by jon bosworth & rick grant
What: George’s Music Springing the Blues Oceanfront Music Festival
When: April 4 – 6, 2008
Where: Seawalk Plaza, Jacksonville Beach, Florida
It’s that time of year again. Springing the Blues and the opening of the beaches lead to all of our favorite annual springtime events. Activities will be popping up left and right in April as event planners scramble to get their outdoor events staged before another sweltering Florida summer.
Come June, the Florida sun will begin behaving like a giant child with a magnifying glass, watching us scurry from air-conditioned buildings to our air-conditioned cars. But nothing says Spring has sprung with more pizzazz than the annual George’s Music Springing the Blues Festival at Jacksonville Beach. It is the veritable cork to this springtime wine, and this year’s vintage is especially robust.
Eighteen years after it’s inception, Springing the Blues has become a sizeable enough event to be billed as one of the largest blues festivals in the country. Keeping pace with that burgeoning reputation, organizers of this year’s event have made the festival bigger, better, and more relevant to the blues community at large.
The 18th annual Springing the Blues Festival will feature artists Tinsley Ellis, Cephas and Wiggins, Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, Michael Burks, Eric Lindell and Smokin’ Joe Kubek & B’nois King, just to name a few. If those artists sound like they have something in common, you must be a real afficianado. They are all Alligator Records’ artists. This year’s Springing the Blues is a tribute to Alligator Records, which has been known as the premier blues label since the mid-1970s. Alligator’s founder and current owner, Bruce Iglauer.
“Springing the Blues is special because it’s a free festival. And the artists enjoy it because it’s friendly, it’s one of the first events in spring, and there are plenty of attractive people in bathing suits,” said Iglauer.
EU had the opportunity to speak with Iglauer recently, and so can you. He will be holding a Q&A at the festival on the West Stage on Saturday at 12:45 pm. This is an opportunity to sit with a man who has been a friend and business associate to many of the biggest names in blues, just to chew the fat.
“I know a lot about the blues and have some great stories. I can tell people what kind of a man Howlin’ Wolf was, not just his music, but as a person.”
The West Stage has been vastly expanded this year, so both stages will have full lineups starting Friday night at 5 pm and rocking through Sunday evening around 7 pm. Every performance is sure to be stellar.
“One of the things crucial to Alligator’s success is that we believe a great live performance is the best marketing there is. If the show is good live, then people will buy the recordings. One of the key reasons I sign artists is that they can deliver an exciting, soulful live performance,” said Ignauer.
This festival holds a special place in his heart, not just because he is a die hard blues fan and seeing many of his artists live in a single day is a rewarding venture, but also because it was at this festival several years ago that he discovered Jacksonville’s JJ Grey and Mofro.
“Signing JJ Grey and Mofro was quite a step for us. We had signed a few artists over the years who had one foot in the blues, but JJ is furthest from the tradition of blues. The first time I heard them was at Springing the Blues a few years ago, so the festival is very much the reason they are on the label now. The blues is about tension and release, releasing your inner feelings, especially the negative ones, to make you feel better. Even though he doesn’t write his songs in traditional blues structures, I get a lot of blues vibe out of JJ. As a hardcore blues fan, JJ’s music speaks loud and clear to me.”
Mofro will not be performing in this year’s blues festival, but there are plenty of locals that will be on the stage, including the teenage blues sensation Conrad Oberg, longtime local blues hero Ed Cotton, and a band that won’t be announced until the George’s Music staff is done judging the local band contest.
In addition to watching blues played on stage, you can learn from the masters. The Springing the Blues workshops are happening in the Seawalk Hotel Lounge. On Friday, Shane Dwight will be doing a workshop on electric blues guitar. On Saturday, Paul Rishell and Annie Raines talk about acoustic blues guitar and harmonica and Cotton discusses bottleneck slide blues guitar.
Although the music is obviously the centerpiece, there is more to do at this year’s festival than just slap your knee to the blues, you can also check out the Outerfest and Afterfest Activities. The annual Aqua East Surfing the Blues contest on April 5th and 6th has a $5,000 purse, which is the largest pro purse in Jacksonville this year. There is also the Running the Blues 5K Beach Run on Saturday April 5th. A new addition to the Outerfest Activities, this year is the Tour de Vilano Metric Century 3rd Annual Dan Amico Memorial Bike Ride to Beat Biliary Cancer on Saturday. This ride goes down A1A to the lighthouse and back. Riders enjoy VIP status at the music festival.
