STEVEPIERSON.COM

Blues Head at Hawaiian Hut
is a band worth listening to

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By Burl Burlingame
bburlingame@starbulletin.com

There's a fair amount of low-level blues-fan undertow concerning new artist Steve Pierson and his band Blues Head, playing New Year's Eve at Hawaiian Hut. Originally a working member of Washington, D.C.'s notorious Grave Robbers Blues Band, Pierson relocated to California in the '90s to become a solo act.

Except that he didn't.

ASSOCIATED PRESS James Brown, shown in a photo from Woodstock 1999, performs at 9 p.m. New Year's Eve at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom. Tickets are $100 to $150 for reserved seating, and $85 general (10 percent discount for military personnel with valid ID). Several dinner-and-room packages are also available for the event. Call 949-4321 for more information. Brown, depending on who you consult, celebrated his 68th (or 73rd) birthday last May, and has been an American music legend for nearly 50 years having scored Top 10 hits with "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag (Part 1)," "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "It's A Man's Man's Man's World."

Instead, Pierson surrounded himself with fabulous musicians and created the Blues Head band, which currently consists of lead guitarist Laurence Juber (Wings, Grammy Winner, 1999 Fingerstyle Guitarist of the Year), bassist Gerald Johnson (Steve Miller Band, Crosby Stills and Nash, Greg Allman, Dave Mason), keyboarder Michael Murphy (REO Speedwagon, Joe Walsh, the Blue Hawaiians) and drummer Gary Mallaber (Steve Miller Band, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Money).

Blues Revue magazine's recent "Best of the New Breed" issue named Pierson and the band as artists to watch out for.

STEVE PIERSON.COM Steve Pierson split from the Grave Robbers Blues Band in the '90s to become a solo act.

Blues Head is currently tearing up the Los Angeles blues scene on the strength of its self-titled debut album, of which Blues Revue notes: "The band is superb. ... Pierson demonstrates serious vocal talent. ... Steve Pierson is a name you'll hear more of in the future ... a songwriter able to inventively weave blues elements into rock tunes and folky ballads, as well as to tackle the genre head-on."

Pierson shares lead guitar duties with Jubar and writes most of the band's music, traditional smokers with roots in A-list artists -- Eric Clapton, the Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Little Feat, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert Collins, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Taj Mahal, Robert Cray. Pierson's guitar playing is praised; his singing is exclaimed about.

Steve Pierson in concert Place: Hawaiian Hut at Ala Moana Hotel, presented by the Hawaii Blues Society, with opening act Bluzilla Time: 8:30 p.m. Monday Admission: $30 ($20 for HBS members) Call: 864-6529

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