From the Sarasota Suburbanite to The Delta Swamp Rats

Well, technically, I live in Bradenton, but I was thinking at one point of changing my "off the road" blog, "Millie's Girls" to Sarasota Suburbanite. I just liked the sound of it. We spend a LOT of time in Sarasota, and still do, even though we're off the road and living in Bradenton now....

Went to Ocean Blues a couple of nights ago...It was wonderful as always...They have a new chef, and the food is even more terrific than ever for bar food. We had "Meatball Lollipops" which isn't the greatest sounding name, but it was delicious! Delicious meatballs on buffalo mozzarella cheese with fresh basil on crostinis and shaved parmesan on top. Sorry for the blurry photo..need the new iPhone 5!

Steve Arvey, our favorite blues/jazz/ and miscellaneous anything and everything guitar player was there with Tony Smith, a fantastic harmonica player. The name of their group was the Delta Swamp Rats. Steve was playing a cigar box guitar. Cigar box guitars go back to the late 1880's. They were really made from cigar boxes and had fewer number of strings. Sort of the poor man's guitar back in the day. There's been a resurgence of cigar box guitars and a devoted following of musicians. Steve had a couple with him tonight.

Did you know you can call a harmonica player a harpist if you so choose? I did not know that. Tony was fantastic...He had FIFTEEN harmonicas on stage with him and they were all keyed to a certain note, so all he had to do was pick up the right one to play with Steve.

Together they made fantastic music, lots of Mississippi River/Delta blues or as Steve says...

a mixture of low down dirty blues of the 20's and 30's with modern Mississippi Delta Funk sounds. Cigar Box Screaming Slide Guitar with Big Tone Fat Sounding Harmonica mixed with a Heavy Drum Sound producing a unique sound that entrances people. 

Steve has a wonderful, chameleon like voice. His voice changes for the music that he plays. He's got some high ranges, man! He was the gravelly voiced blues singer this particular night....AWESOME! This duo is so great, they won a contest to represent the Suncoast Blues Society and are going to Memphis for the 2014 International Blues Challenge. We're excited for them!

We had a wonderful time chatting with musicians this evening, and getting to hear Steve and Tony at Ocean Blues was just icing on the cake.......

Music to Our Ears

We never get tired of hearing great music at Ocean Blues....It's that time of the week again...Monday nights Jazz Jam at Ocean Blues. They have different music every night of the week but Monday just happens to be one of our favorites so far. We enjoy the people watching, the musicians greeting each other and jumping in to play, the camaraderie of the players and the customers, the atmosphere of Ocean Blues...It's cozy, intimate and friendly....

Steve Arvey and Company...

There are regulars--Steve on the guitar, Bryan Post, the drummer, another Steve--the trumpet player and Michael Dempsey, the bass player. Sparky is just going to have to be better about acknowledging the rest of these great musicians and get their names down pat. Steve, the trumpet player, has some cool shirts that he wears.

He came over to talk to us for awhile. He knew that Eldy made brass instruments for famous players and for schools. Steve had a gadget he designed to work with students in the schools, to teach them how to improvise and play their own music. It was very cool, but we didn't have a CLUE as to what he was talking about as he launched into the very long and technical musical side of how this little wheel worked. Sparky is sure a music teacher would have appreciated it a whole lot more. But we were impressed, none the less.

Steve Arvey was really working his hot sauces last night. He has several now that he's selling. Must be a blues musician thing going on, selling hot sauces. Remember the "Sauce Boss" who came to Myakka River State park this past winter? We didn't buy any of Steve's sauces this evening...Both of our stomachs and tongues just aren't able to appreciate that really hot stuff!

But we sure do appreciate the music! Great jamming last night....There was a new keyboard player from Brazil, Regis Moriero who lent a Latin bossa nova feel to the music for awhile. Steve did a great job on guitar as always...He has the most infectious grin when he's enjoying his buddies playing along with him. He played an original song he wrote which was just wonderful!

We were happy to be at Ocean Blues..they are always so welcoming to their patrons....Food is great, music is wonderful, it was a great night!

The Blue Rooster, NOT So Boring!

Sarasota, FL        High:   85      Low:   68

The last couple of days have been kinda slow, but not this evening! We are starting to follow our friend Steve Arvey, the talented blues guitarist around town at various venues...He and his significant other, Rebecca Bird, are an awesome vocal duo as well, and they perform together and/or separately all over the place! Tonight they were at the Blue Rooster...The Blue Rooster is another awesome venue/bar/club to hear great musical talent of all kinds in Sarasota. It's as cool outside as it is inside. Here Eldy is checking out a sculpture of horns just outside the big doors...He's looking to see if any of the horns were made by his instrument company, Blessings Music. Unfortunately, he didn't see one in the bunch.

