Tucson's blue period

By tom collins Catalyst

Send comments to: catalyst@wildcat.arizona.edu

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat photo by bill janes Bluesman James Harman is one of the many performersparticipating in the Tucson Blues Festival, a week-long celebration of blues music, sponsored by the Tucson Blues Society.

Lost your woman?

Been wronged by your man?

Bustin' your hump at a dead-end job?

Sounds like you've got the blues.

And when you've got the blues, there is only one cure. You've got to hear the blues.

Just your luck, next week you can hear and see the blues. Maybe even play some.

The 14th annual Tucson Blues Society's Blues Festival kicks off Monday, Oct. 12. The week-long celebration of the culture, history and sound of the blues features lunchtime concerts and guitar and piano workshops, as well as a Saturday night and Sunday afternoon music smorgasbord featuring a dozen local and national acts.

The festival started in a local club before blossoming into an internationally renowned "blues destination," said organizer Jonathan Holden. Today, a week of blues festivities culminates in a free capstone concert in Reid Park, all coordinated by volunteers with the 600-member Blues Society.

"What it matured into was an event in the park, but over the years it's gotten bigger and it has expanded out," Holden said.

The festival demonstrates the history of the blues in Tucson, said Holden. The city's geographic location made it a favorite stop for touring artists with a free night, he said. Blues superstars like Etta James would play parties in Tucson in the 1940s and 1950s, he added.

"Imagine seeing a 25-year-old Etta James singing in your back yard," Holden said.

The Tucson festival has continued expanding through the years, Holden said. In the early 1990s, the Blues Society added the "Blues in the Schools" program, bringing national blues acts into primary and secondary classrooms. Holden said the school workshops introduce students to the heritage of blues music.

"Whether you like country, rock 'n' roll or jazz or hip-hop or alternative music, they all have their origins in the blues," Holden said.

This year the festival's feast has added a couple of new courses and even a blues dessert of sorts to the week's revelry.

Nationally recognized blues photographer David Horwitz's work will be featured at Access Gallery, 124 E. Broadway Blvd. The exhibit, which runs through Halloween, captures the faces and feel of the blues from the front of the stage to the back. Horwitz's photography has been featured in several blues magazines and, most recently, was displayed at Arkansas' King Biscuit Blues Festival. Access Tucson will also host video presentations throughout the week featuring such luminaries as B.B. King and Muddy Waters. The presentations run nightly Monday-Wednesday at 6 p.m.

A major figure behind the 1960s resurgence of the blues, Dick Waterman, will give a lecture and exhibit photographs at Pusch Ridge Brewery, 5861 N. Oracle Road.

"The fact that we're listening to Delta Blues on the radio is attributable to this guy," Holden said.

Musically, the festival ends with 24 hours of blues, kicking off at Downtown Saturday Night. The Saturday night performances will stretch from the Ronstadt Center downtown to the Magpies patio on North Fourth Avenue. Performances will start at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and musicians include Tommy Tucker, George Howard and the Road House Hounds and Lori Davidson and The Intruders.

Sunday's free concert in the Reid Park Bandshell, between Broadway and East 22nd Street on South Country Club, kicks of at 11 a.m. and features several national acts, including guitarist Tommy Castro, gospel-inspired singer E. C. Scott and Henry Butler, who Holden describes as a "blind piano genius from New Orleans."

"In one set he can really walk you through a history of American music," Holden said.

Dessert for the week's music meal will be served Sunday night from 8 to 12 at Boondocks Lounge, 3306 N. First Ave. The "Post Festival Jam" will feature acts from the afternoon concert in an intimate setting.

"We get everybody from the waitress in the donut shop to attorneys and physicians out there having a good time," Holden said. "It's a great leveler."