| September 28, 2007 |
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Vol 2 Issue 35
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HUNDREDS OF BLUES FESTIVALS
For a complete list of all 2007 Blues Festivals
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MAGIC SLIM : : The Essential Magic Slim
Magic Slim is simply the greatest living proponent of the intense, electrified, Mississippi-to-Chicago blues style that spawned much of the music played by modern blues artists and rockers. Featuring Slim’s trademark slash and burn guitar and booming vocals, this definitive, budget-priced collection includes some of the finest moments in his eighteen year relationship with Blind Pig. This is no-frills, unapologetic, straight-no-chaser blues for the ages from a true national treasure. A “must-have” CD for any serious blues fan!
Click the LISTEN button below to hear "Mind Your Own Business" from THE ESSENTIAL MAGIC SLIM.
For more information click here
To LISTEN it may be necessary to allow pop-ups. Just hold down the CTRL button on your keyboard while pressing the following LISTEN button; please allow a few seconds for juke-box player to open.
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NAPPY BROWN : : Long Time Coming
Nappy Brown is one of the great voices in American music. He makes a triumphant return with an album that swings with the same soulful authority that he exhibited on his hits of a half-century ago. Inspired by stellar backing from musicians including Sean Costello, Junior Watson, and Bob Margolin, specifically chosen for their ability to capture the sound and feel of American music in its heyday, Nappy brilliantly recreates his classic songs, including his signature tune, "Don't Be Angry," and "The Right Time," a song later associated with Ray Charles. Said Nappy, "This is the first time in 30 years I've had the chance to do my music with cats that understand it. This is the best record I have done since 1955!"
Click the LISTEN button below to hear "Keep on Pleasin' You" from LONG TIME COMING by Nappy Brown.
For more information click here
To LISTEN it may be necessary to allow pop-ups. Just hold down the CTRL button on your keyboard while pressing the following LISTEN button; please allow a few seconds for juke-box player to open.
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Enter this contest and win!
Working on the next contest, keep watching for the annoucement.
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2008 INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE
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For the 24th year, Blues musicians from around the world will compete for cash, prizes, and industry recognition as The Blues Foundation presents the International Blues Challenge beginning January 31 and continuing February 1-2, 2008 in Memphis, TN. The world's largest gathering of Blues acts represents an international search by The Blues Foundation and its affiliated organizations for the Blues band and Blues solo/duo most deserving of taking their act to the international stage. In 2007, over 90 bands and 60 solo/duo acts from 34 states and 8 countries competed. Even greater participation is expected in 2008, as musicians and fans fill the clubs up and down Beale Street beginning at 5:00pm for the semi-finals on Thursday and Friday and at the Band finals (1:00pm) and the Solo/Duo finals (7:30pm) at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday.
Advance tickets, host hotel information, merchandise and preliminary event schedule will be available at www.blues.org beginning October 1.
The IBC has evolved into the world’s biggest and most respected showcase for Blues musicians ready to move beyond their regional base. Acts play a short set for a panel of judges who score them on an established set of criteria. Blues acts may not enter the challenge directly but rather each of The Blues Foundation’s 165 affiliates has the right to sponsor one band and one solo/duo act. Accordingly, those who make it to Memphis are already the best of the best.
The IBC weekend gets an early kickoff Wednesday, January 30 with a Meet & Greet hosted by the Beale Street Merchants Association at the New Daisy Theater and the performance of multiple IBC participants at the FedEx Forum during the Memphis Grizzlies v. Denver Nuggets NBA game. In addition to the evening Blues competition, the days are filled with seminars and workshops and topped off in a moving Saturday morning brunch in which the Blues community will honor its own with the prestigious Keeping the Blues Alive (KBA) Awards that honor the men and women, who have made significant contributions to the Blues music world, in 20 categories such as journalism, literature and photography and to the best clubs and festivals, as well as managers, promoters and producers.
Throughout the week, The Blues Foundation will be sponsoring Blues in the Schools programming featuring Gary Allegretto, Spencer Bohren and the duo of James Nixon and Shannon Williford in elementary and middle schools in the Greater Memphis area, as well as special presentations for children facing a wide range of physical or emotional disadvantages.
