:: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 ::

Lloyd Spiegel—Australian Blues Music Festival Ambassador

MELBOURNE (Sept. 15)—singer, songwriter and guitarist, Lloyd Spiegel, is the official Festival Ambassador for next year's Australian Blues Music Festival.

Mr Spiegel's selection was announced on Sunday at the Blues Hall of Fame Induction for Dom Turner of the Backsliders, in Goulburn.

The talented 25-year-old has a reputation for excellence in his music and performance. He has already made his mark as one of Australia's best-known blues performers.

He takes over from the first Ambassador, Matt Corcoran, who brought an enormous enthusiasm to the role in promoting Australian blues music.

Like him, Mr Spiegel has a long relationship with the festival, playing at the first festival as a teenager, and making a few other appearances over the years with his unique style mixing blues with soul, folk and soft rock.

"I'm proud to accept the job as official Ambassador to the Australian Blues Music Festival," Mr Spiegel said.

"I performed at the first one as a teenager. It was my first blues festival performance so on a personal level, this means a great deal to me.

"It's an honour to be so closely associated with the only blues festival in Australia that truly focuses on independent Australian talent and displays year after year why Aussie blues acts are regarded as some of the best in the world.

"The staff and crew in Goulburn are the hardest working people in the business and I look forward to working closely with them to make this the biggest and best show in the festival's history."

Mr Spiegel has been performing blues music since he was 10, and recorded and produced his first album at thirteen

Source: Goulburn Post

---

Blues Blog Note:
The first Australian Blues Music Festival ambassador was Blues Brother Matt Corcoran, who has played Japan several times (See Tokyo-Blues Profile here and photos of Matt playing The Year Of The Blues Celebration at Roppongi Hills here)

Matt is the very popular and talented Australian blues musician, Matt Corcoran. He is on the road touring year-round, performing predominantely within Australia over 200 days of the year.

Matt has developed a distinctive image by wearing bib and brace overalls that is well recognised within the Australian blues music scene. His preferred brand is Yakka.

---

On the Web:
Australian Blues Music Festival

:: Les Coles Wednesday, September 15, 2004 [+] ::

----------------------------- # # # -----------------------------

King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena

Little Rock, AR. (Sept. 16)—Wayne Andrews, the executive director of the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, attributes to "sheer luck" that the three-day event has stayed free for its 19 years. But that was one of the smaller problems this year.

For a while, the festival's home was in doubt, until Helena city government and the festival resolved differences. There's also a lingering question about whether the festival can keep the King Biscuit name, owned by others.

But for now, Helena will be singing the King Biscuit Blues. The 19th festival is set to go Oct. 7-9 along the Mississippi River levee, with historic Cherry Street and downtown nearby. Headliners include Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown on a Saturday that's loaded with other big names, such as the Holmes Brothers; Daniel "Slick" Bollinger on Thursday, and Kenny Neal and Coco Taylor on Friday night. One must-see act, Andrews suggests, is bluegrass/blues guitarist William Lee Ellis on the Saturday acoustic stage.

"We're a slightly different animal than other events, although we do try to show a profit," said Andrews. "We view ourselves as a cultural arts event, rather than a concert event." That, Andrews says, wouldn't be possible without important sponsorship from the Isle of Capri casino across the Mississippi from Helena.

Still, a strapped Helena city government, claiming that the festival didn't bring anything to the city financially, tried to hit up the festival for a portion of the meager after-expenses proceeds last year. The festival board looked at cotton fields outside of town and even across the river in Mississippi as alternate sites. Residents finally convinced city fathers that maintaining the festival was important. An economic impact study said it churns up $2 million in spending.

"Hotels between Little Rock and Clarksdale [Miss.] are booked for the weekend," Andrews noted. All 48 continental states and 13 countries were represented by festival-goers last year. The festival has drawn an estimated 100,000 people each of the past three years, Andrews said.

To further its mission of promoting an original American music form, the festival added an Emerging Artist portion to the program. The project recognizes a simple fact: As nature runs its course, there are fewer original blues performers.

