The Santa Barbara Blues Society, founded in 1977, is the oldest in the country. The Ventura County Blues Society, meanwhile, is one of the newest such organizations. Gotta start somewhere. The Ventura group holds a weekly blues jam at The Tavern down on Santa Clara Street at a very cool Victorian mansion evidently not yet a law office. Expanding its horizons, the VCBS is heading east for a gig in Moorpark on Sunday starring blues guitarist Chris Cain, with Tommy Marsh and Bad Dog opening along with Kelly's Lot, a blues outfit from down south. It's all happening at the historic old theater on High Street, once upon a time the main drag.

The words "music" and "Moorpark" rarely occur in the same sentence, so perhaps this Sunday event is the start of something big -- Cain is an internationally known bluesman with a double-digit output of albums. The Sunday Blues Matinee Concert Series resumes in August at the same venue with Jimmy Thackery. Read more »