Sparky liked the Coke tailed rooster out front of the club, too.

And Steve's red shoes that were cool like wingtips and red shirt....Here he's taking a phone call before coming in and playing.

It's AMAZING to us the number of places you can go to hear wonderful jazz, the symphony, blues and rock and roll bands here in Sarasota...Many older musicians have retired here, and they continue to play which means Sarasota is loaded with musical talent and there's something going on every single night of the week! It's really hard to decide where you want to go hear some great music! Tonight, George Worthmore, a terrific guitar picker, ragtime and blues player was doing a recording session at the Blue Rooster, and Steve and Rebecca were there, too to perform with him.....There were a couple of gals who sang with George that were just awesome and had some serious vocal chops....We didn't catch their names, sorry to say....

We had a wonderful time listening to George and friends.....George's guitar picking reminded Sparky of Chet Atkins.....He was GOOD!

It was fun to see how live recording sessions go. When we first got there, they had the crowd practice clapping and cheering, while testing out the mikes. The inside of the club is very cool.....

The food is wonderful, too! Eldy had some CHICKEN biscuit sliders with red pepper jam and sorghum butter....

Sparky had a wedge salad with marinated shallots....Delish!

And of course, Sparky had to try some dessert as the food was wonderful. Here's a strawberry something with strawberry mousse, fresh strawberries, sauce, and pound cake....It had some kind of little strawberry crunchies on it that were almost like Fruit Loops!

The singers that performed with George were fantastic!

George's guitar pickin' was fantastic, too! Did we say we heard some fantastic music tonight! Yep, we sure did! It was great to see Steve play with George.....

We will DEFINITELY be back to the Blue Rooster another time!

Ordinary Days are Piling Up

Sarasota, FL      High:   86     Low:   53

We have eight days left here in Sarasota......We've done just about most things we wanted to do...Hard to believe we have been here almost a full five months! WOW! Where did the time go? We missed seeing a polo match, the season ended in early April. We'll catch that next time...

Sparky spent the morning playing pickleball. It's getting harder to find people down at the courts! We're getting desperate for warm bodies to play, so this morning, Sparky offered to chase balls for a bit for a fellow practicing his killer serves until somebody else showed up. Eventually, we had three sets of couples playing doubles going, so that was great. Eldy missed the Siesta Key college beach volleyball tournament this past weekend. Well, phooey! He thought Sparky deliberately didn't mention it, :-) but nope! Sparky just didn't see info about it until after the fact.

Laundry today.....Sparky signed up for a beading class later this week..She's gonna give that leather wrap bracelet another chance...She wants to make one similar to this:

We went to Jazz Jam at Ocean Blues in downtown Sarasota, one last time this week....Every Monday night at the Ocean Blues Club on Hillview Street from 8:00-11:00, a great group of musicians get together and jam! Usually new singers and drummers show up, and other musicians, so the mix is never quite the same. It's fun, the music is great, and they have good food besides. Can't beat that combination! Both the entertainers and the owner, Scott, are so friendly and welcoming to everyone who visits the club. Scott even reads our blog!

Sparky got the pizza...It's m-m-m-m-m-good! Eldy had pretzels...fresh and delicious! Our favorite guys were there.....Shane Chalke, the trumpet player....He was having valve trouble with his trumpet tonight...So he came and plopped it right down on our table, chatted with us while he lubricated the valves and he was good to go again...We talked about North Carolina, where he's from, Eldy's job making trumpets and trombones, Sarasota culture (there's a TON of it here), and lots of other things....

He is ONE fine trumpet player!

Ocean Blues is such a cool bar and grill! We love the atmosphere....It's cozy...The low lighting is conducive to listening to great music--jazz or blues...

They have entertainment just about every night of the week....

Oh, wait a minute! That's the pretty impressive beer list! Here's the entertainment list...Did Sparky say they have music every night of the week? Yeah, baby!

Our favorite guitarist is usually there on Monday nights--Steve Arvey....He had a PURPLE guitar tonight. He broke a string, so here he comes to our table, plops down the guitar and fixes it right in front of us. "How many guitars do you have, Steve?"  "Oh, probably about 30. I could buy a house if I sold all my guitars!"

