Wild Blues Yonder Long lost recording - 1990

[bouche]

Quote

A Sunday night house gig at AJ's Hanger ~1990: Grant Heckman (Lead Vocals & Guitar), Austin Lowe (Sax, Lead Vocals, and Soul of the Band), Maurice Roulette (Harmonica & Guitar), Scott Megginson (Bass & Backing Vocals), Mike Sakell (Drums & Better Backing Vocals)

[Velvet]

I can't count how many times I drove down for Sunday nights at AJ's in 1989/90.  Such great times.

[Booche]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just learned the sax player's name was Austin, or I was just reminded of it. He was such a nice guy. Hey Barrett, wasnt Mike Sakell somehow related to Smirnios (sp)? This picture just made me think I remembered something that may or may not be true. 

Grant Heckman tore me to pieces one night, or so I felt like he did.

I was fully ensconced in my hippie gear one night and we went to see him and a stand up bass player at the pub that used to be a couple of doors southwest of Bubbas......why cant I think of the name of it right now, baaaah.........anyways, I arrived in my typical state for the time and had to do everything in my power just so I could pay cover and get to the bar to order a beer which makes me laugh even harder now because all I would ask for is a pint of Canadian. There was nothing back then. Hell, when Rickards Red came into the picture we thought we had landed on the moon. Luckily we made it through that stretch of the night and then realized there was a small standing table 8 feet from the band. Perfect! Somewhere to put our beers because we were waytoofuckinghigh to hold them and if we sit in any of the seats/booths that are available we arent going to get into the music as much as I wanted to.  

So they do a few tunes and I am getting really comfortable with the vibe of everything. It wasnt a blues night like his normal Wild Blues Yonder stuff, which is why I went in the first place, but it was a wide open 'he's doing all kinds of FM radio stuff I know' but like you have never heard these songs done this way because it was an acoustic guitar and a stand up bass. Steve Miller and shit. Wish I could say Bob Seger for sure but that may or may not have happened. I thought it was weird the audience wasnt requesting anything or into as much as I was so I thought I would offer a suggestion for the duo. I said, probably screamed right in front of them, "Walking Blues" and Grant said it wasnt that kind of wild blues night which made sense since I should have figured that out by this point so I upped the ante. "Knocking On Heaven's Door!" to which Grant replied with "Dont you think you have heard that song too many times by now?"..........and I still havent felt smaller. It was probably theweed but God bless him for offering it to me and to this day it's still one of my favorite times a band has granted my request because this one was positively gorgeous. I was really into that song back then. 

It would be a killer Youtube everyone here would love and laugh at. 

 

PS: DaveyBoy 2.0, it was just me and JayClark out that night and as you can imagine things got beyond wasted - he was so dangerous for me in my life and I am sure he felt the same way about me 

 

[Booche]

I loved this Stagger Lee.................I saw them do this so many times and always wondered if this story worked with the Dead's version of Stagger Lee. When I got older I learned these two songs/versions are in fact connected. This shit is great Mike! Thanks so very much. Barrett and I saw Wild Blues Yonder so many damn times. 

 

PS: I learned so much about diplomacy back in these days thanks to figuring out a way to not get kicked out of a bar - thanks Bouche.....I am getting through this Sweet Home Chicago and then heading to sleep........no surprise I loved them so much

[Esau.]

I saw these guys a couple times oddly enough. A good friend of mine was going to St. Lawrence college and living in Kingston (student ghetto) during the mid nineties. Being a fellow blues fanatic and live music junkie, when I would visit we would hit up live shows. AJ's always had something going on from my memory, though limited to the dozen times or so I visited him anyhow.

Thanks for posting this, I'm going sent it on to buddy John.

[bouche]

On 07/11/2016 at 9:59 PM, Booche said:

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just learned the sax player's name was Austin, or I was just reminded of it. He was such a nice guy. Hey Barrett, wasnt Mike Sakell somehow related to Smirnios (sp)? This picture just made me think I remembered something that may or may not be true. 

I knew Mike Sakell through my friend Dave who's a cousin of Mike. Mike's brother AJ was behind AJ's Hanger. Dave's sister was married to Francois who ran Stages. The Sakell's had quite a presence in the Hub.  

Here's an old thread on Austin

On 07/11/2016 at 8:51 PM, Velvet said:

I can't count how many times I drove down for Sunday nights at AJ's in 1989/90.  Such great times.

Sundays at AJ's became a regular thing in the early nineties for me.   That recording is so nostalgic to me and I'm not even sure what random steps I took to land on that youtube page.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

Pretty good quality, all things considered