Stevie Ray Vaughan B’Day Tribute 10.03.10

Hard Rock Cafe, Seattle WA

Ayron Jones and The Way

Stevie Ray Vaughan Birthday Tribute

Benefit Show for Seattle Humane Society

Featuring: The Chris Eger Band, Ayron Jones and The Way, The Satellite 4, Dudley Taft, and The Randy Hansen Band

Sunday October 3, 2010

Stevie Ray’s spirit walked–ROCKED–among the living Sunday night.  I got chills as I heard song after song played in honor and celebration of Stevie’s birthday.  Stevie would have been proud of the enormously talented local bands who covered his songs.

We were invited to attend the show via P’s friend who works for F5 Networks, one of the show’s sponsors.  Although Sunday isn’t my favorite night to go out, we couldn’t pass up a chance to watch some local bands get into the blues for Stevie and a good cause–The Seattle Humane Society.

We got to The Hard Rock a little early and grabbed a bite and a drink.  We shared a pretty delicious Hawaiian Chicken with steamed broccoli and cheesy potatoes.

We rushed upstairs to the party a little after 6:00.  The first band had already started, but we found a spot at a railing behind the dance floor about 20 feet from the stage.

The Chris Eger Band dove right into “Pride and Joy” and we were hooked.  Aww yeah, this was going to be a great night!  Chris skillfully rocked a purple Fender Strat and had a quality band, including an amazing B3 organist.  Other songs they covered included “Empty Arms”, “Leave My Little Girl Alone” (Chris dedicated that song to Mackenzie, the show’s organizer from www.randomville.com), “Cold Shot”, “SRV”, which was a tribute song, and “Crossfire”.

Chris mentioned at one point that he first started playing guitar at age 13, ten years ago.  Wait, he’s only 23, and he is out there shredding the hell out of that Strat!  We will definitely follow him to future Seattle gigs.

Next up was Ayron Jones and The Way.  I thought Chris Eger was doing Stevie justice, but then Ayron took the stage and absolutely blew us all away.  He also sported a Strat, but it had a different sound, closer to Stevie’s bluesy, gritty growl.   At this point, I put away my pen and notebook and just listened, awestruck.  I did remember the first song he blasted out of the water was “Texas Flood”.   From that point on, we stood with our jaws hanging open.  Ayron had stage presence, too.  He grimaced or smiled through his solos, depending on the mood of the song.  He jumped off the stage a couple of times and just hung with the growing crowd on the dance floor while he jammed out riffs and channeled Stevie as well as a Jimi Hendrix cover.   The killer move was when he played a behind-the-head guitar solo, with total accuracy!  I looked up Ayron’s MySpace page.  He is 23 years old.  Watch this kid become a monster in the blues world.

Satellite 4

After huge applause for Ayron and his tight band and a short intermission, Satellite 4 took their place on the stage.  The bassist was aptly played by  Johnny Horn of KEXP, and the B3 showed up with some ripping solos.  The lead guitarist played a Telecaster in a more jangly old-fashioned style.  He let the guitar do the talking while he ran through a nice set, including “Say What”, “Scuttlebuttin'” (Memphis-style, he said), “Rude Mood” and “DFW”.

Dudley Taft of Spike and the Impalers played next, but unfortunately we had to head home.  The boy was waiting patiently for his wayward parents.  I think we’re pushing the empty nest thing before the bird is ready to fly.

We had a fantastic night, but wished we’d stayed to hear the rest of the bands.  I own Stevie’s Live at Carnegie Hall CD.  At the end of his show, Stevie exclaimed to the cheering audience, “Thank you very much for making this my best birthday ever…for-ever.”  He would have been thankful for this amazing tribute on what would have been his 56th birthday.

Check out Randomville’s site for more information about the event and the bands:

http://randomville.com/wordpress/?p=9035