When you think of diversity, you might not think of somebody from Denmark (he moved to the US in 2001) who plays the blues. But Kid Anderson (who will be playing with Rick Estrin) is just that: a Scandinavian blues prodigy who found a family at Little Village. \u201cTen years ago I was recording with Willie Walker and that became the model for what we ended up doing at Little Village,\u201d Anderson says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anderson moved to San Jose in 2005. \u201cI was living with Bob Welsh, the great piano player and guitar player. He\u2019s now with Elvin Bishop and with the Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was a studio but we had enough room for a drummer. We lived cheap and looked for opportunities,\u201d Anderson says as he packs for the night\u2019s gig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you get granular on what a musician is supposed to do to make a living, it\u2019s daunting. Recording, producing, distributing, promoting, booking shows and tours\u2014it\u2019s relentless, never-ending and oftentimes takes up energy a musician would rather use to make music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLittle Village has been hugely important to me. They believed in me and what my goals were. To be able to bring an idea to an audience, and have everyone get paid? For a musician, that\u2019s a big deal. I\u2019ve been doing this long enough that I want to have fun, or get paid. Or hopefully both. And because of Little Village, I\u2019m in a lot more situations where that happens,\u201d Anderson says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anderson takes the lessons he learned from the Little Village family and pays it forward. Always looking for new, unrepresented, talent, Anderson senses a movement afoot. \u201cThere\u2019s been a real surge, a real movement, post-Kingfish, of young Black artists from the South who are getting into the blues. The old-school blues. The idea that white folks kept the blues alive is tired. And there is currently an explosion of young talents who are proud of their heritage,\u201d Anderson concludes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All proceeds from the beer garden will benefit Little Village Foundation, which is a nonprofit record company, so feel good about tipping those brews\u2014you\u2019re keeping the music of mariachi, folk, blues, gospel, roots, soul and more alive with each sip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it\u2019s worth noting that LVF gives all proceeds from CD sales back to the artist. And the musician owns their music. This is the kind of American ingenuity that fuels creative expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And nothing says American ingenuity like a free block party. So put down the playlist and engage with the music of your city and world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Little Village\u2019s Big Easy Block Party & Beer Fest, takes place on Saturday, Aug. 30, 11am\u20138pm. The main location is Poor House Bistro, 317 W. Saint John St. Admission is free; reserve tickets on <\/em>eventbrite.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Aug 30, outside and inside the Poor House Bistro, Little Village\u2019s Big Easy Block Party & Beer Fest offers nine hours of free live music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14789,"featured_media":20183631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[1686],"tags":[20411,20412,20410,20413,4360],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.metrosiliconvalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/08\/msv2534_bigeasy_Kid-Andersen-Photo-Rachel-Kumar.jpg\")
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