Ron Hacker, slide guitar master, and staple of the San Francisco and bay area blues scene brings us his strongest album, Burnin', featuring a mixture of lesser known blues standards, and heartfelt and scorching originals. From start to finish, the album burns through blues conventions with smokin' guitar work and a stellar backing band. Waiting until the age of 27 to take up the guitar, Ron gained his influences from artists like Fred McDowell, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Elmore James, and Yank Rachell, along with usual suspect Robert Johnson and his most modern influence, R.L. Burnside. Burnin’ features many of Ron’s favorite songs, including many songs he’s been playing since the beginning of his career, and originals that take you through Ron Hacker’s life story.  Ron’s approach to blues is similar to that of artists from the blues classic era, playing old-time blues, rough and raw.

 

Harmonica wizard and part rhythmic explorer, Harper is a fiery artist who blurs the lines between rock, blues, soul, and world music.  His latest Blind Pig release, Stand Together, is the most artistically realized CD Harper has ever written.

The self-produced album marks the first time Harper has recorded a CD using his Michigan-based touring band, Midwest Kind, a collaboration that pays several dividends.  For one, he was able to go deeper into the song arrangements, incorporating some of the interplay of their live performances.   And his close relationship with his band members enabled him to craft exactly what he envisioned his songs to be.  Though Harper has already been acknowledged as an exemplary composer, his current songwriting has matured and his messages have become more powerful.  The greater confidence and polish that come as a result of his non-stop touring schedule have only enhanced his considerable skills as a singer and harmonica player.  And his proficiency as a didgeridoo player has increased dramatically since picking up the instrument in 2004.

 

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Harper

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Mark picked up his first guitar at age 13 in his hometown, Bloomington, Indiana (where a few years later he had his first professional guitar gig with fellow Hoosier Bobby Helms—of “Jingle Bell Rock” fame). Drawing on musical influences ranging from The Allman Brothers to Charlie Christian, Mark practiced every lick until it was perfect. But he also found his own musical path, part rock, part blues, part jazz—but most definitely Mark Robinson. He continued to play guitar in a variety of local bands while he attended Indiana University and got his degree in audio and video production, with a minor in music from IU's renowned School of Music.
But music called, so Mark moved to Chicago, where he had a chance to play with some legends of American blues, including Lonnie Brooks, Jimmy Johnson, Koko Taylor, Son Seals, and Bo Diddley.
In 2004, Mark Robinson was offered an opportunity to move to Music City and be a full-time musician.
In Nashville, Mark has also focused on songwriting, with cuts by other Nashville artists, and on producing, with a number of CDs and demos to his credit.  In addition, he now fronts the Mark Robinson Band—performing strong originals and soulful covers. His performances are inspired by the many great talents he’s worked with over the years. Mark Robinson the sideman has morphed into Mark Robinson the artist.

 

 

Mark’s new CD, Quit Your Job - Play Guitar, is raw and soulful--blues-infused, guitar-based roots music. The songs and performances are steeped in Chicago blues, Memphis soul, rock and roll and Americana.  The players on the CD are some of the finest musicians in Nashville. And Mark’s songs are as at home on Beale Street as they are on Lower Broad, and as comfortable in Southside Chicago lounges as in the studios of Muscle Shoals. 

 

Over the course of his career Mark has shared the stage with some of the best-known names in music, including The Byrds, Johnny Winter, Steppenwolf, John Mellencamp, Dr. John, Leo Kotke, David Ball, Marty Stuart, and Lonnie Mack. But he’s never had more fun or more satisfaction than right now, right here in Nashville.

 

Dr. Alphonso Sanders, a Mississippi Delta  Educator and  Musician, from Cleveland, Mississippi, has been chosen by MAC to receive a Grant to support his professional development or for the creation of new work. In addition to the grant Dr. Alphonso Sanders has been selected to be on the Mississippi Artist Roster. The grant is part of the 1.64 million in grant funds the         Mississippi Arts Commission is awarding to organizations and  indi­vidual artist during Fiscal Year 2011 (beginning July 1, 2010). Dr. Sanders selection to the Mississippi Artist Roster allows Mississippi non-profit agencies such as arts councils,     muse­ums, schools and libraries to receive grant funding to support a performance or blues workshop by Alphonso  Sanders. The Minigrant program can pay for up to half of a Roster Artist’s fee, up to $1,000.The full   guidelines and application form are available on MAC’s website, www.arts.state.ms.us.

