Barrelhouse Bonni: News

I love the blues. And I’m not the only one. This 20th century form of African American music has spread around the world, because it is a universal cry for understanding of the joys and sorrows people go through every day. Relationships, mean bosses, poverty, injustice, but also love and fun: that’s what makes blues songs. The late Willie Dixon, Chicago bass player and songwriter, said it best: “Blues is the facts of life.” Telling the facts of your life, you find people other people in the same boat, and that togetherness makes everyone feel better. Like the rhymes and rhythms of hiphop and the praises of gospel, blues music is best done with a group to reinforce the lead poet or singer.

Not only the words, but the sound of blues is healing. Black people in America pieced this music together, a simple quilt with brilliant colors, from African rhythms, Native American chants, and European instruments. Like a quilt, the blues tells a story. As the tale is told, the music builds up tension and, at the end, releases it. Wrap up your problem in three lines and make fun of it; somehow life does not seem as bad. A grownup blues audience will groove to the music, toes tapping, fingers popping, eyes half closed, maybe a few people dancing near the bandstand. Some of the kids in our afterschool blues classes picked up the same groove when we first played for them. Right away they noticed that the blues is “relaxing” music. Relaxed, but still aware of life.

What does blues have to do with etiquette? At Donoghue Elementary, a South Side school, afterschool students were offered our Chicago School of Blues class, sponsored by Rock for Kids www.rockforkids.org . At the same time, etiquette an etiquette class was going on, sponsored by the Etiquette Foundation of Illinois. http://efoi.org/home.html Teachers at Donoghue train their students in “Mutual Respect.” This concept was practiced equally well in the quiet, sitdown tea party that concluded the etiquette class, and also in the final exuberant day of our blues class on Dec. 18. When the youth got rowdy and talked out of turn or someone tried to bully someone, the teachers quickly reminded them to practice “Mutual Respect.” Music is a way to express your feelings in a disciplined, masterful, joyful way. There is a time for the call and a time for the response. You play and sing in the pattern of the rhythm.

At our Donoghue classes, our Chicago School of Blues band, composed of 30-year professional West and South Side musicians, aimed to practice “Mutual Respect.” Kids took turns putting their hands on the piano or on CC Copeland’s bass, West Side Wes’s drums, and Killer Ray Allison’s guitar. Abb Locke, who once played for Howlin’ Wolf, flashed his golden horn. We played a Temptations riff as the kids tried rapping their own rhymes. Clean rhymes, including one about Donoghue School! The youngsters danced as the band got funky with the songs of James Brown. Then we showed the kids how to sing a blues tune in the form of earlier generations. Before long they picked up the pattern and began to sing. Let the good times roll!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_nhXaziSFE
We tell kids in our classes that blues is part of their heritage and one of America’s greatest gifts to the world. When you learn your history, you can respect yourself and where you come from. When you share the feeling with others, it’s Mutual Respect. When it comes right down to it, mutual respect is the foundation of courtesy and etiquette. Going by the same rules. Treating others as you would like to be treated.

Hampshire County WV friends and musicians rejoined Frederick County VA (the Revolutionary War era mother of both counties) on Nov. 20 2009 for a Barrelhouse Bonni concert at the Handley Library. Francis and KC Chilcoat, Steve and Terry Bailes, and Michael Hasty (who sat in on harmonica for the Jimmy Reed tune "Bright Lights Big City") trooped across the state line for Bonni's appearance in the Little Noon Music series.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D5bLzeR_qY
Gene Babb and Glenene of the library staff organize the wintertime concerts featuring acoustic music in the intimate Handley Library auditorium. Some Sacred Heart elementary students came as well as faithful senior fans. Bonni led sing-alongs on such old chestnuts as "Home on the Range" and the Louis Jordan jump blues "Let the Good Times Roll." History was the theme, as Becky Ebert, head of the Handley Library Archives, joined Bonni's audience on the eve of the of the archives' 30 year anniversary celebration. The audience waltzed out to the closing song, Ledbelly's "Good Night Irene."

Rock for Kids, the charity that offers music instruction for underprivileged children, opened up a door on the West Side of Chicago and the School of Blues walked--or danced--right in! Students and staff at Chalmers Elementary School at Roosevelt & California heard the Great Migration tales of Abb Locke's arrival, broke and hungry, in Chicago, before he hooked up with Howlin' Wolf to play sax. They sang along with Ray Allison on "Mustang Sally" and "Just my imagination' and got down with CC Copeland's bass-ic Kanye West and James Brown songs. The folks run a great little school in a tough hood. We hope to see you all again soon and maybe you can learn some music with us!

