| BLUES FOUNDATION NEWS - FEBRUARY |
| Wed, Feb. 17 2010 |
This month?s 10-day auction item is a framed autographed copy of Love Stinks, the 1980 release by those bad boys from Boston, the funkiest band in the land, the incredible J. Geils Band. The wooden frame features two-sided glass so both front and back of the LP cover are viewable. It has been signed by band members J. Geils, Peter Wolf, Magic Dick, Danny Klein and Seth Justman. Enter your bid by clicking here. All proceeds benefit The Blues Foundation.
Blues Music Awards Update
We will have a bunch of news about the Blues Music Awards in the next (March) newsletter in a few weeks. For now, the critical thing is for the 2/3 of you reading this newsletter that have not yet voted to do so now, today, tonight, but do it before the end of February. And make sure you log-in before Friday, February 26. Please don?t call or e-mail on the night of February 28. Even Joe and I do not work Sunday nights!
2010 Blues Hall of Fame Inductees
The Blues Foundation has announced the inductees for the Blues Hall of Fame in 2010, including Louisiana-born, Chicago-based bluesman Lonnie Brooks, highly-esteemed signer and harpist Charlie Musselwhite and singer, songwriter, guitarist and social activist Bonnie Raitt.
Among the other individuals that are being recognized by the Foundation this year include ?The Father of the Blues? W.C. Handy, jug band pioneer Gus Cannon and Cannon?s Jug Stompers, and the writer of many great ?drinking songs,? including ?One Scotch, One Whiskey, One Beer,? Amos Milburn.
American roots music writer Peter Guralnick and the legendary host of the King Biscuit Time program on KFFA radio in Helena, Arkansas Sonny Payne, are the non-performers being inducted this year. Sam Charters? groundbreaking research on the blues in the 1950s and ?60s resulted in several books including this year?s Classics of Blues Literature inductee - The Bluesmen.
The following singles or album tracks will be inducted during the ceremony: ?All Your Love (I Miss Loving)? by Otis Rush, ?Fever? by Little Willie John, ?Key to the Highway? by Big Bill Broonzy, ?Match Box Blues? by Blind Lemon Jefferson and ?Spoonful? by Howlin? Wolf. These albums are also being honored: Strong Persuader by Robert Cray, Hung Down Head by Lowell Fulson and I Hear Some Blues Downstairs by Fenton Robinson.
The induction ceremony will be held on Wednesday, May 5, at the Memphis Marriott Downtown in Memphis, Tennessee, the night before the 31st Blues Music Awards. Plans are underway now individually honor each of the inductees that night. For complete induction summaries, click here.
Generation Blues
The Blues Foundation has expanded its youth education initiatives with Generation Blues. This scholarship program will allow qualified applicants under the age of 25 to study their instrument of choice at reputable camps, seminars and workshop programs at such places as Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival, Augusta Heritage Center and Fernando Jones' Columbia College Blues Camp.
Camps, seminars and workshops attended by Generation Blues scholarship recipients may take place throughout the year, in the recipients' choice of locations. Participants are awarded the scholarships on a bi-annual basis, and participation is open to anyone under the age of 25 and interested in the blues. First deadline for submissions is April 2, 2010.
Blues Foundation board member and leader in the Generation Blues initiative Cassie Taylor adds that "this is a wonderful way to ensure the future of the blues by helping young people get the education they need and deserve to help them grow as a blues artist." Taylor started her career in blues music as a teenager when she toured successfully with her father, trance blues artist Otis Taylor.
Generation Blues joins a number of other successful youth initiatives launched by The Blues Foundation, including the popular Blues in the Schools which supports blues educators by providing a classroom curriculum that incorporates elements of history, math, English, music, and other disciplines as they can relate to the entire blues industry of making and promoting blues music. Youths under age 21 may also take advantage of free individual membership of The Blues Foundation.
By offering individuals up to the age of 21 free membership, the Foundation invites even more young blues lovers to get started on a lifetime of participation in the activities of their local blues society and The Blues Foundation. For complete information, click here!
Affiliate Spotlight
The Grand County Blues Society may be best known for its festival Blues from the Top, which will be presented June 25-27, 2010 in Winter Park, Colorado, but Blue Star Connection is its newest program under the Blues in the School umbrella. They are reaching out to children all over the country who are dealing with cancer, other life-threatening disease and disabilities and other kids with a hard road to travel. They are reaching out in two ways. They strive to get instruments into the hands of these young people and they are asking music promoters, club owners, and festival organizers to allow these kids and their guardians or parents etc to attend events as guests. Their hope is that blues societies all over the country will take this program to heart and adopt the policy of Blue Star Connection. For more information, visit http://www.grandblues.org.
