Fade to Blues: News

Now there's more stations to tune into to hear our disc "In the Dark".
We'll be in the rotation at; WHUS 91.7 Storrs, CT on Washboard Pat's Wed. Nite show. http://www.whus.org and on WVOF 88.5 Fairfield during The Upper Room Mondays 4-8. http://www.wvof.org. That's in addition to WPKN 89.5 on Sunday nite with Bill Nolan's show, and all those stations in Belgium, Slovenia and Peru. Go figure!

Rhythm 731 West Ave. Norwalk, CT is having Open Mike Night every Monday starting on July 14th. The house band will consist of Brian Ready, Bruce Couillard, DJ Moores, Steve Detroy and Juan Vega. We'll be playing some funk, soul and blues.
This is a great new club with a superb dance floor. Nobody's working on Monday night so bring your instruments down and sit in or just come to dance, listen, drink and eat some very reasonably priced food. http://www.feelingtherhythm.com

We're off to the Blues Challenge finals in September again this year. Maybe a trip to Memphis in February is in the cards for us this year.
All the bands on Thursday nite we great. We met some new friends and had a blast! Thank you CT Blues Society and Black Eyed Sally's for putting on this event.

Because it's so much easier to upload them, we'll be putting most of our photos on our myspace. Check it out. http://www.myspace.com/fadetoblues

Every Wed. nite starting at 9pm, sign up starts at 8. The Acoustic Cafe has a fantastic stage and amazing sound. Bring your instrument or your voice. We will be hosting on April 16th and are rotating with Paul Gabriel and his Blues Band and other bands. You gotta check out the Acoustic Cafe it's an awesome club!!!

Blues Diva Candye Kane was recently diagnose with cancer. Fade to Blues, Black Eyed Sally's and The CT Blues Society are gonna try to help her out financially (she's got no insurance). The date is set for a benefit concert at Sally's on May 16th. We've got three 07' Blues Challenge finalists lined up to play including Johnny Feds and Da' Bluz Boyz, The Supertones, Fade to Blues and an act from New York, Petey Hop and the Wallbangers. Patty Tuite and the Jaquars will also perform. Jam Session at the end of the show, fundraising raffles proceeds of which will go to Candye.

The Acoustic Cafe on the Post Rd in Faifield, CT is hosting a blues jam. Hosts will be rotating as of now Paul Gabriel and His Blues Band and Fade to Blues have signed on. Start time is 9pm, $3 cover goes to the band. Come on down to this great club with great stage and incredible sound system.

Actually, Jimmy's Seaside in Stamford has a new name "Seaside Tavern" and yes! they are starting a Blues night every Thursday nite!!
So, come on out and support live, local blues. We will be there Thurs. Feb. 7th and would like to extend an open invitation to all Blues players to come sit in with us.

Just wanted to let you all know that The Long Ridge Tavern in Stamford is changing their music format and all of our dates have been cancelled.
If you have the time and enjoyed seeing us there it wouldn't hurt to call them. The number is 203-329-7818 and the guy to talk to is Carlos.

Jeff's Cuisine just before the bridge in Sono on Thursday nights 8:30. The hosts will be rotating. We'll be host on Oct. 18th. Excellent BBQ, Jeff just built a new lounge with bar in the back

Thursday nites at Jeff's Cuisine in South Norwalk 8:30-11:30. http://www.jeffscuisine.com
There will be rotatings host bands of which we will be one. Jeff has the best real southern BBQ on north and we're not makin' that up!! He just built a new room and a bar, so Thursday nite it's time to get down with some Blues, Booze and BBQ. What a perfect combination! We'll be hosting on Oct. 18 but stopping by most Thursdays to sit in.

Check out the new photos put on the site from the Blues Challenge. We'd like to thank Larry Handwerger for snapping these great shots. Will add more as they are resized for the web.

Once again we came up short at the Blues Challenge. This time by one point! Thanks to Johny Feds and the Bluz Boys for support and competition (by the way you guys should be going to Memphis too!) Thanks to Larry and everyone from NY and Ffld Cnty who humped all the way up to W. Hartford to support us and da' Blues Boys. Congrats to the winners the Mike Crandall Band.

