Residents of SCV lined up in Towsley Canyon in search of one thing: their groove.
Dozens of people danced to the five different blues bands that performed in honor of International Blues Day on Saturday. The concert, called BluesFEST, was part of the LA SummerFEST series.
“(People) find the band’s groove, then they live in that for a while then they go home and find their own,” said Chuck Strong, the president of the Santa Clarita Valley Blues Society, which helped organize the festival. “That (is the) thing that moves the audience.”
And the audience was moved both literally and figuratively on Saturday as people jigged and jugged to bands like Blue Devils, as they covered their own material and classics such as Bonnie Raitt’s “Angel from Montgomery.”
One person who was certainly moved by the music was Marcia Riva, from Canyon Country. This was her first time at BluesFEST and she was swaying to the notes wafting from the stage the entire time.
“Oh my gosh, it’s great, it’s soulful,” she said. “It moves me inside and outside.”
Strong was enthusiastic to offer SCV this concert for the fifth year, and was looking forward to seeing all the bands find their groove throughout the night.
But Strong had to find his own groove, as his band, Chuck Strong and SRBQ, was playing Saturday night as well.
“Most people don’t know what (groove) is,” he said. “Groove is that thing that you find when you first fall in love…or when you hit that home run…or that special thing.”