On Friday Aug. 14, the Chicago School of Blues, a band of veteran South and West Siders organized by Bonni for summer blues programs sponsored by Rock for Kids, gave a show for 115 children from South Side homeless shelters at Buddy Guys Legends. Rock for Kids worked with the summer tutoring program Chicago Hopes to bus the kids, ages 1 through 15, and their mothers downtown for the program. Bonni gave a little blues history and urged the group to "Let the Good Times Roll." Guitarist Ray Allison led the band and kept up the pace to match the audience's youthful energy. Bass player CC Copeland took the kids on a historical music tour and told how the blues is the root of music from Elvis to Kanye West. Saxophonist Abb Locke, who played with Howlin' Wolf during the 50s, brought a bit of the laid back honk and roll, while Wes Sanders, drummer, invited the kids to a Wang Dang Doodle and got them singing "All night long, all night long." The guys were touched when kids stood in line after the show and asked for autographs. Our thanks to ROCK FOR KIDS for sponsoring the show, which was mentioned in the Chicago Sun-Times on Aug. 21:
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/hoekstra/1727325,CST-FTR-rock21.article

Charleston WV's vibrant black music history--and the current talented musicians--will be enjoyed by all at a Charleston Blues Society concert Feb. 29 at the Unitarian Universalist Church.
Our blues society has begun collecting this history, which goes back to the Appalachian blues players up the hollers outside of town, but also to the sophisticated 1930s-40s swing bands that played in our city clubs and arenas. WVU Jazz professor Dr. Christopher Wilkinson highlighted the colorful history of these touring bands in a Humanities lecture sponsored by the Charleston Blues Society and the NAACP at WV State U. in April 2007. Bass player Peter "Rabbit" Jones has collected clippings, programs and recordings on musicians for the last 50 years, artist Newman Jackson is collecting more history (church music will be included), and Doris Fields (Lady D) is planning an event to honor the musicians. But first, our Feb. 29 concert features Lady D and the talented swing musicians of the Paris Project Band: Dugan Carter & Marshall Petty on sax, David Lloyd keyboard, Stony Burks on trumpet & flugelhorn, Warren Pope Jr. drums and Darrell Edgerton on bass.
Thanks to the UUs and NAACP for making this happen!

Here's my article in the Metro Valley magazine, which just shows the tip of a mountain of talent here in southern W.Va. these musicians and others deserve to be recognized. Read about 'em:

www.metrovalley.net/featured/spring07/Black-Artists-Series.php

The controversy over where the blues originated, do your homework. It came from the bowels of slaves and former slaves and their descendents. Call it what you want,race card or whatever, Bonni has the right to say what she believes as well as you or anyone else. However she is mostly right in the fact that like most everything else that African-Americans have contributed to this society it has never been fully recognized nor appreciated and others have been the opportunist. Ask the foreigners who play the blues or a derivation of it. They credit the creators of the music ,Black folks ,not whites or Native Americans or any other ethnic group. The blues has been exploited like oil or any other commodity that generates wealth. The blues or any other art form that is successful in this nation has been marketed to a certain audience to generate a profit. Like it or not that market is primarily white. When we had " race music" it was rejected by white audiences until we had Elvis. Blacks love the blues, r&b, jazz, classical c&w, hip hop, rap, and so on.
But, the industry controls the behavior of pseudo blues societies. Yes it is a Black thing for most real blues artist and enthusiast. True it is to be played, enjoyed by anyone but the credit in terms as to who should be getting the recognition in the form of money and prestiege put it where it is supposed to be and don't anyone take these statements as racist. It is the truth Ruth. Bonni forward this to as many as possible.
--Marshall Petty, Charleston WV jazz/blues saxophone player and band leader, June 28 2007

Who Stole the Soul from the Blues?
Blues Foundation policies not helping most black musicians

The world is going to end soon, declared the crusty old author Kurt Vonnegut, in the Aug. 24 2006 Rolling Stone. America’s addiction to oil will bring world war and environmental collapse, Vonnegut said; it’s hopeless.

