• • lSCODSlll delta blues festival English literature student in 1968, I had sub Birth of the blues mitted a paper on blues poetry and lyrics to a With all due respect to the Round Table and favorite instructor and asked if there might be beloit college fieJdhd l ifse of.history- 1 worked as co-editor one a chance to produce a convocation cluster on semester-It may be true, semantiCally, that the blues. He was enthusiastic and told me to start beloit wisconsin firs·t "Folk and Blues Festival" was held in July planning . .., 19 72 [The Beat Goes On, Belozt Magazme, The 1968 event consisted of a lecture on September 1996] . But it was the First country blues by myself, a lecture on urban Wiscon~in Delta Blues FestivJ.l, several years blues, a panel discussion, workshop, and two earher, that educated many_J!Young p ople in performances. The first featured the leg- the·audience, se ndin them to hear an appre- endary Son House, often called the father of ciate blues musician. fo lk blues and mentor ofRobertJohnson and Under the Beloit Plan, there was no "s m- Muddy Waters. Also on the program was Letters mer school program' but rather eaG)1 calen ar Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, sometimes called year was divided into three trimester , e ch the father of rock and roll because his song three and one-half _!llONths lo g, w1 h t\\o-~(eek "That's All Right Mama" was the first piece breaks. Each term, the Co~lege..s onsorrea one recorded by Elvis Presley, in 1954. Fred major musical event. Jefferson AI pl,ane flew McDowell , a superb bottleneck guitarist, was into town in the summer of 1967; the 1ext year, also on hand. The final component was a con- Cream fi ll ed the gym with more o d than cert in the Field House featuring Chicago bar- three guys should have be n al'fow d o weave monica master Junior Wells. Roy Zipris helped together. produce this convocation. Enter Leroy Pierson, '70, ne o tluat later In January 1970, the social board voted to generation of middle-class white bo s who spend $6,000 to bring a popular rock band to loved the blues. Lee Had The Idea. i 1s earl of Beloit for a two-hour concert. I told the faculty payit)g a lot of money for one rock bancr, why supervisor that with that money we could put not spread that money around to a nl!l . oer ofi on