Nice guitar! He said he bought this purple guitar back in the day when he played with a band with a bunch of girls, and everything had to be purple. Sparky can't remember the name of the band, but it was a funny one!

Steve did a great job playing tonight, and always gets excited when a new talent shows up at the Jam Sessions who is really really good. A woman by the name of "Nancy", showed up and did she have some vocal chops! Steve's expression when she started belting out a song, was one of pure joy, that's how good she was!

Some more great players were there and are usually there every Monday...Steve Rolland on trumpet, Ed Kinder on keyboards and sax, Brian Post on drums, and man, Bryan did a fantastic job on a song that we heard as we were heading out the door. He sounded a LOT like Louis Armstrong! But it was getting late, and we needed to get home. We'll be back next Monday night, Sparky is sure!

Jazz Jammin' at Ocean Blue

Sarasota, FL       High:        Low:

Got up this morning and there's a TORNADO watch for Sarasota. You're kidding me, right?  Nope! That same bad boy storm that hit Texas with snow is coming our way. But the worst of it is to the north of Sarasota, so we'll probably just get a ton of rain. Which is good, because they sure need it here....In the three months we've been here, it has hardly rained at all. Eldy is supposed to go see a baseball game today with Vic, of Travelin' in the Big EZ, but hopefully, the storms will pass through before the ball game starts.

Photos today are from Sparky's iphone. She REALLY needs to start carrying the SLR everywhere. No clue how to adjust the reddish tinges on the color photos from her little point and shoot. Tried the white balance settings and none available for that particular club lighting with the halogen bulbs. Tried filters, tried compensating for the color cast, but nothing worked. So we have a little mix of black and white and color photos today.....

Last night was Jazz Jam night at Ocean Blues, and once again, the place rocked with some of the best jazz players in Sarasota. Steve Arvey, Shane Chalke, and special guest Koko Ray were there along with some other top notch folks but we didn't catch their names. Picture a cozy supper club, an attentive friendly, funny bartender, the lights dialed down low, lots of wood, long bar tables to be able to sit and watch the musicians up front and a bottle of Miles Davis Bitches' Brew. The label is an actual Miles Davis album considered to be one of the most revolutionary jazz albums of its time. It wasn't ours, Shane had it brought out so we had fun trying to take artistic photos of it. :-) Where's that big ole honkin' SLR when you need it!?

Sparky and Eldy are starting to get to know some of the regular musicians, and really enjoying talking to them about their music and their careers. Eldy talked to the drummer, Brian, for quite a while. Brian, the drummer, used to play with Tom Rush, a well known folk singer. He talked to Shane Chalke, the trumpeter, about his buffing career at Blessings in Elkhart. Shane had a BEAUTIFUL silver trumpet with beautiful engravings on it, that was specially made for him in Oregon. Shane has been playing for 45 years. Sparky guessed he started about the age of 10. Yes, he did...He was fantastic!

Koko Ray, rocked the house with his saxophone and flute playing skills. A couple of times during the night, he played TWO saxophones at the same time! WOW! Koko was a big dude with a big sound, and did he make that sax sing! He reminded Sparky of the beatnik generation.....Remember them?

Boy, the trombone player was rockin' with his playing--that big slide moving up and down and all around, he really got into it, body and all!

We love Jazz Jam Mondays at Ocean Blues....Sarasota is rated very highly for its jazz venues, considering its size population. No shortage of talent here!  We'll be back to Ocean Blues again, that's for sure! On Saturday nights, they have Oceans 11, a band of 11 jazz musicians. We'll be checking them out...stay tuned...heh, heheh.....

Jazz Jam at Ocean Blues

Sarasota, FL       High: 79      Low:   58

One of our very favorite places to go in Sarasota is Ocean Blues, a blues supper club with great atmosphere and really great food, and REALLY REALLY great entertainment in the form of talented local talented blues, rock, and jazz musicians. On Monday nights, it's Jazz Jam Session...So guess where we were last night? :-)  One of our favorite guitar players, Steve Arvey, was there.

Sparky's daughter, Kelly, introduced us to Steve Arvey a couple of years ago when she came to visit us, and we try to get to see him when we are in the Sarasota area. He plays all over, he's known internationally, and he often plays  the southwest Florida area when he's in town. He's a renowned electric guitarist.

Last night was a terrific night, with LOTS of guest artists....Sparky is sorry that she doesn't know the names of all the guests that were there, but it was an amazing display of many talents--one, a very talented violinist by the name of Lisa....

