PRIVATE
PARTY 
Well, it was a sensational night and it has taken me
this long to recover (that's when you know you had a good time). I drove
down Montauk Highway, remembering when it was a dirt road, and had never
been to Treme/Islip. I had to make this one because I first saw Chris Duarte
twenty years ago when I heard "Cleopatra". The song wrapped around
me like a serpent and I was hooked. And I was hooked on that guitar and
have been following him ever since. The last time was a couple of years
ago at The Riverhead Blues Festival. Oh yeah, we all remember "sounds
like Stevie Ray", "a little like Hendrix", but it was the
psychedelic picking he did that got me off. I sat there at The Stephen Talkhouse
maybe seven times and saw him erupt before me many a night. Then I followed
him into the Japanese progressive phase and took a bunch of friends and
tried to show them what a great guitarist he was, but when he came over
with Bluestone and their music wit just wasn't for me. Chris Duarte is a
player that truly excels in a trio. So now he is back in his comfortable
trio with Dustin Sargent on bass and John McKnight on drums. I had my reserved
seat at the bar. Treme/Islip is a very nice place with nice lighting and
an intimate setting for a band of Chris's ability. He was very tight in
the first set and did some of his Texas shuffle blues that got people moving
right away. It seemed everyone was familiar with "Big- Legged Woman"
and "My Way Down". The songs from the classic first two albums
are what everyone remembers the most. Chris invited Phil Varca from the
legendary blues band Phil Varca & The SlamJammers. His muscular approach
to the blues fit perfectly with Duarte's licks. One of the hardest things
as a guitarist is to sing and play and Chris's vocals have come a long way.
He knows where he can go with his voice and where he can't. But sitting
there on the night of B.B. King's death, I would not have wanted to be anywhere
else. So twenty years later, it is still Chris Duarte and yes he is among
the top blues players out there, and yes he is self taught, and yes he still
packs it all up in a van and ekes out a living. But it felt like a happening
last night in Islip and the monitors buzz attested to that. I left and saw
Chris guzzling water in the parking lot between the second and third set
and told him thanks for coming out. Still a very warm personality and is
eager to please. "Lucky 13" is his new album, representing thirteen
studio albums that he has presented. Here's hoping that Chris makes his
way east again and Treme/Islip has more shows with top-named acts. Sometimes
it's those musicians that travel under the radar that prove to be the most
inspiring and work the hardest. Well if you want to see a musician do just
that - and you like Stevie Ray and Hendrix and Trower and Santana and electric
jazz guitar and psychedelic guitar - get out and see a show. Thank God there
are musicians left like Chris Duarte who do not get defeated by the corporate
game that plays with talent. He has come into his own, and like he said
to me last night, "I'm determined, Gerard. I ain't done yet."
We should all have a passion for something that makes us say at a certain
point in our lives those exact words. Later.... 
The second night of the recent Colorado tour was at a
new club in Colorado Springs called The Sick Puppy. I'm not sure what the
whole story behind this place is, but apparently it used to be a PT's Strip
Club. When you walk in it still has that "strip club" vibe. I
was hit with a sudden urge to ask for a lap dance but couldn't find anybody
with those skills. My waitress was nice enough to sell me some very mediocore
Pretzel Cheese Curds for a $9 price tag. She pretty much demanded payment
right then. I guess my $3 tip on my $9 cheese curd tab was not satisfactory
enough. She literally grabbed my money, looked at how much was there, and
walked away in a huff. Didn't see her again all night. The club boasted
about having the third best sound system in the country. Not sure what country,
but I don't think it was here. The sound was very muddy and had a ton of
big boomy echo on it. The fact that there were only 32 people in this monsterious
barn might have had something to do with that. The state-of-the-art expensive
"light show" went everywhere except the stage. Continual bombardment
directly in the eyes with LED's all night was somewhat obnoxious. It gave
Craig (my cohort in crime) a headache and he split to the side of the stage
to get away from it. A "word up" to the house DJ at The Sick Puppy,
when you book a show that is concidered "blues rock", the crowd
DOES NOT want to listen to extremely loud techno mash-ups between each set.