Media Sponsors include XM Satellite Radio, House of Blues Radio Hour, Big City Rhythm and Blues, Blues Festival Guide, Blues Revue, BluesWax, Downtowner magazine, Living Blues and WREG-TV.
The 24th International Blues Challenge is sponsored by ArtsMemphis, bandVillage, Beale Street Merchants Association, Budweiser and its local distributor, D.Canale Beverages, FedEx, Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, Sonicbids, T. Clifton Art and XM Satellite Radio.
The list of blues artists whose career included the International Blues Challenge over the years includes: Susan Tedeschi, Michelle Wilson, Michael Burks, Tommy Castro, Albert Cummings, Larry Garner, Richard Johnston, Slick Ballinger, Zac Harmon, Diunna Greenleaf and Matthew Skoller, among many others.
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Corey Harris Awarded McArthur Fellowship
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The entire Blues community can be proud of Corey Harris as he has been awarded the coveted McArthur Fellowship for 2007.
Each year the Chicago-based foundation gives the award to individuals “for their creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future,” and its recipients are allowed to do whatever they want with the money.
Though several classical and jazz composers have won the award since its inception in 1981, Harris is the first blues musician to be honored.
Corey Harris is a guitarist, songwriter, and performer who is leading a contemporary revival of country blues with a fresh, modern hand. He is a powerful and compelling singer and an accomplished guitarist whose musical artistry is complemented by serious explorations of the historical and cultural conditions that gave rise to the blues. He demonstrates his respect for the past and his mastery of the Mississippi Delta blues tradition by interpreting the songs of early blues luminaries in new ways, while also creating an original vision of the blues by infusing his music with a broad range of sounds and styles. Beginning with his 1995 recording Between Midnight and Day, Harris has explored acoustic, rural blues styles with increasing success. Subsequent recordings, such as Greens from the Garden (1999), Mississippi to Mali (2003), and Daily Bread (2005), reflect Harris’ reinterpretations of the African influences on American blues through ethnographic research and musical collaborations in Mali, Guinea, and elsewhere. He has demonstrated the boundless expressive power of blues music by weaving traditional styles together with elements from jazz, reggae, gospel, and African and Caribbean folk music. Maturing from interpreter to creator, his imaginative compositions spark renewed interest in the musical potential of the blues. Sometimes forgoing the traditional 12-bar structure and mimetic repetition common to most blues music, Harris forges an adventurous path marked by deliberate eclecticism. With one foot in tradition and the other in contemporary experimentation, he blends musical styles often considered separate and distinct to create something entirely new for the 21st century.
Corey Harris received a B.A. (1991) from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. His additional recordings include Fish Ain’t Bitin’ (1997), Vu-Du Menz (with Henry Butler, 2000), Downhome Sophisticate (2002), and Zion Crossroads (2007). He has performed at venues and in festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad.
How Harris won the award is shrouded in secrecy. Each year the Chicago-based foundation solicits nominees from an ever-changing list of several hundred anonymous nominators. From that list, an equally anonymous 12-person jury submits its list of winners to the MacArthur Foundation board for approval.
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SONICBIDS RECEIVES RECOGNITION FROM INC. MAGAZINE
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Sonicbids, the leading online submission platform for indie bands and musicians recently placed #88 on Inc. Magazine's Inc. 500 list of the Fastest Growing Private Companies in America for 2007. The Inc.500 appears in the September issue and is the magazine's most popular annual feature in the business and investment community. Sonicbids is the 4th highest ranked media company and the only company focused on the music industry.
Launched in 2002 by Boston-based Panos Panay, Sonicbids is a website that makes it easy for bands to submit their press kits electronically to festivals, clubs, events and other performance opportunities all over the world. With a membership of 120,000 bands from 100 different countries and with over 10,000 music promoters using the site, Sonicbids is quickly becoming the universal standard for connecting bands with performance and licensing opportunities.
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The Blues Foundation Wins Stanford Award
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The Blues Foundation was selected to receive a Stanford Financial Excellence in the Arts Award which honors local arts organizations that manage their money efficiently and effectively. It has been called a left-brain award for right-brain organizations. The Award comes with a $15,000 financial prize.
