1 A Florida Non-Profit501(c)3 Corporation E-BLUESLETTER April 2011 Volume 1, Issue 1 2 OBBS E-BLUESLETTERVolume 1, Issue 1 www.obbs.org Inside this issue: MESSAGE FROM THE President Herb Ransburg, Jr 3 Blues in School By Reno Mussatto 4-5 History of the OBBS by Ben”Bulldog” Basile 6 LADIES OF THE BLUES 7 by Jann Childers 8 THE 2010 CENTRAL FLORIDA BLUES CHALLENGE by Dominic Benecasa Spotlight 9 Mark Hummel interview by Ken Showkeir WHAT’S HAPPENIN’ 10-11 By Daryll Davis 5th ANNUAL ORLANDO BLUES & BBQ 12 by Daniel Heithausen 1ST DAYTONA BLUES FESTIVAL -2010 13 by Rick Burr SPONSORS 14 I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who contributed their time and efforts for this e-bluesletter. If you have a story to contribute please email me at [email protected] thank you, Karen Stott-editor 3 OBBS E-BLUESLETTER Message from President Hey OBBS’ers!! Hope this greeting finds all of you doing well and making the most the new Spring!! WE are definitely getting our fair share of great Blues hear in Central Florida!! There was a time when you heard folks say, “There ain‟t enough shows coming to this area!”, “Where do I go to hear some great Blues?”, and the like. Well, I must say, anyone who utters such nonsense should be slapped good with a Blues stick!!! We got Blues at the Alley, McWell‟s, The Viking Pub, B.B King‟s, Two Blondes, Harry‟s Cigar and Brew, House of Blues, Earl‟s Hidea- way, Aces, Dizzy D‟s, Boothill, Vines, Airport Hanger Bar, The Backstage, Bank and Blues, Lou‟s Blues, and at Gator Gary‟s!! With all these places, and I may have missed a couple, you can‟t tell me there ain‟t nothing to do!! Thanks to all the venue owners, bands, and fans for supporting live music in Central Florida! It’s springtime and that means it‟s time for new things to happen. The OBBS is working to pull some “new” things together for the membership and our Blues Fan base. We are looking at working closer with some of the venues that support live music consistently. If you think about it, the places that have live music are the places we see our friends, right? I have never been asked to hang out or connect with any of my friends at a karaoke bar . .have you? I have nothing against karaoke; it‟s just not where my friends and I go to share in music experiences, that‟s all. Thanks to all of you that supported our Central Florida Blues Challenge winners, The PitBull of the Blues on their trek to Memphis. We‟re damn proud of „em and look forward to their return for more shows around Central Florida very soon. We are also damn proud of Beautiful Bobby Blackmon, Selwyn Birchwood & Deuces Wild, Joe Caruso, and The Birddog Bobby Band!! They all have released new CDs and many of us have cop- ies. Not sure all of us realize the work and dedication it takes to produce a CD in today‟s challenging economy. It‟s not easy to do it right these days and these guys have done it right!! When you get a chance, get one of each and enjoy the music! I just want to take a moment to let you all know what we have assisted a few members and friends finan- cially from our Gary Ingber fund. We are indeed using the funds for what it was created to do - help those in need of assistance. The gifts are not big, but they are indeed appreciated and we hope to continue this process. It is my hope that we have multiple events, both big and small, to keep this fund going. Please get in touch if you have ideas or events that could be used to help fill this cookie jar. Okay folks, it‟s time to get out and enjoy this great FL Spring weather. You know what goes great with this weath- er, THE BLUES!!! All Blues ain‟t sad and Spring in FL is not a sad season. So, as you are getting your flower beds and lawns in order, cleaning out your closets and garages, finishing up those winter projects and planning for Sum- mer vacations, put some Blues in your souls people!! Get your mp3 players, iPods, iPhones, BlackBerries, Androids, HTCs, Samsungs, or whatever device you use loaded up with some killer Blues (or any music!!) and feed your soul what it needs my friends. Take care everyone and . .. GET OUT AND GET SOME BLUES (LIVE MUSIC!) IN YA!!!! Herb Ransburg, Jr. OBBS President. Please visit our sponsors 4 OBBS E-BLUESLETTER Volume 1, Issue 1 Blues in the Schools Whispering Oak Elementary By Reno Mussatto On February 