From Florida to Lower Lake, visitors to Downtown Blues call event 'Awesome'
Thursday, September 1, 2005
By John Waters Jr.
EDITOR
When Elvin Bishop took the stage at Saturday's Calistoga's Downtown Blues event and stated, "Johnny Nocturn and them really got things hoppin,' around here," he was not really accurate -- it was actually Ron Thompson and the Resistors who got things going much earlier in the day.
"I heard about the event on XFM, a satellite radio station I get up in Lower Lake," said Steve Tulanian, a lawyer from Lake County. "If there had been more advertising, this event would have pulled a lot more people from Lake County, for sure. It's awesome."
Tulanian said he loves music, and never heard of Ron Thompson until he started listening to the satellite radion station.
"But I've become a real fan, so when they announced he was coming to Calistoga, I had to be here," he said. "I knew that if we came here we'd get great music and not a lot of crowds -- it's been a great event."
Washington Street from First Streey to Lincoln Avenue was packed with visitors to Calistoga who reverberated the same jazzed up opinion of the first of its kind event, which, later in the day featured performances by the Johnny Nocturne Band and Bishop -- sponsored by Calistoga Spa Hot Springs and Bennett Lane Wineries, respectively. Both business are based in Calistoga.
Blues wasn't all there was to the day, though, and that was just fine for Jennifer Kelly, a drywall sales woman who works for U.S. Gypsum in Pompano Beach, Fla.
"We came here to do the wine thing," she said. "But my husband read about this on the Internet and wanted to come listen to some music -- I'm originally from Chicago, so I know the blues."
Kelly said she wasn't just here for the music, though.
"This is like, spa city, so I really wanted to do the whole spa thing, but instead, I came over here (to Washington Street) and was able to get a much more intense massage than I would have guessed while my husband is over there listening to the blues.
"I think this is a cool little town," Kelly continued. "One of the great things about the town is its quaint look. It's not really all cutesy, and has a few oddities. If it weren't for the oddities, it'd be just another tourist thing."
Once the Washington Street venue closed up, at 4 p.m., the party -- for VIPs, sponsors and mucisians -- moved to Migel's Bar & Gril for a mixer then off to the Silverado Ace Hardware Parking lot where a giant pavilion was set up and music lovers were pumped up by Nocturne and Bishop.
"We won't have a definited tally on the success of the event for a couple of weeks," said Calistoga Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sue Mauro as vendors were taking down their booths on Washington Street. "But I feel like this was a much more successful event than last year's."
This year's event replaced last year's three-day jazz and music festival held at the Napa County Fairgrounds. That event was not as well-attended at the chamber had hoped it would be, and left the organization in a financial pinch. Following the success of its Mud, Mustard and Music event in the spring, the Chamber developed this program in an attempt to duplicate the results.
Other local sponsors of the event included the, Weekly Calistogan, Sterling Vineyards, Mount View Hotel & Spa, Roman Spa Resort, River Rock Casino, Golden Haven Hot Springs, Lincoln Ave. Spa, Calistoga Mineral Water, Stevenson Manor Inn, Calistoga Village Inn & Spa, Chelsea Garden Inn, Calistoga Ranch and Indian Springs Resort.