BY DOUG MACKEY for WEEKLY VOLCANO 1/6/26 |
When six, count ’em, SIX local bands hit the Blue Mouse stage for LTD Presents’ Winter Mini-Fest Thursday, January 15, they will be doing double duty for their presenters, entertaining all who attend and raising funds to make the second annual Downtown Tacoma Blues Festival in August 2026 a reality.
“It’s kind of an open house and an invitation for people to find out about the downtown event and to get involved,” says Lorenzo Farrell, the “L” of LTD Presents. The “T” is singer Tanya Hodel, and the “D” is drummer David Hudson, all three of whom will be performing with various acts on the bill.
Of the big August event, Farrell says, “LTD is doing the organizing, but we need and want and love community participation because this is a festival for the whole city and the whole community, and the more involvement the better. The more the merrier, you know?”
More on how one can get involved later.
Last year’s inaugural Downtown Tacoma Blues Festival was, by any estimation, a qualified success. “We really hit a home run, and we’re coming back for a second year, bigger and better,” Farrell assures me. “It’s going to be three days instead of two. We’re going to close off Broadway for one day again, Saturday, August 15. Then we’re going to have indoor events August 14 and August 16.” Like last year, “there’s going to be a limited number of VIP tickets, but basically, we want to keep it free to the public and have a world-class festival, bringing in national and internationally known bands. That costs money, basically.” Thus, the fundraiser.
“Last year we had D.K. Harrell and Danielle Nicole as our headliners. Those are massive artists. We had West Coast artists and local artists as well, so it’s going to be something similar to that.”
This Thursday’s show, however, will be strong enough to stand on its own, regardless of the Mini-Fest’s good intentions toward its larger summer festival sibling. Consisting of “local bands that are kind of in the LTD orbit,” as Farrell characterizes them, the bill encompasses blues, jazz, funk, rock, and Americana/folk genres. “We wanted to throw a party here in the dead of winter for the local audience to get kind of jazzed about what’s coming up in August.”
Farrell’s own project, Queen Street Gang, will kick things off. “We’re an instrumental soul jazz trio,” Farrell says. “I play a lot of vintage keyboard sounds: Hammond organ, electric piano, synthesizer.” Known for their monthly appearances at Tacoma’s beloved Cider and Cedar, the band features Zak Stoldt on drums and Tom Boyle on guitar. Farrell covers bass lines on keys with a nimble left hand.
Next up will be award-winning local songwriter Evan Purcell and his band, The Big Hello. Something of a departure from the high-energy blues and jazz of much of the lineup, Purcell and his three bandmates render deeply emotional Americana and folk compositions with a lushness sometimes evocative of indie rock.
Speaking of rock, Spar Tavern favorites Trailer Park Kings, featuring LTD’s Hodel and Hudson, will next bring their “1970s off-the-map classics” to the Blue Mouse stage.
“We’ve got T-Town Aces, which is kind of the hometown, homegrown blues band in Tacoma. They’ve been around for a number of years and have some really world-class band members.” Their current singer, Mark Dufresne, has toured internationally as a member of the Grammy-winning Roomful of Blues.
“King Grand is instrumental funky jazz,” Farrell says, continuing down the bill. “They’ve got Rafael Tranquilino, who’s a killer guitar player, and Angelo Guerrero on sax, so they’re funky.” Brady Kish, the band’s bassist, will also be subbing for David Dickerson in The Big Hello for this show.
“The headliner is James Lee Murray,” Farrell says enthusiastically, “who’s a really great keyboard player and a 1970s-style soulful singer in the style of Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. He’s based in Kitsap County, and he’s a great performer.”
Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with music from 6 to 9 p.m. “It’s going to be short sets,” Farrell notes. “Everyone’s playing about 20 minutes with ten-minute changeovers, when we’ll be talking about the festival and how people can get involved. We’re going to have some special stuff, too, like a raffle or a silent auction.”
“David, Tanya, and I got together in 2022 and wanted to start producing shows,” Farrell recalls, describing the genesis of LTD Presents. “One of the unique things that we bring is that we’re musicians ourselves. That means we’re really oriented to the musician’s perspective, and I think it’s why we’re able to kind of punch above our weight in terms of getting great musicians to town, because we have so many connections to musicians all over the country. We have a lot of friends to call on, which includes ourselves. We’ll all be on stage Thursday night.”
And it is on that stage at the Blue Mouse where they will make their appeal for community participation in this summer’s festival.
“We want to invite the community out to participate,” Farrell stresses. “This is their festival. We’re putting Tacoma back on the map as a blues and live music destination,” he declares, noting that no other major event of this kind exists in Western Washington. Such an event, however, requires people power.
“We rely on volunteers during the festival, and there are a whole bunch of different ways they can help,” Farrell says. “They can assist backstage, with transportation, or with production. If they have a specific part of the festival they’re interested in helping with, come to us. And if not, we can definitely find tasks for them.”
“And that goes for students, too,” Farrell adds. “We’re hoping to involve music students of any age, high school or college, who want to see what’s involved in working backstage and are interested in getting to know some of the artists. There’s also a lot of work to do ahead of time in terms of promotion, spreading the word, working on graphics, and distributing posters. It’s a huge effort, and we can use all the help we can get, along with people’s creative ideas.”
National acts mean interstate travel, and that, along with many other elements of production, requires funding. “No donation is too small,” Farrell says. “We’re taking small donations, but we’re also looking for people who might write larger checks or whose companies want to get involved. We’ve got some great sponsors, but we need more.”
But mostly, what Farrell and his team want this Thursday is for the community to come out to the comfortable surroundings and plush seats of Tacoma’s historic Blue Mouse Theater and enjoy performances by some of T-Town’s best musicians and entertainers, all in support of an even greater event planned for August.
For more information, visit ltdpresentslive.com. To inquire about volunteer opportunities, email info@ltdpresentslive.com.
