Eric Sardinas burns the blues
By Naughty Mickie notymickie@earthlink.net
Photos by Keith Durflinger photoguy@dabelly.com

If you recall, I first saw Eric Sardinas at one of the NAMM parties opening for Steve Vai. I was entranced by his masterful guitar work, the charisma he exuded and he was easy on the eyes too. On Saturday, April 21, I trotted out to the Galaxy in Santa Ana, California, with "Photo Guy" Keith Durflinger and his wife, Laurie, both of whom had never seen nor heard of Sardinas before.

When Sardinas hit the stage, he was off and running with some of the hottest blues riffs around today. His bandmates were no slouches either. Paul Loranger started out on a huge standup bass that worked perfectly with the music. He wasn't your average bass player-- Loranger climbed on top of his bass and kept playing! Talk about balance and coordination! Drummer Scott Palacios kept things steady, yet interesting, adding refreshing nuances and defining the tunes.

Everyone was here to see Sardinas, but he shared the stage equally with Loranger and Palacios, giving them their "moments," including bass and drum solos. As the show went on, Sardinas thrilled the girls by taking off his shirt to reveal the large tattoo across his back. Did I mention his pants--  ooooh! nicely fitting black leather pants over cowboy boots and he topped off his attire with a black cowboy hat.

Sardinas stepped off the stage and walked along the edge of the divider that separated the tiered seating. Then he went through the crowd, never missing a note. Back on stage, he had a devilish grin as he proceeded to play his ax with a beer bottle. The best part of this was watching Keith try to keep his camera out of the spray!

For his finale, Sardinas lit his guitar on fire and launched into the last song. He did his set just right, ending it and leaving the audience yelling for more.

If I haven't convinced you yet to check his music out, let me offer this last thought-- Laurie also became a Sardinas convert, enjoying the music and the view, and she even borrowed my CD!

As a postscript to this tale, I must mention the smile that came to my face Monday morning when I opened my e-mail to find a great photo of one of my favorite sides of Sardinas. Keith, what's it gonna cost me this time?!

    For more information visit www.ericsardinas.com