Chill Boy “Likes to Boogie”
Boogie Jam
At Tio Leo’s
Story by Eli Medellin
Photos by Nick Abadilla
SAN DIEGO February 21 -When we started putting together our monthly jam sessions, we could only dream
that it would get this good. Not to say that we didn’t ever
have a good time – we’ve always had great musicians
every jam – but there was so many this time that some
of us didn’t even get to play. We just enjoyed a fantastic
show.
We had a shared idea for this jam: instead of trying to
mix and match musicians at the jam, which sometimes
can be a disaster, we invited musicians to make their own
throw-together groups before the show and let us know
ahead of time so we could organize the line-up before we
even got to the venue. We got an immediate response
from everyone. Before we knew it, we had seven bands
signed up for our February show at Tio Leo’s in the heart
of San Diego. We picked Tio Leo’s because it has a nice
size stage and a PA system already set up. Boogie Magazine’s go-to jam band, the Moneymen, provided help
with setting it up and working the sound.
We normally schedule our jams for Saturdays at 1:00 pm
for the musicians who want to jam with us but might
have gigs later in the evening. The other band was coming on at 7:00 and we had seven possibly eight groups
to get on and off the stage by 6:30. It was going to be tight.
We started as we always do, with the Moneymen opening
the jam. It’s usually myself, Mark Eppler, Michael Head,
Steve Tahmahkera and Willy Carmody to start things off.
However, since we had extra guests show up, Mark and
Michael and I stood down to let Michael’s son Miles play
guitar along with my special guest, Chill Boy. Chill has a
vast fifty years plus of stage experience and recently has
undergone heart surgery, but one can’t keep a blues man
like Chill Boy down. He just keeps coming back, and we
were so grateful to have him open for us with Miles and
the Moneymen.
He started the set with two songs, a classy slow blues version of “Rock Me Baby” and a rockin’ “Standin’ On Shaky
Ground,” and then turned his place on stage over to Kris
Wott.
Kris got some added help with Erik Lingren and Tom
Tice on guitars. Together they kept the Moneymen
wound up with “The Sky Is Crying,” Ray Charles’ “The
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