VOLUME TWENTY-THREE, NUMBER NINE • SEPTEMBER 2018 The Jimmys on the River City Star M U S I C F E S T I VA L FREE, ALL AGES OUTDOOR FESTIVAL Sunday, September 30th 7 OAKS HEADQUARTERS Sunday, September 23 from 4 PM to 6 PM 13304 West Center Road, Omaha www.rivercitystar.com for tix and info Food trucks will be on site, please no outside food or drink. 2PM: GATES OPEN 3PM: SEBASTIAN LANE 4:15PM: ALASTAIR GREENE 6PM: THE DANIELLE NICOLE BAND 7:45PM: ELEKTRIC VOODOO 9PM: FIREWORKS! Tuesday, Sept. 11th Sunday, Sept. 16th @ 5 pm — HURRICANE RUTH — TAS CRU Wednesday, Sept. 12th @ 6 pm • Zoo Bar, Lincoln @ 6 pm Friday, Sept 14th @ 5:30 pm • The B Bar, Omaha BLUES BEATLES ($5 cover) Thursday, Sept. 20th @ 6 pm Wednesday, Sept. 12th LAURA RAIN AND @ 6 pm THE CAESARS HURRICANE RUTH ($5 cover) Chrome Sunday, Sept. 30th Sunday, Sept. 30th @ 5 pm @ 5 pm ROCKIN’ JOHNNY BURGIN WEBB WILDER ($5 cover) Lounge 8552 Park Drive, Omaha 402-339-8660 The Blues Society of Omaha Presents RUSTEMBERFEST Legendary Thursday Blues Matinees and more All shows 6 pm unless noted otherwise Saturday, Sept. 8th Thurs. Sept. 6th ...................................................Renee Austin ($10) atat 1-291-29 DragwayDragway Thurs. Sept. 13th ............Mary Jo Curry and Tombstone Bullet ($10) Thurs. Sept. 20th ...........................................Reverend Raven & the Pacific Junction, IA Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys ($10) Thurs. Sept. 27th .................................The Zac Harmon Band ($12) BSO presents Thurs. Oct. 4th .................................. Biscuit Miller and the Mix ($10) Hector Anchondo (5 pm) Thurs. Oct. 11th .....................Orphan Jon and the Abandoned ($10) Thurs. Oct. 18th ............................The Jimmy Carpenter Band ($10) and Sebastian Lane Band (7 pm) Thurs. Oct. 25th .................................................... Wicked Grin ($10) PAGE 2 BLUES NEWS • BLUES SOCIETY OF OMAHA Why Join the Blues Society of Omaha with Your Membership Donation? The Blues Society of Omaha, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in 1998. We are an all-volunteer organization with over 800 dues-paying members. BSO’s mission is “Keepin’ the Blues Alive”. We are recognized as one of the top Blues Societies in the country. With the help of your tax-deductible donation we continue to promote blues music, blues musicians, and live music venues & events. Among our many projects and accomplishments are these: • BSO promotes musicians and venues by maintaining a comprehensive live music calendar on our website, omahablues.com. BSO also distributes free monthly news flyers with calendars to numerous public gathering spots to inform the general community of live music shows in the area. • BluesEd is a non-profit youth artist development program created and sponsored by Blues Society of Omaha. The BluesEd program began in 2001 to provide opportunities for young musicians to learn blues music in a series of workshops and to play with other students in a band format. Our BluesEd bands always are impressive and they have performed at some of the finest festivals & venues in and around Omaha. • The Blues Society of Omaha has hosted an annual Nebraska Blues Challenge competition for local bands since 2011. All of the participating bands are showcased in judged public events as they compete for a package of prizes and the honor of representing BSO at the International Blues Challenge competition held in Memphis. All of the winning Nebraska bands have gone on to receive national attention and acclaim while making BSO proud! • BSO produces and/or sponsors various music events throughout the year. • BSO is a contributor to and supporter of Playing With Fire, a series of free outdoor concerts held each summer in Omaha since 2004. • BSO provides support to The Zoo Bar, Lincoln’s legendary and award-winning blues venue. BSO is a sponsor of the annual ZooFest music festival. • In conjunction with Toy Drive for Pine Ridge, BSO hosts an annual toy drive and concert fundraiser for the children of Pine Ridge Reservation. • BSO regularly produces charitable events for musicians in need. As a member and donor, you are entitled to great membership benefits: • Free subscription to “Blues Notes”, our monthly newsletter that will keep you abreast of blues events in the area, blues CD reviews, and other articles of interest to blues connoisseurs! • E-blasts with late-breaking blues news. • Special pre-sale and discounted tickets to select events. • Discounts offered by generous local businesses. • Pride in belonging to a group dedicated to “Keepin’ The Blues Alive”! Please consider switching to the GREEN VERSION of Blues Notes. You will be saving the planet while saving BSO some expense. Contact Susan Keith at [email protected] to switch to e-mail delivery and get the scoop days before snail mail members! BLUES ON THE RADIO: Mondays 1pm-3pm on KIOS 91.5 “Blues in the Afternoon” with Mike Jacobs You can listen to the live