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Rocking
the Blues presents
Blues
& Rock Nights at The
Limelight
Held normally on
the 3rd Friday of every month at The Limelight Theatre, Queens Park Arts
Centre, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
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www.bluescdstore.com
Providing
The Best Blues on The Planet
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Next Gig
Friday 19th
June
Larry
Miller Band
For more info on Blues & Rock Nights at the Limelight and
to buy tickets online
click
here
Alternatively, to purchase tickets
over the phone call 01296 431272 / 424332
If
you have any trouble getting through call
Rocking the Blues on 01296 634991
www.wegottickets.com
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www.bluesmatters.com |
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| Koko
Taylor - 'Queen of the Blues'
Dies Aged 80
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a result of complications
following surgery to correct a
gastrointestinal bleed on May
19 surgery, blues legend Koko
Taylor died on June 3, 2009 in
her hometown of Chicago. A
statement from Alligator
Records says "It’s
with a heavy heart and deep
sadness that I must inform you
of the passing of Koko Taylor
- The Queen of the
Blues. There will never be
another one like her. That’s
all I can say right now except
to thank all of you for
playing her music all these
years. I can only encourage
you to keep her spirit, her
voice and her timeless music
alive. She will be missed
forever here."
Recently
Koko was the recipient
of the Blues Foundation's 2009
Blues Music Award, in the
"Traditional Blues Female
Artist of the Year"
category. This was her
29th career award, more than
any other blues artist to
date. The Awards show
was held Thursday, May
7, at the Cook Convention
Center in Memphis, TN.
Born
Cora Walton on a
sharecropper’s farm just
outside Memphis, TN, on
September 28, 1928, Koko,
nicknamed for her love of
chocolate, fell in love with
music at an early age.
Inspired by gospel music and
WDIA blues disc jockeys B.B.
King and Rufus Thomas, Taylor
began belting the blues with
her five brothers and sisters,
accompanying themselves on
their homemade instruments. In
1952, Taylor and her
soon-to-be-husband, the late
Robert “Pops” Taylor,
traveled to Chicago with
nothing but, in Koko’s
words, “thirty-five cents
and a box of Ritz Crackers.”
In
Chicago, “Pops” worked for
a packing company, and Koko
cleaned houses. Together they
frequented the city’s blues
clubs nightly. Encouraged by
her husband, Koko began to sit
in with the city’s top blues
bands, and soon she was in
demand as a guest artist. One
evening in 1962 Koko was
approached by
arranger/composer Willie
Dixon. Overwhelmed by Koko’s
performance, Dixon landed Koko
a Chess Records recording
contract, where he produced
her several singles, two
albums and penned her
million-selling 1965 hit
“Wang Dang Doodle,” which
would become Taylor’s
signature song. Visit
Koko Taylor's website to read
more www.kokotaylor.com
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Blues
On The Farm - New Band Announced
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The
Festival described by The Times
as "The
Friendliest Festival in the U.K."
takes place between
18th
- 21st June 2009
"Thousands
of people....19 bands.....4
days.....one outstanding
Festival"
www.bluesonthefarm.co.uk
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One
of the country’s hottest blues
performers has just been announced to
appear at this year’s Blues
on the Farm
at Appledram near Chichester … and
he’s bringing some of the UK’s
finest players with him.
Perhaps
best known for his work with the Nimmo
Brothers - winners of a coveted
British Blues Connection award for
Best Blues/Rock Band - Alan Nimmo’s
newly unleashed band ‘King King’
are already receiving rave reviews
with their electrifying smoking hot
blues. Alan’s impassioned vocals and
dazzling guitar work now blend with
some of the most accomplished players
on the scene today.
‘King
King’ have been booked to play the
Friday evening of Blues on the Farm after US
bluesman Sean Chambers had to
pull-out. Also on the Friday night
bill are Sharrie Williams & The
Wiseguys from US and Storm Warning.
“King
King are a cracking band”,
commented festival organizer Julian
Moores. “While
it’s a shame not to be seeing Sean
Chambers, we couldn’t have hoped for
a better replacement. The Nimmo
Brothers played Blues on the Farm
several times and always went down a
storm. I’m sure our 8,000
festival-goers will not be
disappointed with King King!”
The
"Buy Nine get One Free" is available
again this year and any one who would like to
block book more than nine tickets on any one
night should e-mail info@bluesonthefarm.co.uk
for a special deal.
Tickets
for all nights are selling fast and with
quality bands and artists like Imelda May, Mike Sanchez,
Matthew Lee and Ian Siegal, Sharrie Williams
& The Wise Guys, Storm
Warning, Matt Schofield.
