Blue? What color blue?
Powder, navy, indigo, aqua, steel?
Or delta, jazz, country, urban, Chicago, Texas, New Orleans?
When you’re asked to judge a blues competition, you’re reminded that there are many shades of blue, and that anyone entering such a competition is experienced. This makes choosing a winner especially hard as all the singers are good, all the guitar players are good, etc.. The field is big, broad and varied. The contestant that wins is a complete package and the judging usually is the result of instinct. Still, you could be wrong.
So it was that I judged a blues battle with Dave Chesney, publisher of the White Rock Sun, and Sechelt Coast broadcaster, Brad Mennie (Big Groove Blues And Roots show), September 20 at the FanClub. This was the fifth contest produced by the White Rock Blues Society, which raises the money to send the winner to represent Vancouver at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis.
This year, there were seven acts – three acoustic, four full band – with one winner each from the acoustic and band category.
All seven were different and enjoyable but, at the end of the night, Brandon Isaak won the acoustic spot and Arsen Shomakhov the band. Isaak seemed to have a strong concept of what he was doing, while Shomakhov paced his trio’s 20 minute set with purpose and possibly a better understanding of the competition from what he learned at 2012′s event.
