Live at The Bamboo Room

 Lake Worth, Florida

  
By Pete Lauro - Blues Wax Magazine

I finally got a chance to catch a live performance of a band that, over the years, has seemed to elude me. That will never happen again. After Li'l Ronnie and the Grand Dukes' recent show at the sold-out Bamboo Room in Lake Worth, Florida, two of my “favorite” lists were expanded. Ronnie Owens joined my favorite harmonica players list and Li'l Ronnie and the Grand Dukes became one of my favorite bands to see live. The nearly-three-hour, two-set show consisted of mostly originals from the band’s three CDs - Too Fast For Conditions, Young And Evil, and do what'cha do, their latest release. The show opened with a hot Swing number called “Mellow Chick” …. this band had the audience right in their grasp, right from the very start. The song, by the way, featured some really hot piano playing by Mark Stevens and the smoothest of vocals by Ronnie.   

During that first song, the Grand Dukes locked themselves into a groove that, to the audiences delight, they just did not want to leave... they finally slowed things down a bit with a song called "Sugar Babe.” ...nice licks on Blues guitar by Pat O'Shea, this was Blues harp and soulful vocals at their finest.  The next song, titled “Long Distance Lover,” rocked the house.  On a cha-cha called “Love Trance,” which was featured on the last Blues Revue Blues Music Sampler, Ronnie caused a complete disarray of my musical senses. While I never wanted him to stop playing the harp, I couldn’t wait to hear him sing the next verse; such a splendid dilemma to be faced with. This one also featured a virtual Hammond B-3 lesson from Mark Stevens. 

Prior to starting what would be their break song, everyone except for keyboardist Mark Stevens and drummer George Sheppard, left the stage. These two then went into an absolute ass-kicking duet; while George was frailing away on drums, Mark jumped back and forth from the piano to the organ. At one point, without missing a beat, George left his stool and picked up a marching drum and played it as he marched around the stage. He then proceeded to use his drumsticks on everything in site. He played the walls, the floor, the sides of the drums, the mic stand, and the mic itself. As he withdrew from this frenzied state and made his way back to his seat, in momentary intervals Bryan Smith joined in on his standup bass, Pat O'Shea started playing the guitar, and Li'l Ronnie was back blowing harp and, instantaneously, the band was back into one of its patented grooves. The first set ended to a thunderous standing ovation. 

At the start of the second set, there still wasn’t an empty seat in the house. This crowd wanted more and more is what they got. The band took the stage and it was obvious they, as well as the audience, were ready to go the distance. Even I, who because of a seventy-five-minute drive home from the Bamboo Room usually leaves halfway through the second set, was present till the end. As expected, the second show was as hot as the first. The band was basically relentless and gave us all another set of rockin', swingin' Blues and another reason for a second set closing standing ovation.  

Pete Lauro is a contributing editor at BluesWax.