“I MET GOD AT THE CROSSROADS TIME AND TIME AGAIN”THE FIRST TIME WAS WHEN I MET MY PARENTS AD AND MARLIES. BORN FROM REALLY GREAT AND BEAUTIFUL PARENTS AD DE JONGH EN MARLIES BREUGELMANS I GREW UP IN NISPEN TILL 1995. BORN AAN DE SPOORSTRAAT 144 THE HOUSE OF MY GREATGRANDFATHER BREUGELMANS, THE FATHER OF HENK BREUGELMANS IN ROOSENDAAL (ROSEDALE / VALLEY OF ROSES) THURSDAY 04:00 31ST OF JULY 1975 . I MET ELMORE JAMES VAN DODEWAARD AT DE MUZIEKSCHOOL ROOSENDAAL OLD GREAT BUILDING WITH BEAUTIFUL STEINWAY GRAND CONCERT PIANO IN A PARADISE GARDEN WITH CROCUSSES IN SPRING WOW!!!  (PLAYS ON THE ALBUMS ROADTRIPPIN’ & BLUESWORLD & DRIVES A TRUCK FOR HEEREN) IN ROOSENDAAL AND THROUGH HIM AND HIS FATHER TOON VAN DODEWAARD WHO ALSO HAD TO WORK AT PHILIPS AS A FORKLIFT TRUCKDRIVER AND HIS BAND IN THE WEEKENDS WAS MC ANTHONY’S BLUES GANG,  REALLY GREAT INDONESIAN CURACAO DUTCH DELTA BLUES. THEY JUST RELEASED THE RECORD “WHAT THE HELL!” AND PLAYED AS SUPPORT FOR JUNIOR WELLS IN DONGEN ON 9-5-1995. JUNIOR WELLS TOLD THAT HE ONCE SMOKED A JOINT BUT THEN FELL OFF THE STAIRS AND NEVER AGAIN IS WHAT HE THOUGHT! HE SIGNED A GREAT WHITE T-SHIRT OF MY LATELY DECEASED GRANDFATHER JANUS DE JONGH  WITH A BIG 9-5 JUNIOR WELLS WHICH LATER WAS DESTROYED IN A FIRE.

I WAS PICKING UP OLD PAPER A FEW TIMES WITH A TRUCK FOR THE NISPEN HARMONY ST. CECILIA AND STARTED WORKING AT CHARLES GOOSSENS LAURIERKWEKERIJ GOVA NISPEN WHOSE FATHER HARRY GOOSSENS, MY GRANDFATHER HENK  BREUGELMANS HAD WORKED FOR A ONE TIME HOUSE PAINT JOB. HENK HAD IMPRESSED HARRY WHILE WHEN MY GRANDFATHER PAINTED THE OUTSIDE IT LASTED MUCH LONGER. HE LEARNED IT FROM HIS FATHER (WHOSE NAME I’LL ASK MY MOTHER MARLIES) BREUGELMANS. ANYWAY I HAD TO DOUBLE CLASSES ’CAUSE I WAS HAVING LOT’S OF FUN AND SO I MET PIANIST HARMEN FRAANJE. WHOSE FATHER JAN FRAANJE GAVE ME THE VINYLS OF CUBY AND THE BLIZZARDS “GROETEN UIT GROLO” & “KING OF THE WORLD” (THE LAST ONE IS A JOHN LEE HOOKER SONG.)

THEN I MET KAZ LUX, THE SINGER OF OF BRAINBOX (WITH JAN AKKERMAN, RUDY DE QUELHOE, JOHN  SCHUURSMA) THROUGH PETER ‘PEET’ VAN TILBURG IN OOSTERHOUT IN 1996, THEN I MET PETER GREEN IN HAARLEM IN 2001 AND MICHAEL DE JONG (EX JIMMY REED BANDMEMBER “IT’S NOT ABOUT THE SONGS BUT THE LIFE THAT’S BEHIND IT.”) IN 2002 AND THEN ON ON JANUARY 8TH 2004 I MET HARRY ‘CUBY’ MUSKEE IN THEATRE DE AMER AMEN………IN MEMPHIS RALPH WAS INVITED FOR THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF BLUES LEGEND ROBERT JOHNSON BY TANYA SCOTT FROM JACKSON, BUT HE COULD NOT GO MARCH 18TH 2011 ‘CAUSE RALPH HAD OBLIGATIONS WITH THE CRAZY HEARTS FOR A CONCERT AT THE RHYTHM & BLUES NIGHT OOSTERPOORT GRONINGEN. NOW AS MY OWN MANAGER I WOULD GO.