Except for one thing: the Blues.

“You must realize that the priceless gift that African-Americans gave us musically is almost the only reason many foreigners still tolerate us,” Vonnegut said. “That the specific remedy for the worldwide epidemic of depression is the blues."

Growing out of some of the toughest human conditions in the world, blues has struck a universal note. “Blues is the classical music of Black people,” wrote Ralph Metcalfe Jr., music promoter and historian. More broadly, blues is the root of American popular music: jazz, rock, r&b, hiphop, even influencing country and folk music

Yet, like other forms of American roots music, blues gets lost in the scramble for the latest marketable new thing. A few giant record companies and media chains control hundreds of stores, venues and radio stations. Their advertisers want pop music that is safe, bland, even trashy.

As the great old generation of blues men and women pass from the scene, the blues sinks further in the marketplace. Bob Putignano’s column from New York in the December 2006 issue of Big City Rhythm & Blues magazine notes, “Each day does not pass without some disturbing news about an artist not being able to go out on tour, a label running into financial stress, and about how clubs are not as willing to book blues based music.” Blues record companies constantly lament their tiny 1-2% share of the market. Schools keep cutting arts subjects out of the curriculum; in many cities, students are starved for musical instruments and teachers. If young people don’t hear blues, how can they get into it?

Standing against this tide is a diehard network of blues societies, largely-volunteer radio DJs, festivals, and small local venues. For national leadership, many blues fans look to the Blues Foundation in Memphis. The Foundation states that its mission is “to preserve blues history, celebrate blues excellence, support blues education and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form.” http://www.blues.org/about/index.php4

But what is the Blues Foundation doing to fulfill its mission? Its two major events are not education, nor outreach to find new fans. Rather, they are competitions among existing musicians! The Blues Music (W.C.Handy) Awards and the International Blues Challenge (IBC) aim at generating even more new bands, not new fans. The blues music business is already crowded and sometimes vicious. In Chicago, which advertises itself as the world blues capital, tourist clubs are paying musicians a pittance. With the infighting over smaller and smaller crumbs in a tiny pie, the blues could soon die of backstabbing.

The main Blues Foundation competition is the “Blues Music Awards” in May, formerly named after W.C. Handy, a highly educated African-American composer in the early 20th century when vaudeville was evolving into jazz. Handy, a trumpet player, discovered black people in the south playing a primitive music, which they called the blues. One wonders why the dignified, historic name “Handy Awards” was dropped, just last year.

The awards themselves show that today’s African-American blues men and women are not being encouraged to emerge in their 40s and 50s. Of 25 Handy Award categories in 2006, 10 went to white musicians, 15 to black. Of the 15 black artists receiving awards, six were deceased and all but one of the rest were over 65. The opposite was true for the white awardees; all were under 65. The message to up and coming black blues artists, intended or not: You are worth nothing until you are old or dead.

How does the Blues Foundation determine the winners? Record companies and current recordings dominate the process. Record companies and some artists submit recordings, limited to releases in that year, to 100-125 blues business people whose identity is screened from the public. The Foundation website does not say who chooses the “committee of 100.” The committee goes through two rounds of nomination; fortunately, those with vested interest in a song or artist are excluded from Round 2. Foundation members (memberships cost $25; you can join at www.blues.org ) then vote among five nominees in each category.

Early Handy award winners were solid blues men and women. http://www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/pastyears.php4
In 1982 they included Albert King, Bobby Blue Bland, Sippie Wallace, Buddy Guy, Jr. Wells. Are there good musicians following in their legacy out there today? Yes…and though their names are not household words, their faces can be found on the covers of Big City Rhythm & Blues, Living Blues, and several fine European magazines. But they don’t have a record deal every year, so you won’t find them at the Handy (sorry, I’m still calling it Handy) Awards. Instead, you’ll find some big names of pop and rock stars who happen to do a blues album.

Blues is not the music of successful pop and rock stars. It is the cry of a people who suffered 500 years of slavery, poverty, brutality, and discrimination. And, some say, even that cry is being stolen from them.

Besides having a tough time winning Handy Awards at the top end, the middle aged African-American professional musicians also face obstacles trying to break into the bottom of the national blues scene. For 20 of the 22 year history of the International Blues Challenge each February, the rules favored amateurs over professionals. Only after an outcry when Joey Gilmore was disqualified as first place winner of the 2005 competition due to an obscure 10 year old record deal, were the rules changed to fully admit professionals. The rules had excluded many African American full time musicians in favor of mostly-white amateurs with money to promote themselves.

