I had never been to Studio Joes, much less heard about it before last Wednesday night. I used to work at Barnes and Noble and do remember seeing it several times. During big store events all of the employees were required to park in the lot right next to the place off of Autumn and Chenal. I always thought that it was a hair salon. When Mike Dollins messaged me on Myspace a month ago he asked if our web page (at the time Street Scene Little Rock) had anything to do with San Diego's annual Street Scene Music Festival. Well yea, in fact it did. I used to live out in San Diego and got the name from it. But how would someone in Little Rock know about that?? It turns out Mike grew up out in San Diego and moved out to Arkansas after college. Sound familiar? In San Diego I worked at a popular music store for most of high school and all of college. Turns out Mike knows many of the same people and places I do. He started a local Blues Newsletter in the area and jammed with many of the bigger blues musicians of the area. Long story short our conversation was one of those "Wow what a small world" scenarios. He told me about a musician named Len Rainey that would be playing through town on June 18th.
Apparently Len Rainey has toured with all kinds of bands and lived in Chicago for a while. Mike has his own band that tours quite frequently around the Central Arkansas area. Mike shared the stage with another predominant local blues musician, Joe Pitts of the Joe Pitts Band fame. I had meant to see the Joe Pitts Band play at Cornerstone in NLR a month or two ago but didn't get a chance. I could write up a whole blog on just what these 3 people have contributed to the blues scene but I will let you do your own research.
G and I headed over to the show just after it got started. Len played bass and sang some of his own own stuff as well as some more popular blues standards. I really didn't know anything about Len other than he currently lives in San Diego, and plays bass. When he took the stage he completely blew me away. He had a an awesome voice and completely ripped it up on the bass. Between Mike Dollins and Joe Pitts trading licks there was never a dull moment. Most of the members of the Mike Dollins band took the stage in the second half and added a keyboard and harp player. Another phenomenal blues musician, Essie the Blues Lady, came up for one song with Mike, Len and Joe. Another guy from Austin came up and played some lead with Len and Joe backing him up. The surprise of the night came when Ginny Becton took the stage in the second half. I knew Ginny was in the Mike Dollins band but had never heard her sing. G and I were completely floored! Her singing was worth the trip out to the show alone. I saw Aretha Franklin in Memphis a couple months ago and Ginny's singing kept bringing me back. Unfortunately I forget the drummers name but he really held his own. He jammed several drum solos and kept a solid beat throughout the night. All in all the event was a great opportunity for me and G to get exposed to the local blues scene here in Arkansas. And folks, the scene here is alive and well.
It was odd that almost everyone in the audience either played at some point during the night or was married or friends with someone on stage. G and I kind of felt out of place at first but everyone was extremely welcoming. Studio Joe's is a real interesting place and we will definitely be back. Apparently they are open for open mics Tuesday and Thursday. They are also open Fridays and at other times when there is an event going on. Part recording studio, coffee shop and lounge, and right next to a doctor's office, it is obviously an interesting place. I really was blown away with the amount of talent in the room that night. I was even more blown away that G and I were hearing all this right off of Chenal. We drove all the way to Helena's blues festival last year and didn't see anything as good. I really wish more people could have made it. Apparently Studio Joe's has a maximum capacity of 65 people and I would say they were pretty close that night. I highly recommend going to the 24th Arkansas River Blues Society event at Juanitas this Tuesday night. Most of the same people will be there I am sure. Thanks to Mike Dollins for inviting us out, you rock.
http://www.myspace.com/lenraineyandthemidnightplayers
http://www.myspace.com/mikedollinsband
http://www.myspace.com/essietheblueslady
http://www.myspace.com/joepittsband
http://www.myspace.com/ginnybecton
-T
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