Tuesday, May 7, 2013

• John Primer & Bob Corritore / Knockin’ Around These Blues appears #1 in April Living Blues Radio Charts! Thank you to all the blues DJS for playing John Primer & Bob Corritore / Knockin’ Around These Blues. Jim McGrath who heads the Living Blues Radio Charts tells us that the combined playlists from all reporting stations put the CD at #1. Thanks also to Steve Dixon, publicity director at Delta Groove Music, for getting the CD to all the DJS! To see the April Living Blues Radio Chart click here.
• Off to Memphis for the Blues Music Awards! Each early May the Blues Foundation presents the Blues Music Awardswhich serves as a reflection and celebration of the prior year’s activities and achievements in the blues. This year the  Blues Music Awards will happen on May 9, 2013 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis. Artists will be recognized in 26 categories and from each category one of the five nominees will emerge a winner. To see a complete listing of nominees click here. In attendance will be many musicians, labels, producers, booking agents, festivals, publicists, artist managers, photographers, writers, and blues fans. Simply put, this is the best blues party of the year. For those unable to attend, the event will be simulcast on XM/ Sirius Satellite radio on the Bluesville station. Bob Corritore is nominated for a BMA in the “Harmonica” catagory. Also two releases that Bob is associated with are up for a couple awards each; Mud Morganfield /Son Of The Seventh Son, and The Mannish Boys / Double Dynamite. In addiition to the BMAs there are numerous events and side shows happening in Memphis before and after the BMAs. To find out more about the Blues Music Awards, clickhere.
• Bob Corritore’s scheduled appearances around the BMA weekend! Bob Corritore will be making the rounds on the days after the BMAs. Here are the great events Bob will participate in:

1. Friday, May 10, Hard Rock Cafe, Memphis, 1pm to 5pm. The Pinetop Perkins Foundation – Celebrating what would have been Pinetop’s 100th birthday (Pinetop passed away at age 97). Featured enterainers will include Janiva Magness, BobMargolin, Bob Corritore, John Primer, David Maxwell, Bob Stroger, Diunna Greenleaf, Tony Braunagel, Patrick Rynn, Chris James, Popcorn Lauden, Lectric Liz Lottmann, Andy T, Clay Swafford, The Peterson Brothers, Kingfish Ingram, and Larry Van Loon and many many more special guests! John Primer and Bob Corritore will host one hour of this event, and will call up numerous guests. Proceeds to The Pinetop Perkins Foundation and the Blues Foundation Scholarship Fund.
2. Friday May 10, Rum Boogie, Memphis, 7 pm to 10pm Brandon Santini’s Beale Street Messaround – Proceeds to Raise The Roof Fund. Bob Corritore will appear with Mud Morganfield. Other acts include John Nemeth, Dennis Gruenling, SugarayRayford, Terry Hanck, Little G Weevil, Jeff Jenson, Bryan Lee, Greg Nagy, Red Velvet and, of course the great BrandonSantini. To see the event poster click here.
3. Friday May 10th Rum Boogie, Memphis, 10pm until ? VizzTone Blues Party On Beale. Hosted by Bob Margolin, DougDeming & the Jewel Tones, Dennis Gruenling, Long Tall Deb, E.G. Kight, Gina Sicilia, Dave Gross, Gaye Adegbalola, Greg Nagy, Scissormen, J.W. Jones, Diunna Greenleaf, Bob Corritore, David Maxwell, Tony Braunagel, Little G Weevil, Colin John, Peter Parcek, Richard “Rosy” Rosenblatt and more! To see the poster click here.
4. Saturday, May 11th, Ground Zero Blues Club, Clarksdale, Mississippi, 8pm. Clay Swafford CD Release Party. Young piano maestro Clay Swafford celebrates his powerful new CD Rooster with an all-star cast that includes Diunna Greenleaf, BobMargolin, Bob Corritore, Bob Stroger, and Lee Williams. To see the poster click here.

• RIP Artie “Blues Boy” White – April 16, 1937 to April 20, 2013. Beloved Chicago based soul and blues singer Artie “Blues Boy” White passed away on April 16th of complication from pneumonia. He was 76. Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, White relocated to Chicago in ’55 and sang with the Full Gospel Wonders. In the early ’60s White crossed over to blues and soul music. He became a prominent recording artist in the 1970s and remained in that stature for the rest of his life. His large recorded legacy saw releases on Ronn, Ichiban, Waldoxy, PM, Gama, and Gold Circle.  He frequently collaborated with writer Bob Jones and had hits with “Leaning Tree” and “Don’t Pet My Dog.” He owned and operated the South Side Chicago venue Bootsy’s near 22nd and Cottage Grove. This great vocalist will be missed by the legions of fans and friends he built over many years. To hear Artie sing his hit “Leanin’ Tree” click here.
• Billy Boy Arnold on YouTube! Please enjoy this 2008 clip of harmonica legend Billy Boy Arnold as he covers the Sonny Boy Williamson classic “My Little Machine” live at the Hondarribia Blues Festival in Spain with Johnny Iguana on piano andKenny Smith on drums. This was part of a show promoting the Chicago Blues; A Living History CD. To see the clip, clickhere.