Kai on MySpace!

So, habe mir nun endlich auch 'ne MySpace-Seite zugelegt!
Visit me on MySpace!

Thanks to my friends from the "Bluesnight Band" I had the chance to play with R&B singer Sydney Youngblood. With "If only I could" and "Sit and wait" Sydney Youngblood had two million selling hits in the 80ies. He's not only a fantastic singer but also a great guy!






(Emsdetten, 27.09.2008)

Here's a picture I found from our last christmas show at the De Goude Leeuw 2007. Look out for this years event!




(l.-r.) Memo Gonzalez, Kai, Tommie Harris, Henk Punter and Josh Fulero - Josh recently plays with the Curtis Salgado Band and can also be heard on Memo Gonzalez' new CD "Dynomite" which will be released early 2009 on CrossCut Records

Here are some nice new pictures from Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters taken at the Cafe Wilhelmina (NL). Hier gibt es aktuelle Fotos von Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters live im Cafe Wilhelmina (NL).
Darrell Nulisch and Band at the Münster Blues Jam, April 2008
Another great night at our jam in Münster! We had Darrell Nulisch, Steve Gomes, Monster Mike Welch and Rob Stupka in the house - thank you guys!!!
GITARRE ZU VERKAUFEN!!!   GUITAR FOR SALE!!!
Great sounding and cool looking Custom Shop Fender '56 Relic Stratocaster (build in 2001). I used it for the entire album "Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters: Live In The UK". For more pictures go to Guitars & Amps for price and further information please contact Kai.

Junior Watson, John Nemeth & Kid Anderson                with Wes Starr (drums), Thomas Feldmann (saxophon) and Christian Bleiming (piano).

Junior Watson, John Nemeth,Kid Anderson and Kai Strauss

Great Band with my good friend Doug Jay singing & playing some excellent harmonica.             www.dougjay.com	Klasse Organist/Pianist und Sänger aus München mit seinem eigenen Projekt. Viele werden Ludwig Seuss von der SPIDER MURPHY GANG kennen, mit der er schon seit über 20 Jahren unterwegs ist! www.ludwig-seuss.de

Fotos von unserer Blues-Session im Bunten Vogel, Münster (immer Dienstags 19.30 Uhr) / Here are a few new pictures to keep you updated!

Jammin' with Dave Specter & The Bluebirds (Chicago) at our weekly jam session at "Der Bunte Vogel", Münster.

Same jam session with the great Sharon Lewis on vocals - May 2007.

	In der bluesnews Ausgabe Nr. 47 Okt.-Dez. 2006 gibt es einen 2-seitigen Artikel über Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters. Germany's premier blues magazine bluesnews  features a two page article about Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters in its Oct.-Dec. 2006 issue. Memo Gonzalez hat eine unglaublich starke Präsenz - und das nicht nur wegen seiner 300 Pfund. Nichts ist aufgesetzt - alles echt, alles lässig, alles energiegeladen. Für ihn seien die Auftritte "eine Form von Predigt", sagt er. Sie sind nur weitaus druckvoller, als die gewöhnliche, sonntägliche Kanzelrede.                                                                                                                  bluesnews # 47, 2006

N E W   C D ! ! !        N E U E   C D ! ! !

Neue Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters CD

"Live in the UK" erhältlich jetzt auf CrossCut Records! www.crosscut.de 

 

New Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters album

"Live in the UK" out now on CrossCut Records - www.crosscut.de

Lot's of NEW VIDEOS! Check out "Music/Videos/Albums"! NEUE VIDEOS!

Pictures from our gig at the Frederikshavn Bluesfestival, Denmark, 29.04.2006

...with my "new" 1955 Guild X-550. Thanks to Jens from Rulleguitar.dk who fixed it at the festival!

Am Sonntag den 23. April ist unsere zweite Tochter Luisa Mariel geboren!

Sunday, April 23rd our second daughter Luisa Mariel was born!

Lillehammer (Norway) Bluesfestival 2006

Kai with legendary guitar player Hubert Sumlin!	Talkin' to Steady Rolling Bob Margolin.
Our drummer Henk Punter with one of  his all time idols Willie "Big Eyes" Smith.	We had a great time partying with our friend Ian Siegal from London. Make sure to catch one of his concerts when you can. Ian is one of the finest blues musicians from Europe!
This picture was part of an article published in the Gutbrandsdolen Dagningen - April 12th, 2006

Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters are back from Norway where we played at the Lillehammer Bluesfestival. We opened for The Legends of the Chicago Blues and The Blasters and had the time of our lives! It was a great honor to share the stage with Bob Margolin, Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Bob Stroger and Billy Branch who are not only exceptional musicians but also very friendly people! The Festival was very well organized and we recommend it to every blues fan worldwide.