THE TWO BLUESWORLD ALBUMS DEDICATED TO ELMORE JAMES VAN DODEWAARD WHO ONCE LONG AGO IN 1992 RECEIVED ME AS A TALENT AND TOOK ME ON STAGE AT THE JAZZ SOCIETY DORDRECHT WITH TOON HIS FATHER’S BAND MC ANTHONY’S BLUESGANG. THEIR ALBUM WHAT THE HELL WAS JUST RELEASED. DID A FEW GIGS TILL 1995. THANK YOU EL! THANK YOU TOON! THANK YOU ARJEN! THANK YOU BART! MC ANTHONY’S BLUESGANG. 

I WAS PLAYING A FEW YEARS MOSTLY WITH A BEST OF ELMORE JAMES ALBUM FROM MY 15TH TILL MY 17TH TO PRACTICE MY GUITAR SKILLS ME IN SPANISH TUNING, ONE CD, AND THEN EL WALKED IN…

MY FIRST CD I BOUGHT WAS OF THE ROLLING STONES MADE IN THE SHADE, WHILE I KNEW A LOT THEIR SONGS UNTIL STICKY FINGERS FROM MY FATHER AD’S VINYL COLLECTION. SECOND CD I BOUGHT WAS “THE BEST OF ELMORE JAMES”, THEN I BOUGHT, BEST OF CHESS CD 1, BEST BLUESMASTERS 2CD, MUDDY WATERS’ LONDON SESSIONS AND PLAYED A LOT WITH THOSE CEEDEES! ON MY RED E-GUITAR KIMAXE BOUGHT AT VAN GORP MUSIC CENTRE ROOSENDAAL. AFTER SOME GREAT LESSONS OF HANS REIJS. AND LATER ACOUSTIC WITH THE GUITAR I GOT FROM JEFF VANEERDEWEGH FROM ESSEN BELGIUM WHO INVITED ME TO PLAY SOLO GUITAR IN HIS BAND THE FURIOUS FREAKINDALES WITH JOS & CARL. WE HAD GREAT FUN PLAYING COVERS OF TOM WAITS, CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL, JERRY LEE LEWIS, CHUCK BERRY, LOU REED, KEVIN AYERS…& MANY  MORE. JUST THE 4 OF US.

WITH THAT ACOUSTIC GUITAR I STARTED PLAYING LOUISIANA RED. AND ALSO PLAYING THE BLUESHARP AND THAT’S WHAT ELMORE HEARD IN DE MUZIEKSCHOOL ROOSENDAAL 1992.

FIRST 5 SONGS OLD YEARS EVE DORDRECHT WERE: 1. WHEN MY MAMA WAS LIVING — A LOUISIANA RED SONG   |                    2. ROADRUNNER — A BO DIDDLEY SONG   |                                 3.  SOMETHING ELSE — A EDDIE COCHRAN SONG                         4. AROUND AND AROUND — A CHUCK BERRY SONG                  5. OH CAROL A CHUCK BERRY SONG

THANKS TO ELMORE & TOON I LATER MET JUNIOR WELLS BACKSTAGE IN THE RED LION IN DONGEN. HE SIGNED MY WHITE SHIRT THAT HAD BELONGED TO MY GRANDFATHER DE JONGH IN THE OLD PEOPLE’S HOME AND THAT I OFTEN WORE WITH A BIG BLACK MARKER BEAUTIFULLY WITH 9-5 JUNIOR WELLS. SND THE BACK WAS SIGNED BY THE DRUMMER. I FORGOT HIS NAME…ANYBODY KNOWS? THE T-SHIRT WAS LATER DESTROYED IN A FIRE, BUT JAN FRAANJE, THE FATHER OF PIANIST COMPOSER ORGANISER HARMEN FRAANJE HAS SOME BEAUTIFUL ANALOGUE PICTURES OF OUR GIG AT THEATRE DE KRING IN ROOSENDAAL 1995. HE GAVE ME THE VINYL OF GROETEN UIT GROLLO