[Dixielandjazz] Blues Festivals - A marketing Opportunity for OKOM Bands?

[Steve Barbone]

Maybe some enterprising OKOM bands could put together a roots Blues program
that would fit in? Barbone Street has done a few in past years but not
recently. Time to take another look?

If interested in information about the 500 + Blues Festivals/year see:
http://www.bluesfestivalguide.com/festivals.shtml

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


Singing the Blues All Over

NY TIMES - By EMILY S. RUEB - August 10, 2007

EVERYONE loves the blues. Some people just don¹t know it yet. Much like its
followers, the blues has hitchhiked from one part of the country to another,
evolving into new genres like R&B, soul and rock.

Nothin' but the Blues
For more information about the blues, visit The Blues Foundation website.
And for a complete list of blues festivals, go to The Blues Festival Guide.

As Willie Dixon said, ³The blues is the roots; the rest is the fruits.²
Because the blues is the backbone of so much of the music heard today ‹ even
bluegrass and hip-hop ‹ its rhythm and its message appeal to a wide
audience.

³I didn¹t know I liked the blues² is a common refrain of new fans, said
Nancy Edwards, director of marketing for the Blues Festival Guide. She
estimates that there will be more than 530 blues festivals this year, giving
blues lovers multiple opportunities to come together somewhere other than in
a dark bar with a two-drink minimum.

³Everyone¹s had the blues, and if you haven¹t, then you really haven¹t lived
yet,² said Heidi Knochenhauer, who is about to attend her ninth Arkansas
Blues and Heritage Festival and has been volunteering there for five years.

Commonly known as the Biscuit, the festival, in Helena, Ark., was originally
named after ³The King Biscuit Time Radio Show,² the first radio show for
live blues, which has been broadcasting from Helena since 1941.

As many as 80,000 people, from many states and countries, typically attend
the festival, which takes place over three days on a levee where the
Mississippi River stretches half a mile wide. This year¹s mostly Delta blues
lineup will include more than 60 acts on three stages as well as buskers on
the town¹s streets. The festival will also pay tribute to the late Robert
Lockwood Jr., who was born nearby in 1915.

The Biscuit¹s fans are loyal: couples have returned to be married on its
stage, and one man¹s ashes were scattered on the grounds. The festival is
free, and some fans set up camp in a tent city.

At 8,750 feet above sea level in Telluride, Colo., about 25,000 revelers
over three days will set up lawn chairs and picnic blankets to see
blues-inspired acts like Los Lonely Boys, Keb¹ Mo¹ and the Black Crowes at
the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival. While the musicians play, the booths
of 55 microbreweries will dispense 160 kinds of beer for a three-hour
all-you-can-taste event on Saturday. After hours, hearty fans can purchase
³the juke joint pass² for admittance to any of the town¹s five clubs to
unite with musicians and fans into the wee hours.

This year¹s San Francisco Blues Festival, held on the Great Meadow at Fort
Mason, overlooking San Francisco Bay, will feature the sacred steel guitar
music of Robert Randolph & the Family Band and a blues bash with Allen
Toussaint, John Hammond and the Charlie Musselwhite Band playing together
for the first time in a show.

The Roots ¹N Blues ¹N BBQ Festival in Columbia, Mo., extends blues tradition
to include roots music, which by definition includes the blues as well as
gospel, country and other American traditional music, said Richard King,
owner of the Blue Note Club in Columbia and programmer of the festival.
Headliners will include Taj Mahal and Sierra Leone¹s Refugee All Stars.
Cooks will compete in a barbecue competition.

Far north of the birthplace of blues, the Edmonton¹s Labatt Blues Festival
in Alberta runs on ³a real blues mandate,² said Cam Hayden, one of its
producers. ³It¹s all blues and nothing but the blues,² he said. The festival
takes place in a 1,200-seat amphitheater that was built primarily for
outdoor theater ‹ including Shakespeare in the park ‹ and provides blues
performers like Watermelon Slim and the Workers, EG Kight and Los Lobos with
the gift of near-perfect acoustics.

Also at the Edmonton festival will be Elvin Bishop, who says he has been
playing blues ³since the Dead Sea was sick.² Blues lovers seem to have a
desire to understand the music on a deeper level, Mr. Bishop added. ³For
some people it¹s just a surface thing, a trapping, like clothes or
hairstyles,² he said. ³For blues people, it has to do with life.²

MORE INFORMATION

EDMONTON, ALBERTA

What: Blues festival, www.bluesinternationalltd.com; 35 to 90 Canadian
dollars (about $37 to $96 at 1.06 Canadian dollars to the U.S. dollar).

When: Aug. 24 to 26.

COLUMBIA, MO.

What: Blues, roots and barbecue festival, www.rootsnbluesnbbq.com; free.

When: Sept 7 and 8.

TELLURIDE, COLO.

What: Blues and beer fest; www.tellurideblues.com; $55 to $150.

When: Sept. 14 to 16

SAN FRANCISCO

What: Blues festival, www.sfblues.com; tickets free to $80.

When: Sept. 28 to 30

HELENA, ARK.

What: Blues festival, www.bluesandheritage.com; free.

When: Oct. 4 to 6