If Chris plays there again, how about maybe some Buddy Guy, or even, God
forbid, some B.B. King? C'mon dude! Get a clue! And did I mention the place
is extremely hard to find even with two GPS systems??? OK, sorry, enough
rant (It's part of the review ya know)...
followed of course by "With A Little Help From My
Friends"! What a great way to start a show! I've been going to see
the CDG perform for a little over 23 years and that was a first! We were
treated to three great sets at this show! Three hours of sweet sonic power!
The evening was a great assortment of tunes. From the brand new "Wastin'
Away" and Ramones-inspired "You Suck!" (a new personal favorite),
to a rebirth and dusting off of "The Metaphor Song", even more
trippy and psychedelic than before! The second set started off with the
new instrumental 
"Jump The 'Trane".
Then right into a great rendition of the Hank Ballard classic "Open
Up Your Back Door". The second set also included the two aformentioned
new songs before winding up with "Screenwriter's Blues"! Nothin'
but great! The third set opened with the Texas state anthum, Freddie King's
"Hideaway", followed by "Yes, It's You" from the My
Soul Alone release. "It Comes To Me Naturally" gave the crowd
a little dance time before gettin' into the serious biz! It started out
a nice little jam, "Leave My Soul Alone", then worked its way
into "One More Cup Of Coffee" and into a blistering "Minefield
Of My Mind"! They brought everybody back down to earth with another
Beatles classic, "For No One", before heading into the triple
threat of "My Way Down", "Cleopatra" and "Like
Eric" that closed out the show with all three of them "playing
their asses off" as promised! Nothin' but the best!
This was easily the most comfortable show
I have ever seen! I literally watched the entire concert
reclined on my own personal sofa! The Sick Puppy Saloon is a new club way
east of Colorado Springs and quite a trick to find. There's no sign for
it and it is tucked away in a 1970's-style warehouse with a stone exterior.
You open the two large crescent moon doorhandles and enter into what seems
like a Hollywood movie set. Everything is spotless and brand new. Black
leather and chrome were everywhere and dozens of leather sofas were scattered
throughout the cavernous interior. Giant LED screens lined the walls and
there were several private rooms with glass walls and two huge bars. A sunken
dance floor lay dead center and a giant robotic lighting rig swirled overhead.
I expected John Travolta to come out at any minute! Then it dawned on me
that this must've been a high-end strip joint before being renovated into
a club. It looked like the kind of place Tony Montana or Pablo Escobar would
frequent. Up until showtime the place was deserted except for a few CDG
diehards. There was probably no more than 50 people all night long (and
on a Saturday night!). Shoved off into a far corner above the dance floor
our intrepid band set up to play. They all had bemused expressions on their
face at the club's decor and low turnout. Nonetheless, rested and ready,
they tore into a hearty version of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band - With A Little Help From My Friends"!!!! This was the last night
of the tour and they were ready to tear it up. Unfortunately for those in
attendance, a hyper disco-loving DJ was at the controls of the powerful
lighting 
machine above and went crazy
with it. It pulsated and swirled and spit out dancing patterns on the empty
floor non-stop. The band was elevated across the room so you had to look
up at just enough of an angle to be blasted by the super-bright rotating
lights of the lighting robot pod hanging from the ceiling. Every second
you had a bright blast of 
light
in your eyes like a flashbulb. To get a taste, click here
(I dare you, I double-dog dare you!) After the opening song I was getting
queasy and decided to make my move. With sofas galore to choose from, I
reclined horizontally along the wall like a couch potato, just a mere fifteen
feet away from the band, and watched the rest of the show as if it were
a 3D pay-per-view! The obnoxious, epilepsy-inducing lightbot was behind
me and I really dug the rest of the show as they plowed through their catalog.
It was balls-to-the-walls with superb playing by all. The band was firing
on all cylinders and Chris was on fire! They did a faster tempo version
of the new song "Wasted Away" which was much better than the night
before. It was really swingin' with its salsa polka-style beat. Another
highlight was a long, spacey "One More Cup Of Coffee" that turned
into "Minefield Of My Mind" - craaazy! The band played three sets
that night and in between each one the disco DJ cranked up the sound system
and played "house" and disco music as he played with his irritating
robotic lighting. He was really into it and himself as he pounded us over
the head with such "classics" as "Beat It" and "Ice,
Ice, Baby" and even a house version of "Whole Lotta' Love"!
Ugh! Probably the weirdest place I have ever seen a Chris Duarte show (yet
the most comfortable)! Comfortably Numb! 
After getting to our hotel in Colorado Springs
I checked my itinerary to see how far we are from the club for load in.