As a wealth management firm, Stanford understands the importance of fiscal management and being good stewards of one's resources. That's a skill arts groups increasingly must demonstrate to win funding from foundations, corporations and individuals. The initiative provides grants to recognize and reward arts organizations that demonstrate exemplary management of their finances.
The ongoing program, which was first developed by Stanford in Memphis, Tenn., is the only one of its kind in the country. By rewarding fiscal responsibility, it encourages and develops arts organizations' ability to manage their finances in order to mirror healthy, for-profit corporations, making for a better bottom-line for the nonprofits.
Stanford joined with ArtsMemphis to comb through financial information and budget statements submitted to the arts organization to select the award winners.
Congratultions to the frugal and hard-working staff, and the Board of Directors. Well done my friends.
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TEXAS BLUES MUSEUM
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The image above is an artist's rendering of the Texas Blues Museum, part of a proposed $300 million complex for Arlington, TX.
A simple sign posted in the 800 block of Stadium Drive that reads "Future Home of TBM" appears to have provoked little curiosity, though this may well be because TBM means zip to most of Arlington.
Tip: It stands for Texas Blues Museum.
If everything works out, the 5-acre site will become the museum's home, part of a $300 million complex that would include a 2,000-seat auditorium and mix of retail, hotel and high-dollar condominiums.
It would all sit essentially across the street from the new Glorypark project and would be a short walk from the Rangers ballpark and the Cowboys stadium. At up to 30 stories it would tower over the Cowboys stadium, itself a 20-story edifice.
The developers hope to make an announcement this year.
Funk and rock musician Howard Scott, briefly with The Drifters (Under the Boardwalk, Save the Last Dance for Me) and later a founding member of War (LowRider, Why Can't We Be Friends?, The Cisco Kid), lives in Arlington.
The idea of a combined Texas Blues Museum, hall of fame and performance venue has long been on his wish list.
"Our original idea was just to put together the museum and theater," Scott said. "But as we talked, the hotel and condominium component idea emerged. We think that the museum and theater would prosper with or without the rest of the development -- something for people to do at night after a day in the park or after a ballgame. It doesn't hurt that 6 or 7 million visitors a year are showing up in Arlington already, and there'll be a lot more once the stadium opens."
As Scott's group visualizes the museum, it would feature holographic images of famed Texas bluesmen, an annual hall of fame event and a kind of Vegas-style mixed dinner theater/nightspot with seating for 1,500 to 2,000.
"We'd likely have an early show for the family crowd and a later nightclub-style show for the late-evening set," Scott said.
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SOUL MEN - THE MOVIE
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Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac are set to star in Soul Men. Jackson and Mac will star as estranged soul singers who reunite for a concert tour. They haven't spoken to each other in 20 years but agree to travel together for a tribute performance. Both Jackson and Mac will sing and dance in the comedy.
Any guesses who will be Sam and who will play Dave?
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AMAZON OFFERS CHEAP DRM-FREE SONG DOWNLOADS
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Apple’s iTunes may be the market leader in digital music downloads but Amazon.com’s new digital music store has 2.3 million tracks for sale that can be played on either iTunes or Windows Media Player and can be listened to on any hardware device from PC to MP3 player to Blackberry.
While iTunes has a back catalogue of six million tracks, most are locked down by DRM, or Digital Rights Management, meaning that they can only be authorized for use on a limited number of machines and can only be played on Apple’s iPod.
Those that are free from these restrictions cost US$1.29 per song whereas Amazon MP3 is offering all songs DRM-free and most of them are marketed at US$0.89c each.
The digital music store, which was launched this week, is currently in public beta testing for US customers only, with no announcements on when European customers may be able to avail of its downloads.
Tracks on Amazon MP3 come from two major record labels: Universal and EMI, as well as thousands of independent labels.
"Amazon MP3 is an all-MP3, DRM-free catalog of a la carte music from major labels and independent labels, playable on any device, in high-quality audio, at low prices," said Bill Carr, Amazon.com vice-president for digital music.
"This new digital music service has already been through an extensive private beta, and today we're excited to offer it to our customers as a fully functional public beta.”
When Amazon.com customers search for a certain artist or album, the website will now return the choice of buying the actual CD or downloads the digital version.