stream at www.kios.org Sundays 9am-Noon on KIWR 89.7 Rick Galusha’s “PS Blues” Pacific Street Blues & Americana podcast: https://anchor.fm/pacific-street-blues-and-americana Lincoln’s KZUM Radio - Nebraska’s only community radio, and you can listen to it on the web at KZUM.org. Monday – 3:00-6:00pm “World Gone Wrong Blues” Tuesday – 3:00-6:00pm “Group W Blues” Wednesday – 3:00-6:00pm “Highway Blues” • 8:30-10:00pm “Radio Gumbo” Thursday – 3:00-5:00pm “Blue Water Mixtape” Friday – 1:00-3:00pm “Women’s Blues & Boogie” • 3:00-6:00pm “Hudson Blue” Saturday – 6:00-7:00am “Beale Street Caravan” • 7:00-8:00am “Juke in the Back” Sunday – 2:00-4:00pm “Back at the Chicken Shack” BLUES NEWS • BLUES SOCIETY OF OMAHA PAGE 3 RENEÉ AUSTIN Thursday, September 6th @ 6 pm ($10 Cover) • Chrome Lounge, Omaha Austin embraces a deliciously wide range of roots enced a series of true styles: She belts the blues with sass, swings nimbly miracles and her voice on R&B, and fires off some rousing gospel. For good has returned. Her new measure, she also shows she can take it uptown with a CD, “Songbirds & An- sultry, soulful ballad. gels”, hit the streets The Philadelphia Enquirer April, 2018 with a sold- Maybe you saw her on Morgan Freeman’s Blues Diva’s out Album Release on PBS? Or, you may have caught her singing live for a show at the world re- season opener for the WWE SmackDown with 6 million nowned Dakota Jazz viewers? Six-time Minnesota Music Award Winner and WC Club. She also just Handy Best New Artist Nominee, Reneé Austin, calls her signed a worldwide new music a mix of Soul/ Gospel/R&B with a hint of Tex- digital distribution deal as. The Texas Hill Country raised multi-instrumentalist and with The Orchard, a singer-songwriter rose to national attention in 2003 with division of Sony Music. her first international release, “Sweet Talk” which includ- Reneé was Executive ed the spine-tingling duet “Pretend We Never Met” with Producer for Songbirds 3-time Grammy Winner, fellow Texan and friend Delbert & Angels and wrote all 13 tracks working with McClinton. Mark Fredell Producer/ Guitarist Da- Austin released 3 CD’s between 1997-2005: “Dancin’ With vid Grissom (Mellencamp, Dixie Chicks, Storyville, Allman Mr. Blue”, “Sweet Talk” and “Right About Love”, opening Brothers, Joe Ely) for 4 songs recorded in Austin, Texas. Aus- for respected artists such as Los Lobos, Delbert McClinton, tin worked with Producers Douglas A. Smith (P Funk, Nikka Blues Traveler, Big Head Todd & The Monsters, Keb Mo and Costa, Vann Hunt) and Christopher Furst (Studio 65 Owner, Robert Cray. Sadly, just two short weeks after the release of Engineer, Mixing, Mastering) for the other 9 songs recorded “Right About Love”, Reneé’s singing career was halted just in Minneapolis. MN. Austin’s voice has been compared to as her star was rising. Tragedy struck when during a surgi- Anita Baker, Tina Turner, Regina Belle, even a female Mi- cal procedure, Austin’s left vocal nerve became paralyzed. chael McDonald. Watch the video of Reneé’s inspirational Unable to sing or speak above a whisper, Austin began a story at reneeaustin.org new life without music. From the Artist’s website But, after years of struggle and heartache, Austin experi- Check out B.J. Huchtemann’s column Hoodoo Blues each week in the Omaha READER for info on upcoming shows and other news in the roots-blues music scene. Look for B.J.’s byline under the Music tab at thereader.com BSO CORPORATE SPONSORS Blue Club Mitch Bolte Hawk’s BBQ – Steve & Nancy Mether Absolutely Fresh Seafood Robin & Elizabeth Bracy-Robson Chris & Brenda Hawkinson John Pollack & Karen Berry Glenn & Sheila Bauer Chick Ganz Bill & Brenda Bahrke Mikel Schmidt & Leslie Eurek Chip Davis Conrad Good Mo Barry Ann Scolaro Kit & Pam Kelley Paul Gerber Kenny & Linda Benton Sid Sidner Royce & Jo Kreitman Steve & Lisa Krueger Geoff & Elaine Clark Terry Smith Terry O’Halloran Jody Marker John Doocy Tim Sorrell Lonnie Thomas James Pietro, DDS David & Kristine Evans Jeff & Vicki Suchomel Tammy Trahan - Corner Bar Roger & Sheri Slosson Gary Gates Bill & Denise Teeple Ernest Sutherlin Dan Hamann James Thele Corporate Dan Van Houten Mike & Sally Hansen Vickie Tiffin Bel Air Merchant’s Association Richard Wolken Todd Higgins James & Jacqueline Tischer Integrity Wealth Management Susan & Troy Krupicka David Vanlandingham Mama’s Pizza West Special Tom & Heidi Macy Greg Virant & Lynn Kost Virant Paul Scott Hoagbin Blues Band Down Under Lounge Vanessa Marie John Watt West Point Rack Bonnie Mercer & Kim Burns Caleb Whisenhunt PAGE 4 BLUES NEWS • BLUES SOCIETY OF OMAHA What’s New with BluesEd? Our 17th year of BluesEd was absolutely one of the busiest Us and Them Blues Band - Ann Giebler & Victoria Hawkins and best years yet! Our student bands entertained and de- Vertigo Blues Band - Rainbow & James Dark lighted audiences large and small all over Lincoln, Omaha Additionally, many other parents helped with photography, and surrounding areas where we made many new fans.