Live Music Review: Apollo Blue at Club Bohemia

APOLLO BLUE, the band – not the automobile – performed on October 23, 2014 at Club Bohemia and issued their underground blues to the appreciative crowd of local musicians and Central Square Cambridge regulars. They call their music “rock and blues, with a bit of psychedelic madness” and that formula is the product of the efforts of George Conduris – Guitar/Vocals, Ralph Bousquet – Bass/Vocals and Tim Offiler – Drums/Vocals

Opening with “In the Red House” – which you can hear on the trio’s website, the distinctive guitar lines of George Conduris play in an eloquent – as well as elegant – fluid fashion. Certainly inspired by Jimi Hendrix’s “Red House,” this tune is more uptempo – more like “Red House” meets Van Morrison and Them’s “Gloria.” Along with covers of Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love,” David Gray’s “Babylon” and Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor” the group played their originals – “Junkyard Blues,” “No Smoking,” “Walkdown” and “All Alone.”

The site mentioned above has these titles for your listening pleasure:
The opening set was from Baltic Sun and included their songs “One Way,” “Camp St.,” “Utopia,” “Supertuned,” “Ryan Adams,” “Moving Constellations,” “Unread,” “Parts Unknown,” “Reminisce” and “Anomaly.” You can find them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BalticSun and hear their pleasant rocking sound on Bandcamp.

Gretchen and the Pickpockets from New Hampshire concluded the night, and they were terrific as well. Hendrix’s “The Wind Cries Mary” is perfect for this group that features Gretchen Klempa (Vocals) Ryan O’Connell (Trumpet, Guitar, Vocals) Richie Smith (Guitar) Mike Klempa (Bass) James McGinness (Drums)

Joe Viglione is the Chief Film Critic at TMRZoo.com. He has written thousands of reviews and biographies for AllMovie.com, Allmusic.com, Gatehouse Media, Al Aronowitz’s The Blacklisted Journal, and a variety of other media outlets. Joe also produces and hosts Visual Radio, a seventeen year old variety show on cable TV which has interviewed Jodie Foster, director/screenwriter David Koepp, Michael Moore, John Cena, comics/actors Margaret Cho, Gilbert Gottfried, Gallagher, musicians Mark Farner and Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad, Ian Hunter of Mott The Hoople, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals, political commentator Bill Press and hundreds of other personalities.