"This gives artists a chance to perform, be discovered, gain exposure, get a connection in the recording industry and to preserve the art form and develop future legends," Andrews said.

The festival's name comes from the King Biscuit Flour Hour, a still-running blues music radio program that originated 65 years ago in Helena and was sponsored by a flour company with a mill in town. The first festival 19 years ago was a small event on one stage with a few bluesmen. Now, more than 100 acts are brought together, including gospel artists. Many fans camp for the duration near the levee, and many enjoy the arts and crafts and food vendors lining Cherry Street.

Blues variations range from Chicago-style to Delta to Cajun music and more. It's not all three-chord, "I lost my job and my woman and I'm gonna get drunk" music, though you can find that, too. It's also artists like 87-year-old Pinetop Perkins, who taught Ike Turner and directly influenced the music we hear today.

"What I like about the King Biscuit," said Andrews, "what the 19 years has done is, even if you don't know the names, people now come because they are trusting us that we're going to put people on that are worth hearing. We don't sell the festival by having a superstar of music to bring fans in. We're programming an event for people who want to hear a style of music with an authentic feel. I think that's why people come back, or book their hotel rooms a year in advance."

Source: Arkansas Times

---

Lineup

Sonny Boy Williamson Main Stage
Thursday 10/7
12:00/12:30 J. B. Richey presented by Teardrop Records
12:45/1:15 Shannon Bocheres presented by Southwest Blues Magazine
1:30/2:00 Charlotte Taylor and Gypsy Rain presented by Archway Media & Arkansas Times
2:15/2:45 Emerging Artists -- TBA
3:00/3:45 Diddley Squat -- SBBS Talent Winner
4:00/4:45 Zac Harmon & The Mid-South Blues Review
5:00/6:00 Daniel "Slick" Ballinger & The Soul Blues Boyz
6:30/7:45 Bobby Radcliff
8:15/9:30 Corey Harris & The 5 x 5 Band
10:00/11:30 Jimmy Thackery & The Drivers

Friday 10/8
11:00/11:45 Capital Offense
12:00/1:00 John Weston
1:15/2:20 Sam Carr & The Delta Jukes w/Dave Riley
2:35/3:40 Eddie Bo
4:00/5:15 Toni Lynn Washington
5:30/6:45 Pinetop Perkins & Bob Margolin
7: 05/8:20 Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen
8:45/10:00 Kenny Neal
10:30/11:45 Koko Taylor

Saturday 10/9
12:00/1:00 Blind Mississippi Morris
1:15/2:20 Craig Horton
2:35/3:40 Jessie Yawn
4:00/5:15 Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets Featuring Sam Myers
5:30/6:45 Robert Lockwood, Jr
7:05/8:20 The Holmes Brothers
8:45/10:00 Marcia Ball
10:30/11:45 Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown

Emerging Artist Stage
Saturday 10/9
10:45/11:45 Tada Ikemasu
12:00/12:40 Bobby Oliver & Jam City Revue
1:00/1:40 Upstream
2:00/2:40 Dan Sanchez & The Three Kings of Pleasure
3:00/3:40 Memphis Snake Doctors
4:00/4:40 Barbara Blue
5:00/5:35 AJ & The Two Toned Blues Band
5:45/6:30 Scotty Boy's Steady Rollin Band
6:45/7:30 Brian Martin Trio
7:45/8:30 Ramona Smith Band
8:45/9:30 Robin Thrush Jr. Band
9:45/10:30 Kirk Smithhart Band

Gospel Stage - Malco Theater
Saturday 10/9 1:00pm
Emcee: Sister Pearl Coleman Weaver
Central High School Chorus
Ark of Angels
Judge L. T. Simes
Soul Purpose
Smith Singers
The Dominion
Salem Harmonizers
Jordan Wonders
Spirit of Memphis
Brother Eugene Cook and Hughes Singers
Christian Travelers
Newlife Singers
Memphis Harmonizers
Smith Brothers
Fantastic Sounds


Houston Stackhouse Acoustic Stage
Friday 10/8
12:00/1:00 Mark Lemhouse
1:20/2:20 Del Ray
2:40/3:40 Steve James
4:00/5:00 John Dee Holeman

