Page 68 - Sonoma County Gazette - August 2018

WEE WILLIE
By Date
Aug 2 ~ pianoSonoma Music Festival - A music festival that brings together Artists in Residence, $15, 5:30p, Green Music Center at Sonoma State University, 1801 East Cotati Avenue, Schroder Hall, Rohnert Park, gmc.sonoma.edu/ pianoSonoma
Aug 3 ~ French Oak Gypsy
Band A fresh spin on French and American Swing Era classics, $15, 7p Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Court, 707-874-9392, occidentalcenterforthearts.org
Aug 4 ~ Petaluma Music Festival ~ An exceptional variety of music for people of all ages, fine beers, premium wine tasting, and specialty food vendors. Kids under 12 FREE, Kids 13 - 18, $20, Adults $55, 11:30a-9:30p, Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds, 175 Fairgrounds Dr., Petaluma, eventbrite.com
Aug 4 ~ Drum Circle $15-$20, 7-9p, Community Acupuncture of Marin, 7075 Redwood Blvd., Suite H, Novato, saharsound.weebly.com
Aug 5,7 ~ The Haute Flash Quartet - Aug 5: The Big Easy, 7-9:30p, 1899 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. Aug 7: Sonoma County Fair, 1:30-4:30P, 1350 Bennett Valley Rd., Santa Rosa, 707-823-8968, hauteflashquartet.com
Aug 9 ~ Rumi’s Caravan Benefit
- An evening of live poetry and music performed in the ecstatic tradition, celebrating the art of Rumi, Hafiz, and other mystic poets 6-7p: Wine and cheese by Sonoma Coast Vineyards. 7p:Performance by Rumi’s Caravan. eventbrite.com $35, 6p-9p, Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary, 209 Bohemian Hwy., Freestone, 707-823-8231, osmosis.com, reservations@osmosis.com
Aug 18,19 ~ 28th Annual Woodstock of the Accordion World - Two main stages feature a cast of rotating acts who play 30- to 45-minute sets. $15-$29, Shuttle from Park and Ride, Hwy. 116 and Old Redwood Hwy. on Joseph Way, Cotati, 888-559-2576, cotatifest.com
The KRSH Backyard Concert series is located in a grassy nook hidden in a corner of Santa Rosa, where the radio station operates from a caboose. Soul singer Wee Willie Walker will perform there Aug. 9, backed by the Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra.
Concert at Osmosis Day Spa
During the 1960s, with the group the Val-Dons, Walker got his nickname from fellow bandmember, Timothy Eason. “He hung that on me and it stuck. I tried to get rid of it, but it didn’t work,” Walker says during our meeting in Napa. His record label from 1965-68, Goldwax, put it on his records without asking him. Upset at first, Walker came to realize later that people recognized his name more frequently with the word ”Wee.” “I guess that’s who I am,” he
formed when Walker met Eason
in a laundromat, where they began harmonizing on the spot, to the tune of Jerry Butler’s He Don’t Love You. Walker speaks of the laundromat’s “great acoustics.” The band had a run of three years, marking Walker’s move from gospel to secular music.
started his career there as a teenager, singing gospel with the Redemption Harmonizers, “mostly kids.” They traveled in a Cadillac for summertime shows in the mid-to-late ‘50’s. Arriving in Minneapolis in 1959, he fell in love with the cities’ beauty and tranquility, he says. He still lives there.
thought.