22nd, the Orange Blossom Blues Socie- ty’s Blues in the Schools crew had their 2nd annual presentation for the 3rd grade classes at Whispering Oak Elementary. Doc Williamson, Gary Whitehead, Reno Mussatto, Bird Dog Bobby and Pappa D performed some blues classics and educated students with an age appropriate history of the blues. The origins of the blues, trans- formation of the blues from rural to urban and acoustic to electric were explained. Of course, the music was what really got the students attention. There is nothing quite like two hundred 3rd Graders singing along and clapping their hands to “Big Boss MOM”. They really enjoyed the song writer’s names; Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, etc. Newest addition to the blues crew was Mike Pappademos, who played harp, sang and jumped right in sharing the front work. This guy is a natural with children and a true performer. His ex- planation of how the song “Chicken Shack” came to be was a big hit with the 3rd Graders. Our host was 3rd grade Teacher and Orange Blossom Blues Society member, Beth Brissette; who comments, “It was such a treat! The kids learned a lot, and there are now many new Blues fans in the world! One of the kids said she just couldn‟t believe that they came to play for US! My favorite day this year!!!”. Beth’s class also gave the Blues in Schools Crew blue tie-dyed T-shirts and wraps as a thank you. But for me, the BIG thank you was the sound of the audience experiencing live blues music, many of them for the 1st time. If you know of a school that might be interested in a FREE Blues in the Schools presentation or just have questions about how the program works, please email me at [email protected] or call me at 407-234-7185. If you’d like to help support this pro- gram, a $5.00 donation to the OBBS will get you a very cool, full-color, Blues in the Schools bumper sticker! Pictures on next page. Please visit our sponsorsPlease support our sponsors 5 OBBS E-BLUESLETTER Volume 1, Issue 1 6 OBBS E-BLUESLETTER History of the OBBS by Ben”Bulldog” Basile The Orange Blossom Blues Society, the Early Years When Mid-November rolls around this year, the OBBS will be seven years old. My, how time has flown! I'm going to take a few minutes and look back over the first two years or so for our growing enterprise. That would be from late 2004, when it all begin, 'til the end of 2006. Join me for this little walk down memory lane if you will... When Jeff Willey put together a new jam at Cafe Annie downtown, many blues fans and musicians who had previously only known one another from jams "way back in the day" or from on-line forums got to meet and play together and talk about how Central Florida ought to have an organized Blues Society. "Big Willey" got that event started in August of 2004 and it wasn't long before the event became "ground zero" for an effort to launch a functioning Blues Society. Some of the original conspirators included "MuDDfish Mike" Edwards, Tim Williams, Jae Futch, Jeff and his sidekick on the Smokin' Torps, Clay Cole, "Burnin' Vernon" Miller, Rob Mola, and yours truly, "Bulldog Ben" Basile. By the 3rd of November, Mike Edwards wrote to a contact at the Blues Foundation to inquire as to exactly what a new Blues Society had to do to affiliate. On November 10th, Tim, Burnin' Vernon, Rob Mola, Jeff and Mr. Bulldog met before the jam, decided to actually "go for it" and passed the hat to try and raise enough cash to actually file. And, no, I don't remember how much we scraped together that evening! We had to hold back a little beer money, you know! Mike Edwards and Jae were very much involved in these early deliberations but both of them were out of town on that fateful evening. It wasn't long before Jae and her expert and vol- unteer legal consultants helped us get the papers submitted and filed in Tallahassee; The Or- ange Blossom Blues Society was born on the most-auspicious day of November 16, 2004! The date was chosen deliberately, as it is the birthday of W.C. Handy, "The Father of the Blues!" It also happens to be Vern Miller's birthday! Not a bad choice, if I do say so! As many Central Florida blues lovers know, Jeff Willey is not only a fine musician, but an able promoter; Jeff had been hard at work for some time putting together the First Orlando Blues Festival.