An Outsider’s View on the Blues

An Outsider’s View on the Blues

by Mitchell L. Hillman, Jr.

With the exception of the recordings of Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf and a little Muddy Waters, I know nothing about the blues. It’s an enormous genre of music that has simply slipped me by. Sure, I’m intimate with blues laden rock’n’roll—Zeppelin, Clapton, the Stones, John Mayall etc.—but that’s as far as I went toward the seductive sounds founded in the Southland. Because of this I decided to go to KoKoMo’s Monday Night Blues just to check out what it’s all about.

First of all, if you’re going to Monday Night Blues be sure to get there early—if you have any interest in sitting down. The night I was there I was lucky to get a seat about six inches from the stage, thanks to MODE photographer (and blues man himself) Michael Easton. While Michael danced around like a photographic marionette, leaping at any and all opportunities for a cool shot, my companion Julie Neff sat beside me coaching me a bit on the blues.

The band was the Krypton City Blues Revue and the vibes were wonderful.

Few feelings can compare to the smoky experience of sitting in a bar, eating hot wings and Cajun’ fries, while drinking beer and listening to the blues belted out by a beautiful bald behemoth of a man who knows them through and through. That gentle giant was Mitch Ivanoff and that evening, for me anyway, he was the personification of the blues. I didn’t seem to be the only one that was thoroughly drenched in the cool tunes cranked out by the Krypton City boys (and all who joined them on stage). Everyone was moving and grooving, even the Bud Girls.

The crowd itself was nearly as entertaining as the band. This is not a typical crowd of passive onlookers who clap to be polite, this crowd is hungry for the blues—craving the gritty texture of deep delta dreams. A friendly, frenzied and fun-loving group of souls, from college students to octogenarians and all points between, the crowd just wanted to get down and revel in the music.

Presented by WTPA 93.5-FM, Monday Night Blues at KoKoMo’s is Central Pennsylvania’s longest running music promotion, according to the host of this weekly tradition, WTPA on-air personality Ed Coffey. However this fall the blues will move to Tuesday, in concession to the National Football League’s refusal to move Monday Night Football to the next night. Look for that move the Tuesday following the first regular season game of Monday Night Football or listen to WTPA 93.5-FM for more details.

If you even suspect that you have an interest in the blues or just want to see great live, local music you may want to take a stroll down to KoKoMo’s and check it out. The only thing you’ll regret is that you haven’t been going weekly.