Live Band on the Radio

So it was snowing and wicked cold last Thursday, but the Mystery Band had a commitment. We schlepped out to Glen Ellyn IL to play live on "Hambone's Blues Party," a two-hour long show on radio station WDCB (90.9 FM), the public radio station at the College of DuPage. Hambone is an extremely fine person, working hard to present blues, R&B and soul music to the public - he is an advocate of the blues. Not surprisingly, he is an advocate in his "day job," too - he is an attorney in a law firm in downtown Chicago. Here is a shot of Hambone in "attorney mode."

I have never claimed to be a professional musician and this was my first time playing music live on a radio show. We squeezed two guitarists (Tony Palmer and OSee Anderson), a bass player (EG McDaniel) and a drummer (James Carter) into the tiny studio. Hambone had me play harp direct into the broadcast mike - no amplification - so I was hanging out there with no Fender to hide behind.

Yeah, I was nervous.

The show turned out OK, though. I thought it sucked until Hambone played the tape for me. Once again, I appreciated the great talent of my Mystery Bandsmen - they covered for me and carried me through the show. I don't have many recordings of the band (this was the first semi-professional recording we have done) so it is interesting to hear how it sounds - the good parts and the rough spots. It was both humbling and inspiring, if that makes any sense.

I highly recommend Hambone's show - every Thursday evening, from 10 PM until Midnite on WDCB, 90.9 FM. He has many of Chicago's excellent blues artists playing live in the studio - folks like Tom Holland, Chainsaw DuPont, Joanna Connor, Mat Skollar and many, many others. Hambone is doing a very good thing for Chicago's blues community and he deserves our support and gratitude.