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King Biscuit Blues Festival presents 5th annual "Call
and Response, The Blues Symposium" in historic Helena, Arkansas
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Call and Response Blues Symposium Looks into The Origins
of Delta Blues at The King Biscuit Blues Festival
(Helena, Arkansas) — What is about the Delta that gave
rise to America’s music, the blues? Artists, journalists and presenters
will discuss the special magic that defines the King Biscuit Blues
Festival and inspires the world’s music at the Fifth Annual Call and
Response Blues Symposium, a featured event of the 30th annual King
Biscuit Blues Festival. “Memphis is blues, but this is
it,” says singer/songwriter Reba Russell about The Biscuit, America’s
foremost showcase of authentic blues at the Call and Response Blues
Symposium that begins at noon on Saturday, October 10 at the Malco Theater on
Cherry St. “This is the freaking deal. It’s like are you
kidding me? I totally think there is something that rises up from that
river and that dirt there. I think that the ancestry, the ghost,
everything remains there.”
Joining Reba in the first of two hour-long sessions is
Jackson, Mississippi native and Blind Pig recording artist Zac Harmon
who is on a mission “to bring the moniker of the blues back to
Mississippi because I think that Mississippi has gotten the short end
of the stick when it comes to the spoils of the blues.” Rounding out
the first hour are Bubba Sullivan, one of the founders and Godfather of
King Biscuit from its inception; Matt Marshall, editor of American
blues Scene, the most popular blues website in the world; and
moderated by King Biscuit’s own veteran blues journalist Don Wilcock.
Roger Stolle, filmmaker, columnist, oft quoted authority
on Delta blues and owner of Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art in
historic Clarksdale, Mississippi, hosts part two of the
symposium at 1:15 p.m. with four of the most colorful
southern juke joint owners: Red Paden of Red’s Lounge in Clarksdale, Willie
“Po’ Monkey” Seaberry whose juke is in Merigold, Mississippi;
Henry “Gip” Gipson of
Gip’s Place in Bessemer, Alabama; and Teddy Johnson of
Teddy’s Juke Joint in Zachary, Louisiana.
The fifth annual Call and Response, The Blues Symposium is
free to the public thanks to the support of our wonderful sponsor:
Economy Drugs.
Part One 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Bubba Sullivan
Bubba Sullivan likes to tell people that Robert Lockwood,
Jr. carried more history to his grave than any man that ever was. Truth
be known? Bubba’s in the same category except he’s still with us. The
historian for the Sonny Boy Blues Society, he’s been involved in
booking and hosting the King Biscuit Blues Festival since the first one
in 1986 when he helped secure an evangelist’s trailer as the first
stage for $25. He’s proprietor of Bubba’s Blues Corner, the official
record store of the festival that was jump started with the
encouragement of ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons.
Zac Harmon
Originally from Jackson, Mississippi,
guitarist/organist,/singer/songwriter Zac Harmon was a childhood friend
of Sam Myers who embarrassed him as a teenager by stopping him mid-song
to tell him the Jimi Hendrix cover he was doing wasn’t blues. Zac has
written songs for Evelyn “Champagne King, Freddie Jackson and the
O’Jays. As an in-demand L.A. session musician, he was booked out three
and four years in advance. His just released fifth album Right Man *
Right Now on Blind Pig Records features four songs written or
co-written by John Hahn, Shemekia Copeland’s manager/songwriter,
and Zac does a killer scratch vocal cover of John Lee Hooker’s
“I’m Bad Like Jesse James.” The CD mixes old school and new school
blues with guest artists Bobby Rush, Lucky Peterson and Anson
Funderburgh.
Reba Russell
Reba Russell calls herself “a stepchild of the blues. I
don’t really run in the mainstream circle.” ” On “Blues Is Mine,” she
sings, “I’m not privileged/I’m not rich/But I’m one hell of a bitch.” A
perennial favorite at the Biscuit, she expresses her love for the
festival in “Heaven Came to Helena.” In 1992 when Rufus Thomas heard
her cover band that had been voted the best in Memphis, he told her,
“You got it! Use it! Do it!” She fired the band and never looked back.
She’s done background vocals for John Nemeth, Tracy Nelson, Huey Lewis
& The News, Jimmy Thackery, Jerry Lee Lewis and U2 on “When Love
Comes to Town” for Rattle & Hum at Sun Studios. Reba
has won three Premiere Vocalist Awards from the Memphis chapter of the
National Recording Arts and Sciences. She has eight independent CDs
with originals and covers by artists like Willie Dixon, Memphis Minnie,
Tracy Nelson, and Walter Trout. Her eighth CD 8 was recorded in
four different studios and mixed at Ardent Studios in Memphis for BEB
Productions standing for Blue-eyed Bitches Production.
