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The Iowa Blues Showcase is on the AIR

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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Stevie Ray Vaughn And Johny Copeland: Tin Pan Alley

Another great example of why Stevie was so great. Here he plays with the great Johnny Copeland. Watch how Stevie shares the stage. This is no competition. Stevie shows the respect he has for Johnny by not getting into a competition to see who was the best. Unlike some white artists who seemed more interested in smoking their heroes on stage. ( I won't say who, but if you have seen a few of these videos you will figure it out pretty quickly.

Susan Tedeschi: Slow Blues

A nice melodic slow blues by Susan Tedeschi from Austin City Limits.


Bob Corritore Blues News


The weekly blues news update from Bob Corritore!!

July 2, 2008

Your Chance To Vote For Blues Artists And Recordings Of The Year


The people who bring us the Illinois Blues Blast, some of the most up to date information about the blues. Now wants you to vote for artists and recordings of the year. Here is the press release:

IllinoisBlues.com is pleased to announce the 2008 Blues Blast Music Awards.
The Blues Blast Music Awards recognize excellence in Blues Music by artists
worldwide. Attached is a MS Word file with a list of the nominees. This
list is also available on our website at http://www.illinoisBlues.com/bbma08.htm

The BBMA award winners will be chosen by our Blues Blast Magazine subscribers.
Anyone who is a subscriber to our FREE Blues Blast Magazine is eligible to
vote for their favorite Blues artists. Voting will begin on July 14, 2008.

A new website where you can listen to samples of these artist's music is
planned and should be on line when voting begins on July, 14th, 2008.
Further details coming soon.

For more information, please go to: http://www.illinoisBlues.com/bbma08.htm

New subscribers can sign up for FREE to vote for their favorite
nominees at: http://www.illinoisblues.com/emailsignup.htm.

Bob Kieser
Publisher - Blues Blast Magazine
info@illinoisblues.com

Bob Dorr And The Blue Band Update


Tons of Fun with Bobby and the Blue Band:-)


Quick, I've got a KABBILLION things to do before it all goes KABLOOOWIE on the 4th of July! I sure had fun with so many of you who came back to Sparkle City for Sturgis Falls Days and our show at The Hub on Sunday evening. It's exhilarating to see people who have been part of The Blue Family for so many years all coming together once a year. There were people from Wisconsin, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Colorado, Minneapolis and all over Iowa. Thanks to Jay Stoddard and the Sturgis Falls Committee and Marcus and The Hub Staff for making that gathering happen after the nasty flood canceled our regular Tourist Park show. For some reason, being part of that hometown celebration means the world to me. Let's do it again NEXT year!...

But that was last week and here we are getting ready for the 4th of July! Time flies when we're havin' fun! (fruit flies like a banana) TONIGHT-Wednesday July 2, kick off the Holiday week early at Porky's Patio Party, 44th & Douglas in Des Moines, 6:15-9:15p. We have been playing Porky's Thursday night Bike Nights, this will be our first time for the Wednesday Night Car Nights. If the cars are as cool as the bikes, this could be somethin'! We'll be a 5 piece with Nathan blowin' sax...

Thursday's Independence Day Eve (7/3) show will be part of the Grinnell Party In The Park series, where we play the GAZZZEEEEEEBO in Central Park 5-8pm (or longer!) We're bringing the bigger sound system and the full 7 piece band with Heath and Nathan on sax and Al blowin' trumpet. I've played music in Grinnell for 30 years (no snide jokes about my "skyrocketing career" please) I've never had a bad time there. We're being sponsored again by the Grinnell Medical Center, who gives out free ice cream during the show. Are you kiddin' me? A free party in the park with free ice cream and a 7 piece Rockin' Soul Revue for 4th of July weekend?!! Be there...BRING CAKE...

As you heard, our annual 4th of July show in Windsor Heights was flooded out (postponed to Aug. 2). Thanks to i-wireless, Ace Insurance, Skott & Anderson Architects of Mason City, The local Budweiser distributor, and most of all Colleen Devine and Paradise Parties Events Center, 1025 N. 8th St., in Clear Lake, IA (www.paradisepartieseventscenter.com) we've got a place to play on the 4th of July. Al & Nathan will be the horn section (Nate's last gig with us before heading back home to Austin TX) (damn, I'm gonna miss that kid) (but he's already promised to come back for the New Year's Eve Reunion!) we play 5-8pm, right before the annual fireworks over Clear Lake (KABLOOOWIE!!)...

Saturday 7/5 is by invitation only...

We've got a couple of cool shows next week too. Fri. 7/11 finds us at the two-day festival called Camp Euphoria outside of Iowa City (www.campeuforia.com/) Iowa Blues Hall of Famer and Blue Band alumni Ron DeWitte will join us that evening, we play 7:30-8:30p. I am scheduled to be the Main Stage host/announcer for the day and Phil Maass is planning on providing live and taped coverage for Iowa Public Radio. Saturday July 12 marks our return to Okoboji for the ReMax Greenspace Concert, 7-10 p.m. I'll have more details on both of these dates next week...

