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.3 responses total.
A quick use of 'find "blues" all' turned up some responses mentioning blues, no item devoted to it. Even if no one else is interested enough to respond, we'll still at least glance at what you have to say. :) WEMU, the Eastern Michigan University radio station, focuses on "News, Jazz and Blues." They are on the web at www.wemu.org and are included in iTunes listing of radio stations. And you'll even get news about Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, in the bargain. :)
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 ;)
start with son house and go from there.
You have several choices: