February How Blue Are We? by Monica Yasher

Welcome to another edition of How Blue Are We? February is a short month. But, we haven't been short on ideas to write about! The team is already planning some outings for the year to offer you the best coverage in the blues world. We are always interested what our readers have to say. So, American Blues News now has a Facebook presence, please feel free to drop us a line anytime and let us know what you want to read! We'll do our best to give you the best in Blues News!

Let's take a look at some of the things we talked about for February.

I know that it's winter but those blues festivals are just around the corner. One of our newest writers, Jim Stick, who hails from Colorado, is offering the upcoming events for Colorado during the year 2010. Take a read on Jim's first offering, Colorado Blues Festivals which is our featured photo of the month, Telluride.

The biggest news for February was the announcement for the 2010 Blues Foundation Hall of Fame awardees. This event will be covered in May with the Blues Music Awards. Go take a read and see what great artists and contributions will be inducted into the blues hall of fame. For those of you that are my friends on Facebook, I also gently reminded you to cast your vote for the Music Award Nominees. Your vote Counts! Be sure to read us in May to see if your vote helped bring a winner to the podium!

I love our picture scrapbooks! This month we covered many artists in a pictorial view courtesy of Nelson and Gatorman. A picture tells a thousand words, so take a few minutes and see what the photos have to say. The artists and events we covered were: Johnny Winter, James Cotton, Lucky Peterson, John Mayall, Al Kooper,

Blues pictures from Chicagoland,








and....
Tommy Castro





There were, once again, a few tributes to our blues artist. Maureen, another new writer for us, offered a tribute to Warren King. Warren was a Pittsburgh icon and had ties in the Florida community as a session guitar player. Warren has his place in music history, having played in the Silencers where the band's video for the medley "Peter Gunn/Remote Control/Illegal" aired on MTV the day the network debuted in 1981. RIP Mr. Warren King.


Other legends of the blues that have passed on were: Wilroy Sanders, and Dale Hawkins.

Our guest columnist, Bob Corritore, kept us up to date with some of the latest news. Thank you so much, Mr. Corritore.

I don't have to tell you that interviews are my favorite thing to do. By doing these interviews this month, I have been humbled. I watched Leon Russell on the Grammy's this year.

I know I should be beyond these things, but there on Mr. Russell's page is MY name to let you know to take a read about the Interview with Chris Simmons. Chris is Leon's lead guitarist. I thought it was so cool that I was a name on a page of someone that performed at the Grammy's. Humbled, I am.

In the spirit of the olympics held in Canada, I shared interviews with a few of our Canadian Blues Artists. The first being electric blues with Shawn Kellerman. The second being an acoustic blues artist by the name of Harry Manx. Please look for another Canadian artist next week, Ms. Sue Foley!



Abby our resident Texan shared her discussion with Mark May. Please take a read on the Texas scene.

Other interviews covered were: Stacy Brooks and Ana Popovich.



After watching the Grammy's, Gator offered an opinion of some of the blues awards handed out on A Living History Got Shafted.

As you all know, Clapton is on tour. J. Blake offered his take on the blues rocker show in NYC with, Beck & Clapton Rock NYC.

Other reviews that we shared were: Jimmy Warren and The New Soul Cowboys.

What's life without a little fun? I guess Jason Ricci has quite a sense of humor. Catch the writing and video on Jason's latest escapade! I don't know. Did he have you fooled?

And our resident musician shared his times at the zebra ranch. I have to swing back around and ask what it was like to see a black panther in the wild? I would love to see one of those! What an experience. Go read what Nighthawk had to say about his recording sessions with his writing of Reba Russell Band records at Zebra Ranch and More from the Zebra Ranch.



I hope you have enjoyed our coverage of February. In March look for the Sue Foley interview and we will touch base with some more acoustic blues artists such as Ernie Hawkins, who studied with the Rev. Gary Davis and the international blues artist, Eric Bibb.

Until next month, have a great life!

Monica

Copyright © 2010 Copyright Monica L. Yasher. All Rights Reserved.
Photo Copyright © 2010 Copyright Maureen Ceidro. All Rights Reserved.
Photo Copyright © 2010 Copyright Nelson Onofre. All Rights Reserved.
Photo Copyright © 2010 Copyright Jim Stick. All Rights Reserved.
Photo Copyright © 2010 Copyright Terrance Lape. All Rights Reserved.
Photo Copyright © 2010 Copyright Abby Owen. All Rights Reserved.
Photo Copyright © 2010 Copyright Robert Tooms. All Rights Reserved.
Photo Copyright © 2010 Copyright Geraldo Rivera. All Rights Reserved.