Blues
on the Farm organisers Julian and Kathy Moores
have joined forces with the Big Lemon
Bus Company this year. Those living in
Brighton, Worthing, Littlehampton and Bognor
Regis who really don't want to bother with the
hassle of driving , parking and generally
adding to global warming can join the Big
Lemon at pre- arranged stops, climb aboard and
be chauffeured to and from Blues on the Farm
without a care in the world, you can even buy
a "Weekend Freedom Ticket" which
will take you to and from the site every day.
The
Big Lemons run on 100% locally sourced used
cooking oil which considerably reduces the
impact on the environment.
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| New
Matt Schofield
Matt
starts his new band/new album tour on
Monday (June 15) in Oxford. Click
here for tour dates.
You can also hear the session recorded
for the Paul
Jones Show BBC Radio 2
(7-8pm), on Monday June 15.
An additional London date has just
been added for Matt. He will be
joining the Ronnie Scott's Blues
Experience as their guitarist and
featured guest on Sunday, June 21 (at Ronnie
Scott's in Frith
Street, in case you were wondering!).
Matt Schofield's new CD 'Heads,
Tails and Aces' is available from all
good record stores and internet sites.
Exclusive offer - buy Matt Schofield's
new CD from www.bluescdstore.com
and you'll be entered into a prize
draw to win other CDs from other
Nugene Record label artists. Click
here for more details
HOT
NEWS……. Matt will be the special
guest of SUSAN TEDESCHI and her band
at the 100 CLUB in London on July 30.
Grab your tickets now!
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Simon
McBride
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Simon
and his band are playing at
the LONDON INTERNATIONAL MUSIC
SHOW this Sunday (June 14) on
the main stage at 13:50. This
is a great opportunity to see
the band in a big space with a
big sound system (what they
were born for!). Note: if you
have a flyer for the show that
says 11:15, it has moved to
the new and prime time of
13:50. Show
web site |
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Shades
Of Blues Becomes Little Walters Blues
Club
The
last Shades of Blues Club at The
Maltings in St Albans took place
recently and Errol
Linton's BluesVibe were fantastic !
Check out www.shadesofblues.co.uk
which has been updated with
photographs from that gig and the Dana
Gillespie gig - photo's courtesy of www.photographybygr.co.uk
- have a look at all the other stuff
Graham the photographer does besides
gigs ! The new club will be run
from the same location, monthly by two
of the Shades of Blues Club members Mick
and Jeff. They are now ready to
send out their first "Little
Walters Blues Club" Newsletter.
If you want to join this mailing
contact them on
info@littlewaltersbluesclub.co.uk
Check out their new website
for the up and coming gigs www.littlewaltersbluesclub.co.uk
Bob Ayre, founder of
Shades of Blues Club gave
up running the club to concentrate on
his own blues band Dr
Shades Blues Band. You can see them on
Saturday
May 23rd 9 - 11pm at the White
Hart Tap, Keyfield Terrace, St Albans
- the pub does great beer and it
is the second May bank holiday weekend
!! New tunes, some more gig
footage & photo's have been added
to their webpage; www.lemonrock.com/drshadesbluesband
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| Cambridge
Rock Festival
The Cambridge Rock Festival
takes place between 6 - 9th
August and includes Asia
(with the original line up) ,
Oli Brown, Barclay
James Harvest, The
Quireboys, Stray,
Jefferson
Starship, Focus,
Quicksilver
Messenger Service, Karnataka,
Never
The Bride, Mostly Autumn, The
Deborah Bonham Band
and Airrace
with Jason Bonham on drums. This
year they have a blues/rock
stage which includes Storm
Warning, Larry
Miller Band, The
Groove Doctors, The
Roy Mette Band, The
Nightflies and more to be confirmed soon. There's the usual great
beer, camping facilities, CD
and merchandise stalls. You
can buy a weekend ticket
now and it's only £85! For
more information and to buy
tickets online visit; http://cambridgerockfestival.co.uk
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| Blues
Awards News
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Mess
of Blues - rock blues album of
the year 2009awards
Jeff Healey`s
RUF album 'Mess
of Blues' has won the Blues
Music Awards 'Rock
Blues Album of the Year 2009'.
This category has been
added as a new catagory for
the first time in the history
of the BMA.
Jeff`s
widow Christie Healey ,who
accepted the award on behalf
of Jeff, the Canadian
blues-rock icon who passed
away suffering cancer in March
2008 said "he would have
been very proud to accept this
award".
