Perry Foster Bluesman

The original ‘BIG DADDY of the Blues’ Perry Foster played Jersey last week and kicked off his island tour with a performance at the Bean Around the World Coffee shop in St. Helier.Perry is one of the driving forces in British Blues, from his early days with the Yarbirds through his ‘Delta Blues Band’ that featured Led Zeplin’s Robert Plant on washboard to playing all the countries biggest blues festivals today.

He’s played with some of the biggest names in Blues over the years and still has a Blues Harp given to him by Sonny Boy Williamson that he plays at every gig.

Despite not being played out through a PA and playing to a noisy coffee shop audience he still owned the stage and demanded the attention of those within ear shot and he sounded fantastic on the radio (the performance was recorded for BBC Radio Jersey).

If you get a chance to see Perry Foster live - take it, and if you get a chance to speak to him do - he has some fantastic stories.

It was great fun listening to him talk about a young Robert Plant playing washboard in his delta blues band or the importance of crossroads to the Blues.

Also if you get a chance to go to Bean Around the World in St. Helier - give the Red Eye a try, one of the best pick-me-ups for only £1.50 I’ve ever tried.

The Red Eye is two shots of espresso plus the delicious house coffee. The house coffee at the Bean is outstanding as is all the coffee at the Bean (need any more of plug here?).

Message for the future

The reason for the gig at the Bean (that saw BBC Radio Jersey broadcast all day from there) was that the Bean celebrates it’s tenth anniversary this week (opening in 1996).

As part of the celebrations there is a week of live music, an open mic night for music, comedy, poetry (anything you like) and a time capsule full of things like coffee, a dvd of people in the coffee shop, info on the Jersey Live music scene and a recording of the BBC Radio Jersey show that features yours truly asking people for their message to the people of 2050.

Most of those messages featured appologies, warnings and in a few cases heart felt words for loved ones of the future. My favourite was probably “sorry we screwed up your world”, it also featured an impassioned plea from the shops owner Dave Stokes calling for people to invest in Ocean Zoo’s (or something along those lines - more details later).

Share/Save