The Val-Dons
Wild Jane & The Guys - Dynamic Vocalist Janie Roberts, John Simon - Piano, Tom Shader - Bass, Kendrick Freeman - Drums. Jazz, Blues, Ballads & Bossa, wildjanes.com/gigs
Aug 24 ~ Hot to Go! ~ 7-10:30p, Main Street Bistro, 16280 Main St. Guerneville 707-869-0501
Aug 31 ~ Belting out the Blues ~ 6p- 9p, Gravenstein Grill, 8050 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol, 707-634-6142
Aqus Community Café
189 H St., Petaluma, 707-778-6060, FREE aqus.com/, info@aquscafe.com
Aug 1 ~ Aqus Blues Jam - 7-9p
Aug 2 ~ Aqus Celtic Music Session - Traditional pub seisiun, Irish music. 7-9p
Aug 4 ~ Two Smooth - Smooth Jazz, 7-9p
Aug 5 ~ Kurt Huget - Jazz, performed and recorded with members of many legendary SF bands., 2-4:30p
Aug 10 ~ The Cork Pullers - Mostly acoustic in nature and soul. 7-9p
Aug 11 ~ The Larkdales - Folk Traditional. 7-9p
Aug 15 ~ West Coast Songwriter’s Competition - Dave Hamilton, Jay Gottlieb host. 6:30-9p, www. westcoastsongwriters.org/petaluma- songwriting
Aug 17 ~ Rough House - Folk-Rock, 7-9p Aug 18 ~ The Farallons - Folk Rock Jazz
three-piece acoustic group. 7-9p
Aug 19 ~ Gary Vogensen and the Ramble Band - Blend of blues, funk, country rock, jazz and more. 2-4:30p
Aug 22 ~ Bluegrass and Old Time Music - Growing group of musicians meeting at Aqus. 7-9p
Aug 23 ~ Chime Travelers - 60’s and 70’s Classic Rock. 7-9p
Aug 24 ~ The Rivertown Trio - Country Rock Folk. 7-9p
Aug 25 ~ 2 of Us - Classic Hits. 7-9p Aug 29 ~ Kyle Craft - Local violinist with piano accompaniment. 7-9p
Aug 31 ~ Flytrap - Rock. 7-9p
Some gospel friends were recording secular music for Goldwax in Memphis. The label, with no studio, operated from the back of a drug store. They had a piano, and Walker sang them a couple of songs. They signed him, making him the first black artist in Minnesota to record for a national label.
Contrary to the label’s promises, Walker was only given three songs to record, accomplished at two legendary locales—Sam Phillips’ Sun Studio in Memphis and Rick Hall’s Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Walker never saw a royalty check from Goldwax. Instead, they gave him 50 copies of one of his songs to sell himself to record stores. “I made $50,” he says.
After the Val-Dons, Walker formed the band Willie and the Bees with Willie Murphy. Murphy thought Walker’s voice sounded like a bumble bee. His current R&B group is Willie Walker and the We “R”, extant since 2004. Between 2004-2007, Walker also performed in Japan and Switzerland with a Stax-type band, the Butanes.
Aug 25 ~ Sylvia Murphy Love Fest - Fundraiser for West Sonoma County musician Sylvia Murphy. Outdoors at the new community center stage with food, silent auction, raffle and music by the Thugz & Friends. Sylvia will be playing some songs with the band for the first time since her accident. $15, kids free, 1p-5p, Jenner Community Center, 10398 Hwy 1, Jenner, thethugz.net
Sep 6 ~ Israel Vibration and Roots Radics - Traditional roots reggae with a mesmerizing sound and deeply spiritual message. $30-$35, 3p - 10p, Raven Performing Arts Theater, 115 North Street, Healdsburg, 707-433-6335, raventheater.org
Ongoing at Sebastopol Grange
6000 Sebastopol Avenue, Hwy 12, Sebastopol, 707-829-9052, Peter, sebastopolgrange.org R&B Jam - every Thurs., 7p
Bluegrass Jam - every 2nd and 4th Mon, 7p
Late in life, Walker has gained national notoriety. His album, If Nothing Ever Changes, recorded with top San Francisco Bay Area artists, gained him four Blues Music Award (BMA) nominations in 2015.
After connecting with prominent guitarist Anthony Paule at a Porretta Soul Festival in Italy, he’s been touring extensively with Paule’s Soul Orchestra,
Their 2017 release, After a While, represents classic soul at its best. Walker received five BMA nominations this year for that album.
When asked about the best part of his notoriety, Walker says, “The presence of the people I’m playing for. You can feel their energy—it’s like wow.”
Born in 1941 near Memphis, Walker
FIND Robert Feuer’s REAL MUSIC columns online@ SonomaCountyGazette.com
68 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 8/18