Saturday 10/9
12:00/1:00 William Lee Ellis
1:20/2:20 Robert Belfour
2:40/3:40 Mary Flowers
4:00/5:00 Spider John Koerner

Robert Lockwood Heritage Stage
Friday 10/8
5:30/6:40 Cootie Stark
7:00/8:10 Beverly "Guitar" Watkins
8:30/9:40 Little Freddie King
10:00/11:15 Bob Stroger

Saturday 10/9
5:30/6:40 Little Joe Washington
7:00/8:10 Earnest "Guitar" Roy
8:30/9:40 Joe Jonas
10:00/11:15 Phil Guy

---

On the Web:
King Biscuit Festival

:: Les Coles Wednesday, September 15, 2004 [+] ::

----------------------------- # # # -----------------------------

Ivan the Terrible

To all my friends in New Orleans:

Louisiana 1927
(Randy Newman)

What has happened down here, is the winds have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain
It rained real hard, and it rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

The river rose all day, the river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood, some people got away alright
The river had busted through clear down to Placker Mine
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

Louisiana, Louisiana
They're trying to wash us away, they're trying to wash us away
Oh Louisiana, Louisiana
They're trying to wash us away, they're trying to wash us away

President Coolidge come down, in a railroad train
With his little fat man with a note pad in his hand
President say "little fat man, oh isn't it a shame,
What the river has done to this poor farmer's land"

Oh Louisiana, Louisiana
They're trying to wash us away, you're trying to wash us away
Oh Louisiana, oh Louisiana
They're trying to wash us away, oh Lord, they're trying to wash us away
They're trying to wash us away, they're trying to wash us away

:: Les Coles Wednesday, September 15, 2004 [+] ::

----------------------------- # # # -----------------------------

Bakersfield Blues Preservation Society

Bakersfield, Calif., is trying to shake its reputation as a hot dusty oil town. The city had flourishing jazz and blues scene until, as locals recall, a freeway bypass pulled the economic rug out from under it in the 1960s. It's country and western scene suffered the same fate soon after.

Bakersfield now is in a period of unprecedented growth and change, however. Among the vanguard of its cultural renaissance is world-renowned blues singer and pianist Nat Dove, Director of the Bakersfield Blues Preservation Society.

In slightly more than a year, Dove's work with the society earned him a 2004 Arts Innovation Award from the Arts Council of Kern. Dove also sits on the Arts Council's Master Plan committee for the county of which Bakersfield is the seat.

"Real American music like the blues is very important to people around here," says David Nigel Lloyd, Director of Arts Programs for the Arts Council. "At the same time, Bakersfield is the U.S. headquarters for the Royal Academy of Dance. We want it all! Nat's broad range of expertise and experience makes him a valuable asset over and above the fact that we just dig the heck out of him."

Dove has served for a year as an Artist in Residence for the Arts Council of Kern. This work takes him to all parts of the Vermont-sized county which is comprised of desert, mountains, and agricultural valleys. He also delivers school presentations under the Blues in the Schools umbrella. Adults can attend the Bakersfield Blues Preservation Society's weekly meetings where Dove discusses American and local blues history. More formalized instruction on the world of blues can be had at California State University at Bakersfield where Dove teaches "A Journey Into the Blues."

Getting the word out on the local airwaves every week, Nat Dove hosts Blues Alive, an hour-long blues radio show on KGEO 1230 AM. Among the Blues Society's most popular events are the now bimonthly blues jams and brunch at Fishlips restaurant. Free to the public, musicians are invited to come on down and help keep the blues a living breathing art form in Bakersfield, California.

BLUES RADIO SHOW: Blues Alive, presented by the Bakersfield Blues Preservation Society on KGEO 1230 AM, every Thursday night at 10 pm.

THE BAKERSFIELD BLUES SOCIETY: Meets the 1st and 3rd Wednesday evening of each month at Spotlight Theater, 1622 19th Street, Downtown Bakersfield. The meetings will be from 7-10 pm. For the month of October, meetings are on the 1st and 15th of the month. At the meeting, we present rare video footage of great blues artist, live in concert; we also present historical and cultural documentation of blues music.

