BLIND BLACKIE

BOBBY BISHOPBorn in 1948 and raised in Cambridge, Mass and L.A. Calif. Bobby was travelling around the country at a very early age. He got the Blues around 1967 when he started playing the harmonica and singing, around the Cambridge scene. Early influences were The Chambers Brothers, John Mayall, Eric Clapton and The Bluesbreakers. Then he found out that the Blues didn’t come from England, and started listening to people like Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson, Bo Carter, Howlin Wolf, Lightnin Hopkins and some of the other legends of American Blues music.Over the years he played in many bands including The Mike Dooner Group, First Street, The Senate, The John Greer Band and many more.He started playing the Saxophone in 1969 after his brother Dan lost his front teeth in a hockey fight and gave him his first sax when he could no longer blow. In the early 1970’s he shared an apartment with 3 other musicians who were all students at Berklee School of Music in Boston. He was the one with the job but he did manage to begin a serious study of music, including ; theory and technique of the sax as well as Arranging and Composition. This led to a career in horn sections with a variety of groups, including the Rock & Roll band, Runaway Max, The Dangle Brothers, the Reggae band, Jah Bone, the Latin Jazz band, Nuestro, and the R&B band, Misbehaven.He always maintained his love for the Blues even as he was backing up artists like guitarist, Steve McPeters, vocalist, Debby Olivas, guitarist, Bobby Murphy and keyboardist Rod Robles.He has performed on countless recordings and is a much sought after session player with a wide variety of talents from sax to harmonica to percussion as well as lead and background vocals, rhythm guitar, bass and even mandolin.His current project and first love is the exciting blues band known as Blind Blackie. He is the lead singer, harmonica player as well as sax player, horn arranger and producer. In fact he even does the dishes and takes out the trash.JOHNNY SHAKES knows;“You don’t think the Blues, you FEEL the Blues.” Johnny Shakes comes from a “working class” neighborhood in GREENPOINT - BROOKLYN NY. His family never had much but they had each other. Growing up on the streets of Brooklyn, it educated him with “street smarts,” something no book will teach you. By age 5, he had his first guitar. He had no idea how to play it, but he would just strum it. He was left-handed yet strummed it upside down. When Johnny reached his early teens, he had a right-handed guitar and restrung it left-handed. He was already listening to the Blues, for out of all the music he had been introduced to, the Blues spoke to him. He started to buy popular Blues music of the time. He was thrilled to hear Eric Clapton and “Cream” playing the Blues but when he started to read the titles and authors of these “Blues” songs they were not written by the band, Cream. He saw names like Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and on and on… He started to look for records on the Blues; Old Blues - REAL BLUES. There weren’t many around at that time in his neighborhood. So he continued to listen to the “New” guys playing the Blues. Johnny Winter, Jimi Hendrix, Mike Bloomfield, John Mayall, The Allman Bros., on and on… In the early 1970’s he was introduced to the band, “Cactus.” The guitarist Jim McCarty with his ‘fast” licks, rolled Johnny’s socks down. He was now finding Old Blues records in record stores in Greenwich Village. His first “real” guitar was a 1968 left-handed Gibson SG (of course it was stolen). John was NOW off playing the Blues. He would sit in his room for hours just playing the guitar. He was and still is self taught. John was given the name, “Johnny Shakes” because when he plays the Blues, he shakes all over… By the time he attended college Pratt Institute, he was ready to devote his life to art. But once the “Blues” gets under your skin, it NEVER goes away. He met a group of Black musicians at college. They decided to start to “jam” together at beer bashes the college sponsored. Soon, they were the “house” band. Nine Black guys and the tall and skinny white kid; Johnny Shakes. He was soon given the name, “the White B.B. King.” A name that humbled him. In his twenties, he had the honor of playing guitar for the Shorty Jackson Band. He and his friend Mike Lattimore who played trumpet would travel up to Harlem to practice. At the time Shorty Jackson was 91 years old. Shorty played with Louie Armstrong amongst other great Blues men and woman. John became friends with Eddie Barefield, who played in Shorty’s band. Eddie played Saxophone for Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald and other great musicians. It was a time, Johnny will never forget. He felt so honored to be playing with such legends of the Blues. Even though Johnny left the Blues, the Blues NEVER left him. Now, after all these years, he’s back doing what’s in his heart– - - = = = = = = = = = in his SOUL - - THE BLUES. And at the end of the day - when all is said and done; - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -- NEVER - EVER lose your "sense of humor..."