We're headed to the finals of the CT Blues Challenge this Sat. It's at the Hannon-Hatch VFW 83 South St. W. Hartford, CT. It will be broadcast live on WHUS 91.7FM http://www.whus.org for live streaming broadcast.
Come to the show we need your support for this one!

We've posted a few of Brian and Jill's wedding photos on the site. Special thanks to Laurie Parnas for snappin' some great pics.

The date and lineup for the Ct Blues Challenge Finals has been set. The date is Sept 15th.
Fade to Blues will be going on third from 3:30 - 4pm. The veneu is on outdoor stage at the Hannon-Hatch VFW 83 South St. W. Hartford, CT. Admission for the day is $8. The first band starts at 2:00 last band at 6:00. Please join us, your support would be very helpful!!!

Our live show on WPKN 89.5 on Aug 5th went very well despite the 90deg temps in the room. The studio was packed with a great crowd. Thanks to T-Bone and Sol for helping us out with there keyboard and harmonica abilities and thanks to all who attended and tuned in.

Check our store and purchase Fade to Blues merchandise. T shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, etc.

The third Blues Challenge preliminary turned out to be a highly successful night last night, despite some serious traffic problems delaying people's arrival. Black-Eyed Sallys was full most of the evening, and we had a visit from the lovely Blue Moon girls, giving out tee shirts to enthusiastic fans. We started out hearing a strong new participating band from Eastern Connecticut, The Phantoms. This six piece act, featuring a very good female vocalist, father/son combination and accomplished guitarist, played several original songs. Very nice. They had members from the old Tone Cats band, a CTBS preliminary event-winner from six or so years ago. Next came up the new four piece Delta Moon, who traveled all the way from New Milford to play some rockin blues numbers. Meriden-area EZ Street returned with their highly animated, flexible limbed, strutting front man. This funky act created lots of smiles. They did "Big ten inch", which you don't hear too often. Fairfield County area Fade to Blues, a Challenge finalist band last year, returned to dazzle the crowd, with some tight arrangements, original numbers, and plenty of fine slide guitar from Greg McCullough. The last act, new to the Blues Challenge, The Kris Heaton Blues Band, closed out. This was a power trio using recorded drums, playing rock-oriented numbers. Lots of energy there. Maybe the most fun was the jam MC Tom Retano put together. Thanks Tom! Ryan Hartt of 2006 winning band Blue Hearts on harmonica- wow. Tom Petrie, BES sound man on bass. Judge XY Eli, of the XY Eli Band, (sporting a Jimi Hendrix hat) on vocals and flying V guitar! Gary from Fade to Blues on drums. Some vocals from Tom Retano. Sorry, did not get the name of the tall guitarist in the jam-- but he was real good. Hope I remembered everyone. We had all kinds of dancing most of the night. Two barmaids ended up shaking it on the bar. Congratulations to Fade to Blues, who took the most votes from the five judges. They will be joining The Supertones and Johnny Feds & The Bluez Boyz at the Blues Challenge Finals September 15th. Thanks to judges musician XY Eli, superfan Sue Meeker, musician/songwriter Patty Tuite, Doug MacNeil from WHUS, and Greg Panse from WCNI. Ray Meeker did an outstanding job as tabulator. CTBS Director Ed Stack ran the ballots around. CTBS Pres. Dave O'Neil kept the membership table alive all night and fielded all kinds of questions about the Blues Society. Director Zeke Ster was the first one in and last one out, bringing and taking the drum kit and bass amp to the Challenge. He is getting to be a pro at setting up the drums and breaking them down. Thanks to sponsors Blue Moon Ale, Joe's Guitars, and Black-Eyed Sallys, for a memorable event. No Challenge next Thursday, due to the Black-Eyed & Blue event. The Blues Challenge returns at 8 PM, Thursday June 14th, with Blues on the Side, Basically Blues Band, The Mojomatics, The Mike Crandall Band, and Revin' Kevin & The Back Seat Drivers! See you there for some fine local blues entertainment! -Kent Kirkland, Event Coordinator

Looks like we'll be getting some more air play. WCCC 106.9 in Hartford. Check out Beef Stew's website for more info. http://www.megablues.com