This isn’t the first time Amazon.com has dipped its toes into the world of digital downloads, it currently offers its US customers ‘Unbox’: a TV show and movie download service where content can be bought or rented.
We are loving the Amazon catalog of Blues music
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No Free Meals For Restaurant Owner Morgan Freeman
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Morgan Freeman insists on paying for his food when he dines at his own Mississippi restaurant - because the place would quickly go out of business if he didn't. The movie star admits he dines on his favorite wilted turnips and Mississippi Pond-Raised Bass with Quinoa and Peach Chutney at his southern-flavored restaurant Madidi whenever he's not on a film set.
And there's no such thing as a free meal for Freeman at the upscale Clarksdale, Mississippi diner - even though he co-owns the joint.
He says, "I have to pay. My partner and I decided that we could eat ourselves out of business if we didn't set the precedent."
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PEAVINE AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
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As part of the Delta State University "Year of Delta Heritage", the ninth annual Peavine Awards will celebrate excellence in the Delta Blues on October 4.
According to historian Steve LaVere, founder of the Peavines, this year's awards will honor three Delta Bluesmen who created a unique Blues sound - John Lee Hooker, Earl Hooker, and Tony Hollins.
The celebration will be at the Grapeland Grill on Highway 61 in Cleveland, Mississippi starting at 7:30 p.m. and featuring live Blues by Bill “Howlin' Madd” Perry and his Blues Band along with the awards ceremony itself.
There will be no cover charge for this event.
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Prebook Starts Monday! Oct. 2008 Pacific & Jan. 2009 Caribbean
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Securing your Cabin Space: A $250 per person fully refundable deposit will hold your space on the cruise you have selected. You may pre-book using this form or by calling the office ( 888-BLUESIN ). The deposit is fully refundable up to 30 days after the line-up is announced. Once a cabin is selected, your deposit must be increased to $500 per person.
CLICK HERE for more information.
The January 2008 cruise is sold-out. However, a limited number of excellent Deluxe Outside Oceanview cabins and Verandahs (oceanview decks) are available on the October 13-20, 2008 cruise from San Diego to the Riviera. 7 days and nights on the five star Holland America ms Oosterdam with 20+ bands, surprise guests and over 70 scheduled shows.
Passports are not necessary, just a birth certificate. Book Today! when you call 1-888-BLUESIN
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Stevie Ray Vaughan
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(news courtesy of Modern Guitars) In honor of the 1 millionth play of "CROSSFIRE," Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble’s first No. 1 hit, recording rights organization BMI presented the songwriters with a special award at an Austin City Limits Festival kick-off party at Lambert’s, an Austin restaurant, on September 13, 2007. BMI has sponsored a stage devoted to up-and-coming singer/songwriters since the beginning of the 6-year-old festival.
BMI representative Jody Williams, who presented the awards, said 1 million radio plays equals constant spins for about eight years straight. BMI collects royalty fees for a licensed song's radio airplay and use in other public venues, and distributes payments to its composers.
"I look at this song and I realize it was a turning point in my career," said Double Trouble bassist and co-writer Tommy Shannon, who noted he and Vaughan had gotten clean and sober and the band was heading toward becoming a songwriting team. Had Stevie lived, Shannon said, he's sure there would have been more song collaborations. (Vaughan did not share a co-writing credit on this tune, however.)
"It's a bittersweet award," added drummer Chris Layton, who also co-penned the tune with Bill Carter, Ruth Ellsworth Carter and keyboardist Reese Wynans, the only co-author who could not make the event.
The duo still performs as the Double Trouble rhythm section, but in the town where they made their name – and to blues fans around the world – there will always be a hole where Stevie Ray once stood. His statue, however, is a prominent fixture in Zilker Park, site of the annual three-day festival, which took place September 14-16.
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2008 Blues Music Awards Moving to Tunica, Mississippi
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The 2008 Blues Music Awards will be held at the Grand Casino and Hotel in Tunica Mississippi on Thursday May 8, 2008. The Charter Members' Dinner and Blues Hall of Fame induction will take place at the Tunica Riverpark on Wednesday, May 7, 2008.
More information will be posted on the Blues Foundation website as it becomes available. In recent years, the nominees, the voting, the tickets and the host hotel information has generally been posted all at once around December 15. Please note that Blues Music Awards special hotel rates are not in effect at this time.
