Lynwood Slim

A few weeks back bluesmen Junior Watson and Lynwood Slim were trying to decide what to call their new band. According to singer/harmonica player Slim, "It was hard to figure because everybody had already used every cool car name that's available, and we didn't want to call ourselves the Pintos. So we thought we'd just call it the Junior Watson-Lynwood Slim Band and see what happens with that." What does happen should be pretty interesting.

Although bluesman Lynwood Slim lives in relative obscurity in North Hollywood, it's a different story when he goes to Europe. "Over in Europe, people line up to see me," Slim said. "Here, I'm just a meatball--a well-done meatball." Slim, a.k.a. Richard Duran, grew up in the Lynwood community of Los Angeles, but during the course of his musical career has lived in many places, including Chicago, New York, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Orange County.

Although bluesman Lynwood Slim lives in relative obscurity in North Hollywood, it's a different story when he goes to Europe. "Over in Europe, people line up to see me," Slim said. "Here, I'm just a meatball--a well-done meatball." Slim, a.k.a. Richard Duran, grew up in the Lynwood community of Los Angeles, but during the course of his musical career has lived in many places, including Chicago, New York, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Orange County.

The blues came up the Mississippi from the Delta, took a left turn at Chicago, tripped on the Rockies, and evidently landed in a dark glass office building in Santa Ana. Since it began in fields and road houses early in this century, blues music has found some curious abodes, from pristine Swiss festival sites to neon Japanese nightclubs.

The blues came up the Mississippi from the Delta, took a left turn at Chicago, tripped on the Rockies, and evidently landed in a dark glass office building in Santa Ana. Since it began in fields and road houses early in this century, blues music has found some curious abodes, from pristine Swiss festival sites to neon Japanese nightclubs.

The Doheny Blues Festival returns May 20-21 with headliners Bobby "Blue" Bland, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Mavis Staples and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. The lineup also features nationally touring blues and R&B performers including Booker T. Jones, Koko Taylor & Her Blues Machine, Eric Burdon & the New Animals, Charlie Musselwhite as well as such local blues stalwarts as Kid Ramos & Lynwood Slim and others to be announced. Shows will run 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

ANAHEIM 8pm Pop Music Ozomatli closes out the year with a concert in Anaheim. After the first of the year, the L.A.-based group will start work on the follow-up to the debut album that's placed the band near the forefront of rock en espanol. * Ozomatli, Sun Theatre, 2200 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim. 8 p.m. $25. (714) 712-2700.

Etta James tops an eclectic lineup of blues and zydeco acts performing in September at the first Orange County Blues Festival, event organizers announced Tuesday. Some of the 19 acts at the three-day event hail from the dance-hall circuit of Southwest Louisiana and the legendary Chicago blues club circuit. Southern California's blues community will also be well represented, festival organizers said.

Could there really be room for another blues festival in Southern California? The answer from the well-attended first two days of the Orange County Blues Festival is a resounding yes. The new event, held in Heritage Park overlooking Dana Point Harbor, lacked the array of headliners that the 14-year-old Long Beach Blues Festival offered earlier this month, but was no less heavy with strong performances.

Ever since David "Kid" Ramos tossed his Brylcreem-weighted hat back into the ring of the local music scene a few months back, things have been hopping again for the blues guitarist. His band, Kid Ramos and the Big Rhythm Combo, has been tearing up county and L.A. clubs, he and band-mate Lynwood Slim were flown to Minneapolis to record a live album, and it's starting to look like old times in more ways than one.

A few weeks back bluesmen Junior Watson and Lynwood Slim were trying to decide what to call their new band. According to singer/harmonica player Slim, "It was hard to figure because everybody had already used every cool car name that's available, and we didn't want to call ourselves the Pintos. So we thought we'd just call it the Junior Watson-Lynwood Slim Band and see what happens with that." What does happen should be pretty interesting.

The second solo album by one of Orange County's finest guitarists plays like an episode of the vintage TV show "This Is Your Life." But the Anaheim-based David "Kid" Ramos isn't passively watching people from his past and present walk on the set to tell stories about him; he tells his own delightful story about where he's been and what he's learned in 20 years as a blues musician. Ramos' professional life has had three phases so far. The first, from 1980 to 1988, was with the James Harman band.