 

 

 

 

The word is getting out about a music festival in a state that’s known more for hunting, fishing and wide-open spaces than two days of world-class music. Fans from all over the country have discovered MAGIC CITY BLUES. Our natural Montana hospitality, unique setting and fabulous lineups have created an atmosphere that most festivals can only dream about.  Come eat, drink and dance in the street on August 13&14 and celebrate the 9^th annual MAGIC CITY BLUES.

 

How has a boutique festival like MAGIC CITY BLUES managed to host such an exciting lineup of artists over the years?

 

“People just like coming to Montana” explains Tim Goodridge, festival organizer, “Both artists and fans. There are so many cool things in this state – Yellowstone Park, Custer Battlefield, rivers, lakes, mountains, cowboys, Indians, bears, wolves. You can spend a lifetime here and never see it all. That mystique is what allows us to punch above our weight class year after year.”

 

 

The festival occupies two blocks of Montana Avenue in the heart of the historic district in downtown Billings. Two stages keep the excitement flowing all night long.

 

Go to www.magiccityblues.com/ for details and tickets.

406-670-2329 for information and reserved seats.

 

It's sad to have to report the end of a thiry year run for this great event supported for many years by so many loyal Southern California blues fans, but there is always a chance it could come back one day and I certainly hope it does.

 

According to the KKJZ website and press reports, due to the current economic climate KKJZ management has decided not to hold the Long Beach Blues Festival this year. However, they plan to try to bring back the festival at some point in the future.

The Long Beach Blues Festival began thirty years ago as the KLON Blues & Gospel Festival on July 20, 1980. The first event was held at Long Beach City College and was staged on a pair of end to end flat bed trucks on the stadium field in front of about 700 blues fans.

 

With the strong support of the KLON staff, we turned a small, first year money losing (but great) event into one of the largest and best blues festivals in the nation.

 

The event was moved to the Cal State Long Beach campus in September, 1981 and the following year was renamed the Long Beach Blues Festival. In 1984 event growth prompted an expansion to two days and we had arrived with B.B.King headlining an all star list on one day and John Lee Hooker on the other. The event continued to grow over the years and around 1996 was expanded again to the three day Labor Day weekend. A few years ago the Long Beach Blues Festival was moved to Rainbow Lagoon near downtown Long Beach where there was a gradual decline in attendance.

 

In the meantime, KKJZ has scheduled the "KJazz Blues Bash" on Saturday, September 4th at CSULB's Carpenter Center. The Bash will feature a free afternoon fair followed by a ticketed blues concert.

 

The KJazz Blues Bash will begin at noon with a free admission family "street party" held in the plaza area adjacent to the Carpenter Center. Live performances by local musicians and food and beverages will be offered from noon until 6 p.m.

The main event, a blues concert in the Carpenter Center, will begin at 7 p.m. The concert will be headlined by the Keb' Mo' Band alongside a lineup that includes Guitar Shorty and Jon Cleary.

 

Additional concert information, including other artists and ticket details, will be announced at a later date.

VIP tickets for the Blues Bash are available through the KJazz membership department at (310) 478-5061. GA tickets will be available soon through the Carpenter Performing Arts Center. For more information: www.jazzandblues.org

 

--Dan Jacobson
Original KLON-FM88 Blues Host (1977-1980)
Long Beach Blues Festival Producer (1980-1986)
Southland Blues Magazine Publisher (1990-2010)

 

 

 

Bring lawn chairs or blankets

 

Our 2010 line-up is one of our proudest efforts ever;  You can't beat Madison RibberFest to see these fabulous performers up close and personal.

 

FRIDAY -- August 20th
  6:00 AM -- BACKYARD BBQ BLAST Competitors may arrive.
  5:00 PM -- GATES OPEN
  5:45 PM -- Mayor Armstrong's welcome
  6:00 PM -- GREG FORESMAN takes the stage
  6:30 PM -- Pig Toss (cornhole tournament) first of 3
  7:00 PM -- Backyard BBQ Blast judging begins
  8:00 PM -- STACY MITCHHART takes the stage
  9:30 PM -- Balloon Glow on Kentucky side of the river -- SPECTACULAR!
  9:30 PM -- Backyard BBQ Blast awards at stage
10:00 PM -- DAVY KNOWLES & BACKDOOR SLAM take the stage

 

SATURDAY -- August 21st
  9:00 AM --  Kidz Q cooking begins
10:30 AM -- Kidz Q judging begins
11:00 AM -- Gates open
11:00 AM -- KCBS Judging begins
  1:00 PM -- HAMBONE 
  2:00 PM -- Pig Toss (cornhole tournament) second of 3
  2:30 PM -- TYRONE COTTON BAND 
  3:30 PM -- Good to the Bone Rib Eating contest
  4:00 PM -- BIG AL & THE HEAVYWEIGHTS 

  4:00 PM -- Pig Toss (cornhole tournment) last one
  5:30 PM -- Mayor Armstrong addresses the crowd
  6:00 PM -- TERESA JAMES & THE RHYTHM TRAMPS 
  7:30 PM -- Pigmania Awards
  8:00 PM -- JIMMY HALL & FRIENDS
10:00 PM -- The fabulous DELBERT McCLINTON takes the stage
11:30 PM -- Festival Closes -- see you next year AUGUST 19-20, 2011 for our 10th anniversary.

