Festival offers wide variety of entertainment

By News-Sentinel Staff

As certain as there will be grape murals, corn dogs and carnival rides, the entertainment offered at this year’s Lodi Grape Festival and Harvest Fair, Sept. 16-19, will be wide in range and nearly constant during the daily operation of the event at the Grape Festival Grounds.

Below is a list of the main acts which will be performing at the festival along with the acts’ performance time and location in the Grape Festival Grounds.

If you enjoyed John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd as Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues in the 1980 film “The Blues Brothers,” you are going to love Briefcase Full of Blues. Shawn Amato and Fred Vinson capture the essence of the comedians-turned-bluesmen as they sing, dance and cartwheel their way through a Blues Brothers revue.

Their song list includes classics like “Soul Man,” “Midnight Hour,” “Stand By Your Man,” and “Jailhouse Rock.”

The Briefcase Full of Blues have played at private parties, corporate events and charitable functions, as well as gigs like Hot August Nights in Reno, the Blues Brothers International Convention in the United Kingdom, and the Northern California premiere of the Blues Brothers 2000 movie.

The Briefcase Full of Blues performs Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m. on the Geweke Auto Group Stage.

His name is Baldemar G. Huerta, but he is better known as country singer Freddy Fender.

Fender had his first hit with “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” in 1959 and his next hit “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” reached No. 1 on the Billboard’s pop and country charts in April of 1975. Billboard named him their best male artist of 1975.

He re-released “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” which hit No. 1 on the country charts and his songs “Secret Love” and “You’ll Lose a Good Thing” also reached the top spot.

Fender has received three Grammy nominations and was named most promising male vocalist by the Academy of Country Music. He has also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was presented with the 1998 Legend in Music Award by Nosotros, a nonprofit organization to promote Hispanics in the entertainment industry.

Freddy Fender performs Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on the Budweiser Amphitheater Stage.

He has played with blues artists like Little Charlie and the Nightcats, Charlie Musselwhite, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Now San Francisco-based Kenny “Blue” Ray comes to Lodi to share his unique brand of modern blues.

Ray has released nine CDs on his own Tone King label and has appeared on 40 CDs since he began his music career 35 years ago. He has completed seven blues guitar instructional videos and plans to do a Chicago blues guitar instructional video in the future.

Kenny “Blue” Ray performs Saturday at 7 p.m. on the Budweiser Amphitheater stage.

Kathleen Cairns and Tattoo Blue have enjoyed a solid and loyal following since they joined forces three years ago. They have since established themselves as a prime West Coast blues band, which blends R&B with blues.

Cairns’ vocal stylings have been compared to Bonnie Raitt, Janis Joplin, Etta James and Angela Strehii. She has performed throughout the West Coast with artists like Tommy Castro, Robben Ford, Coco Montoya and John Mayall.

Tattoo Webb consists of Kenny Webb on bass and vocals; David Kaffinetti on keyboards, bass, vocals; Steve Dunn on guitar and vocals; and Ed Seeberger on drums.

Kathleen Cairns and Tattoo Blue perform Saturday at 5:30 p.m. on the Budweiser Amphitheater stage.

Super Diamond has taken the classic hits from Neil Diamond’s expansive repertoire and created a high-octane show.

Led by Randy Cordeiro, the San Francisco-based tribute band celebrates Neil Diamond through his hits like “Solitary Man,” “Song Sung Blue” and “Sweet Caroline.” The band formed 10 years ago as a novelty act, but later grew into the kind of sequined, bell-bottomed act that routinely sells out at the Fillmore, Bimbo’s 365 Club in San Francisco and the House of Blues in Los Angeles.

Cordeiro, who is called “The Surreal Neil,” has assimilated Diamond’s raspy voice and wardrobe, but has also mastered his tics, mannerisms and performance style. A must-see for any Neil Diamond fan.

Super Diamond performs Thursday at 7 and 9 p.m. on the Budweiser Amphitheater stage.

For R&B, rock, soul and blues, look no further than Nitecry, the Bay Area band that delivers high energy and impact performances.

Nitecry plays Saturday at 9 p.m. on the Budweiser Amphitheater stage. (Courtesy photo)

It is this musicianship that has led to awards like first place in the 2003 Monterey Bay Blues Festival, finalist in the National Blues Foundation Talent Search and best band, album, song, and bassist at the South Bay Blues Awards.

Their song list includes covers of classics like “Show Me” by Joe Tex, “Something You Got” by Wilson Pickett and “You Don’t Know What You Mean To Me” by Sam and Dave. But they also have a lengthy repertoire of originals like “Lesson in the Blues,” “Too Cool to be Blue,” and “Lights Down Low.”

Nitecry consists of Steve Siacotos on lead vocals and guitar; Richard Palmer on keyboards and vocals; René Solis on lead guitar and vocals; Johnny Yu on bass and vocals; Scott La Mantia on drums; Chris Marquis on trumpet and Keith Kelly on saxophone.

Nitecry performs Saturday at 9 p.m. on the Budweiser Amphitheater stage.

Since 1989, the Mofo Party Band has brought their blues party to cities and towns in California. Next stop? Lodi.

They have played high profile shows like the San Francisco Blues Festival, the B.B. King Blues Festival and Mark Humel’s Harmonica Blow Out with James Cotton and Huey Lewis.

The band has released three harmonica blues CD’s on the Vivid Sound label, “Ten Dynamite Hits,” “Call the Doctor,” and “Voodoo Dolls and Jungle Drums.”

Mofo Party Band plays Friday at 6, 8 and 10 p.m. on the Geweke Auto Group Stage.

Ever since the Beatles tribute band Rain was formed in 1975, the band has had many a hard day’s night. Not only do they approach every Beatles song with respect and the desire to do it like the Fab Four once did, but they take great attention to detail — paying attention to every harmony, every chord inversion.

Beatles tribute band Rain plays Friday, Sept. 17, at 7 and 9 p.m. on the Budweiser Amphitheater stage at the Lodi Grape Festival and Harvest Fair. (Courtesy photo)

Rain’s goals have been to write their own original music, secure a recording contract and to become the best band in the world at duplicating the sound of all of the works of the Beatles.

The Fab Four is comprised of Joey Curatolo on vocals, bass, piano and guitar, who plays Paul McCartney; Steve Landes on vocals, rhythm guitar, piano and harmonica, who plays John Lennon, Joe Bithorn on vocals and lead guitar, who plays George Harrison; and Ralph Castelli on drums, percussion and vocals, playing Ringo Starr.

But the group doesn’t end there. Through the Beatles’ recording career, the group would often employ strings, horns, additional keyboards or an entire orchestra, and this is Mark Lewis’s role. Lewis is the founding member of Rain and he is also responsible for keyboards and percussion. In addition, Randy Kuehn, the audio technician, travels with the band to recreate sounds from the Beatles records.

Rain performs Friday at 7 and 9 p.m. on the Budweiser Amphitheater stage.

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