I got busy watching the game and almost forgot to mail this. The feature this week is about the International Blues Challenge. I've posted it before but I used it again to hopefully generate interest in our Arizona Blues Showdown coming in September. Getting closer to the Rhythm Room re-opening. It's been a long strange trip this past year and a half. It will sure feel good to be back in there. I'm sure I'm not the only one ready. And y'all, please get your selves in gear and get in on Showdown. It's a great experience for you, your band , and the Valley audience. Win, lose or draw, you'll be glad you did. The Boogey Man is still with us so use the usual precautions when out and about, and if you haven't done it, get your shot. Nobody is exempt . Have a stress free week. Sincerely, Jim Crawford - PBS |
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Out & About
Survived the virus: Cold Shott & The Hurricane Horns The Sugar Thieves Gary Zak & The Outbacks Hans Olson Rocket 88s JC& The Rockers Carvin Jones Hoodoo Casters Rhythm Room www.rhythmroom.com Nina Curri Paris James Mother Road Trio Blues Review Band Reverbnationbluesmanmike Mike Eldred www.mikeeldredtrio.com Big Daddy D & The Dynamites Facebook www.bigdaddyd.com Cadillac Assembly Line Facebook Innocent Joe and the Hostile Witnesses Facebook Chuck Hall Facebook Pop Top Facebook Tommy Grills Band Facebook Sweet Baby Ray SweetBabyRaysBlues.com
Acme Blues Band Facebook
Thermal Blues Express thermalbluesexpress.com
Tuesday, July 20 Carvin Jones, 6 p.m., Living Room, DC Ranch, Scottsdale Gypsy & Hooter’s Blues JAM, 6 p.m., Pho Cao, Scottsdale Wednesday, July 21 Carvin Jones, 6 p.m., Hitching Post Saloon, Apache Junction Tool Shed JAM, 7 p.m, Blooze Bar, Phoenix Johnny Miller JAM, 7 p.m., Coop’s, Glendale Thursday, July 22 Mike Eldred Trio, 8 p.m., Kazimiers, Chandler
The Morton Brothers, 5 p.m., Keeler's Steak House, Carefree Hans Olson, 6 p.m., Handlebar, Apache Junction Carvin Jones, 6 p.m., Flights, Mesa SS.E. Willis/Bob Corritore, 6:30 p.m., Charly’s, Flagstaff Friday, July 23 Cadillac Assembly Line, 7 p.m., Desert Ridge Mkt. Place, Phoenix Ecclectic Soul, 8 p.m., West Alley BBQ, Chandler BluZone Duo, 6 p.m., Voodoo Daddy’s, Tempe Leon J, 11:30 a.m., DA Ranch, Cornville Saturday, July 24 Carvin Jones, 8 p.m., Tim Finnegan’s, Glendale Sugar Thieves Duo, 8 p.m., Spokes on Southern, Tempe Blues Review Band, 6 p.m., Voodoo Daddy’s, Tempe Leon J, 11:30 a.m., DA Ranch, Cornville Mother Road Trio, 7 p.m., Sound Bites, Sedona Sunday, July 25 Leon J, 11:30 a.m., DA Ranch, Cornville Monday, July 26 Hooter’s Monday Night Blues JAM, 7 p.m., Starlite, Glendale |
| IBC
By Matt Marshall The landmark annual International Blues Challenge is coming up in January in Memphis, Tennessee, “the home of the blues”. For people who don’t know the IBC, as blues fans around the world lovingly call it, it’s the largest gathering of blues musicians in the world, who compete in a week-long, “battle of the bands”-style competition for fantastic top prizes, prestigious guaranteed gigs, guitars, and more. “IBC is the largest gathering of blues acts in the history of the world,” says Joe Whitmer of The Blues Foundation. “We say that every year and we mean it every year.” Each year the event draws upward of 200 acts from around the world. In the 31 years since the first event (then called the “Blues Amateur Talent Contest”) roughly 3,000 blues acts have participated in the challenge, and hundred have gone on to amazing careers as nationally and internationally recognized blues artists, and winning many BMAs along the way. Not a single “loser” in the bunch! The Challenge, operated as part of The Blues Foundation’s key missions, is a battle between hundreds of blues bands and musicians who are sponsored and sent by various blues societies from around the world. Most societies have local competitions to determine the act that will be sent. Which means, for many of the bands that are at IBC, the road there has already been hard-fought. As previously mentioned, the IBC began over 30 years ago as the “Blues Amateur Talent Contest” with the basic idea that up and coming bands could have a place to be discovered. This predated CDs and the home recording boom, when getting a record deal was essential for an artist at the time. The event grew, along with the Blues Foundation, and over time it has evolved into something that could not have been anticipated. In 1984, the first Blues Amateur Talent Contest, the brainchild of Blues Foundation founder Joe Savarin, was held at the New Daisy Theater. The winner that year was a band called “Reliance,” from Memphis. They are still playing, but tend to