The Sick Puppy is a new venue for me in Colorado Springs and we’re
staying out by the airport, another new area I never get out to in this
town. My phone app has the club come up as ‘Appaloosa Gentleman’s
Club’. Hmmm, Okaaay….this should be interesting. Tucked away near
the airport on some back streets off the main road it is a large box building
adorned with cosmetic embellishments to the outside and with a grand gesture
towards the entrance with double wood doors and rather exotic oversized
handles to give the impression you’re entering into a lavish opulent
environment. An ostensible pretentious display is the thought that comes
to my mind. Upon going inside to see where the stage is located it’s
obviously a former strip club. Hard shiny surfaces all around with lots
of couch-like seats combined with the same upholstered chairs coupled with
tables for your drinks, all along the periphery of the large dance floor
that dominates the middle of this rectangular structure. The dance floor
is a ‘step-down’ affair after you’ve entered the club. There’s
even ‘private’ glassed rooms that give the appearance of ‘stadium
boxes’ lined against the wall on the entrance level, each one with
couch and chairs inside that have reclined angles to the furniture as opposed
to the 90’angle of the dance floor chairs and couches. I suppose to
allow the occupant to recline, so to speak, and give access to someone who
might be sitting on them or even hovering near them? Yes this place has
all the other things, fog machines to accentuate the huge rotating light
extravaganza machine located high above the dance floor and a large bar
dominating one long side of the rectangle and another bar placed off in
a slightly segregated area on the opposite side from where we’re to
play. Our stage is but just a corner of this club. There are couches behind
my amp where only the hardiest of guitar nerds would sit. It’s a clumsy
set up but not the first awkward club transition I’ve played in. Not
sure who took over this place when they decided to make it a dance/live
music venue but it still has some tweaking to do…a lot of tweaking.
There’s been a considerable investment put into it because the entire
place has the ‘Sick Puppy’ mascot in the carpeting. It’s
what looks like a Bulldog puppy with its tongue hanging out like it ate
something bad. Like I said, we’re in the corner and even though the
area is demarked by monitors and cables on the ground, the wait staff continues
to just come on through as we’re setting up. The traffic does stop
during our performance, thankfully, but it was just weird having drinks
and attractive girls coming through while I was laying down my pedals and
such. Plus, the DJ booth to my immediate right announced us at the beginning
of each set. We’ve done pretty well here in the Colorado Springs area
these past several years but location does make a difference and I’m
not feeling confident about our usual clientele showing up at this venue.
Given its large size, unless you’ve got at least 100 people here, the
crowd is going to be sucked up and made to appear rather small. I was right.
We did have our usual stalwarts and fans that showed up but not the usual
size crowd which we enjoyed up in the mountains at Crystola in Woodland
Park. After our soundcheck I was a bit worried because the drums had horrible
rings and low frequencies standing out and I knew all the hard surfaces
inside were going to wreak havoc with any sort of quality mix. Once more
into the breach dear friends, once more….Well to my pleasant surprise
I was having fun at this club. The crowd was small, the light show a bit
distracting at times, and the DJ with his exaggerated ‘It’s-a-full-ass-party-going-on-in-this-place!’
voice, my amp sounded pretty good and I could hear everything. When I can
hear everything and the tone is good I start to have fun. We blew through
our 3 sets and I was just taking more and more musical chances as the night
went on. A fitting end to this run, albeit an unusual venue, a fitting end
nonetheless. Till then...
The recent performance by the CDG during their first night
back in Colorado was nothing short of exceptional (as usual). The Buffalo
Rose is a great venue to see them in with a nice elevated stage, a big dance
floor and a great sound system (it sounds good out front, but the soundboard
wiring needs to be professionally repaired - it's a mess!) We also had the
added benefit of the sound wizard, hisownbadself, Michael Tomaskovic flying
in to mix the sound for the show! If Michael is there, you know it's going
to be good! The whole evening was a fun blues-rock extraviganza that started
out with The Scotty Bratcher Band coming all the way from Ohio and bringing
their own special can of whoopass to open the night! Their originals
were substantial and well put together and the version of "Funk #49"
that went into a smokin' extended Led Zeppelin medley had me smilin' ear
to ear! I may be gettin' old, but I still love to get that blown away feeling
when I see an incredible live performance! Thanks Scotty! Next up to the
plate was a local Denver favorite, Michael Hornbuckle! We got a smokin'
version of "This Train Is Bound For Glory" and a great "In
My Time Of Dying"! A personal favorite, the Robin Trower classic "Too
Rolling Stoned" and a nice selection of originals as well! Well, I
told you about the gravy, and you heard about the meat.........now let's
get down to the bone!
