We are catching up with several Blue Shadows dates for the timeline section. We start with several great clippings from the Eddie Clark collection, snapshots of the late-’80s/early-’90s California blues scene. Included are an ad for the first blues hall of fame festival and a postcard for blues night at Spice, both organized by Randy Chortkoff; along with two ads from Southland Blues Magazine.
It’s quite interesting to see, during 1989 and 1990, when the Blue Shadows were promoted as featuring Dave Alvin versus as featuring Lester Butler.
Later “Janis” was succeeded by the Mustangs, a spirited all-female country-rock group, while Arco Iris was followed by the Blue Shadows, a rocking blues group that has gained a following as the house band at Hollywood’s King King club. All that was missing was the livestock competition.
And this Toes Tavern, Canoga Park, mention from Sept. 21, 1990:
On Oct. 19, The Toes Classic Brews & Blues will be held, with Blue Shadows, a group of local rockabilly musicians that includes The Blasters’ Dave Alvin. The Formula One, a Haitian group, is scheduled to perform Nov. 19. Shows begin at 9:30 p.m.; there is no cover charge.
And this nugget from a Dec. 9, 1990, interview with Scottish musician Roddy Frame:
But Frame made it clear he’s not maturing too fast. He sounded every bit the wide-eyed boy as he told of his star-gazing the night before when he went to the rough-hewn Hollywood club King King to see the L.A. blues band the Blue Shadows.
“Norm from ‘Cheers’ was there,” he said, his eyes gleaming. “But he was standing. It would have been great if he was sitting at the bar with a beer like on the show.”
No Fightin' 