I'm actually getting to this a little earlier in the night this week. I needed a break from making radio shows for the weekend. (The Saturday Backtracks show, 7-10pm will be a "best of" Summer/Independence Day Special culled from shows that originally aired in 2003-2007, plus an hour special on the late Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson) (there's some kind of law or something that says you HAVE to include some reference to The Beach Boys during ANY 4th of July special, isn't there?) And speaking of the radio shows, today's "first ever" hosting of a talk show on Iowa Public Radio was a ton of fun! The guest was NY Times Bestseller List author David Shields and the conversation revolved around his latest book The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead. Death is something we all have to do. Realizing, and trying to come to grips with, your own mortality is a very difficult process. I enjoyed meeting David and if you're interested, you can hear that interview right here: http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kuni/local-kuni-726085.mp3 Iowa Public Radio also provides podcasts thru their website at www.iowapublicradio.org Next Tuesday, I'm planning on interviewing a local educator/musician who is using music as a teaching tool in the classroom with the second half of the show talking to an author of a fictional story about an Elvis Impersonator! (thankyou, thankyouverymuch) Maybe I can dig out Blue Tattoo's 2006 Xmas gift of the Elvis impersonator kit and I can get a studio cam (or not)...

Well, coffee break's over, back on my head (and it's difficult making radio shows while standing on your head!) See ya on the (red, white and) Blue Highway, rub yer zydeco tie to the beat of Yankee Doodle, Bring Red, White & Blue CAKE for the 4th of July, (it is, afterall, our nation's birthday) live the spirit of freedom and independence that our country was built on and we celebrate this weekend, DON'T DRIVE DRUNK (we're going to be doing alot of driving this weekend and I do not want to "run into you" on the road) call yourself a cab (YOU'RE A CAB!) I hope all yer sparklers burn bright and none of your fireworks are duds. We love you, Bob Dorr & The Blue Band (KABLOOOWIE!!)

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Count Basie: Improv Blues

Here is a cool video of Count Basie and his four piece band doing an improv blues to end a TV show film in 1968. What I love about Count Basie is that it is rare to see him solo. He made his players look good, and was a comping machine. (in other words, he could play chords, and support his players so they would sound good) In this clip we get to see that not only could Count play the blues, but he could also play stride piano! very nice clip!

Big Joe Williams, And Count Basie: Going To Chicago

Big Joe is one of those under-rated blues singers. I am not sure how the jazz folks feel about him, but Joe and a lot of the Kansas City style bluesmen, and women, seemed to be less noticed among the blues fans than the more recognized Chicago,Delta, and Memphis blues artists. Big Joe Williams had a smooth voice, and easily moved from jazz to blues. This video is of him and Count Basie performing a song made popular by Count's first vocalist Jimmy "5x5" Rushing, called Going To Chicago.

Highlights From The Portland Blues Festival July 4th 2007

Here is a nice documentary of one mans day at the Portland Blues Festival, last year on the 4th of July. features Koko Taylor, and a few others.


Star Spangled Spectacular: Storm Lake, Iowa, July 3-4


I am very bad about promoting my own gigs. Part of it, is a superstition. I really hate to make a big deal about a gig, and then get sick and be unable to perform. That has happened a couple of times over the years, and then I feel like a big idiot. However, Thursday and Friday is the biggest day of the year for Storm lake! We double in size from about 10,000 people to over 20,000 people, as visitors from small surrounding towns, and long lost family and friends return to Storm Lake to celebrate the fourth of July.

The fun starts out on the afternoon of July 3rd. Vendors, and artists will set up stands down by the bandshell in Sunset Park. Celebration Iowa will kick things off with their variety song and dance routines, followed by The Tom Gary Blues Band, and The Eric Hovey Band. The next day the fun starts all over again. Vendors and artists will have tents set up from Sunset Park in the west to Chautauqua park in the east. A huge parade starts in the morning and then the vendors and artists stick around till 5pm. More entertainment starts around 7pm as the Tom Gary Blues Band, and the Eric Hovey band play until 10pm when the fireworks take place. You can find us located down by the new lighthouse and playground.

If you would like more information about the biggest party of the year in Storm Lake, check out the Pilot Tribune article about our show HERE.

Deep Blues Festival, Lake Elmo Minnesota, July 18-20


Press release from the Deep Blues Festival


One last reminder for the 2008 festival.

Deep Blues Festival July 18-20
Washington County Fairgrounds
Lake Elmo MN
46 bands 24 films

Advance ticket sales on our websites will be ending July 8th. All the schedules and festival information can be found there.

www.deepbluesfestival.com

www.myspace.com/deepbluesfestival

Hope you'll join us.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Andy Coats Update


Some cool gigs for you to attend in North Carolina



Hey there,

Hope everyone is having a great summer so far!

I wanted to let everyone know that I will be playing two sets at this weekend’s Festival for the Eno River.

Sat., July, 5th

1:15 – 2:00 pm – on the Grove Stage (near Photo Museum)

I play right after legendary Tarboro bluesman George Higgs, so make sure to get there early and catch his set first!

3:45 – 4:30 pm – Chimney Corner Stage (near West Point Mill)

This is a huge honor, in at least a couple of different ways:

-- it’s for a great cause – The Eno River Association is a wonderful environmental group, that has a long history of working for the environment and preservation of culture and local art forms.

Please visit their website for maps, photos, and to learn more: http://enoriver.org/

-- I will be performing on the same stage that has been graced by many legendary bluesmen and –women – folks like George Higgs, John Dee Holeman, and many more.

If you’ve never been to the Eno Festival before, I urge you to come on out and give it a try. Hope to see you there!

Best,

Andy
www.andycoats.com
www.myspace.com/andycoats
http://www.myspace.com/andycoatsandthebankwalkers