JIMMY'S LAST JAM

Blues Bohemian's Final Encore by the Bay It's last call for Jimmy Sweetwater's cool blues. After 22 years on the Bay Area music scene—playing local dive bars, concert halls and nightclubs, including the now-defunct Sweetwater in Mill Valley—this Bay Area musician is packing up his washboards and harmonicas and moving back to his native New Orleans. Sweetwater has never become a household name, but this colorful bohemian (he also crafts kitschy lamps from toys and cast-off kitchen appliances) has often been tapped by fellow musicians in need of adding a splash of hard-bitten blues or Crescent City authenticity to a recording or stage performance. Over the years, he has lent his talents—both blues harp and percussive washboard—to 39 recordings by Chuck Prophet (Sweetwater played in that neo-psychedelic pioneer's band for a year-and-a-half), Chris Cacavas (of Green on Red), San Francisco punk goddess Penelope Houston (of the seminal Avengers), Poor Man's Whiskey, Pushing the Norton and Sweetwater's current band, the Mission Three, to name a few. "My time in the Bay Area has been a great chapter in my life," Sweetwater notes. "The musicians and friends I have made here have been one of a kind—I am truly blessed." Next week, more than two dozen of those musicians will bid farewell to Sweetwater at what promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime evening of thrash, twang and thunder (accent on the twang). The cast of players includes Adam Traum (son of Dylan sideman and Greenwich Village folk mainstay Happy Traum), Penelope Houston and her longtime collaborator Pat Johnson, Toshio Hirano, JimBo Trout and the Fishpeople, Bone Cootes, Bill Foss, and Misisipi Mike and Cree Rider of the Mission Three, among others. But despite the friends, the music and the memories, Sweetwater says, the siren song of the Gulf Coast is calling. "I'm heading back down South to bring my music to the people," he adds. "I also want to help clean up the oil spill. People need to hear what I have to say musically and now is the time for me to do it—I'm not getting any younger. "Life goes by quick and now is the time to live, love and play music." —by Greg Cahill COMING SOON Farewell to Jimmy Sweetwater: The Last Schmaltz will be held Thursday, July 22, at 8pm, at the Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell St., San Francisco. $14, $38.95 (with dinner). 415/885-8750. SPIN OF THE WEEK The Very Best of Jefferson Airplane, Live (RCA/Legacy) Jefferson Airplane OK, 2010 doesn't feel like the Summer of Love (though you might be just about as broke as you were during those salad days), but that doesn't mean you shouldn't get in touch with your inner freak. Former Marinite Grace Slick, in all her icy vocal glory, kicks off this edition of RCA/Legacy's new Setlist series with a stone-cold version of "Somebody to Love," backed by Jack Casady's rumbling bass line, the underrated percussion of Spencer Dryden and Jorma Kaukonen's soaring guitar riffs. All that and Paul Kantner and Marty Balin, too. Most of the 12 tracks were recorded between 1967 and 1972 at the Fillmore auditoriums in San Francisco and New York. There's lots of early material (including a sinewy "White Rabbit" and a funky "Plastic Fantastic Lover") and the set includes a pair of previously unreleased live recordings. This eco-friendly enhanced CD includes a digital booklet. What are you waitin' for? Let your freak flag fly!—GC Tap the washboard for Greg at gcahill51@gmail.com.