Whop Frazier to Deck the Stage at DCBS Holiday Party
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November 2008 Volume 2 Issue 10 Whop Frazier to deck the stage at DCBS Holiday Party Inside this issue: Blues Calendar CD Reviews Bluebird Blues Festival photos and more CAPITAL BL UES MESSENGER SEPTEMBER 2008 P. Volume 2 Issue 10 THE DC BLUES SOCIETY P.O. BOX 77315 Become a member . get a FREE CD . Annual membership: Student $15 (send copy Become a member of DCBS and get a FREE WASHINGTON, DC of photo ID), Individual $25, Family $35, limited edition CD featuring 17 of the DC 20013-7315 Canada $35 (US), other countries $50 (US). area’s best bands. It’s simple, quick and You can join on-line or send your check to DC easy. Here’s how: www.dcblues.org Blues Society, P.O. Box 77315, Washington, ▪ Use the mail-in application on Page 11 , Hotline: DC 20013-7315. Application on page 11. ▪ Apply on-line at www.dcblues.org or Contributions (not dues) are tax-deductible. 202-962-0112 ▪ Sign up at DCBS sponsored events and other venues where the DCBS booth is Send changes in name, address or member- exhibiting. ship status to [email protected] or Because of the extra handling and shipping The DC Blues Society is a non-profit 501(c)(3) mail to DCSB Attn: Membership at the ad- costs, this offer expires on 12/31/2008. organization dedicated to keeping the Blues dress listed above. After that, the CD will be given only to new alive through outreach and education. It is members signing up at DCBS events or at the funded in part by the DC Commission on the Members are invited to attend the monthly DCBS exhibit booths. You don’t want to miss Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in DCBS Board meetings. For information, con- out so join today and receive this exciting CD . part by the National Endowment for the Arts. tact [email protected]. The DC Blues Society is a proud affiliate of the Blues Foundation www.dcblues.org . DCBS Board Members and get involved . President: Felix McClairen Volunteers are the lifeblood of DCBS. Visit The DCBS’ newsletter, The Capital Blues MessMess---- ([email protected]) www.dcblues.org to learn more about all its enger , is published monthly (unless otherwise Vice President: Nick Dale volunteer opportunities and to apply. Here’s noted). Past newsletters are available on the ([email protected]) a few examples of positions in need of your DCBS website, www.dcblues.org Secretary: Celina Wood talents and time: This issue is © 2008 DC Blues Society ([email protected]) DCBS Street Team Representatives: Treasurer: Frank Kahan Contact: [email protected] The Capital Blues Messenger is your publica- ([email protected]) Blues in the Schools (BITS) Reps: tion and members are encouraged to submit Advertising: Jazs Contact: Dr. S.O. Feelgood 301-322-4808 articles, cartoons and photography. Please ([email protected]) Bookkeeper, Development Assistants, Grants send to the [email protected]. Media: Ida Campbell Writers, Newsletter Assistant: ([email protected]) Contact: [email protected]. Blues listings for bands should be sent to Membership: Gerard de Valroger Volunteer Coordinator Assistants: [email protected] or mail to Steve Levine, ([email protected]) Contact: [email protected]. 5910 Bryn Mawr Rd. College Park, MD 20740. ([email protected]) DCBS Websters: Merchandise: James Ginyard Contact: [email protected]. Note: The deadline for submissions is the ([email protected]) 15th of the month. DCBS reserves the right to Volunteer Coordinator: Arneda Bowens Storage Space Needed ——— DCBS needs a edit or refuse any content, including advertis- ([email protected]) place to store a drum kit, speakers, amp, and ing, that it deems inappropriate . Honorary Directors: John Cephas, other PA equipment. Ability to transport Barry Lee Pearson, Joseph Wilson equipment infrequently is helpful, too. ADVERTISE IN THE DCBS Key Volunteers Contact [email protected]. CAPITAL BLUES MESSENGER Blues in the Schools: Dr. S.O. Feelgood (301-322-4808) Inside this issue AD RATES Jams & Festival: Sam’i Nuriddin ([email protected]) President’s Drum 333 Business card $20 Newsletter Editors: Donna Shoulders, Mary Knieser ([email protected]) 1/8 page $25 Graphics: Lisa M. Green/For Graphic Design: Blue Bird Blues in Review 444 www.aall-artonline.com 1/4 page $40 Public Relations: Chris DeProperty, Volunteer Activities 555 ([email protected]) 1/3 page $55 Website: 1/2 page $75 Administrator: Jazs, Fred Morser Blues Views and News 666 ([email protected]) 2/3 page $110 Forum: Crawlin’ Kingsnake November Blues Calendar 10 ([email protected]) November Blues Calendar 1010 Full page $140 DCBS on MySpaceMySpace: Stacy Brooks Ads should be at least 200 dpi; optimum DCBS on PayPalPayPal: Fred Morser Order From/Application 111111 300 dpi. Print