In the studio March 2006:

I was in the studio to record a few tracks with special guests Gentleman John Street (organ) of Anson Funderburgh's Rockets and Keith Dunn (voc & hca).

Gitarre & Bass Magazin Ausgabe April 2006:

In der aktuellen Ausgabe von Gitarre & Bass ist ein 2-seitiger Artikel über unseren Bassisten Erkan Özdemir erschienen. Guckt Euch mal die Fotos an!

http://www1.gitarrebass.de/magazine/

The new issue of Gitarre & Bass (one of Germany's leading musician magazines) features a two paged article about or bass player Erkan Özdemir. Check out his great collection of Kay bass guitars!

Memo Gonzalez & TBCs jamming with The Nighthawks (from Washington, D.C.)

Paul Bell, Mark Wenner, Pete Ragusa (behind the drums), Johnny Castle and Kai Strauss	Johnny Castle and Kai

Sat. October 15th, 2005 we shared the stage with The Nighthawks at a Blues Festival in Idar-Oberstein (Germany) and had a great time jamming with Mark Wenner’s legendary band.

VERY SPECIAL GUESTS at the Münster Blues Jam hosted by Memo Gonzalez & TBCs!

Harmonica Blow-Out! Memo Gonzalez, Rick Estrin, Doug Jay & Thomas Feldmann	California's Blues & Jump masters: Rick Estrin, Jay Hanson & Rusty Zinn
Kai Strauss, Rick Estrin, Jay Hanson & Rusty Zinn	One of the finest voices in today's Blues:         Angela Brown (from Chicago)

October 18th, Rick Estrin, Jay Hanson (both of "Little Charlie & The Nightcats" USA), Rusty Zinn, Angela Brown and Doug Jay showed up at our weekly blues jam at "Der Bunte Vogel" in Münster (every Tuesday). Thank you!  www.buntervogel.de/buvo/

Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters live at the CC Nekkersdal / Brussels (B):

Kai Strauss - Memo Gonzalez	Big Dave - Keith Dunn - Memo Gonzalez
Memo giving it all! The three harmonica players really played with a lot of soul and fire!	Kai (in his anniversary suit) - Dave - Keith

Our two 10th anniversary shows turned out to be a lot of fun. Memo and band had a blast playing with Dave, Keith and Christian – thank you guys! The crowds seemed to like it, too. Maybe something interesting for you festival promoters out there…

England tour 2005

Back from England - we would like to thank Martin Vowles, all the promoters and club owners and everybody who came out to see us! We had a great time playing 14 gigs in the UK and Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters will be back next year for sure! Besides our regular gigs we took the time to say hello to Ian Siegal, sitting in at his jam at the "Ain't nothing but..." in London. We also went to see shows of two guitar greats from the UK: Matt Schofield and Otis Grand (who got Memo and band up on stage with him). See you 2006!

Memo Gonzalez jamming with Otis Grand & Band at the Guisborough R&B club.	Kai performing at The Bell, Ash/ Sommerset

Watch and hear Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters play at the Bluesplein, Eindhoven 2005.

Live broadcasted from Cafe Wilhelmina Eindhoven, broadcasted by citytv.nl. Go to www.citytv.nl and click on "archive" (it's in the the right bottom corner) - have fun!

Hier könnt Ihr Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters live auf dem Bluesplein Festival 2005, Eindhoven/NL, sehen: www.citytv.nl - in der rechten, unteren Ecke auf "archive" gehen und BLUESPLEIN 2005 anklicken - viel Spaß!

Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters - NEW DRUMMER !!!

We finally found the famous needle in the haystack. HENK PUNTER from Amsterdam (NL) is our new man on the skins and a great guy, too. Henk, a founding member of T-99, one of Holland´s most respected blues/roots bands decided to join Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters full time. Besides T-99 he used to play and record with many international artists e.g. Paul Orta, Lynwood Slim, Hook Herrera, Boyd Small,etc. Check out his webside www.bluesdrummer.com and find out more about this crazy dutchman!

	Memo Gonzalez & TBCs - London, July 2005

After a gig in town on May 9th DUKE ROBILLARD and band showed up at our weekly blues jam in Osnabrück (every Monday night) and everybody had a GREAT time jamming with these exceptional musicians!

Nach einem Auftritt auf der Mai-Woche in Osnabrück, bekam die wöchentliche Blue Monday Jam in der Lagerhalle hohen Besuch von DUKE ROBILLARD und seiner Band. Der Duke und seine Mitmusiker ließen es sich nicht nehmen "mitzujammen" und alle Beteiligten hatten 'ne Menge Spaß!

