THE NEWSLETTER OF THE KENTUCKIANA BLUES SOCIETY “...PRESERVING, PROMOTING AND PERPETUATING THE BLUES.” Louisville, Kentucky Incorporated 1989 December 2006 Photo by Keith S. Clements 2006 Sylvester Weaver Award winners and perennial Louisville favorites, da Mudcats. Mike Lynch. Rob Pickett and Gene Wickliffe. IN THIS ISSUE KBS News and Contacts -—————–—— 2 Studebaker John & the Hawks ——————– 7 Letter From the Prez ———————–——— 3 Spinnin’ in the Drawer —————–————– 8-9 da Mudcats Get da Weaver — —————— 4 Kentuckiana Blues Calendar——–—–———– 10 Stella Vees Win the KBS Blues Contest—— 5-6 Patronize Our Sponsors! ———–—————– 11 BLUES NEWS DECEMBER 2006 1 December 2006 Volume 16 Number 37 KBS Board of Directors EDITOR Rocky Adcock Roger Wolford Natalie Carter Emeritus Emeritus CONTRIBUTORS Bob Brown Nelson Grube Bob Brown Natalie Carter Chris Grube Keith S. Clements Nelson Grube Keith Clements Brenda Major Peggy Hyland Bob Cox Gary Sampson Brenda Major Gary Sampson Patricia Gilbert Steve Walls David True Lynn Gollar Debbie Wilson Address Change? If you move, let us know your change of ad- CALL FOR INFORMATION ABOUT: Affiliated Member dress. The Post Office does not forward bulk mail. GENERAL INFO Brenda Major (502) 893-0173 The views expressed by the authors and adver- KBS EVENTS tisers are their own. Contributions by anyone Keith Clements (502) 451-6872 offering pertinent and thoughtful discussion on www.blues.org MEMBERSHIP/NEWSLETTER blues issues are welcomed. Natalie Carter (502) 893-8031 Blues News NEWSLETTER ADVERTISING The monthly newsletter of the Keith Clements (502) 451-6872 Kentuckiana Blues Society KBS Website: CLUB/BAND CALENDAR ©2002 Kentuckiana Blues Society www.kbsblues.org Gary Sampson (502) 724-9971 Louisville, Kentucky e-mail: [email protected] DO WE HAVE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS? Keep up with the KBS by joining our e-mail list. No spam or junk mail, just up to the minute information on local bands, last minute shows and other relevant cool blues stuff. Of course, we don’t share our mailing lists with anyone. To join, go to www.kbsblues.org. ——–—– LOOK! IS THIS YOU? ———–– NEW OR RENEWING MEMBER AND HAVEN’T RECEIVED YOUR CARD YET? (Remember, it generally takes a couple of weeks to get your new card!) In early Ocober we received an envelope with a return address from a local insurance service company but no member name or info. There was a clipping inside from one of our newsletters which had OUR address on it, but not YOURS! If this is you, please call 502-893-8031 and identify yourself (and please mention the return address from your envelope) and we’ll get your membership filed and your card out to you right away! Blues on the Air The Saturday Night Blues Party 91.9 WFPK, Saturday 9 PM - Midnight Robb Morrison’s Blues Brunch (webcast), Sundays 9 AM – Noon www.1073theroad.com Bad Dog Blues (webcast) 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM www.baddogblues.com KBS LEADERSHIP FOR THE YEAR 2007: We appreciate your support and welcome your input. If you have any comments, suggestions, ideas, etc., contact us at this ad- Gary Sampson – president dress: Debbie Wilson – vice-president Kentuckiana Blues Society Chris Grube – secretary P. O. Box 755 Brenda Major – treasurer Louisville, KY 40201-0755 KBS MONTHLY MEETING As usual, please check your mailing label to see if your member- If you are interested in reviewing new blues releases, come ship will expire soon. Our Single membership is a bargain at on out to the KBS monthly meeting (held the first Wednes- only $15.00 US per year. Double membership (two members at the same address, two membership cards, one newsletter) is day of each month at 7:00 PM in The Germantown Café only $20.00 US per year. If you see a notice on your mailing la- at 1053 Goss Ave.) and take your pick! We receive promo bel, that means that it’s time to renew! releases from the major blues labels as well as regional and local bands. If you review a CD, it’s yours to keep! BLUES NEWS DECEMBER 2006 2 LETTER FROM THE PREZ The year is rapidly coming to a close and the month of November was chock full of highly anticipated KBS events. It started with our annual blues contest held November 5 at Stevie Ray's. Our thanks to everyone involved for making this a big success. Please join us in congratulating this year’s winner, the Stella Vees. We wish them luck in Memphis at the International Blues Challenge and know they will represent us well. Check out the photos from the contest in this month’s