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It was small crowd of loyal fans who were at the Snout on Friday night. It was the first night of a weekend set of Chippewa Valley's Blue's icon Howard Luedtke, and his band Blue Max. The band had a little bit different sound than usual. Howard is changing up his equipment a little bit to compensate for some health issues. The sound was good though. And it was a fun show.
I have said this before. It is hard to write about Howard. I think the worst night I saw him, he was fantastic. So, when you try to measure him, the scale ends up all messed up, when you even try. I do worry some about his long term ability to play. He has trouble with the skin on his finger tips cracking from playing. To this end he was using a different amplifier setup. Thinking maybe this change up with alter his playing style just a bit and let his tender finger heal. The sound was a bit brighter than I was used to, not quite the usual deeper, raunchier sound of his usual setup. Not disagreeable at all, it brought out different nuances of the music. I was happy with the sound, and frankly, Howard's got to do what he has to do to take care of himself.
Musical high points, in the second set, Bull Frog Blues was particularly good. We didn't even really intend to stay for the third set, but by doing so, we saw a great rendition of Hey Joe
Part of the reason for staying into the third set was the small crowd. When we arrived at the Snout, there were only eight people in the whole bar. During the second set that crowd had swelled to maybe 20. Small enough I felt rather conspicuous to be making my exit, when the band was working so hard. Shortly after midnight though, the back door opened and it was like instant audience. Suddenly the bar was full and busy. It lead me to inquire, where did all these people come from? Did church just let out?
Unfortunately, the instant crowd was a little on the already-drunk-and-belligerent side of the spectrum. There were a couple of staggerers in the group. A couple of angry drunks. Just before close the group was swinging like a pendulum. One minute they were all smiles, giving each other hugs. Then the next, they were getting in each others' face, and getting into a pushy-pushy.
Howard announced there was time for just one more song and launched into a blues piece, but by midway through nobody was paying attention to Howard any more as everyone was watching the escalating hub of trouble makers. Finally Chad, bartender extraordinar, had to make his third trip out from behind the bar to setting things down. In so doing he had to boot several of the worst offenders out. And, Howard played us one more last song.
Howard Luedtke is a must see for all blues fans in the valley. His web site with his schedule is at: http://howardluedtke.com/
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