Dave Fertig

About Me

I was born (1956) on the south side of Chicago, raised in Washington DC. My folks (radical lefty activists)had blues and jazz and many other types of music around the house, including live players such as Big Bill Broonzy, Oscar Brown Jr, Guy Carawan, Bernice Reagon, etc., and many well-known activists from the civil rights, economic justice and anti-war movements. There were fundraising parties with live music all the time.

I never got musical training but I always loved the blues. I'm told Big Bill Broonzy used to play with me when I was still in diapers, I only hope he left more on me than I left on him! I spent many hours at home listening to blues and jazz records, not learning songs or memorizing who played what with whom, just digging the sound.

I left home in my early years, hitch-hiking and hopping freight-trains, seeking adventure. One day in 1970 I came across a Hohner (Golden Melody, I think) in A. Playing it was fun, at least for me, and it made me look innocent while hitch-hiking, so I got more rides. It was some time before drivers began to actually appreciate my playing.

Logan Lee Glascoe, now in Arcata, CA, formerly of Wash., DC, is a natural musician. He and I lived and traveled together around the US for several years (1972-1976). Logan, who happens to be extraordinarily talented musically, taught me most of what I know about playing blues harp.

In the mid-1980's I started regular jam sessions, playing under an old elmtree in my backyard at Temple City, California.

Now there is the loose-knit, anarcho-syndicalist (look it up!) Elmtree Blues Society, where, "the only dues you pay are the blues you play, so if you want to stay you gotta play at an Elmtree Blues Jam!" We now have perhaps 200 "members", in SoCal and in Occitan, France (where we lived during 2005-2006). http://elmtreeblues.org/

Elmtree Blues Society jams erupt all over the place, usually at people's homes (mostly in the U.S.) but also at restaurant/bar venues (mostly in France). We often have 30 to 45 players, taking turns and sharing, playing until the sun goes down, or until it comes back up again.

Currently I'm also in a band "Jetstream", see our myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/jetstreamblues This band has tons of fun playing blues and rock, jazz and folk, we cover the waterfront with some really fine players, who deign to let me play. I also sit in now and then with my good friend Chicago Red (http://chicagored.com/ )

I reside in Pasadena, California, with my wife Louisa, who plays classical flute and paints beautifully, and who makes an honest living designing hugely complex systems.

Interests

Everything is political, so instead, let's talk about food and wine, which is also political...

How about (not in this order) music, societal change, anthropology, travel, literature, pocket billiards, boating, politics, civil rights, community access to media, food (cooking, eating, and discussing) wine, beer, distilled spirits, marijuana and other innocent natural products, cinema, sex and did I say food and wine?