Popa Chubby is the Godfather of New York City Blues - or, as he proudly dubs himself, "The King Of The New York City Blues": big-city blues, sharp, electrifying, as modern and cosmopolitan as it is deeply rooted in tradition - this is the music that Popa Chubby loves and that he brings to an ever-growing fan base in dynamic concert performances and on numerous CDs. Big city blues that - in his own words - sounds like a subway car pulling into the station in Times Square, like the shrill traffic noise at major intersections, or the honking of the famous yellow cabs that is almost like music to the ears of many Manhattan residents. Popa was seventeen when he picked up a guitar for the first time - never to put it down again. He played his fingers bloody and practiced until he could play the riffs of his idols. in 1990, the Popa Chubby Band was born. The man from the Bronx and his companions advanced to become the house band at Manny's Car Wash, a shed that no longer exists. Popa played about 200 club gigs a year during that time. On his own label Laughing Bear Popa released two albums in 1991 and 1993. Then Sony Music suddenly took an interest in him: he was offered a contract with the renowned blues label O-Keh, which subscribed to developing young talent. When O-Keh and Popa parted ways shortly thereafter over artistic differences, it was Tom Dowd who advised Popa to go to Europe and seek his fortune there. In fact, the New Yorker found a label in France, Dixiefrog, that understood his unique approach to the blues - and he met an enthusiastic and receptive audience during extensive tours. Popa Chubby fuses the blues with funk, rap, rock and even country. Whether the blues, as the blacks in America once invented it in the Mississippi Delta, is capable of development, whether it has a future? Logically, he answers the question in the affirmative: "The spirit of music continues to evolve ..." The performance in Ohne Filter took place on 3.4.1997.