Peace Concert and WA Blues Society Picnic
By Robert Horn
It was also a Peace Concert as well as a Washington Blues Society (WBS) event. Seattle Peace Concerts and the WBS co-sponsor this event each August. So at an event like this everyone got along, including me.
Now I could have had my personal conversations with a friend interrupted continuously by someone who never says "pardon me," and implies that I am not a human being but some stray dog, and I still would not get mad on a day like this. I would never say "Hey: don't disrespect me like this, and stop being so rude…!" That is not something I would ever say or think of saying on such a day. Peace among everyone there was important to me.
The great music began with the Red Hot Blues Sisters
. Terri's guitar was as hot as the thermometer and Suze sang great and then MC'd the whole event. That was a lot of work on a hot summer day.
After the Red Hot Blues Sisters, Mia Vermillion
performed. She is back. She had to take some time off last year but she is ready to let that voice awe people again. She sounded great and will be performing more in the next few months. If you book bands give her a call: check out what is said about her nationally by going online. Blues writers in Illinois, England and elsewhere marvel at what a talent we have right here (her).
Speaking of slide guitar, Nick Vigarino 
then got on stage and even after all these years of hearing him, I still get impressed by what his guitar sounds like. I looked around to see the faces of those who haven't heard him before: it is always nice to see faces that are surprised and astounded by how good it is (I am talking about music here.)
The timeless Patti Allen put on an amazing show next. She was wearing gold pants with metal flakes (no classic car looks that fancy). She was fun to see as well as hear and that is something that has been true of her whole career. She got down with a 
very hot looking lady in the crowd to dance in the audience. The guys were drooling. Some got hot enough to jump into Lake Union (yes I can testify that the water was cold and almost got us cooled down a little). Straight men and gay women agreed completely about how hot the act was: see, it was a day of peace.
The next act was world class. She always is. Duffy Bishop 
and Chris Carlson are not just regional acts but something beyond that. Chris started off with a standup comedy introduction worthy of prime time on Comedy Central leading up to the dynamic volcanic explosive entrance of Duffy who belted out the opening lyrics that made the whole audience gasp in astonishment: that is a normal day for Duffy. She showed the range of notes, scales, comedy and sauciness, and everything else that is so rare among entertainers but part of her usual shows.
and Chris Carlson are not just regional acts but something beyond that. Chris started off with a standup comedy introduction worthy of prime time on Comedy Central leading up to the dynamic volcanic explosive entrance of Duffy who belted out the opening lyrics that made the whole audience gasp in astonishment: that is a normal day for Duffy. She showed the range of notes, scales, comedy and sauciness, and everything else that is so rare among entertainers but part of her usual shows.
I got an interesting photo of her when I was focusing on her from the side of the stage 20 feet from where she was. Some divas act like they hate those with cameras but Duffy has fun with them. She ran over to put her 
face in the lens of the camera and I got a picture with an amazing artistic perspective that covers a whole page or a whole computer screen with just her mouth, her microphone, and some hair over both of them. Duffy did three encores and the audience was begging for more as her ride took her away (picture hundreds running behind the vehicle trying to talk her into more encores.)
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