For Members Only
How can you as a Blues Foundation member help the organization this month? Help us maintain our website and make it a more valuable resource for you and for prospective fans. This is not exactly Wikipedia, but we can use your assistance.
What is Blues? http://www.blues.org/#ref=blues_index
1. If you are an author, send us an article to post.
2. If you see an article that we should post, send it to us with the author?s name and we will see if we can post it.
3. We are going to add a ?Quotes? section so if you see a definition of blues that you like, send it to me along with attribution and we will post it.
Blues Educators http://www.blues.org/#ref=bits_educators
4. If you are a blues educator, be sure we have your information and that it is up to date. If you see information about an educator that you know is incorrect, tell that person or tell us both.
Blues Kids http://www.blues.org/#ref=bits_blueskids
5. Same here, if you are a blues performer under the age of 21, send us your information, photo and weblink. If you know a young performer, tell the young women to send us her information.
Publishers note: Joe says
"At 23, it looks like Jay was already an old curmudgeon!!"
Let?s revisit some fine work by two of the 2010 Blues Hall of Fame inductees.
Song
?Hoodoo She Do? by Lonnie Brooks
Penned by Lonnie and included on his 1998 Alligator release Roadhouse Rules (also included in Deluxe Edition), this track is emblematic of the Louisiana influence that remained with Lonnie long after he left his native state and early gig with zydeco master Clifton Chenier. It?s a fun, lively song characteristic of Lonnie?s live shows. If you ever wondered where Ronnie and Wayne get their showmanship, it was the Voodoo Daddy as he circled the club playing slide with every type of bottle in the place. Of course, a Blues Hall of Famer can sing and play the blues but it is his funky and fun side that that is so evident in his live show that shines through on this song. Always brings a smile to my face.
Album
Continental Drifter by Charlie Musselwhite
Con una esposa puertoriqueña and thirteen years working in Panama, I am, as they say, part latino by infusion. Continental Drifter is one of those CDs I bought and gave away many times because it served to introduce latinos to blues music and blues fans to latin sounds. It is sort of Memphis Charlie meets the Buena Vista Social Club. The CD has traditional Delta and Chicago-styled offerings too, but what makes this so special to me are the cuts where world-traveler Musselwhite teams with Cuban friend Eliades Ochoa and his band, Cuarteto Patria. Charlie delivers an interesting blend of Cuban rhythms and melodies with his own style of blues on "Que Te Parece, Cholita?", "Sabrosa", "Siboney" and "Little Star." Mucho groovy. Es verdad. |
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| Folks spreading the word about live Blues |
| Tue, Feb. 2 2010 |
Hi Duane, Yes, I also had a great week of great live Blues at the IBC in Memphis. It just
gets better and better every year and the weather was good & most of the time didn't need
a coat. I left Maine with about two foot of snow. The IBC is hard to describe, it is four
days of intense Blues music, meeting and making new friends, which you continue to see
year after year, as you would at a family reunion. The new, young, up and coming Kids
are amazing to see and hear. These kids are really young, like preteens. I didn't go to
see the duo/solo acts because I was playing drums at the Blues Hall on Beal Street at a
great jam. What fun, The Stella Vees Band holds this jam every year. I also played drums
right on Beal Street with The Big Mike Band and Bob Rosenbaum played guitar . What fun!
Saw other Mainers in Memphis, too, like Gerry Byrne & Pat Pepin. Our Zack Pomerleau Band
from Maine did a super job of playing, very professional in their performance, sounded
great, and I was real proud of them! Now it is back to the real world!! Norma Spinney
greetings duane..
......sue and i just got back from beale street for the IBC........incredible time.......good time had by all........ Bob rosenbaum
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| Sunday River Blues |
| Mon, Oct. 6 2008 |
Sunday River Blues airs every Sunday night from 10:00 PM to Midnight on WCTB, "The River", 93.5 FM hosted and is hosted by Mike Cummings.
Playing Maine's Best blues, you'll hear everything from the legendary to the obscure, the "forefathers of the blues" right up to the latest releases in contemporary blues. And occasionally there will be special guests, as artists like Eddie Kirkland, Jorma Kaukonen, Wendell Holmes, Sonny Landreth, Kenny Neal and many more have already visited with Sunday River Blues. For the best blues in Maine, listen to Sunday River Blues with Mike Cummings, every Sunday, on the River. Thanks, Mike MICHAEL CUMMINGS |
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