Sometimes you get so down there just does not seem to be a way back up. Your man took off and left no note, you lost your job, and worst of all, you failed your Math 110 exam. Honey, there is only one cure for these down and outs and that is a big fat dose of the blues.

Downtown where the college baby blues run rampant, there is one band that will turn your aches and pains into soulful stings -- Queen Bee and the Blue Hornet Band.

It is Wednesday night at The Phyrst, 111 1/2 E. Beaver Ave, and the band is playing its weekly gig at the downtown bar. When the group starts, the audience is swaying slowly in its seats and by the last set the room is rocking and the dance floor is packed with sweat-soaked students and locals. This crew can cook!

Chemistry is the key here. The mixture of lead singer Tonya Browne (alias Queen Bee) and guitarist Mark Ross, the only two remaining founding members, is highly combustible.

Browne belts out old blues tunes with emotion and power. When this woman wails you can practically see her tonsils as she shifts from a low soulful tune to a high energy hit like "Hand Jive" faster than you can say "big bad blues."

Likewise, Ross on his guitar goes way off the beaten track with extended improvisations and showman stunts. We're talkin' guitar-behind-head antics and crazy beer-bottle-on the-frets solos.

The three other members of the band joined the hive more recently.

Drummer Jack Wilkinson, a two month member, said the chemistry is contagious.

"There's an unspoken communication between Mark and Tonya," he said. "And it just spreads."

Ross said the band has come a long way since its formation five years ago.

"We started out as a fun weekend band and now it's a full time job," Ross said.

Many of the band members hold daytime jobs, but Ross left his teaching position and Browne, once a University student, now only takes classes only part time.

They have something to show for their hard work. Besides adoring fans in the basement bars of State College, the group has one record out and an upcoming release.

One of the highlights of being with the band is the people they have met, Ross said. Not only has Ross met his musical hero, Jim Thackery, he has become one of Thackery's pals.

"He introduces me as his younger brother," Ross said, smiling.

Ross also met blues god B.B. King when he played at the University last year. The one characteristic of a blues artist is humility and respect of the art, Ross said.

"When I met B.B. he wanted to talk about other people, never about himself," he explained.

This regard for the art motivates Ross on stage each night. Every song he plays he said is a homage to the history of blues as a musical form.

"The early founders of blues didn't get the credit they deserved," Ross said. "Those guys inspired us so much we have to give them the respect they deserve. We have to give something back."

Ross said he hopes to make the blues more accessible and said a college audience is a great place to start.

"People will always remember who Muddy Waters was," he said. "But people won't always remember who Ton-Loc was."

Jim Dobra (senior-international business) said he goes to see Queen Bee at least two times a week.

"It's the blues, but it's not depressing," he said. "The Queen's voice just lifts you off the ground."

Another fan, Jon Levy (senior-speech communications) said the band is heading for bigger and better ground.

"I don't see any other band in this town do what they do, Levy said. "They're too good to be playing here."

The band is trying to extend its playing ground, but still considers State College home and its best gig.

"Our ultimate goal is to make State College proud of us," Ross said.

This weekend, Queen Bee and the Blue Hornet Band will be busting out blues at 1:30 a.m. Saturday at the Dance Marathon.

"Cancer sucks," Ross said. "And anyone who'll do that for those kids, we'll do anything to keep them going."