Page 6 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2018
P. 6
PUBLISHED BY RBA Publishing Inc.
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EDITOR Irene Johnson: Irene@BluesFestivalGuide.com
BLUES FESTIVAL E-GUIDE NEWSLETTER EDITOR Michele Lundeen Here at the Blues Festival Guide (BFG), we are happy to report
that blues festivals, as a whole, are healthy. We’ve got the
SALES MANAGER/MARKETING DIRECTOR pulse on blues festivals worldwide and the beat is strong.
Cheryl O’Grady-Yearnshaw: cogblues@att.net
Yes, every year some festivals drop off the grid. Just last
EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS year, a few festivals wiped out due to inclement weather,
Albert Cummings, Claire Henderson, Stacy Jeffress, Michele Lundeen,
Jim O’Neal, Regi Oliver, Lynn Orman Weiss, Jim Pugh, John Shipley, Bill including 112-degree heat and hurricanes. Festivals with
Wharton, Don Wilcock, Rev. Billy C. Wirtz cash flow or organizational problems take a break to
recuperate then come back stronger than ever. Others lose
PHOTO & ART CONTRIBUTORS their grant money and can’t survive without it. And some,
Aqua Design, Jeff Beeler, Courtesy BluEsoterica Archives, Christiaan Breur,
Chicago Defender – ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Courtesy Shemekia like the Santa Cruz Music Festival hit the pause button on
Copeland, Dave Corry, Courtesy Delta Cultural Center, William R. Ferris reality, simply because “The challenges and expenses of
- Courtesy Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library - University of delivering a quality music festival have grown larger and
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, © Eric Gorder 2006: egorder@gmail. more daunting over the past few years.”
com, Amanda Gresham, John Hahn, Duane Heaton, Claire Henderson, It seems though, that for every blues festival that fades away,
Eric Ilasenko, Courtesy Bettye Kelly, Makena Lee Photography, Jennifer
Mardus Photography, Courtesy Barbra Marks, Joseph Mayers, Courtesy a new one comes on the scene. It can be an origin story like
Mississippi Blues Commission, Matt O’Brien, Jim O’Neal, Courtesy Pryor the small group of blues lovers in Panhandle, Idaho, who
Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History - University of Arkansas, were so far from a blues festival, they started their own with
© Joseph A. Rosen, © Marilyn Stringer, Courtesy Teeny Tucker, Amy van a field, a flat bed and a Facebook page. Or, often, a local blues
Singel, Kirk West, Ruth Wharton, Robby Yamilov society starts up a festival to bring the blues to their area
ADVERTISING SALES and further educate the community. Some festivals arise out
Cheryl O’Grady-Yearnshaw, Heather Penrod-Rudd, Tom Andrews of the desire or need to support a charitable cause. When I
ADVERTISING TRAFFIC COORDINATOR Heather Penrod-Rudd asked one promoter why she started the San Felipe Blues &
Arts Fiesta in San Felipe, Mexico 12 years ago, she answered,
ADMINISTRATIVE/DATABASE MANAGEMENT Heather Penrod-Rudd “We wanted to bring the blues to Baja! Why? Because we are
DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Heather Penrod-Rudd f*@!!!ing crazy. Crazy for the blues that is!” Well, we are crazy
DESIGN & PRODUCTION/WEBSITE Goran Petko for the blues too, and crazy about all the blues festivals we
CONSULTANTS Nancy Edwards, Michele Lundeen, Tom Yearnshaw can choose from.
And then there are the tried-and-true festivals that have
The opinions of the contributors are not necessarily the views of
RBA Publishing Inc. been able to stick around through it all, celebrating decades
of success, such as the MS Delta Blues & Heritage Festival,
FRONT COVER which is in its 41st year, and the Bentonia Blues Festival,
On the cover is dynamic duo Laura Chavez and Nikki Hill tearing it up
at the 2017 San Diego Blues Festival. Laura Chavez, the uber-talented, celebrating its 43rd year.
longtime collaborator of the late Candye Kane, is one of the top female This 2018 Blues Festival Guide is sponsored by the Blues
rhythm and blues guitar virtuosos in America and was part of 2017 Ruf Foundation, and we share in their mission to preserve,
Records Caravan of Blues. Carolina fireball Nikki Hill is a Blues Music celebrate and expand awareness of the blues. Get
Awards “Contemporary Blues Female Artist” nominee and an inimitable, adventurous this year, go to a blues festival you haven’t
soulful, raw, roots-blues rocker. Between the two of them, they are a force
to be reckoned with. previously attended. Patron these festivals not only to keep
them going, but to enrich your own love of the blues.
FRONT COVER PHOTOGRAPHER
© Marilyn Stringer See you at the festivals!
www.MJStringerPhoto.com Kaati & The Blues Festival Guide Crew
4 Blues Festival Guide 2018