Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 5 June 1997 — Page 13

The Muncie Times, June 5,1997, Page 13

Pictured right is Eddie Shaw of Eddie Shaw and The Wolf Gang. His instruments

of choice may be a little different, but the music remains first class. Eddie Shaw is a singer, songwriter, arranger and band leader who makes the blues come to life with the saxophone and harmonica. Shaw and The Wolf Gang will be part of the Indian blues Festival at Minnetrista Cultural Center June 21. Shaw and his band have played nearly every state in the U.S. and as well as more than a dozen countries. In addition to the many shall, intimate blues clubs around their home base of Chicago, they have played Carnegie Hall and were part of the inauguration of president John F. Kennedy. Shaw, bom in Memphis, Tenn., was playing professionally by the time he was 14. He followed blues great Muddy Waters to Chicago and stayed with him a year before backing the legendary Howlin’ Wolf for more than a decade. Shaw and The Wolf Gang have been standouts on their own for 20 years. Today, the band includes his son, Vaan, on guitar. Speaking of his tenor sax sound, Shaw says, “I think playing this hom like I do is something like the old Baptist preacher. When a Baptist preacher preaches in church, everybody listens. He shouts out what he wants you to hear, and he brings it to you in such a way that you’re gonna listen. So, that’s the same way I try to do it with the saxophone. I try to have a good attack, don’t try to play a lot of notes, try to stay with the basics and tell a good story.” Adding to the Indiana Blues Festival will be Bloomington native Gordon Bonham. Bonham is a veteran performer throughout the state. He also has played extensively in Texas, toured with national stars such as Koko Taylor and often played alongside the late James “Yank” Rachell of Indianapolis. A former member of the Cooler Kings, which released a critically acclaimed CD (Looks Like Trouble) on the Slippery Noodle Sound label in 1994, Bonham played guitar and shared vocals in that group with Stuart Norton. He has continued to enjoy success wherever he performs. Any discussion of blues music in Indiana would not be complete without mention of John Brim. Bom in Gary and still a resident of the steel city. Brim has enjoyed a long and distinguished career. Brim has earned many honors and accolades, but is probably best known for writing the song Ice Cream Man, turned into a rock hit by the band Van Halen.

Pictured left are The Walking Catfish formed in the early 1990s when several former full-time musicians did some studio work for Muncie native Cynda Williams. They had such a good time they decided tp from a band and now play nearly every weekend, with a June 21 stop at the inaugural Indian Blues Festival at Minnetrista Cultural Center. The group travels throughout east central Indiana with a number of shows in Anderson and New Castle. They will play “quite a bit” at Doc’s when the downtown Muncie establishment reopens this summer, according to band organizer John “Doc” Peterson. Keyboardist Peterson was on the road in the late 1960s doing some work for Mercury and Atlantic records. He recorded at Chess Studios in Chicago, home of many blues legends. Other band members include drummer Dennis Springer, bass player Dion Hill, Greg Tanner on guitar, Dave Helm on saxophone and lead vocalist Larry Lumsey. All have played with various groups through the years. Peterson said because the band rarely has time to practice there’s a kind of “raw excitement” on stage. “A piece never comes out the same. There’s a lot of live interaction that happens on stage.”