What can I say, but I love going to see the CDG perform
live! I've been at it for a little over 23 years now and can honestly say
I have NEVER seen a bad show! The amount of energy and dedication to their
craft these guys have never ceases to blow me away! I have, on many occasions,
seen them drive across the country, 700 miles+, pull into a club, unload,
set up their own equipment, and then put on a show that most other live
performers can't even touch on a great night - and be smiling and talking
to fans and signing autographs afterwards! This night at The Buffalo Rose
was no exception. We got a great selection of new material off the Lucky
13 release, plus an old personal favorite, "The Metaphor Song",
was put back into the rotation with some new fire in it, and a new track
that Chris referred to as "an homage to my Latino roots" titled
"Wastin' Away", definitely a new style for the guys! Then right
into "FIRE"! You know when Chris whips out the Hendrix, it's gonna
be good! They worked into a nice jam that included "One More Cup Of
Coffee", "Minefield Of My Mind", and finishing out with the
Beatles' "For No One"! They threw in a cool "My Way Down"
before THE GRAND FINALE!!!
best turd polishers around and made the sound perfect
for the show. It was the best I've heard Chris sound in ages, way to go
Mike! The band seemed a bit road-tired but played hard regardless. Chris
hit a few clams but more than made up for it in sheer intensity. It was
one continuous show with no encore (due to two opening bands) but ended
with a touching tribute by Chris to B.B. King (who now passed away on 5/13).
He invited Scotty Bratcher up onstage, the guitarist from one of the opening
bands who had ended their set with a perfect, giant medley of Led Zeppelin
songs that probably went on for twenty minutes. Together they did two B.B.
King songs including the hottest version of "The Thrill Is Gone"
you'll ever hear! Click here
to see a video of it! The band sounded great and the new songs from "Lucky
13" are coming into their own. We even heard a new song called "Wasted
Away", a tex-mex work in progress. A great little show and it was great
to see Dustin Sargent and John McKnight solidifying into a fantastic, solid
rhythm section behind Chris! With that kind of reliable powerhouse backing
up one of the world's greatest guitarists sparks will fly! 
...and here's some thoughts from Chris
Duarte himself regarding the show...
Check out this not-available-in-any-store
CDG CD
that you can only get here (or at a CDG show)...
A wicked compilation from the Chris Duarte Group archives that includes outtakes from "Only One" and "Tailspin Headwhack", home demos, live cuts, and radio appearances, plus three studio tracks of Chris Duarte recording with the band Mama (click here). Order your copy of this limited-edition, factory-pressed cd - and help support the cost of this website as well - by clicking here.
Don Odell's
"LEGENDS" TV Show!
This 75-minute DVD features the Chris Duarte Group appearing on Don Odell's "Legends" TV show in Palmer, Massachusetts, September 7, 2010. The show was professionally shot with three hi-def cameras and a soundboard feed in front of a studio audience of 30 lucky fans. Art Tipaldi, editor of "Blues Revue" magazine, introduced the band. They played an energetic 70-minute set featuring two songs from the new album "Infinite Energy" plus several CDG classics. Interspersed between cuts are interview clips with Chris. It's a cool performance and also features Chris Duarte's 1963 Fender Stratocaster for the first half of the show! Chris also added a red knucklehead to his stack for that extra "crunch" in his tone. The dvd is the complete TV broadcast of the "Legends" episode and features "101", "Letter To My Girlfriend", "Big-Legged Woman", "The Best That I Can Do", "Scrawl", "Satisfy", "Sundown Blues", "Purple Gloaming", "One More Cup Of Coffee", "My Way Down", and "Let's Have A Party". It is beautifully photographed and the detail is amazing, some of the best footage of the band ever shot. Don Odell has graciously allowed me to make a limited run of this show available to help raise money for this website. Please note that these dvds were copied at home on a commercial duplicator and are NOT factory pressed, but the quality and sound on them is excellent throughout. Order your copy of this dvd - and help support the cost of this website as well - by clicking here.