 

 

 

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“Will a black woman like me enjoy a white woman like you?”

 

Mary McBride had faced tougher questions and certainly a tougher audience during her unconventional 25-date "The Home Tour." Just a week earlier, the blues rocker performed before 400 prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. A senior citizens residence, you’d think, would be a piece of cake for a seasoned musician.

 

“She did end up coming down to the show,” McBride tells Tonic of the skeptic concertgoer at her June 11 performance at We Are Family in Washington D.C. “What a fantastic audience. They were really just rockin’ and rollin’ – an elderly audience that just really wanted to hear gospel and rock.”

 

McBride can deliver it. Born in Louisiana, raised in D.C. and currently living in New York City, the singer-songwriter is blessed with a voice described by The New York Times as “part angel, part truck driver.” After releasing her debut, Everything Seemed Alright, into the settling toxic dust cloud of 9/11 and making an appearance onscreen and on the soundtrack of Brokeback Mountain in 2005, McBride has hit her stride, releasing a Christmas album featuring the actor Patrick Wilson in late 2009 and her fourth album, The Way Home, on June 22.

 

She hopes the current tour — which finds her performing at homeless shelters, children's hospitals, green housing developments and other non-traditional places of residence – not only builds exposure for the album, but gives free live music to those who don’t usually get it.

 

That includes the most heinous criminals on earth. “I know you don’t get into Angola for nothing,” McBride says of the prison’s nearly 4,000 inmates, 74 percent of whom are carrying out life sentences. “But I think a lot of people who have ended up there are trying to improve their lives.”

 

“We don’t ask questions, and we don’t know their story,” she continues. “I do know that music is universal, everyone enjoys it and everyone should have an opportunity to enjoy it.”

 

A week after 400 inmates sang along to a rousing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and gave her a standing ovation (“It doesn’t get much better than a standing O at Angola,” an inmate sound guy whispered in her ear), McBride performed at the Houston Area Women’s Center, a nonprofit serving victims of sexual and domestic violence based in a secret Houston location. In constant fear of being discovered by their abusers, many of the single moms and traumatized kids in attendance rarely leave the center for groceries, much less to experience live music. “I think they were particularly grateful,” McBride says of the audience.

 

Playing at venues not built for music in front of audiences unfamiliar with her work isn’t the challenge McBride anticipated. “It’s better than I expected,” she says. She doesn’t go into the performances with a set list. “We pick a first song, see what the response is and then go from there.... What we want is a give-and-take with the community.”

 

Several of McBride’s own songs have taken on new meaning in the context of the tour’s down-and-out venues. “Can’t Let Go,” which includes the chorus: “I got a big chain around my neck,” could have incited a riot at Angola. She played it anyway, to a rousing, not quite riotous response. McBride hesitated before playing “Bottle and a Bible” at The O’Brien House, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Baton Rouge, La. After feeling out the vibe of the audience, she went with it. By the end of the performance, the audience was “hooting and hollering,” McBride told The Wall Street Journal. “They ate it up.”

 

Audiences are also eating up covers. “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Amazing Grace,” Ray Charles’ “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” and Tom Waits’ “Innocent When You Dream” have all gotten the crowd going during the tour. But the best response to a cover or an original song, McBride says, has come out of the elderly.

 

“I think particularly people who are disabled and can’t leave the building, can’t leave their house, that the level of immediate gratitude is probably a little stronger,” McBride says. She recounts meeting one elderly lady at We Are Family D.C. who was too arthritic to leave her bed for McBride’s performance in the lobby. “My guitar player Paul and I went to her home. She was in bed. It was one hundred degrees. I asked her what she wanted to hear: a ballad, blues, rock and roll. She said, ‘Oh, I definitely want to hear rock n roll.’ So we did a rock version of ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.’ She was singing along and moving her hands and she looked at me and said ‘Thank you so much. If only my feet could move.’”

 

On June 29, Mary McBride performed at the Freedom House in Detroit, Mich. — a temporary home for survivors of persecution who seek legal asylum in the United States. As is true of her other shows during “The Home Tour,” McBride won’t be paid to perform, and she doubts those in attendance will ever buy one of her albums. “We’re not making any money,” McBride said ten dates into the tour. “I believed it before we left but I know it now: There’s no amount of money that anyone could pay us that would be as valuable as what we are doing this summer.”