edition is in black & white. NOTE: The photos taken at Westminster for For on-line rates, go to www.dcblues.org. Front/Back Cover Photos of Questions? Email [email protected] October CBM were by Sheryl Adams. We apologize for the error. Whop Frazier © Ron Weinstock CAPITAL BLUES MESSENGER NOVEMBER 2008 P. 2 VolumeVolume 2 2 Issue Issue 10 10 with the standout instrument getting down, or showing out if you will. Bad singers can be great Blues artists. (By “bad” I mean you wouldn’t President’s Drum want to listen to him/her without the band playing.) That’s probably not the case for Southern Soul artists. Southern Soul: Stepchild Beyond this gossamer thin distinction, I lean toward the school of or Blood Relative of the Blues thought (perhaps I am the only one in it) that believes that Southern Soul and Blues may be separate but exist on the same hand. Call it the Southern Soul, Soul-Blues, Bluesy Soul…whatever you call it, this is Booker T. Washington school. Southern Soul, like the Blues, does not the genre of music that is growing in popularity among traditional mean that the music must come from the Deep South. It’s called Blues fans---at least Black fans. Southern Soul, the term I prefer, is Southern Soul because, like the Blues, it is nurtured in the South. Nice clearly (based on record sales and show attendance) more popular puts it like this: “The South is where it has a chance of entering peo- than straight-ahead Blues among Blacks of all ages and largely un- ple's real lives.” The Blues and Southern Soul also share marginaliza- known or ignored by other audience demographics. Let’s not beat tion by mainstream media. around the bush. Straight-ahead Blues is supported and its rewards However, Southern Soul thrives and deserves the attention of reaped by other than mostly Blacks. Many bemoan the fact that Blacks Blues-loving fans. The local prominence of Southern Soul is repre- have largely abdicated their cultural heritage and the Blues business sented by the very popular Da ‘Gator Show . Every Saturday, noon— to white folk in America and worldwide. 2 p.m. on WPFW-FM 89.3, [www.wpfw.org ] you’ll hear many of the I hear the moans and groans as I write. My purpose here is not to icons of Southern Soul featured on a number of Southern Soul charts argue the merits of such points of view. It is a natural part of the trans- including Marvin Sease, Willie Clayton, Theodis Ealey, Peggy Scott Ad- fer of tradition and ethos that occurs in all cultures where originators ams, Mel Waiters, Sheba Potts-Wright ,Lee “Shot” Williams, Lee Fields and adopters intermingle. At some point in cultural transference, those (one of my personal favorites) and many others. designations disappear. This issue is best articulated and debated by For live performances. you can catch many Southern Soul artists at so-called experts and practitioners of the art form. DCBS attempted to Lamont’s Entertainment Complex [www.lamontsentertainment.com ], contribute to this dialogue with last year’s 20 th Anniversary presenta- one of the hot stops on the neo-Chitlin’ Circuit. [A topic for a later Drum tion: “Who Stole the Soul from the Blues?” that featured Dr. Jarad Ball, installment.] Lamont’s old-fashioned, outdoor picnic-style summer the late Tom Bracy (aka DJ Tom-Tom, a Southern Soul & Blues pro- shows literally bring busloads of music lovers to his Pomonkey, MD moter), musicians Barrelhouse Bonni, Larry Taylor, Mike Baytop, Jay location where he’s hosted the likes of Bobby Blue Bland, Bobby Rush, Summerour and others. Theodis Ealey as well as regional artists like Jim Bennett and Lady Daddy B. Nice offers one of the most thoughtful reflections I could Mary, Big G, and the Hardway Connection. find on Southern Soul and its relationship to the Blues. Nice, who runs The Hardway Connection (left) is a an information-rich website [www.southernsoulrnb.com] claims that local example that illustrates very “Southern Soul is today's extension of classic rhythm and blues as it well the thin line between Southern was played and appreciated in the 60's and early 70's, and as it's still Soul and the Blues. Before the being played on the stations of The Deep South.” It has its own stars, Blues Foundation established the its own audience and hits list. [See Southern Soul Resources on Pg.9] separate Soul Blues awards cate- Nice believes that the genre borrows freely from Memphis, Philly gory, the Hardway Connection won and Chicago-style rhythm and blues, country, gospel, rock and other the DC Blues Society’s Battle of the Bands contest and went on to Mem- influences. That description belies another of his assertions that © Ron Weinstock Southern Soul is not simply the Blues because the Blues’ lineage is phis to win the Foundation’s 1994 narrower and less danceable.