The
critically acclaimed blues
film M FOR MISSISSIPPI has
just collected its highest
honor to date: A Blues Music
Award for DVD of the Year.
M FOR MISSISSIPPI, which is a
co-production of Broke &
Hungry Records, Cat Head Delta
Blues & Folk Art and
Mudpuppy Recordings, was one
of five nominated movies. Its
competition included films
featuring platinum-selling
rock legend Carlos Santana,
blues icon Albert Collins,
guitarist Ronnie Earl and
Chicago bluesman Little Arthur
Duncan.
“Considering
the competition, we were truly
surprised and humbled to
receive this amazing
recognition,” said Roger
Stolle, one of the film’s
creators. “It’s a
testament to the great music
that continues to flow from
Mississippi and to the
incredible artists who create
it.” |
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M FOR MISSISSIPPI has been described
as “part road trip, part buddy
film.” It
follows Stolle and fellow blues
producer Jeff Konkel on a weeklong
journey through Mississippi as they
visit a dozen of the state’s most
fascinating blues figures. The duo’s
road trip, captured by cinematographer
Damien Blaylock, led them to rustic
environments ranging from juke joints
to cotton fields and placed them
face-to-face with such fascinating
artists as James “T-Model” Ford,
Robert Belfour, Robert “Bilbo”
Walker, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and
more. Completing the production team
were co-producer Kari Jones and sound
engineer Bill Abel.
“It’s mind-blowing to think that
just over a year ago, we were piling
into Roger’s van to start this
journey and now here we are holding
Blues Music Award statues,” Konkel
said. “We’re so grateful to
everyone who voted for the film and to
all of the artists, individuals and
organizations who supported us on this
labor of love.”
For
more information on M for Mississippi,
visit the film’s official web site
at www.mformississippi.com
You can buy the DVD in the UK from
www.bluescdstore.com
Since its inception 30 years ago, the
Blues Music Awards – formerly known
as the Handy Awards – have been the
genre’s gold standard. Through the
years, Blues Music Awards have been
bestowed on such seminal figures as
Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Lee Hooker,
Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Etta James and
B.B. King. King himself was in
attendance at last night’s award
ceremony, as were such rock luminaries
as Bonnie Raitt and Steve Miller.
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Sign the
Petition - Keep Music Live and Venues Open
A
new piece of bureaucracy will force licensees
to reveal a mass of information about
performers. Publicans and managers of other
small venues are forced to comply with a new
piece of bureaucracy called Form 696
The form demands that licensees give police a
mass of detail, including the names, aliases,
private addresses and phone numbers of all
musicians and other performers appearing at
their venue, and the ethnic background of the
likely audience. Failure to comply could mean
the loss of a licence or even a fine and
imprisonment.
Please sign the petition on the 10 Downing
Street website against 696.
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Scrapthe696/
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Digital Blues Awards Winners Announced
The winners of the Digital Blues Awards have
been announced. Taking the award for best band
of 2008 jointly was The Heaters and The Groove
Doctors. Best album award of 2008 went to
Storm Warning for the album 'Something
Real'. Best personality was Tim Aves for
the third time in four years and best female
blues artist was Kyla Brox. For all the
winners and runners up places go to; www.digitalblues.co.uk
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| More
Blues On The Radio
Martin
Clarke presents a two hour Blues show
every Friday on Radio Wey from 9pm.
For more details visit; www.thebluessession.co.uk
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Second Digital Blues Radio Programme
The
second Digital Blues on IndieTalent.ca show
was posted on 28th April 2009 and includes a
world exclusive first airplay of a track from
the Shakey Vick Blues Band's forthcoming CD
featuring the legendary Chris Youlden and also
an unreleased track by the Barcodes recorded
for the Paul Jones Blues show on BBC Radio 2
featuring a galaxy of star names! Also
featured are the Nightflies, Hokie Joint, Nuno
Mindelis from Brazil, Papa George, King King
featuring Alan Nimmo, Guy Tortora and the
Jamie Williams Band. You can listen at www.indietalent.ca/showsmenu.shtml#Digital
and you can see details
of the playlist on the Digital Blues website.
www.digitalblues.co.uk
Ashwyn
Smyth by emailing
ashwyn.smyth@btopenworld.com
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New
Crawdaddy Club 10th Birthday Gig
10th
Birthday gig takes place on
September 24th when the Club is proud and
delighted to present Sherman Robertson as the
headliner. 70 tickets have already been
sold for this gig already so it looks a fair
bet that the gig may well be a sell out well
before the actual date.