It doesn’t stop there. National and local Blues Challenge winners are awarded agents and festival slots. Hearing these amateur bands, fans will not necessarily learn what real blues sounds like. And amateur acts that take blues festival or club stages tend to put veteran professional musicians out of a job.

The contest rules on judging also fall short. The Blues Foundation’s website under “IBC Scoring Criteria” says only: “Everyone has his or her own interpretation of what is and is not Blues. Any given three-judge panel will include members with varying opinions of blues, covering the spectrum of blues whenever possible, from the most traditional to soul/blues and rock/blues.”

In reality, with very few African-Americans in the local or national judging panels, the evaluating is not always balanced. Even though the IBC scale is supposed to be “4 points blues content, 3 points talent, 2 points originality and 2 points stage presence,” bands emphasizing original rock or folk-rock tunes have won first place in local competitions this year.

Go back to the definition of blues. The key is not making up something original and clever, although that can be entertaining. Rather, the blues is based on feeling. “Ever since the blues first developed from African-American field hollers, feeling has been the most essential ingredient,” writes critic Bill Dahl under “What is the Blues: Essays” on the Blues Foundation web site, www.blues.org.

One problem might be that it’s hard to judge “feeling.” Many of us hesitate to use our right brains when we are designated a “judge.” Again, the African-American culture puts greater weight on feelings and relationships than the mainstream European American culture which values facts and theories. Perhaps having more black judges would bring back the feeling.

Willie Dixon, musician, producer and songwriter, was fond of saying that blues are the roots, other music is the fruits. And today, white critics like David Whiteis have pointed out that the roots of blues are in the feelings and community of African American culture. Separate the roots from the fruits too far, and you won’t have any more blues.

Could it be that an unconscious form of discrimination—the separation of the music from the people who make the music-- has eroded the heart and soul of the blues, and that is why it’s not winning more fans? Don’t we need a conscious effort to reconnect today’s aging masters of the art with African American young people, who are recently showing signs of interest? Don’t we need also to put these musical masters to work educating and entertaining people of all ages and backgrounds, instead of so much emphasis on contests pitting them against each other?

With better fed, happy professional blues men and women leading the way for other fans and musicians, blues will again be able to do its magical work: helping save the world by changing sorrow into fun!

Your comments are welcome; send them to me at : bonni@barrelhousebonni.com


Appendix: WC HANDY “BLUES MUSIC AWARD” winners, May 2006

African Americans (15 awards) and year of birth:
--Little Milton Campbell, 1934-2005: Album of Year, Soul Blues Album, Soul Blues Male Artist, Song of Year
--Clarence Gatemouth Brown, fiddle instrumentalist, 1924-2005
--Buddy Guy: Entertainer of Year, 1936
--Zac Harmon, Best New Artist, 1957
--Etta James, Traditional Female Artist, 1938
--BB King, Traditional Male Artist, 1925
--Eddie Shaw, horn instrumentalist, 1937
--Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, drum instrumentalist, 1936
--Mavis Staples, Soul Blues Female Artist, 1940
--Hubert Sumlin, guitar instrumentalist and Traditional album, 1931
--Historical Album of Year, Chess Recordings Vol. 2:, 1952-58: Muddy Waters , others

Non African Americans (10 awards and year of birth)
--Marcia Ball, piano instrumentalist, 1949
--Tab Benoit, Contemporary album, 1967
--Mookie Brill, bass instrumentalist, 1960
--Al Kooper, Comeback Album, 1945
--Janiva Magness, contemporary Blues Female Artist, 1957
--Charlie Musselwhite, harmonica instrumentalist, 1944
--Paul Oscher, acoustic album and acoustic artist of year, age not given, under 65
--Rod Piazza & Mighty Flyers, band of year, 1947
--Kim Wilson, contemporary blues male artist, 1951


Bonni McKeown, the white middle class author of this article, is a freelance writer and blues piano player in Charleston WV. She spent three years on the West Side of Chicago and co-produced Chicago bluesman Larry Taylor’s debut album They Were in This House. Her website is www.barrelhousebonni.com.

http://bonniblog.blogspot.com