Guitarist Dorian Michael spent years perfecting his honky-tonk electric guitar technique, followed by a period of solo fingerstyle guitar. Now he’s formed a duo with fellow guitarist Kenny Blackwell, and the pair performs at Boulevard Music at the weekend. Michael told the News about what they have in store for Culver City…
When did you start playing and performing?
I started playing guitar at age seven. I started making money at it when I was 15 and played in a band that played at every teen function in Culver City. I taught at a music store that, in 1968, was down the street from where Boulevard Music is now. The store owner would have me come play guitar with him when he was out playing country music in the finest of Culver City’s dive bars and back then there were a bunch. I was well underage but back then it was a different world. I learned a lot that way.
Describe your sound/style?
I took to playing blues as a kid, I liked the fact that it was the most grownup music i knew. So all my playing is rooted in that. Even when it’s not blues music per se, I am still aware that blues is my vocabulary, so to speak. The gig at Boulevard is acoustic and that shapes how Kenny Blackwell and I will sound when we do a duo gig. We naturally lean towards a folkier mindset when we have acoustic instruments in hand.
What are your career highlights so far?
I moved out of L.A about 28 years ago, Kenny did the same a couple years later. We didn’t know each other in L.A. but met in San Luis Obispo. We started playing as a duo and traveled for a decade throughout the western states and the midwest, lots of gigs in Michigan, Illinois and that region. We have recorded two CDs, one studio and one live. They are instrumental guitar and mandolin albums. What we play these days is more oriented toward vocal music, though we think of ourselves as instrumentalists first and singers second, the stuff we are interested in these days is bluesier, rootsier and grittier and doing what one is interested in is pretty much the point. It’ll be a mix of music that we enjoy digging into. And Kenny’s mandolin playing is truly virtuosic, he’s not hemmed in by any genre.
Have you performed at Boulevard Music before? Any memories?
This will be our fourth time to play at Boulevard Music. It’s a great place for a concert, a real comfortable feel there. The last time was about four years ago so we are looking forward to this gig, since it’s been a while. The last time we played there, friends we hadn’t seen for years came and sat in so there were some special moments that night.
What can the audience expect from the set this time?
Because we are both playing in various bands and in various genres, the duo thing doesn’t happen that often so it’s a special gig for us when it does, and we know that as a result, there will be musical surprises and that’s what we look forward to.
Dorian Michael & Kenny Blackwell perform at 8 p.m. on Saturday, November 18 at Boulevard Music. Go to boulevardmusic.com for more information about the show.
Elsewhere this week
The Culver Hotel will be hosting the likes of Sylvia & the Rhythm Boys, and Scotty Bramer. Go to culverhotel.com for more info.
There’s a full program of music at the Cinema Bar this week, as usual. The Hot Club of Los Angeles plays every Monday, and Wednesdays are singer/songwriter and open mic night. Other artists performing this week include Ian Taylor, Sarah Melson, Johnny San Francisco & Mike Telega, Groovy Rednecks and Coyote Moon. Go to thecinemabar.com for more info.