Kai Strauss and Duke Robillard jammin' at the Lagerhalle, Osnabrück, May 2005. Foto: Hans Abry - www.abry.de

On April 13th Memo Gonzalez & TBCs played the "Bluestage Roth" where they shared the stage with England's legendary Yardbirds and met Jerry Donahue (Hellecasters) their new guitarist.

Am 13. April spielten Memo Gonzalez & TBCs im Rahmen der "Bluestage Roth" zusammen mit England's legendären Yardbirds in der Kulturfabrik und trafen deren neuen Gitarristen Jerry Donahue (Hellecasters).

Kai and Jerry Donahue

Photos taken for a new catalog of one of Germany's biggest music stores.

Photos für den neuen Katalog von einem der größten Musikgeschäfte Deutschlands.

Photo: Rudolf Schubert

Photo: Rudolf Schubert

Pictures from our 2 week England tour Nov. 2004:

Fotos von unserer England-Tour Nov. 2004:

We recorded the first gig at "The Famous Monday Blues"at                 the Bullingdon/Oxford, hosted by Philip Guy Davies.	Beer and darts! After our gig in Howden / Yorkshire. Kai even beat an English man! The Sunday roast the next day was great!
During three off days two friends asked Kai to join them for their project teaching school kids something about live music and rock'n'roll / blues. Everybody had a lot of fun!

Alexandra's and Kai's wedding 2004:

Fotos von Alexandras und Kais Hochzeit 2004:

The church wedding, Sept. 04th 2004.	The wedding, July 29th 2004.
The wedding cake!	The wedding jam session - part one: Kai, Memo Gonzalez, Thomas Feldmann, Erkan Özdemir and Rainer Achterholt (l.-r.)
Part two: Jimmy Reiter, Thomas Feldmann, Angela Brown (who also sang in church - thank you baby!), Klaus Schnirring, Erkan Özdemir and Rainer Achterholt.

Pictures taken at the "Münster Blues Jam" hosted by Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters (EVERY Tuesday, "Bunter Vogel", Münster/Germany)

Fotos von der "Münster Blues Jam" geleitet von Memo Gonzalez & The Bluescasters (JEDEN Dienstag, "Bunter Vogel", Münster)

Memo Gonzalez and Robin giving it all!	Kai and Keith Dunn. Keith was our featured guest at the Münster Blues Jam on December 15th, 2004.
Kai, Keith and Thomas Feldmann jamming.	Harmonica showdown: Thomas Feldmann, Michael Arlt (B.B. &  The Blues Shacks) and Memo
Kai having a good time.	Erkan Özdemir with his Kay bass and Christian "The Westfalian Boogie King" Bleiming.
Paul Orta showed up twice at the jam in August and had a lot of fun playing with his old buddy Memo G.! (picture: Paul Orta and Kai Strauss)

In the studio with Sax Gordon Beadle, May 2004.	Same recording session - Thomas Feldmann, Sax Gordon & Kai
In May Kai was invited to play "Wolf's guitar battle" at the Roadstop (Dortmund). Auf der Bühne bei "Wolf's guitar battle", Roadstop/Dortmund. www.guitar-battle.de	Working hard at the guitar battle.

In der April-Ausgabe 2004 von Gitarre & Bass erschien eine Besprechung der neuen Memo Gonzalez CD "Big Time In Big D", hier ein Auszug: „(...) Hervorragend an den sechs Saiten: Kai Strauss, mit einem stratigen Gitarren-Twang der an Jimmie Vaughan erinnert. Eine richtig gute Band mit packendem Sound.“

New pictures from Memo Gonzalez & TBCs two week UK tour April 2004:                                     Brandneue Bilder von Memo Gonzalez & TBCs England-Tour (13 Gigs) April 2004:

Memo and band at the Burnley national blues festival with Jim Suhler.	Memo getting interviewed by BBC after our set at the Burnley festival.
What is a band without their fans? (at Riff's - one of our favourite places in the UK!)	Kai playing the blues at Riff's.
At the Bullingdon, Oxford, with legendary promoter Philip Guy-Davies aka "The Silver Fox" (3rd from right).

Pictures from Budapest, Hungary, Budapest Blues Festival (feat. Bernard Allison, Ian Siegal, Memo Gonzalez, a.o.), March 2004:                                                                                                 Bilder aus Ungarn vom Budapest Blues Festival, März 2004:

Backstage with Bernard Allison after our set.

Soundcheck 1 - pretty nice stage!