Surprise!

We haven't been to hear any live music for what seems like ages, so when we saw that local restaurant Coco Sweet was having a blues evening, we reserved immediately. We'd never heard of Victor Brox, but that's our loss, not his. He's been singing the blues since the 1960s. According to Wikipedia, "he has been described by Jimi Hendrix and Tina Turner as their favourite white blues singer", and has worked with ... Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Gillan of Deep Purple, Charlie Mingus, Memphis Slim, Dr. John, Alexis Korner, John Mayall, and Keith Moon, among others. And at 76 he's still going strong.

What a great evening. I love music in small venues where you're sitting practically next to the performers. The restaurant was busy and the musicians played intermittently while we ate, occasionally sitting down at the next table for a glass of wine and a bite to eat themselves. When they got to their last number, restaurateur Bruno, who had been bustling about all evening helped by only one waiter and two cooks in the kitchen, bounded onto the stage and sang a great impromptu blues duo with Victor. An evening that put a smile on everyone's faces. I can't share a sample of Bruno's excellent singing, but here's Victor. And an interview with Victor reminiscing about jamming with Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Oh, and according to this interview, as well as composing his own material he's written an entire opera based on the life of Hieronymous Bosch.

As you can see, lighting conditions were far from ideal, not helped by an orange T-shirt. I did my best!