Upstairs at the Paradise Lounge at 11th & Folsom in San Francisco's SOMA district was my favorite place to play throughout the 1990's. We did three sets a night there once a month for many years and because there were two more stages downstairs there was always a flood of people circulating in and out. Elvis and I had continued playing gigs through personnel changes and by this time we were playing with the legendary John McGee on bass. Since there was never any rehearsal we played strictly cover tunes, straight blues with a little rock ‘n’ roll and R&B thrown in. We called ourselves The Imperials, and this particular night we were power trio (drums, bass, guitar). Holding down the stage as a power trio from 9:30pm - 1:30am is a heavy lift.  This 1997 recording is probably the best Justin Torpey blues recording I have, not least because of the genuine down home bass of John McGee, and Elvis's usual enthusiasm and touch.

Newly remastered from the live digital audio archive is a 1997 straight blues set from the infamous Blue Lamp in San Francisco featuring guest guitarist Shawn Ridley, along side Justin, Elvis, and John McGee on bass.  John was a superstar on bass and played with all the greats, but mostly Albert King.  We called it The Imperials.