rehearsed and certainly had a group of enthusiastic friends and relatives eating up their brand of middle of the road, blues/rock, it was just too slick and commercial. Most importantly, the tone was all wrong for my tastes. For those of us in the audience not raised on KQ92 or 93X, the lack of dynamics, interesting material or a drummer whose only move seemed to be "more cowbell", (i.e. rimshot every other beat), it was intolerably painful. So much so, my son and I left after about four songs, opting to grab a sandwich at Patrick's on Third where we were delighted by a set by the Mark Cameron Band. After the aural assault we were just subjected to at the park, I found Cameron's band to be a breath of fresh air. Tone, dynamics, interesting material, Cameron's band were everything Mark Joseph & company were not. I plan on catching this band again. These are harsh words but I hope it may give some constructive pause to the exaggerated exuberance I witnessed yesterday.