 

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The   12th Annual Delta Blues Festival
- A Free Event – All Ages Welcome
One Day Only
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Noon to 7:30 p.m.

 

Antioch's Rivertown District
Off 2nd street between "G" and "I" streets.
On the San Joaquin Delta

 

Bring Lawn Chairs - Free Parking
No Alcohol - No Pets – Lots of shade

 

Arts - Crafts - Gift Items - Food Vendors

 

Festival Artist Line-Up

EC Scott – True Blues Master!  A critically acclaimed woman of the blues!
Mitch Woods & his Rocket 88s – "Boogie Woogie” and high energy
Pat Wilder – Soulful and down-home!  Blue the way it oughtta be played
Terry Hanck – Hard-blowing sax and incredible/gutsy vocals.
Ron Hacker – A Bay Area blues treasure!
Rhythm Doctors – Blues to heal the soul!

 

Rockland is still better known for lobster than the blues.

 

But over the 16 years that the North Atlantic Blues Festival has been operating, the seaport city has become known as a major destination for blues players and fans.

 

And for them, eating lobster is merely a bonus.

 

"Oh, it's one of my favorite places to play," said singer Shemekia Copeland from her home in Chicago. "It's such a beautiful place, and the fans who come out are great. And Paul Benjamin does such a great job putting it together."

 

Copeland is one of the headliners of this year's North Atlantic Blues Festival, along with Keb' Mo' and James Cotton. The festival will take place Saturday and Sunday at Harbor Park at the Public Landing, off Main Street.

 

Eleven artists are scheduled to take the stage over two days, with performances beginning at 11 a.m. each day and lasting into the evening. Copeland is scheduled to play about an hour and 15 minutes beginning at 3 p.m. Sunday, while Keb' Mo' will close the festival with a 90-minute set at 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Cotton is scheduled to close Saturday's show with a 90-minute set around 5:35 p.m.

 

The festival attracts about 8,000 people per day, Benjamin said. A local blues promoter and record producer, Benjamin started the event in 1990 as the Trade Winds Blues Bash in a motel parking lot. He later teamed with other people in the music business in Maine -- Randy Labbe and Jamie Isaacson -- to officially launch the North Atlantic Blues Festival in 1994.

 

Benjamin says getting major blues acts to play the festival is not hard.

 

"We say, 'It's Maine, it's on the ocean, it's great blues, and we serve lobster.' That sells itself," he said.

 

It's enough to sell Copeland, plus the fact that she gets to see old friends like Keb' Mo' and Cotton.

 

"The blues world is a small world, so these are all people I've played with before, had fun with," said Copeland, the recipient of three Blues Music Awards.

 

Copeland, 31, grew up in the blues world as the daughter of Texas blues guitar legend Johnny Copeland.

 

Copeland's father recognized her talent early on, encouraged her to sing, and got her on stage at Harlem's Cotton Club when she was 8. But she was shy, and didn't want to sing on stage.

 

That persisted for a few years, until she was 15 and her father's health was failing due to heart problems. He died in 1997, at the age of 60.

 

The following year, Copeland released her debut album, "Turn the Heat Up!" on Alligator Records, to rave reviews.

 

She says her father influenced her greatly, in spirit and in practical ways.

 

"My father was a great songwriter and a great singer, and wasn't all about guitar playing," Copeland said. "Now guitar players just stand there, but my father was an entertainer. His style influenced me a lot, his phrasing especially."

 

Copeland said the "insecurity" of her youth stayed with her for a while, but each year as she's gotten older, she's felt less nervous and more comfortable on stage. It's to the point where performing on is her favorite part of what she does.

 

"I've gotten more confident in who I am, more accepting of who I am," she said. "The music business is rough, dealing with record companies and promoters, but when I get on stage, I forget all about that and just have a real good time."

 

Keb' Mo', 58, has been a major blues force for the past couple of decades. Born Kevin Moore in Los Angeles to parents from the deep South, his music has been called a "link" to the Delta blues of legends such as Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. He's won three Grammy awards in the contemporary blues album category. Like Copeland, he's played Maine before.

 

Cotton, 75, is a blues legend who shows no signs of slowing down. He grew up working in Mississippi cotton fields with his family, and began performing with his harmonica as a boy.

 

At age 9, he was introduced by an uncle to bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson II, who arranged for the young Cotton to open shows for him.

 

Cotton was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2006.

