Seattle & Tacoma, Kurt Kolstad Week

I've been up in Seattle and Tacoma this week, which is why I've not been doing my customary mid-week posts. The benefit gig for my friend Kurt last night was a great success. I didn't tell him I was comin' up. We've stayed in touch over the years, but I had not seen him since Cheryl and I left Seattle in late spring of 1975, when we moved to Birmingham, Alabama. Joey T (below) and I showed up at Kurt's house down in Spanaway yesterday and blew his mind.

Off to the gig in Joe's cool ride...

Lots to come, stay tuned.
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Tim Scott also came up (He brought along some of his "Zen Blues Quartet" CDs. Between his stash and my Santa Fe CD stash, together we sold about $1,000 worth for the benefit). He and Kurt are majorly tight (they hooked up together after I left Seattle), so it was beyond cool to see them throwing down on stage. That alone (beyond ringing Kurt's doorbell) was worth the price of the airfare and rental car for me. Kurt got up and played on two tunes. He's still struggling with the after-effects of his latest chemo regimen (he says he continues to have enervating "chemo brain"), but the cat has still got his chops and feel, for sure. Below, one of Kurt's tunes, "Gimme Back My Funk," in which he played and sang everything down in his home studio:

See what I mean? Here's another, "Sudden Samba." Don't know who the other cats are on this one, but, it's smokin'.

Yeah, man....

Lotta fine players showed up for the benefit. Great night of music. My dear friend of 40 years Danny Hoefer showed up (long-time west coast regional rep for Gibson), and played most of the night. Danny was part of our Maple Valley music tribe back in the late 1960's. Cat then just up and left us all in the dust. Dude plays like George Benson -- not kidding -- before Benson became a pop star. BobbyG to JoeyT: "I tol' ya, bro'!"

Above, BobbyG and Danny, shot by Tim Haines.

OK, much more to come, got a lot of shots, mostly of fine peeps I don't even know, but all of whom are in-the-pocket friends of Kurt. I can safely say that Santa Fe fans would have dug this gig.
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Sunday morning, back at it. [Note to the Pac NW folks: click on any image and you'll get the full size original. Save 'em to disk and use 'em as you wish.]

More shots from the gig, in no particular order. The house had a front rack of a half-dozen small parcans, but the illumination was not all that bright, so I shot mostly at 1600 ISO, which decrements the resolution and increases the "grain." Did the best I could.

There was no way I was gonna be able to keep up with everyones' names. Like I said, I don't know most of these peeps, so this will just be a photo essay. One cat was there shooting video, so maybe we'll eventually be able to gets some A/V clips.

We had about five horn cats show up. No room on the small stage for them, so they mostly stood off to the side in the dark and jammed up some section riffs together.

Above, my dear friends Lynn and Steve Zoeger came all the way down from Woodinville to hang. In the late '60's, Steve was the drummer in my little Seattle hippie trio, along with Cuz Jojo on bass. Cat could really play. You could not have better friends. Below, my old friend, drummer Tim Haines, hammin' with Kurt. Tim played both timbales and tubs during the show.

UPDATE: VIDEO CLIP TIM HAINES SENT ME

This is Denney Goodhew taking an alto ride during the show.


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I had a great time in Seattle, and have to extend effusive thanks to my hosts Joey T and his gracious wife Kathy. Joe also plays serious guitar. Here's what he said in an email to Kurt after the show. LOL!

...how 'come you been hiding Danny Hoefer from me for like 40 years? Eff me man, I came home and burned all my geetars. Mamma mia. Wanna see you and him on the same stand again real soon. With the Lopez brothers too - BG, grab me a seat for that right now.

Done. How cool would that be?

Joe had this Bad Boy (below) custom-made by world-class luthier Steve Andersen. Surf around on Steve's website and check out his stuff. OMG! Joey's axe, in addition to being drop-dead beautiful, has simply perfect fretboard feel and intonation. It just seems to play itself.

Amazing craftsmanship.

Below, the killer view of Puget Sound from JoeyT's West Seattle home. You can see the Olympic Mountains on a clear day.

'Eh? Thanks again for havin' me. I had the best time! Miss that town.