Matt Marshall
Matt Marshall is the Steve Jobs of tomorrow’s music
journalism and the editor of American Blue Scene Magazine,
the popular and exciting quarterly subscription blues music
magazine. The magazine’s digital side, with thousands of free articles,
is the most popular blues music website in the world, and commands
nearly half a million visitors a year. Matt and his staff channel
the very heart of the blues community. It’s as much about connecting
people who love the blues with each other and the musicians as it
is about capturing the pulse of the blues community. Whether
it’s an intimate discussion with blues icon Buddy Guy or
being the first to break the story of Johnny Winter’s
passing, Marshall understands the relationship between
contemporary blues culture, the fan and the digital frontier.
Don Wilcock co-moderator, Part One
Award winning editor, writer, film maker and blues society
founder Don Wilcock organized the Call and Response Symposium five
years ago and is currently working on a coffee table book on The
Biscuit with award winning photographer Bob Van Degna. He has
interviewed more than 5000 artists in nearly a half century as a music
journalist and was writing for Blues World in England before
there was an American blues magazine. He is a recipient of the
Blues Foundation’s Keeping The Blues Alive in Print Journalism Award,
writes for The American Blues Scene and is a weekly music columnist for
two dailies in New York’s Capital Region. He is the author of the 1991
authorized biography of Buddy Guy Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues
that set the stage for Guy’s multi-Grammy-winning career surge.
Part Two 1:15 to 2:15 p.m.
Red Paden
Sixty-something Big Red has operated his quasi-legal Red’s
Lounge in Clarksdale, Mississippi, for more than three decades, but
he’s been in the juke-running business for most of his life. Through
the years, bluesmen like Robert Belfour, “T-Model” Ford and “Big Jack”
Johnson have graced Red’s carpet-remnant stage on weekends while
locals, tourists and notables like Robert Plant, Tom Waits, Samuel L.
Jackson and Steven Seagal listened, bathed in red light. Customers are
treated to sayings like: “The game’s for life.” “I’m backed by the
river, fronted by the grave.” And, “I kill for fun.” Red’s has been
much celebrated — from the LA Times to We Juke Up in Here!
Willie “Po’ Monkey” Seaberry
In 1963, Mr. Seaberry opened his juke (which doubles as
his home) in a cotton field near Merigold, Mississippi. Now in his
mid-70s, he still drives a tractor on the land, and his weekly Thursday
parties night have become legendary. As a deejay spins discs, a mix of
regulars and tourists drink, dance and shoot pool. The host parades
through the crowd in colorful zoot suits, often wearing humorous
two-sided placards. Occasionally, a nearby university books live blues
there on off-nights. Signs on the exterior tell visitors to pull up
their pants among other helpful hints, making the juke a photographer
favorite. It’s appeared in countless publications.
Henry “Gip” Gipson
Ninety-something Gip Gipson is a gravedigger, blues
musician and juke runner. His Gip’s Place in Bessemer, Alabama, nearly
defies description. "The place is almost frightening in the
daytime," noted one long-time regular in a recent article.
"At night, though, it's pure magic." The juke opened in 1952
in what is now a large, residential neighborhood. His Saturday night
blues parties are the stuff of legend with everyone from Willie King to
Bobby Rush performing. In recent years, area law enforcement has raided
his establishment, and local politicians have attempted to shut it
down. But Gip’s is still there (though now BYOB), and its owner is
beloved by his fans.
Teddy “Lloyd” Johnson
Teddy’s Juke Joint in Zachary, Louisiana, opened for
business 36 years ago, but not the building. The building — once a
simple shotgun shack — was Teddy Johnson’s family home. In fact, he was
born in it 69 years ago. Through the years he’s added on to the
structure, so now the colorfully-decorated juke includes a long wooden
bar, deejay booth, performance stage and soul food kitchen. Mr. Teddy’s
wife Nancy handles the food while family members and friends help out
behind the bar (which features a liquor license — a rarity in a juke
joint!). In addition to food, drink and music, the smiling owner is
known for his colorful outfits, often complete with cape.
Roger Stolle
Roger Stolle owns Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art
store in Clarksdale, Mississippi — which just celebrated 13 years. He
is a Blues Music Magazine columnist, Juke Joint Festival
co-founder, Hidden History of Mississippi Blues author, former
Sirius-XM Bluesville contributor, and co-producer of blues films
like Hard Times, M for Mississippi and We Juke Up in
Here. He is co-creator of the forthcoming Moonshine & Mojo
Hands web series and a recipient of both Keeping The Blues Alive
and Blues Music Awards. An authority on Delta blues and tourism, he has
been quoted by The New York Times, The Economist and Travel+Leisure.
His web site is www.cathead.biz.
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