 

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The Manson’s Guitar Show (MGS), is back for its 16^th spectacular year and will again be held at the Riverside Leisure Centre, Exeter on October 23^rd and 24^th 2010. Tickets are on sale now and the first 250 bookings will receive a free set of Rotosound R9 or R10 top selling nickel on steel guitar strings worth £6.50.

 

MGS is the UK ’s biggest regional guitar show and over the last two years has seen Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones and Pink Floyd’s Guy Pratt make appearances. It will feature over forty exhibitors displaying some of the coolest gear ready for you to check out. Already confirmed exhibitors include Roland, Bare Knuckle Pickups, Marshall , Orange , Freshman, PRS and Rotosound, who have announced Walter Trout will be having a signing session on their stand at 3pm on Sunday 24^th.

 

Whether you play the electric, acoustic or bass guitar; whatever your style is, rock, jazz, classical or simply strumming, over the two days the show will offer you real hands on experience trying new products and guitar accessories. In addition, this incredible show will offer you the opportunity to see gear demonstrations (Martin Barre from Jethro Tull is confirmed to appear), take part in workshops as well as ask the experts all those burning questions you have. In fact MGS 2010 offers you practically everything to do with guitars, plus there will be great shows deals and amazing prizes!

 

Ticket prices have been kept the same as last year and discounted tickets are available to purchase in advance and are on sale now, but hurry as only the first 250 tickets sold will receive a free set of Rotosound Strings. These can be ordered from www.mansons.co.uk/ or via the Manson team on Tel +44 (0)1392 496379 see prices below:

 

Further artist news, show offers and exhibitors will be announced over the coming months.

 

  

Singer and harmonica player John Németh has been turning lots of heads lately in the music world, and now he's been discovered by Hollywood.  He will sing and appear in an upcoming episode of "Memphis Beat," a new television series on the TNT network.

Evyen Klean, music supervisor for the program, was looking for someone to sing a Howlin' Wolf song.  After hearing Nemeth's recording of "Daughter of the Devil," John's original Wolf-like song,  he knew he had his man.  Originally, John was just supposed to record the vocal for the track, and an actor would later lip-synch to his recording for the cameras.  But after witnessing John perform at the Los Angeles recording session, Klean lobbied the producers of the show to hire John for the onscreen role as well.  So Németh headed off to New Orleans to face the cameras.

Says Klean, "As soon as I heard John I knew he would kill 'Who's Been Talking.' His voice and harp playing just resonated the blues and of course he nailed it at the recording session. It was then it hit me, Geez John you should be in the show, and asked him if he wanted to be on camera...The whole scenario from start to finish was organic and honest, John's a true artist."

On the show, Jason Lee plays a quirky Memphis police detective with a passion for blues. Music plays a vital role in the show.  In the words of co-creator Liz W. Garcia, "Music is a huge part of this show.  It has to be.  You can't live in Memphis and not have your life steeped in music."

Németh appears in Episode 6 of the series, entitled "Suspicious Minds," which will be broadcast on July 27th.  The TV appearance is the latest media coup for the singer since the May release of his CD, Name The Day!   He was just featured on National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition,"  recorded an interview for the nationally-syndicated "House of Blues Hour" radio program, and is scheduled to sing the National Anthem in front of a sellout crowd in San Francisco prior to a Giants-Dodgers game later this month.

sam's burger joint & san antonio blues society present

A NIGHT OF HOT BLUES MUSIC

THE ERIC TESSMER BAND

with Special Guests sabs member artists THE BOB BASS BAND

@ Sam's Burger Joint sabs member venue

saturday night 07.10.10 • 8:30pm

 

 This week, Elwood takes a spin through Hitsville, USA. The Radio Hour will spin some of the top Motown players, like Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, the Supremes, the Temptations, and more. Plus a look at the songwriters that wrote the hits, and the Funk Brothers - the Motown musicians who shaped the Motown sound. Not to mention the Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Rolling Stones, Joan Osborne, J. Geils, and more – musicians who put their own stamp on Motown. Then: a side trip to New Orleans, with piano man Mitch Woods, and a chance for you to win RAISING THE BAR, the new CD from Magic Slim.

 

 

RBA Publishing Inc is based in Reno, NV with a satellite office in Beverly Hills, Florida. We produce the annual Blues Festival Guide magazine (now in its 7th year), the top-ranking website: www.BluesFestivalGuide.com, and this weekly blues newsletter: The Blues Festival E-Guide with approximately 20,000 weekly subscribers. We look forward to your suggestions, critiques, questions, etc.

Reach the E-Guide editor, Gordon Bulcock, gordon@bluesfestivalguide.com

or contact our home office at 775-337-8626, eguide@bluesfestivalguide.com
 

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