Performance Schedules and Blues News for The
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October/November 2016 #221 25th Anniversary and as weIssue sail off into the internet we sing “Happy Trails to You... See you on the flip side” New England’s only independent Blues newsletter mailing the schedules of our outstanding, hard working TheBlues Bands and BluesBlues Clubs to dedicated Blues Fans Audience since 1991. © ATB/TBA 2016 INSIDE THIS LAST PRINTED ISSUE: Performance schedules and Blues news for the most talented local New England Blues Bands and Blues Clubs for the rest of 2016! The Blues Audience will continue to connect fans and bands! The place to go for current schedules of New England Blues bands will be thebluesaudience.com. “...We Never Had Any Fun!” - by Art Simas Biscuit Miller- photo by Sistah Karen Nugent The Ex-President’s File report on the Boston Blues Scene and The Blues ‘n’ Brews Festival- Nashoba Valley Ski Area- by Sistah Karen Nugent Review: The Big Blues Bender- Las Vegas, NV (l-r) Jane Lee Hooker, Aaron Moreland and above Anthony Gomes at The Big Blues Bender in Las Vegas, NV -photo by Diana Shonk “Well... the only thing is... we never had any FUN!” she said with a wink and a nod By Art Simas Diana and brother Peter Shonk-Photo by J Place Many of us love music it is an extremely important ele- After attending Keene State in 1973, she moved to New ment in our lives. We can be categorized as either as an Orleans “because I wanted to get away from my bad admirer of a genre, or as a lyrical creator, guided by an (musician) boyfriend and if I was going to go, I wanted instrument. Yet to all who share this affinity, it is close to to go to a place that had the great live music. I debated the heart and soul of who we are. moving to Chicago or New Orleans... and N.O. won.” “I had the greatest time there. I heard all sorts of great And then there are those who work to encourage the musicians there. I met Ellis Marsalis and his family of talents of others–people who create opportunities and talented children, Branford, Wynton and Delfeao. I en- open doors for those who choose to make a living from joyed Jazz, as much, if not more at the time and I found cerebral notes, phrasings and the art of channeling hu- great shows in New Orleans.” man emotion by plucking a string, blowing a horn or mastering black and white ivories on a key board. “I really needed to go home and start working on a life” she said. So after a year in N.O. she decided to en- For 25 years (and counting) Diana Shonk, as a musi- roll at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and cian and publisher of The Blues Audience newsletter, become a graphic designer. molded these two passions with her own love for live music and the musicians who tirelessly strive to survive As expected, graphic design was the main focus, and to make a living in New England. she thrived in that environment for a few years. But was there a way to combine music and graphic design? For While this may be the last print edition of the newsletter, her senior thesis Diana proposed to do a newsletter it will morph into an online presence intact with sched- that featured information about the Blues scene and ules of bands,clubs and other informative content in the schedules of the bands in New England. “I wanted January. As the cliché goes, “the beat goes on.” to make it fun and available for people who wanted to hear live music,” she said. But her academic advisors The concept of the newsletter began as a very practi- at Mass. College of Art declared that her idea was not cal idea – get as many bands’ schedules into the homes altruistic enough. “That turned out to be incorrect,” she and hands of as many people who like to go out as pos- said. Although the concept was nixed in the classroom, sible. Call it a confluence of circumstance, but some- Diana kept the idea alive in the back of her mind, an thing had to be done in the early 1990s. idea to be pursued at a later time. Playing music for a living is never an easy choice. And Before she had a chance to graduate, she was offered Diana realized that early on. Her brother, Peter Shonk, a job as an art director at Wayne Green Publishing in had already made that decision and was already in- Peterborough, NH. “I couldn’t believe it – that was all I volved in making and playing Blues at the plethera of ever wanted to be – an art director!” New England Blues clubs. A few years into the job, reality set in. Although she was also involved in her own part-time band, Diana Shonk and The Rogues Country/Blues she “I was designing the covers for three magazines and knew that for her this wasn’t a full time career. “That’s all the in-house advertising at Wayne Green for $5.25 why I have so much respect for these musicians, I know an hour. It was such an insult. I figured I could do better how much work it takes to be able to put together a as a freelancer. Soon I opened up my business in Peter- night of live music for an audience,” she said. borough above the local radio station. 2 Keeping the Blues coming to you, LIVE! thebluesaudience.com • The Blues Audience newsletter 2016 “One day my friend, Jake Com- assina’s Restaurant, which was in Diana said, “It was a hard time for mander, who was a British computer Milford, NH and Jake Copley’s. Lots a band to promote itself back then. code writer genius (and had worked of clubs were presenting Blues, it Getting their postcards printed, with the Electric Light Orchestra), was very popular. During this start- keeping a mailing list and writing brought in what looked like a tiny up period, for the newsletter, Diana the addresses by hand, it was a lot little box. It was a Macintosh com- decided not to play in her band any of work for them. So I proposed that puter. He said, ‘Diana, you are not longer because there wasn’t enough I would do it for them and send the going to believe what this does. You time for both, after watching her listings to more people on the com- are going to love it.’” friends fold the newsletter during bined lists.” the Country Jam at the Rynborn. “I tried it out, and he was right and While at the 1992 Portsmouth Blues I was blown away! At the time I was She hired Suzie Gordon (who stayed Festival, Rockin’ Jake, a local musi- using a type setter and a stat camera for the first five years) as a produc- cian who often accompanied TJ and a lot of other specialized equip- tion assistant and publicist to get the Wheeler, suggested to Diana that ment to do graphic design. So once newsletter up and running and to the name of her publication should I had the Mac – a tool that could create interest in the new publica- be the Blues Audience instead of draw perfectly square boxes without tion. Audience since it’s all about Blues. using an exacto knife to starighten So the October 1992 issue featured the ends – that was it.” And she was In subsequent editions– which came the first black and blue banner as off with her own Across The Board out monthly– more and more clubs The Blues Audience. Graphic Design business using a and businesses (Stormy Monday Mac. That was 1982. Café, Jonathan Swifts, Motivators, Ed As the newsletter grew, so did its Burke’s, Chuck Morris, Lynn Harri- reach to the musicians with features One of her initial clients was the Pe- son, the Plantation Club in Worces- on Little Boy Blue (Richard Mal- terborough Chamber of Commerce. ter, Slipknot, and others) followed. colm), Undaunted Professor Harp, They used little boxed ads for their And the Blues scene was rocking Gary & the Moodswingers, the origi- members. She would soon adopt from all corners of New England. nal House of Blues in Cambridge, that same design that has held until Harpers Ferry, Little Annie, Parker today. But, like everything else that In the early years, the newsletter Wheeler and the Grog in Newbury- was printed in the late-1980s and was mailed to about 3,000 people. port, MA, Midway Café of Jamaica early-1990s, printed material was And it just continued to grow and Plain, Kat in the Hat, Monster Mike produced with galleys of type that grow. And as it progressed, there Welch, James Montgomery, Jack- were placed on pages, run through were more features and profiles of sonville Blues Band, Sticky Mike’s a wax machine, hand-delivered to a bands and individuals both national Blues Bar of Boston, Guido Murphy’s, printer, handed back to the publish- stars and local favorites. Festivals Johnny Ds in Somerville, and many er who then had to buy hundreds were becoming popular. There were clubs were also featured including of stamps and fold each newslet- updates, some record reviews and The Rynborn of Antrim, NH, Smokin’ ter, hand-print all of the addresses personal observations from several Joes in Brighton, MA and Chans in and take them to the post office to writers, including TJ Wheeler, a mu- Woonsocket, RI and so many others, be mailed.