Full
details can be found at www.newcrawdaddyclub.co.uk
or by calling 01702 347007. The Club also has
its own MySpace site at www.myspace.com/newcrawdaddyclub
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New Blues Podcast
Go
to our Limelight page of this website click
here and hear the latest blues
podcast detailing up and coming blues at The Limelight Theatre in
Aylesbury illustrated with tracks from the artists appearing in May, June and
July.
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Guitar
Masterclass
One
of the world’s greatest acoustic guitarists,
Pierre Bensusan, is the next legend to
headline a series of masterclasses hosted by
the Guitar Institute (part of the
Institute
of
Contemporary Music Performance
) in
London
, in association with Guitar Getaways Awaydays.
Pierre
is a guitarist, singer and composer who
constantly explores the depth of his own voice
in a way that transcends his instrument.
As a supremely talented fingerstyle
player, his inventive approach has projected
him into the music community with a reputation
for producing both creatively and technically
challenging compositions. A
frequent contributor to Acoustic Guitar
Magazine,
Pierre
’s fusion of folk and jazz styling allows
him to be recognized as one of the most
eloquent and diverse world musicians of our
time.
This
exclusive event, to be held at the
Bedford
in Balham,
London
, on the evening of Wednesday June 3rd,
will also feature an in-depth
“fundamentals” lesson delivered
by Guitar Institute teacher
Max Milligan
. This will be followed by the headline guitar
masterclass with
Pierre
designed for all guitarists who wish to
enhance and improve their fingerstyle playing.
This
is a rare opportunity to hear Pierre Bensusan
talk, play and demonstrate his craft which
should not be missed. To
book a place at the masterclass, contact
Guitar Getaways on:
awaydays@guitargetaways.com
www.guitargetaways.com
Tel:01326
211945
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New Blues website From The US
A
website that brings the best of the blues world together. Designed for Blues
fans old and new to explore the roots of the blues world, it's people, music,
stories and legends of. Use it as a research tool, find music, clubs, festivals,
equipment etc, watch video or just plain keep up with what's going on. www.bluespipe.com
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| Rupe's
Gig Guide
New
June dates have been added for the High
Wycombe and surrounding areas. To view
go to
www.rupesgigguide.co.uk
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TICKETS
-2008 PRICES HELD...
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Tickets
are going on sale, at
last. On Friday April 24th
tickets will be available
on line from Ticketline
and, on May 4th,
from The Carnegie Theatre,
Workington or our Festival
Office in Maryport. For
the first time the
Festival Office can accept
credit cards. Also, we are
delighted to announce that
we have been able to hold
the ticket prices at last
year’s level. Check the
website for details of
prices and outlets.
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Artists
confirmed for the main
stage are headliners
Jethro Tull, John Mayall,
and Taj Mahal with
supporting acts Ruby
Turner and The Blues Band
with Paul Jones. Over the
next couple of weeks, we
will announce the other
main stage artists
representing established
and emerging acts from the
UK and US. As usual the
winner of the Battle of
the Bands competition,
local band Nine Lives,
will launch the festival
on the Friday evening.
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There
were a few raised eyebrows
amoungst Maryport blues
fans when we announced
Jethro Tull as a
headliner, but they have
been repeatedly suggested
as a band many would like
to see at the festival in
our “Audience Feedback
Forms”. With their roots
in blues & the
celebrated musicianship of
charismatic frontman Ian
Anderson, we didn’t
hesitate to take the
opportunity to book this
legendary British rock
band. This week, we asked
Ian what he thought about
playing Maryport and this
is what he said:
"Always
fun to go back to basics
with the music form which
shaped my teenage years
and offered me a musical
career. We will play some
selections of blues-based
material from the early
days of Tull and maybe a
couple of pieces from the
traditional blues
repertoire too. But, in
keeping with the spirit of
Jethro Tull, we will also
throw in some more
eclectic material which
would have sent Muddy
waters off to the beer
tent....."
Keep
checking the festival
website www.maryportblues.com
for news on the rest
of the line-up.
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| New
Album Reviews on the Reviews
Page
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| New
Website Address For Route 666
New
website address for Route 666 is now www.route666rock.co.uk
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Darth Vader
Plays The Blues
Darth Vader plays
the blues. Have a look at this - superb;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJqPNpUhxPY
Great Site For
Playing
The Blues
www.desktopblues.lichtlabor.ch
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Blues
CD Store
To receive either by post or email the bi monthly Bluesletter from Blues CD
Store, call 01296 634991 or email
info@bluescdstore.com
If you are in a blues or blues/rock band and you want to sell your
CDs on the fastest growing website for blues bands click
here for more info.
www.bluescdstore.com
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