Blues Bash 5: One for the Books

Who’d have thunk it? The fifth installment of the Blues Bash series of international music festivals on Taiwan, the Blues Bash 5, has entered the history books as a rousing, joyous success.
We'd like to thank everybody who made it to the Taipei suburb of Xizhi (Shijhih) for the Blues Society on Taiwan’s Blues Bash 5, Taiwan's Only True Blues Festival. Special thanks goes to the dedicated (and slightly crazy) Dream Community staff for creating a fantastic atmosphere for the rest of us music lovers to revel in. Those of you like Doug 'Man o’ Steel' Thiele, Torch, Shinchu Dik, Wheelman LEW and hundreds of others, pitched in to help make BB5, the best and longest Bash to date.
From just after 3pm to well after 2:30am, the house (and the neighborhood) was rockin' and the good times were rollin'! Like they say, "It ain't a party until the cops come trying to shut it down." Well, that is a tradition we are proud to have maintained for four years running! No harm, no foul and no tickets were issued. Whew!
Next year's Blues Bash 6, will be even better and probably bigger. (They might have to call the SWAT team.)
For the better part of 12 hours, we were all treated to great music from Blues luminaries Shun Kikuta, Nacomi, Musashino Minnie & Small Package, and Jamsbee from Japan and the Lance Reegan-Diehl Band coming from Seoul to join the fun and make the Dream Community move to the music.
Taiwan Blues stalwarts, David Chen & the Muddy Basin Ramblers (my personal inspiration), BoPoMoFo, Black Sheep and the Blues Vibrations passionately performed a wide range of Blues styles at the highest level of quality.
Rising Hedons’ blend of Blues and World music, the funk-meisters Money Shot Horns, and the soulful socio-political songs of the Dana Wylie Band showed that the Blues are the foundation and the under-pinning of a wide spectrum of musical genres.
A particularly gratifying treat for yours truly was the addition of Celluloid. Not only are they a smoking hot band but it was the first time a band comprised solely of Taiwanese players have performed at a Blues Bash since Chicken Rice psycho-billy’d the Blues & Bar-B-Q Bash on that frigid, windy day at the Tiger City Mall in Taichung in March, 2005.
Thanks to all of the Blues artists for making Blues Bash 5 the very best festival the Blues Society on Taiwan has hosted yet. We've heard wonderful comments of support and appreciation from many folks and you all made it happen. As photos, videos and audio recordings of BB5 are processed and edited, they will be posted here at the Blues Bash site www.bsot-bluesbash.com and the website of Blues Society on Taiwan www.bsot.org as well as YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Reverbnation and alivenotdead.
(ed. note: the Money Shot Horns have a story of their own to tell about their 'Hard Day’s Night' itinerary on Nov 15th; after playing an early set at the BB5, they high-speed-railed it to Kaoshiung to play a raucous late show for an SRO crowd. After which, Dooley high-tailed it to CKS for a flight to Vietnam. Now, that’s what I call ‘being on the road’, bro’!)