Jon's musical blatherings.

Jan 7 06:40 UTC 2004

First of all, I want some quick feedback... how would you all feel 
about a blues item?  I haven't posted something because I'm not sure 
where to begin and I'm not sure where people's interests lie.

My father really likes blues a lot and he wishes there was more of it 
on NPR... he isn't as fond of the classical fare that is more of the 
standard programming.  I know some of his favorite artists are Riley 
B. "B.B." King and Eric Clapton.

Other than that, he tends to get his CDs from the smaller run artists 
that do our smaller venues here in the area, some of them local folks, 
as he is a member of the Three Rivers Folk Society-- and hence, most 
of them are much more in the folk genre.

If there is some interest, I'll put up a blues item-- I don't recall 
that the music cf has had one.

New Year's Eve was a lot of fun... my little family went to First 
Night, an event that our city puts on every year downtown on the Plaza 
at this time to celebrate New Year's.  It's a great time for local 
musicians to perform and this year there was a lot of great 
entertainment.

I mentioned the Three Rivers Folk Society.  They were at the same 
place at the First Methodist as they always are and they sponsored a 
lot of wonderful talent, a few acts which we were able to catch.  I 
think the one we were there for was Terry Simmelink-- a Kennewick 
native who seems very much of a Western flavor... and his tunes sound 
like old cowboy ones.

Although a great many of the entertainers were folk artists, we did 
have a blues band and a few jazz artists.  I was a little disappointed 
that I had missed Frank and Debbi Eng-- Debbi is a local educator and 
I had been in one of her jazz ensemble classes at Central Washington 
University when she was working on her master's.  There was also some 
country, gospel/worship, and some rock artists.  The main rock act was 
a local group called Loudermilk, which was a big draw for the 
teenagers.  The band took some time at the Farmer's Exchange before 
their act to sign autographs.  Not a bad venue for a local rock band-- 
most rock groups I remember in my young adult years usually play small 
run down places.

If I remember it right, one of the band members is a son of someone in 
the Ingersoll family... I mention the Ingersolls because the family 
has always been heavily involved in music.  Dave was my elementary 
music teacher (and I believe he's this young man's father, not sure)-- 
not sure where he is now-- but Monte went on to have a moderately 
successful gospel career, and he was one of the gospel artists 
featured at First Night.

We don't have anything like the Ark around here, so I guess it is 
helpful to look to the paper, to groups like Three Rivers, or to big 
events like these to find out about entertainment.

response 2 of 3:

Jan 7 08:34 UTC 2004

I'll check out the URL.

I must admit that I don't have a lot of knowledge myself about the 
blues-- I mentioned it because of the conversation in passing and 
because I thought the subject might bring a little variety to the 
conference.

I'll start the item on the basis of the conversation I had, then ;)