In addition to his workshop and scheduled performances, Cotton is also leading the George’s Music Blues in the Schools program throughout various schools in Duval County. Cotton spoke with EU about this project.
“Over the last 8 years I’ve continued my Blues in the Schools shows, playing over 40 schools, including performing arts schools, universities, and community colleges. That was sponsored by the Riverside Fine Arts Associaton. For the Springing the Blues Festival I will go out to various schools, up through high schools, with my presentation. It includes a lot of performing and, in between, I talk about the history of blues and the early instruments. I bring along many quotes from famous blues artists. I also tell the students about what makes up a blues song and the various subjects, like a famous Mississippi flood or a broken romance, so they get a well rounded idea of what the blues means and its impact on today’s music.”
Another new addition to this year’s event is the Springing the Blues Film Festival. Featuring the films of Robert Mugge in the Orca Room of the Quality Suites Hotel (next to the festival grounds), the cinematic portion of the festival gives you a chance to slip into some air-conditioning and learn more about the cultural backdrop of the blues from Mugge’s blues-centered documentaries. The most famous of Mugge’s films are 1991’s Deep Blues and 2006’s New Orleans Music in Exile, but all three days have movies on the screen, so make sure you check out a few of these films over the course of the weekend. Robert Mugge will also be here for the festival, so you may have the opportunity to discuss his films or his love for the blues with him in person.
If you haven’t had enough when the Seawalk stage goes quiet, check out the blues jam at Mojos Kitchen & Blues Bar every evening after the festival.
So this Spring’s festival has quite a bouquet. The family-friendly festival is free to all, but if you want premium-seating wristbands to break away from the crowd, they are available for $50 for all three days or for varying prices for individual days. Remember to plan your parking in advance (you should consider carpooling) and do not bring coolers, tents, umbrellas, pets or video cameras to the festival. For more detailed information visit springingtheblues.com. To read more of our interviews with Bruce Ignauer and Ed Cotton go to eujacksonville.com.
by rick grant
Smoking’ Joe Kubek has rambled down the blues tracks since age 14 when, as a guitar prodigy, he hooked up with Robert Whitfield for Whitfield’s 1979 tribute to R. L. Griffin. Smokin’ Joe also recorded with Charlie Robinson, Big Ray Anderson and Ernie Johnson on Little Joe Blue’s classic album It’s My Turn Now in the early 80s.
In 1989, Smokin’ Joe found a kindred spirit when he jammed with B’nois King from Monroe, Louisiana. Kling’s jazz-styled guitar and soulful vocals contrasted Smokin’ Joe’s finger and slide guitar techniques. This fortuitous meeting of the minds was the start of a longtime collaboration and friendship that has propelled this duo into the higher echelon of today’s blues hierarchy.
“B’nois is doing great. We actually live five minutes away from each other and we’re friends. We met at a Monday night gig and hit it off musically and personally. We get along really great. It’s effortless, and we don’t have to worry about pulling off a successful gig. You could say that we trust one another on and off stage,” Smokin’ Joe said to EU from his home in Texas.
For the past 27 years, Smoking’ Joe has lived in Dallas. In the 80s he played with a legion of big names including Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, and Albert King. But that hasn’t made him arrogant. He’s still a down-home bluesman.
“B’nois and I just released our new Alligator album, Blood Brothers, and we’re getting ready to tour to support it. All is good. Everybody is in good spirits and ready to rock. We are out on the road for the busy festival season. It’s lucky we both love to tour. We’ll play anywhere there’s an electrical outlet.”
Smokin’ Joe is a master blaster with an arsenal of advanced techniques at his fingertips. His in-your-faced style never lets up, but melds well with B’nois King’s jazzy style, which represents a trademark sound for the duo’s rolling thunder act.
“We are really proud of our new album, especially the songs which come across as inspired and feature our flame-throwing guitar solos.”
Joe went on to say that this will be his third time performing at the George’s Music Springing the Blues Festival.
“I’m looking forward to coming to Jacksonville Beach for the Springing the Blues Festival. Man, that amphitheater right on the ocean is hard to beat.”
When you’re looking for some serious electric guitar sounds to drive to, put Blood Brothers on in the car and let Smokin’ Joe and B’nois give it to you with both barrels.
“Our new album is more song-oriented with a lot of wild guitar work.”
But even better than blasting these hot licks on a long drive is getting to see them light up the Seawalk Pavilion stage live in concert. See the spectacle for yourself when Smokin’ Joe Kubek and B’nois King take the Main Stage at 6 pm on Sunday, April 6th.
Article Published in the April 2008 Issue of EU Jacksonville
|