focus on dance music, Hip Hop, and R&B oldies today. Their prize: a gig on Beale Street. Bands compete for cash, prizes, and industry recognition. One band and one solo/duo act each will win the top prizes, but winning the competition is far from the only goal many bands strive for. “Use this time to network and showcase,” says Ricky Stevens, who currently serves on The Blues Foundation’s Board of Directors. Stevens, who served as an IBC venue coordinator from 1999 through 2011, was part of the writing group for the current IBC rules and scoring criteria. “Make contacts and do the things that you do best when you get onstage,” he recently suggested to American Blues Scene Magazine. “There is way too much good music and way too many cool things to do to fit them all in one week. Take the time to truly enjoy the things you can and come back next year and the year after to fill in the gaps.” The IBC takes place on the world famous Beale Street, which Congress officially declared the “Home of the Blues” in 1977. Twenty-two Beale venues take part in the Challenge, all within walking distance — some next door to one another. The setting could not be more appropriate: for over 150 years, Beale has hosted Blues music, entertainment, drinking, gambling, and even murder. Blues men have long frequented Beale, including the seminal Furry Lewis, Johnny Cash, Albert King, and the father of the blues, W.C. Handy, who was Beale’s most famous resident prior to Elvis. A blues bar bearing Handy’s name still exists on the street, as does a museum in his former home, honoring the composer’s mighty contributions to music. As a young man, B.B. King was known as the “Beale Street Blues Boy”, which he eventually shortened to “Blues Boy” and then just “B.B.”. Elvis Presley also frequented Beale as a young man, and throughout his life, always bought his clothing from the storied Lansky Brothers on Beale (now at the Peabody Hotel). “That’s what he said, ‘I put him in his first suit, and I put him in his last’,” said Hal Lansky, about his father describing Presley. With the epicenter of blues history on the street, it would be hard to find a more perfect setting for a blues challenge on a global scale. “They should expect to see the best of the best blues acts from around the world,” says Whitmer. “These guys are not only coming here to compete but they’re also coming here to showcase and show that in each section of the world we’ve got an affiliate, the blues is going strong.” Past winners include Trampled Under Foot, Selwyn Birchwood Band, JP Soars, and Grady Champion. “The IBC is the best networking experience and springboard a Blues Artist could ask for to excel their career,” Selwyn Birchwood told the American Blues Scene. In 2013, Birchwood growled and played, sang, and, at one point, crawled across the Finals stage at the Orpheum Theater like an alligator to win not only Best Band, but the Gibson Guitarist award as well. As it grew it was decided in 2002 to split the acts into two categories, band and solo/duo. Since then not only has participation grown but so have the prizes and the overall level of the competition. What began as a contest for “amateurs” has evolved into a massive blues festival, with world class talent showing their stuff. But even as the level of competitors has increased, the experience for the first (and second) time contestant remains the same: a chance to play the blues on Beale Street, where W.C. Handy lived and wrote music, where Rufus Thomas walked his dog, where everybody who was anybody in the blues played. The emotion from the winners is palpable. You can feel what they’re feeling when they get the opportunity to play on Beale. Blues fans now cross oceans and travel from around the world to attend the magical January event every year. And because of its storied allure, the opportunity to see the very best in blues from across the world, and the chance to be a part of a “family reunion” while meeting new like-minded friends, the IBC continues to grow. Last year, 82 solo/duo acts were registered. This year there are 101. “All of the interpretations of the blues, there’s gonna be something for everybody,” Whitmer said. “Whether you’re into the delta blues or whether it’s rockin’ blues, etc., it’s all being covered here.”
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Moved? Changed email addresses? Please let us know of any changes in your address, email, or phone number so we can keep you informed about the Blues community in Arizona. Email us at: info@phoenixblues.org or write to: Phoenix Blues Society P.O. Box 36874 Phoenix, Arizona 85067 |
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