The Blues Foundation - October Newsletter Website Blues Store Raise the Roof INFORMATION Click on the Image to go to The Blues Store A Little Business Membership News I would be preaching to the choir to tell this audience about the importance of being a member of The Blues Foundation since this newsletter generally goes only to current members. Our biggest and best ever drawing will be held Friday November 1. Prizes include a cabin on the January Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, IBC and BMA tickets and hotel accommodations, Buddy Guy autographed guitar and CD packages from Delmark and Ruf,among others. On the other hand, higher levels of support do bring a higher number of entries for you in our drawing!if you have been thinking about increasing your membership level, the time to do it is in the next two weeks. Good luck on November 1! IBC News 2013 BMA
Poster New Logo Shirts 2012 Blues Music Award DVD and CD Sponsorship Blues Music Awards Deputy Director, Joe Whitmer reports that acts are beginning to register for the 30 th International Blues Challenge. Affiliates are sending their submissions for the Best Self-Produced CDs. Current entrants, tickets and tees are available on the IBC page of our website,https://www.blues.org/#ref=ibc_index. Use the links on the left of the page for more details. About half of the IBC ticket purchasers are upgrading to reserve a seat in the front rows of the Orpheum Theatre for the IBC finals. At this rate, those reserved seats may not see November! The 2014 Keeping the Blues Alive Award recipients will be announced the second or third week of November. Blues Hall of Fame Update The most highly regarded award ceremony in the Blues industry for performers, the Blues Music Awards are the premier event for Blues professionals, musicians and fans. Held in Memphis, the focus of this celebration is to recognize superior achievements in Blues performances while honoring a cultural tradition. Each year, in conjunction with the Blues Music Awards, the Foundation also presents the Blues Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Sponsorship Benefits may include: Nora Tucker, Design 500, and I have been reaching out to folks for some time in search of meaningful artifacts for the Blues Hall of Fame, as well as for photos and video of Blues Hall of Famers. We actually received the first donations, items for Charles Brown and Ruth Brown. It is pretty exciting to see these blasts from the past and know they will have a proper home in the Blues Hall of Fame. The mission of The Blues Foundation is the art form itself, not any one particular genre or time. That is why the very first phrase of our mission statement is "preserving our blues history." We are now in the business of literally preserving blues history. A few other items that have been promised are Lowell Fulson's guitar and Big Walter Horton's famous straw hat. In addition, we are working with a number of well-known blues photographers as the interactive portions of the Blues Hall of Fame will include a number of photos of every inductee.
Logo placement and sponsor identification on all promotional materials Logo placement on event signage Logo presence on video screens during Blues Music Awards Booth at selected events and activities Promotional item in a gift bag distributed to guests Mention on any TV broadcast of the awards show. Premier placement on The Blues Foundation website Advertisement in the commemorative program The potential to create special awards. Sponsorship IBC KBA recipient Michael Maness is offering a print of his popular Stevie Ray Vaughan to 25 people who donate at least $100 to Raise the Roof! The print has been offered in past auctions and the winning bid has probably always been at least double that amount. Help Michael help us raise $2500 for the Blues Hall of Fame. Donate athttps://www.blues.org/#ref=capitalcam paign_donate and in the referred to line write Maness. Blues Music Award Information The nominators will begin their work in a few weeks. Actually, they have been working hard for weeks, listening to all the submissions, continually culling the herd to get down to the three releases and artists they will nominate in each category. It may be easy for a nominator to say "okay, this one is out" in the early stages but it is very difficult in the late stages to pare the list to just the final three. In a "back to the future" play, we have received LPs and 45s in the mail this year during the submission process. Andrew Jr. Boy Jonesreleased a five-song 33 1/3 with a CD inside and Severn Records sent a few 45s by The Fabulous Thunderbirds accompanied by a 45 rpm spindle adapter, in case you did not save yours from the '60s! With the mission to find the best unsigned blues band, this annual competition is held worldwide on a regional level by The Blues Foundation's 200+ Affiliated Organizations around the world. Semifinalists, the winners of these regional competitions, head to Memphis for the national finals held on historic Beale Street, and the opportunity to compete for over $20,000 in cash and prizes. In 2013, 332 bands, solo/duo and youth acts A Little Play
participated, drawing an audience of many thousands to Beale Street and attracting extensive media coverage. Sponsorship. Benefits:Logo placement on event banner and advertising for local and national publicity Logo exposure on stage at the finals competition at Memphis Sponsorship Contact Jay Sieleman President & Chief Executive Officer The Blues Foundation Tel: 901-527-2583 ext. 12 Fax: 901.529.4030 e-mail: jay@blues.org THANKS to the 2014 Board of Directors (pictured above) who conducted their first meeting of the new year in Memphis on September 28. Since the Board first started pledging to Raise the Roof! two years ago, collectively they have pledged almost a half a million dollars. THANKS for being a member. You are our base and our rock and our foundation. It is a simple thing, but sooo important. Your support matters to our programming. I sometimes fantasize about outing the folks who are not members. STAFF Jay Sieleman President & Chief Executive Officer jay@blues.org THANKS to the good folks who have been donating and lending wonderful artifacts for the Blues Hall of Fame. It is extremely heartwarming to see folks come forward with their personal items to share with the world in the Blues Hall of Fame. Special thanks go out tohowell Begle for his extreme generosity. THANKS Joe Whitmer Deputy Director joe@blues.org Cindi James some of the best in blues. to the good folks at the Daytona Blues Festival for their hospitality. They allowed The Blues Foundation to set up this past weekend. Joe and Sara, Bill Wax and Cam Hayden held down the fort while enjoying
Membership and More! cindi@blues.org Glenda Mace Accounts Payable & Receivable glenda@blues.org Priscilla Hernandez Blues Liaison (volunteer) priscilla@blues.org PLEASE reach out to a friend of yours who you know is a blues fan and recruit them to become a member before November 1. Maybe they will win one of the prizes and share it with you. Did you know? Isaac Tigrett, founder of the Hard Rock Café in 1971 and then thehouse of Blues franchise in the 1990s, lived in Memphis and often spent time ferrying Furry Lewis and Bukka White to gigs in a 1952 Rolls Royce limousine. Interestingly, Bukka's beloved 1933 Duolian was named "Hard Rock." Hard Rock is the guitar Eric Bibb is playing and singing about on his 2009 CD Booker's Guitar. The baritone saxophone on Omar Dyke's Runnin' with the Wolf onprovogue Records is Les Ismore. Perhaps he should play on more modern blues releases!! Also, in the liner notes, Omar says this "If Howlin' Wolf is a 500 pound solid iron anvil, then I am a quarter ounce loose cannon that fell out of a pack of steel wool." I guess that is how songwriters talk!! Smooth jazz singer Michael Franks wrote 3 tunes for Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee - Sonny & Brownie (A&M) in 1973. Michael wrote "You Bring Out The Boogie In Me" sung by Brownie; "White Boy Lost In The Blues" with John Mayall joining in; and "Jesus Gonna Make It Alright." Michael also played acoustic guitar on various cuts. Another smooth jazz mega star, Dave Sanborn was introduced to the saxophone as part of his polio treatment therapy. By the age of 14, he was able to play with legends such as Albert King and Little Milton. Later traveling to California on the advice of a friend, he joined thebutterfield Blues Band and played Woodstock with Paul Butterfield. Fascinating stuff.
Oh to have been able to hear this conversation between two of America's most authentic roots musicians, Jim Dickinson and Dr. John. I believe this photo was taken in the Skyway ballroom on the top floor of the Peabody Hotel in 2001 or 2002 the night before the W.C. Handy Awards.