newsletter. Just before the contest we held our gen- eral membership meeting and re-elected the board and officers. I will stay on as president, Debbie Wilson as vice-president and Brenda Major as treasurer. Our newest board member and officer is Chris Grube. Chris will take over as secretary starting immedi- ately. Welcome Chris! We know you will do a fine job. Joe Bonamassa visited the Brown School on Tuesday, November 14 as part of the Blues Foundation’s Blues in the School program. Bonamassa talked music and played the blues for an audience of 75 high schoolers for about an hour. He gave them a brief history of the blues but talked mostly about his own personal experiences which included discovering the blues at eight years old, forming his own band at eleven and playing with B.B King when he was twelve. Our thanks to Joe Whitmer and the Blues Foundation for bring Bonamassa to Louisville. Be sure to check out Keith Clements’ article on Bonamassa's visit to the Brown School and his concert at Jim Porter's in the December issue of the Louisville Music News. You can also find it online at http://www.louisvillemusicnews.net/. We presented our annual Sylvester Weaver award to Gene Wickliffe, Rob Pickett and Mike Lynch of da Mudcats on Thursday, No- vember 16 at Stevie Ray's. This was our first time to present the award as a group presentation. Previously the award had been pre- sented to a deserving individual but when the vote was taken for this year’s award we had a three-way tie. It was just our good luck, and theirs, that the three individuals who tied were members of the same band. Congratulations guys! You richly deserve it. I want to take a moment and acknowledge the contributions of Martha McNeal who is stepping down this year as secretary for the KBS. Martha was a rock solid presence at our monthly meetings and has been a member of the blues society for about as long as it has existed. She will be retiring to the sunshine state next year and her presence will be greatly missed. Thank you Martha and don't forget to visit us every once in a while. My thanks to the board for confirming me as president for another year. It's hard to believe my first year as president is already com- ing to a close. It went by very fast. It's been a lot of hard work but a lot of fun too. I feel truly blessed to be in a community that sup- ports the blues as strongly as Louisville does and I think that will only continue to grow. We have a lot to look forward in 2007. I hope everyone comes along for the ride. Gary Photo by David True Gary and the Raffle Queen BLUES NEWS DECEMBER 2006 3 da Mudcats are da Winners! The Kentuckiana Blues Society has given the Sylvester Weaver Award to a deserving recipient for 18 years. Many of our early winners are no longer with us, including Henry Woodruff, Jim Rosen, Foree Wells, Winston Hardy, Fred Murphy and Mary Ann Fisher. They were the foundation of our blues community from the 50s to the 90s. It is grati- fying that these people received our recognition while they were alive and well. This year the voting was very close, so close that the three members of da Mudcats were in a three way tie. The option of giving the award to the band was a win, win, win situation. Ex-Mudcatters, Jim Rosen and Susan O’Neil, have already been honored. The present musicians, Gene Wick- liffe, Rob Pickett and Mike Lynch have been playing together for 6 years. Gene has been drumming from nearly the be- ginning in 1985. Rob joined in 1988 and Mike is the baby in the band. They have crafted their own sound with vocals shared between Rob’s smooth ballads and Mike’s deep, gritty blues. The band had a dream gig four years ago when they were selected to play at the Monterey Blues Festival in California before thousands of fans. They made such a good impression that they were asked to return the following year. Mike didn’t take his Monterey T-shirt off for two months. Each musician has paid his musical dues. Mike has hosted the Tuesday blues jams at Stevie Ray’s for several years and currently is in the house band for the Wednesday jams at Longshot Tavern. Jim Rosen always referred to Rob as his “Nubian Brother” on the bandstand. There was a close bond. With the departure of Sue and Jim, Rob has developed his vocal skills that contrast nicely with Mike’s style. Gene is as steady as you can get keeping the beat for da Mudcats for over 20 years as well as backing Tanita Gaines. The award was presented to da Mudcats on November 16 at Stevie Ray’s after their first set.