Grady Champion Revue at the 930 Blues Club & Cafe

 

 

Mississippi Blues Trail Marker Ceremony "Documenting the Blues"

 

308 Blues Club & Cafe - Friday, February 20

A movie screening of The Way of War starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. featuring Bill “Howl-N-Madd” Perry of Abbeville, MS will be in Indianola.  The location is 308 Blues Club & Café on Friday, February 20 with doors opening at 7pm.  A CD Release Party for Alphonso Sanders’ new CD- “Mississippi Influences” will happen that night, also.  Sanders recently won 2^nd Place SOLO/DUO at the 2009 International Blues Challenge in Memphis www.blues.org .  For all the details on this movie screening and CD release party see:  www.bluessource.com/readnews.php?id=137 .

6th Annual Living Blues Symposium

This year’s Living Blues Symposium in Oxford, MS will be February 26-27.  It was deliberately scheduled in tandem with gospel great Mavis Staples’ appearance at the Ford Center on Friday, February 27.  Thacker Mountain Radio will have a special blues theme on Thursday.  Following a screening of M for Mississippi, there will be a discussion about documenting the blues with Roger Stolle and others.  A “Highway 61 Blues Party” is scheduled at the Powerhouse.  A Mississippi Blues Trail Marker dedication will take place outside Barnard Observatory.  See more about the schedule and presenters at Scott Barretta’s site – www.highway61radio.com .  Updates will continue to be posted on this site as available.

Blues on Walnut Street

Friday, March 6 a benefit for the Highway 61 Blues Museum will be held at the Walnut Street Blues Bar in Greenville, MS. The event time is 7pm until 2am. Performers for the night include: Pat Thomas, Eddie Cusic, T-Model Ford, The Rob Mortimer Band, The Mayhem String Band, and The Walnut Street Allstars. Admission is a $5 donation that goes to support the blues museum. Thanks to Danny & Sharon Peeples for sponsoring this annual event. See more on the Highway 61 Blues Museum at http://www.highway61blues.com/ .

IBC Finals

L.C. Ulmer and Chase Holifield were a hit at the Orpheum in the Solo Finals of the 25th Annual International Blues Challenge. Even though they did not place, they commanded a standing ovation. They were one of six Solo/Duo entrants making it to the finals in a field of contestants from all over the world this weekend in Memphis.

Homemade Jamz Blues Band from Tupelo opened the weekend performing at the New Daisy Theatre Wednesday night. This group won 2nd Place Band in 2007 representing the Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola. Eden Brent from Greenville performed in the Orpheum Lobby Saturday opening the finals. She won 1st Place Solo in 2006 representing the Indianola Blues Society.

Another Mississippi blues society now joins the list with a win. Rosedale's Crossroads Blues Society of Mississippi won 2nd Place Solo/Duo with Alphonso Sanders and Richard Johnson. Their original songs with keyboard, trumpet, and saxophone accompaniment were most impressive. Three Mississippi bands competed in the semi-finals on Thursday and Friday
nights. The Grady Champion Revue from Canton represented Indianola's blues society. Mark "The Muleman" Massey represented the Rosedale blues society. Stevie J & the Blues Eruption from Jackson represented the Central Mississippi Blues Society.

A Multimedia Tribute to the Mississippi Blues

The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science Presents A Multimedia Tribute to the Mississippi Blues.

The project was the culmination of the students’ study of the historical significance of the Delta’s role in the development of indigenous American music as a reaction to the social conditions of the time. The primary goal of this collaboration was to expand each student’s know-ledge of the music and history of the Delta while encouraging parents and community leaders to take an active role in the educational process. Many of our students had never traveled to the Delta or explored the Delta’s musical, historical, or cultural contributions to our nation and the world. The enthusiastic response they received to this project has resulted in additional Spring concerts throughout the state.

The Blues and Mississippi are synonymous to music lovers everywhere. The repertoire of any Blues or rock band is full of songs, guitar licks, and vocal inflections borrowed from Mississippi bluesmen. Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Son House, and John Hurt were some of the early Mississippians who influenced the movement. A couple of generations later, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and many others were still making Mississippi Blues and sending it out all over the world. The MSMS Stage Band and Choir toured the Mississippi Delta during November, 2008, presenting Sights and Sounds of Mississippi, a poignant multi-media concert which they prepared in collaboration with their fellow history students.