The presence of Eric Sardinas alone ensured that the 6th Annual Hawaiian Islands Rhythm and Blues Mele at the Hawaiian Hut on May 16th was one of the best yet! He is easily one of the most dynamic new blues performers on the scene with his exciting high powered Blues attack and a healthy respect for tradition. I overheard local Steel Guitar Master Bobby Ingano describe Sardinas as having "a sound like Johnny Winter with moves that were pure Hendrix". I also heard someone else say that this looked like "glam-blues" but once Sardinas got your attention, he and his band definitely delivered the goods! Their regular drummer couldn't make the gig but you'd have never known it because his replacement fit the group like a glove. Kudos to Mike for his excellent "pinch drumming" ;-)

Kim Simmonds has been trotting out various lineups of his group Savoy Brown for about 35 years now and that's a lot of blues experience under his belt. He can still put on a heck of a good show but this one was cut a little short by the multiple encores the crowd demanded from Eric Sardinas earlier in the evening. The new Savoy Brown performed a few of the old classics like "Hellbound Train" and "Made Up My Mind" and of course, "Tell Mama" along with some newer material. Simmonds dedicated the shows finale "Slow Ride", to his former Savoy Brown mate and Foghat co-founder; the late Lonesome Dave Peverett.
Mahalo Nui Loa to Les Hershorn and Blue Rooster for bringing some of the new faces as well as some blues legends to our Islands.