Catfish Bones - A Musical about the Blues: General Info
Member Since
1/19/2008
Band Members
Catfish Bones is a full-length musical about the Blues.
Details about auditions will be posted at a later date.
The Lead Actor is "Catfish Bones" who must be able to sing
the Blues (harmonica playing prefered but not required).
Preference will be given for Stage Acting Experience, and
preference will be given to minority actors, due to the
nature of the material. Play will either open in Minneapolis, or Chicago,
auditions and rehearsals will all be held in Minneapolis, MN
Influences
Little Walter, Sonny Terry, Sonny Boy Williamson (I &II), Jimmy Reed, Carey Bell, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, John Prine, Bob Dylan,
I've studied Blues Harp with Joe Filisiko in Chicago, and Clint Hoover in Minneapolis.
Sounds Like
Songs posted on this site will be used in the Musical, but
will be re-recorded when the lead actor "Catfish Bones"
is cast.
In 2002 I received a fellowship from the Illinois Arts Council for playwriting.
The full length Musical I had submitted, "The Acts of Cain", was a highly imaginative work which had taken me three and a half years to write.
At it's completion, I felt that as a writer, I was spent. Literally everything
I had was in my play. I made some minor attempts at writing,
but I knew that the next play I would write would be about my love of music, especially "The Blues".
So, from 2002 through 2008, I set out to immerse myself in the Blues. This included taking harmonica lessons with Joe Filisko in Chicago and Clint Hoover in Minneapolis, going out to local jams and learning to play, joining bands, including the Dee Miller Band, and Little Bobby and the Storm, and
working the bars and later the Festivals playing blues harp in front of crowds, sometimes as big as couple thousand people. In my spare time, I was writing and arranging my own songs and building up a collection of my own material for a solo act I was doing occasionally. For a shy, fat, middle-aged white guy, this was one Heck of an accomplishment, and all the while I was working to support this 2-pack per day Blues habit.
But like all addictions, it all comes crashing down. I was kicked out of Little Bobby and the Storm right after we played the Upper Mississippi Valley Blues fest in Davenport, IA (July 4, 2008 -opening for Koko Taylor), and when I got home I was kicked out of one of the other bands I was in, and the third band had broken up. I was out of work at the time, and I was going out jamming three to four nights a week, but I wasn't making any money. Mostly I was just playing for free drinks, and driving all over the place to get to these bars. Finally I said "Enough! This is crazy". I put away my harps, got a real job, saved up some money and that was the end of my story. I'm sorry, but like I said, I'm not a Bluesman, I'm a shy, fat, middle-aged white-guy. So I put away my harps and stopped playing the Blues.
Now like I said, I was a playwriter before all this happened, and I had stopped writing because I really didn't have anything to write about. But a funny thing had happened - I had poured my heart and soul into playing the Blues and then walked away from it - there was Love, there was Loss- now, I had something to write about. I didn't realize it at the time, but I had a story to tell, and one day the inspiration came, and three or four hours later I had the complete first draft of a full length musical written down. Now anyone who knows anything about writing knows that it is impossible to write a full-length musical in four hours. So why would I say I did it? Because I did.
Over the years I had built up a collection of original blues songs, I had recordings of me playing with several bands, I had bits and pieces of half-finished scripts and a short one-act play, I had my own personal experiences to draw on, and finally I had that moment I had been waiting for for six years - the moment of inspiration. The "ah ha!" moment when you realize how to put it all together.
Now the first draft is complete, there is still plenty of work to do. But now it's just details.
The plays title: Catfish Bones, A Love Song to the Blues
It is not my autobiography, but it could not have been written had I not lived the experience of playing the Blues. So, I can say finally that I made good on the fellowship I received from the Illiois Arts Council back in 2002, because this is one Hell of a good play.
.
Big things a-cookin’ at Signaturetone Recording – lots of new high quality 320kbps mp3s and pictures of our freshly remodeled studio have been posted. Browse through our large selection of genre samples for tastes of all the styles we’ve worked with – if you like what you hear, we can do it for you! Also, big congratulations to all of our newly signed bands, as well as everyone who put out some buzz making records in the last few months; you’re making us look good!
Who wants to be next? Get in touch now for July and August booking! Come find out how we can give you a record you can stand behind and get out to the masses.
This is the talent competition to select Minnesota blues / roots artists for the International Blues Challenge next Spring on Beale Street in Memphis. Supported by our members and sponsored by the Greater Twin Cities Blues Music Society
September 14th at Minnesota Music CafeThe RTM date has been set for Sunday, September 14th at the Minnesota Music Cafe beginning at 1:30 pm.
The participants this year will be:
Band Category: Davina & the Vagabonds The Dee Miller Band Terraplane
Solo/Duo Category: The Brothers Curtis Nigel "Egg" Eccleston Bill Finke & Pete Meyer
The Greater Twin Cities Blues Music Society. Join Us?
Casey the Puppy's Memorial album, featuring "wheelchair by the Door" and "Slow Joe" is on sale at CD Baby for only $7.00 here's the link: http://cdbaby. com/cd/catfishbones
