ROOM WITH A VIEW of the blues..... Sugar Ray and The Bluetones at The Towne Crier 05/17/03 Sometime in 1989 I purchased a cassette by a blues band called Sugar Ray and The Bluetones on the Varrick label. It was called “Knockout”. I became a fan of Sugar Ray, a blues harp player and vocalist. About a year later I went to The Abilene on 8thAvenue at 13th Street to hear Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters. The club was later to become “Chicago B.L.U.E.S.” It was Ronnie’s birthday and his father had come to see him play. He serenaded his father by playing “Rego Park Blues”. I was pleasantly surprised that his lead singer was Sugar Ray. After leaving the Broadcasters the “Don’t Stand In My Way” album followed, but it lacked the raw intense quality I had heard on “Knockout”. I was excited when I heard that Sugar had joined another of my favorite bands, “Roomful of Blues”. Anyway Roomful was at their peak with “Sugar”. When “Sugar” left “the room”, the world was a little less sweet. Sugar resurfaced on “Sweet and Swingin”, a showcase for Sugar’s range of talent but it didn’t have the edgy quality that I had heard on “Knockout”. There was something about hearing such a sweet voice with a band that was so raw that I really missed. I was disappointed. Then he released “Rockin Sugar Daddy” with The Bluetones. Kid Bangham was back on guitar, “Mudcat” Ward was back on bass, and Neil Gouvin was back on drums. Fantastic, but the “Kid” was doing his own thing and it couldn’t last. Then he recruited Monster Mike. Monster Mike Welch’s first album established him as a great guitar player and a passionate vocalist, his two albums that followed continued to do the same. This Saturday my wife and I drove to Pawling, NY and caught the show at The Town Crier. If Sugar connected me to my generation of blues lover’s, Monster Mike will connect the next one. Sugar Ray & The Bluetones featuring Monster Mike Welch were great. Sugar is the mentor but Mike set the pace instrumentally for what might arguably be the “best” band today. It’s because they are having fun doing what they love and playing so well. When Mike joins Sugar on the chorus of “Get Over Me” it’s not with the restraint that he used on the recording but with an exuberence unheard of lately. Sugar lets this “Monster” rock! The combination of Sugar’s sweetness and Mike’s snarling gruffness is causing something very special to happen vocally besides instrumentally. It’s something intangible and they know it. Besides playing everything off their self titled new album and some from the “Rockin’ Sugar Daddy” album, Sugar reprised some older material that he had only released on 45’s including a version of “Frankie and Johnny” and Mike sang Bob Dylan’s “Master’s of War”. Mike believes that the music can heal us. I believe he’s right! Richard Ludmerer ricdale2@yahoo.com