Have you ever been to Syracuse, N.Y.? In the wintertime, which as the locals know is defined as the period between the extended end of the New York State Fair and Mother's Day? Most of you have not had the pleasure, I can be sure. However, if you have ever been to Siberacuse, you would clearly know why it has become a focal point for the blues on the east coast. How about 19% available sunshine through this period of time? The newspapers actually print the minutes each day that the sun may be seen! How about snowfalls that are measured in feet, not inches? How many? Try twenty feet! Yes, it is true, one season, twenty damn feet of stuff to shovel, slip, slush and suffer through. The blues? Huh! If they weren't invented in the delta, they would have been invented there!
Ok, Kim Lembo, from Syracuse NY, just what do you have for us to listen to? "Ready To Ride," ten tracks, one original, all sung with a sense of urgency and sass that promise to become a heated growl as time moves on. Particularly sharp on the disc are the Otis Rush cover of "Keep On Lovin' Me Baby," and a Tampa Red cover, "Love Crazy." Strong vocal performances on these tracks illustrate the potential Kim has going forward in this choice of profession, already crowded with females. A crowded house usually means something or someone comes around to create distance between themselves and the others. I would suggest that Kim stay in below Zero-cuse as much as possible in the mean season. It'll deepen her sense of desperation and help create even more soulful sounds!
Geography lesson aside, is there ever a reason to go to this forgotten land? It thrived from the dawning of the industrial age up to the 1970's. Many great families in ethnically distinct areas have their roots there. The north side with its large German and Italian flavor. The west end, basically a mini Dublin. The south end, bordering on Onondaga nation, along with a solid African-American history. Me? I grew up on the east side. Inside a melange of ethnic groups, religions, and races, during a time of great unrest and upheaval. Integration, baby! The cast side was THE side for all the action. It's big to fame are the twin educational icons, Syracuse University and LeMoyne College. Yet, it's real alternative beauty lies in a place called the Westcott Nation. This area was the counterculture's nirvana for experimentation of all sorts of things. Music, lifestyles, drugs, theories, psychology, socialism, peace activism, name it. Now, it's as dead as Lake Onondaga, having been replaced by ;the trendy social outlets of Armory Square, which on any given weekend might pump out seven or eight outlets for the live blues music.
Syracuse and the blues? The Erie Canal provided myth and economic strength for generations. Of course, this yielded to the major industries of steel, chemicals, and machining. Which in turn had its own legacy of shame in the most polluted lake in the U.S.A., Lake Onondaga. There is actually a mini-industry that has thrived on the horrors of the lake, countless articles written about its disgusting green slime that serves as the lake bottom. Developers came in as businesses departed (environmental legislation, no doubt! Imagine that!) and loaded the place up with mega malls. We are talking about so many malls, that one of them, Fayetteville Mall, declared bankruptcy! Ever see a vacated mall? When was the last time you heard something like that? The blooze baby, the blues! You can have a Dome dog, to go along with your Dome foam, and watch the local basketball team flirt with greatness only to fall away in March. And still, there will be a 50/50 chance of snow cover on Easter. And about the same on Halloween! So, Kim Lembo, be ready to ride, babe, right out of the former saltmines and into some vocal blues! You've heard of the Chicago blues, welcome to the Salt City Blues!
- Saba
**