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JEFF HEALEY CONTINUES HIS BATTLE AGAINST CANCER GENE
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Guitarist, band-leader and musician Jeff Healey, despite his ongoing battle against the cancer gene that stems from retino blastoma - the disease that took his sight in early childhood - is continuing to work on a variety of projects.
Currently in the middle of a course of chemotherapy, he is working on two different recording projects - one a jazz recording for Stony Plain Records, the other a blues CD for Stony Plain Records and for Ruf Records. He is also continuing his Monday evening radio show, My Kinda Jazz, on JazzFM in Toronto.
"I have had to repeat one earlier show, and I'm taping some shows this week, but I'm doing the show live whenever I can, because I much prefer to do it that way," he said.
A handful of concert dates have been postponed, and Healey was sad to miss a Scandinavian tour, which would have lasted too long to allow his ongoing treatments.
"I have great confidence in the doctors who are working with me," Healey says. "I'm doing everything I can to keep busy while my doctors and I fight the good fight. Keeping my various projects on the go is as important to my health as are the treatments."
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NEWS FROM BLIND PIG RECORDS
Blind Pig Records has announced the signing of Webb Wilder, the Nashville-based roots rocker, film producer, actor, and radio DJ. In January 2008 Blind Pig will release BORN TO BE WILDER, a live CD that was recorded at WorkPlay in Birmingham, Alabama.
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THE TYRONE VAUGHAN BAND:The son of Jimmie Vaughan and the nephew of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan.
When the torch of one musical generation is passed on to the next, it's exciting. It's even more monumental when it literally happens within a family. Tyrone Vaughan rocks! A singer/songwriter/guitarist, his distinctive blend of chops and feeling makes perfect sense when you realize that he is the son of Jimmie Vaughan, the founding guitarist of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and the nephew of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. Tyrone Vaughan is his own person, with his own distinct distillation of the blues, rock, soul, and pop influences that he was exposed to the moment he took his first breath upon entering the world in Oak Cliff, (Dallas) TX. "I grew up in the blues clubs in Austin. When I was very young, Boz Scaggs once put me in his guitar case so that I could go to sleep. Another time, Muddy Waters put cotton in my ears before he went on stage so that it would be quiet enough for me to sleep," said Tyrone. "I also remember putting two chairs together to sleep on. Sometimes I'd go to sleep under a pool table. But living like that was just natural for all of us. It was a community. Everybody was a friend, and everybody took care of everybody's kids. But it could be a hard life." Vaughan proudly carries his heritage and colorful upbringing on himself like tattoos, but he is now blazing his own trail. Tyrone, along with his incredibly tight band comprised of guitarist Bruce Castleberry, bass guitarist John Olrech and drummer Rob Schilz, has just completed his soon-to-be-released first CD. The culmination of a lifetime of hard work honing his art, Vaughan's razor-sharp focus has paid off with every song spawned from his gut, every syllable uttered from his mouth and every note wrung out of his guitar.
Would you like yourself or your band to be featured as a "Blues Artist on the Rise"? Then CLICK HERE for more information.
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VEE-JAY RECORDS:"The Definitive Collection"
  Established in 1953, Vee-Jay Records was one of the first Africian-American owned record labels. It's roster included blues greats like Jimmy Reed and John Lee Hooker, plus vocal groups like the Four Season. Vee-Jay Records was even the first American label to issue a Beatles single. And yet by the mid-60s the company was bankrupt. Hear the whole story from Elwood Blues, as he spins tunes from the NEW Vee-Jay box set THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION, this week on The House of Blues Radio Hour. |
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For years, the Blues Festival Guide Magazine received numerous requests for updates on festivals via email, and on January 10, 2006, the Marketing Director of the Blues Festival Guide magazine, Nancy Edwards partnered with the magazine (RBA Publishing) and published the first emailed issue of the E-Guide E-Newsletter.
The E-Guide is a wonderful resource for everyone interested in Blues! You can expect to see the E-Guide in your inbox weekly. Please email the editor with any questions at
nancy@bluesfestivalEguide.com
To reach thousands of blues enthusiasts, click here to learn how to advertise in this Blues Festival E-Guide E-Newsletter.
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