Tag Archive for: #bostonblues

Concert: Toni Lynn Washington

Concert: Toni Lynn Washington Brought to you by: Fugitive Productions

Ms. Toni Lynn Washington, Boston’s “Queen of the Blues” will be performing with an all-star band, featuring some of New England’s best and most well-known musicians and entertainers. Raised in a procession of gospel choirs in Southern Pines, North Carolina, Toni Lynn performed with classic R&B artists like Sam and Dave and Jackie Wilson throughout the South in her youth. A stirring vocalist, she will make you melt one minute, and have you on your feet testifying the next. And as if that ain’t enough, she’s one of the warmest and most engaging performers you will ever see! Toni Lynn has been a multiple Blues Music Award winner. She is a national treasure who was recently commended by US Senator Ed Markey for her service as a Blues Ambassador.

Tonight’s MC is drummer and vocalist Eddie Scheer, one of the pillars of the Boston Blues/R&B scene for over 20 years. As the leader of his award-winning band The Love Dogs, he’s toured the U.S. and Europe and recorded four critically acclaimed CDs. He’s played with virtually every top-level musician in the Northeast at one time or another, and has hosted his “Tuesday Night Allstars” series in Brighton for more than a decade. His encyclopedic repertoire is surpassed only by his big smile and love of entertaining.

Johnny Blue Horn has entertained countless fans of music in Boston and the Northeast region for many years. He has since become a double-barreled performer as both a trumpeter and vocalist encompassing a varied range of musical styles, from gritty Memphis R&B to rhythmic New Orleans second-line jazz; from swingin’ Kansas City blues to heartfelt ’70s soul.

Mario Perrett has been known for years as one of Boston’s most moving and soulful, saxophonists/vocalists. His blues-driven, funky sax has been in demand in studios and live settings all over New England. He has performed at nightclubs and music festivals throughout the U.S. and Europe and has recorded with a number of national and regional artists including Luther “Guitar Johnson” Jr., Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters, Mighty Sam McLain, Joe Louis Walker. and The Love Dogs. Mario is currently touring with the up and coming Dwayne Haggins Band.

Mike Williams is a virtuoso jazz and blues guitarist who has recorded and toured with top-level artists such as the Grammy-winning James Cotton Blues Band, David “Fathead” Newman, Mighty Sam McClain, and David Maxwell, to name just a few. Williams is a professor at Berklee College of Music specializing in a mix of blues and jazz styles, and has traveled to Europe and South America on many occasions as a clinician and performer for the college.

Johnny Juxo is a one-of-a-kind keyboardist, vocalist, storyteller, and accordion player. His two most recent releases, Long Distance Driver and Get Off My Lawn have garnered awards and both popular and critical acclaim. He’s one of the most in-demand performers in New England and can be seen performing all over the Northeast with Lisa Marie, Racky Thomas’ Traveling Medicine Show, The Gin Boys, The Doghouse All Stars, and many others.

Steve Monahan is one of the busiest freelance bass players in and around the Boston area. Holding down the bottom end with such groups as Fandango featuring Fred Griffiths and the Diane Blue Band, he keeps things groovin’ with a warm sound and a swinging feel. He’s been gigging with Toni Lynn Washington on and off since the ’80s. He’s also been known to sing a Johnny Cash song or two every now and then.

Doors open: 7pm • Performance: 8pm

Full bar. You’re welcome to bring snacks and/or take-out. Full bar. You’re welcome to bring snacks and/or take-out.  For a list of Maynard many fine restaurants, click here.

Tickets$20/Advance, $25/door

First Thursdays: Joe Bargar & The Soul Providers featuring Cheryl Aruda

Joe Bargar & The Soul Providers featuring Cheryl Aruda

Brought to you by: Fugitive Productions

The Sanctuary stage will be hosting a band of Boston music legends on the first Thursday of the month through June. In April, Cheryl Aruda will be the featured guest performer.

When Cheryl Aruda was a kid, she crooned into a breadstick in her Italian grandmother’s kitchen, and thus began her career entertaining the masses with music, humor, and give-it-all-you’ve-got energy. A “theater kid” and Berklee grad who honed her craft in dive bars, Cheryl fronts her own group, “Dirty Blonde,” and has been a featured vocalist with blues, soul, and jazz bands on stages throughout New England (for far longer than she cares to admit)! In addition to signature gravelicious vocals and tremendous bandmates, Cheryl’s live performances and her CD, Unrequited Love Songsshowcase her skills as songwriter/lyricist . . . and, on one CD tune, tuba player!

Joe Bargar is a veteran of the New England music scene. Having grown up in Providence, RI, Joe had the opportunity to appear with such legendary acts as Roomful of Blues, Scott Hamilton, Duke Robillard, James Montgomery, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Living in New York City for decades, Joe played with performers including Sly &The Family Stone, Robbie Robertson, blues greats Otis Rush, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Son Seals, and John Lee Hooker; and soul masters Percy Sledge, Clarence Carter, and Solomon Burke. He can also be heard on several recordings, including those by Diana Ross and “Late Show” bandleader Paul Shaeffer.

Joe Bargar (vocals, keyboard)
Bobby Gus Ledwell (guitar, vocals)
Eddie Scheer (drums,vocals)
Mark Poniatowski (bass, vocals)

Doors Open: 7pm • Performance: 7:30pm

Full bar • You’re welcome to bring snacks and/or take-out. Click here for a list of Maynard many fine restaurants.

Tickets: $12/advance, $15/door

Fugitive Productions presents The Cheryl Arena Band

A “Master of the Harmonica,” Cheryl Arena has been bringing authentic American blues to audiences in the US and Europe for over 30 years! No one trick pony, she plays everything from the urban electric blues of Chicago to the soulful Delta sounds of the Deep South and everything in between. Always with a soulful edge and a grooving beat, Cheryl channels the likes of Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and many more of the immortal masters!

Raised in the Boston area, she has shared the stage with such luminaries as James Cotton, Junior Wells, Charlie Musselwhite, Pinetop Perkins, Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson, Lazy Lester, R.L. Burnside, among many others. Cheryl has released several CDs, including the critically acclaimed “Blues Got Me” with seven original songs featuring a stellar band, produced by Duke Robillard, who also plays on the album. She is a triple threat: great songwriter, powerful singer and smokin’ harmonica player (endorsed by Hohner)!

Whether you want to hit the dance floor and shake your hips, or sway in your seat while you tap your feet, Cheryl and her band always deliver powerful, undeniable Blues with a feeling!

Mike Dibari, guitar & vocals
Ed Scheer, drums & vocals
Teddy Bukowski, upright & electric basses

  • Doors open: 7pm • Performance: 7:30pm
  • Full bar. You’re welcome to bring snacks and/or take-out.  For a list of Maynard’s many fine restaurants, click here
  • Tickets: $15/Advance, $20/door