Some terrific drummers, a young man by the name of James..Some AWESOME trumpeteers--Shane was a standout trumpet player...

We caught a couple of names here and there, and of course, Steve Arvey put on a great show as always....

Steve kind of sponsors the evening and pulls in some wonderful performers...It's a big draw for the club. Different nights have different types of music, so if jazz is not your thing, you can come out another night and hear folk, acoustic, Latin or other types of music....check out the Ocean Blues calendar:
                                          Calendar of events at Ocean Blues

Another trumpet player started setting up his instruments at the table right next to us. Eldy struck up a conversation with him, as Eldy used to MAKE trumpets, flugelhorns, coronets, trombones and marching brass instruments.

We didn't catch his name, but he played his flugelhorn and trumpet and was terrific. The place really started "crankin' up", as the evening went on...

Eldy buffed the trumpets for Clint Eastwood's movie, "The Bird", a movie about Charlie Parker. Eldy has buffed instruments and spoken many with some of the top 100 jazz players over the years to get custom specifications for their instruments that they purchased from Blessings Music Company in Elkhart, IN where he worked 43 years--Red Rodney, Ira Sullivan, Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass, for starters. AND--Eldy personally buffed MOST of the herald horns for the L.A. Olympics, working 90 some hours a week to get the horns done for the Olympics. He was one hard working dude in those days!

The music was just wonderful---toe tappin', booty shakin', and all around enjoyable! Check out Ocean Blues on Hillview Street when you are in Sarasota...it's great!

A Night To Remember

Sarasota, FL      High:  74    Low:   67

Sparky's daughter, Kelly, has a great musician friend by the name of Steve Arvey. Steve is an accomplished musician, and when we were here in Sarasota last year, he played at Ocean Blues, a wonderful bar and grill in downtown Sarasota. They have terrific entertainment there. He rocked the bar--he's a great blues, rock, and everything else guitarist and singer.  Steve is one of those people who are a straight shooter. He's genuine, warm and friendly, and a big teddy bear of a guy. He is very appreciative and supportive of our servicemen and women. Kelly has known him for several years.

So when Kelly found out that Steve was back performing in the Sarasota area, she wanted to bring her family to hear him. She didn't have to twist Sparky and Eldo's arm, we knew he puts on a terrific show. He so gets into his music. Sparky loves his expressions on his face as he plays his guitar as smooth as smooth can be. He makes his guitar talk and sing!

What was cool about last night was, you can bring children to Island Time, a restaurant on Anna Maria Island in Bradenton, FL. It has panoramic views of the gulf with inside and terrace seating. So Kristi, Eldy's daughter, and Brian and Lori and their two kids Cate and Trevor were able to come with us to hear the music. Now you need to know that Cate is a Beatles fan, a HUGE Beatles fan. She asked for everything Beatles for Christmas. (She got a Beatles beach towel for starters.) Kelly requested a Beatles tune for Cate as soon as we got there. Steve promptly complied with "Fool On the Hill." Cate beamed.

Cate, Eldy, Brian and Trevor

The night continued...Steve and his band were playing from 7:00-10:00 PM. They rocked the house with some great tunes and then a second Beatles tune...."I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends". Cate grinned even bigger. We were rockin' at the table...Trevor was playing a mighty air guitar...Cate was singing all the words....Kelly, Kristi, Lori and Brian, Trevor and Cate, Sparky and Eldo--we were practically dancing at the table. Yet, another Beatles tune..."Come Together".  Cate was texting her friends that she was having an "AWESOME" night! Finally, the next to the last song, Steve launched into "Dear Prudence" with an incredible guitar performance. What was even more remarkable was that the band--a bass player, the drummer and Steve, had never performed this song before together. It was amazing and a testament to fantastic musicians who can go with the flow and sound like they had practiced the set thoroughly. This was one of the longer Beatles songs, and Steve and company ended our evening with a fantastic tribute to the Beatles that all started with Cate's wish to hear a Beatles song, which sent the band in a completely new direction for the night. Afterwards, Steve came up to the table, talked to the family for awhile, telling us how appreciative he was with the request, giving him and his band a chance to perform new material and liven up HIS night! Then, to top off the night, Cate had her photo taken with him.

Thank you, Steve Arvey, for a memorable night!

Happy New Year, everyone!

On New Year's Day
and the whole year through,

I hope the kindness
you've given to others
returns many times to you.

May hope, love, and warmth
be in your heart's possessing,
and may the New Year
bring you and yours
many blessings.