BLUES IN THE SCHOOLS: THE BAKERSFIELD BLUES SOCIETY is presenting a Blues Lecture/Demonstration/Assembly at Bakersfield High School in The Harvey Auditorium Oct. 2, 2003. 8:45-10:45 am. Blues History and Culture course will be taught at Cal-State University Bakersfield, beginning n January, 2004.

Click here to download a PowerPoint BLUES IN THE SCHOOLS info pack, and here to view a Web-based BLUES IN THE SCHOOLS info pack

Please contact the Bakersfield Blues Preservation Society, PO Box 3171, Bakersfield, Ca 93305, E-mail: BBPSociety@hotmail.com.

---

Nat Dove

Nat Dove is no stranger to Japan. In addition to performing here, "The Texas Boogie Woogie King" has held numerous blues and gospel workshops in Japan.





Nat Dove and guitarist Tad Miura help a vocalist get the blues at Blue Heatin Shibuya, Tokyo, in 2002.


Dove has been playing blues, boogie-woogie and barrelhouse music for over four decades. And, as one of the last of a breed of blues pianist, Dove is the most sought after and respected blues pianist in the western United States. Dove has been featured on the recording of: Robert Cray, George "Harmonica" Smith, Freddie King, Big Mama Thornton,T-Bone Walker, Pee Wee Crayton, Louis Meyers and Big Joe Turner...just to name a few. He has tour the world many times playing all the major capitals of Europe, Asia and the United States.

Dove also is a tireless educator and has authored instructional books on Gospel Piano and has co-authored books with the great Memphis Slim and Mickey Baker. In a 1979 review of the album I'm a Southern Man by Louis Meyers, Living Blues Magazine notes that the song on it titled "Woke Up" features "beautiful work from pianist Nathaniel "Nat" Dove, who shines throughout and should be recognized as one of today's top bluesmen on his instrument."

Westcoast Blues Review magazine once said, "The art of blues piano is quickly dying out with only Nat Dove and perhaps a half-dozen other players left to carry on a tradition that is generations old. Nat Dove does not relish the idea of having a monopoly and sitting alone on the piano bench. He's actively teaching and promoting blues, boogie-woogie and barrelhouse piano on the lecture circuit, in schools on video and in books."

As part of his primary goal and mission to spread blues music and African-American culture all over planet earth, Dove recorded Deep Blues Experience in Japan, with an all Japanese blues back-up band.



Deep Blues Experience
SOUTH SIDE RECORDS
VIVID SSBC-004 ¥2,500

Track Listing
1. 24 Hours*
2. Honey Bee
3. Mother in Law Blues*
4. Please Send Me Someone to Love
5. I'm Tore Down
6. Reconsider Baby
7. Wang Dang Doodle
8. As the Years Go Passing By*
9. Close to You*
10. I'm Ready
11. In the Evening
12. Got My Mojo Working
* Listen to MP3 sample

Lineup
NAT DOVE (Vocal, Piano)
TAD Miura (G.)
Soejima Kunitsugu (G.)
Takagi Yuji (Dr.)
Nagasaki Slim (Harp)
Somei Koichi (Bass)

The recording include all blues classics, and is performed in the authentic traditional styles. Dove states; that his goal is to prove that blues music and African-American culture is one of the United States most exportable commodities.

Deep Blues Experience is a testament to the traditional Texas blues, boogie and barrel-house piano music of the1940 and 1950s and is a must for all who enjoy, good ol' Texas Blues and Boogie Music.

For this, and other Nat Dove recordings, try Sam's Record Shop, 2nd Floor, Dai2 Ishikawa Bldg.,3-8-7 Shibuya, Tokyo, Tel: 03-5485-6789, www.sams-record.com, (>Open: 11:00~21:00), or click here to order online.

On the Web:
Nat Dove
Tad Miura
Sam's Record Shop
Bakersfield Blues Preservation Society

:: Les Coles Monday, September 13, 2004 [+] ::

----------------------------- # # # -----------------------------