GARY CLARK,JR.

BLUES FOUNDATION
HALL OF FAME CAMPAIGN
Since 1980, the Blues Foundation has
inducted individuals, recordings, and
literature into the Blues Music Hall of Fame.
Once it found a permanent home, the
Foundation’s mission was to
build a physical Hall of
Fame. Early in 2012, The
Blues Foundation began
conducting the Campaign
for the Blues Hall of Fame,
a $3.5 million capital campaign
to add Hall of Fame
exhibits to the Foundation
offices at 421 South Main,
Memphis. Throughout the
year, donations have come
from fans, festivals, an Arts
Memphis grant, and many
other entities.
To date, over $1.2 million of the donations
has come from blues fans from around
the world. Two rock musicians with deep
blues roots, George Thorogood and Steve
Miller, have been most generous with their
early donation to this cause.
Most recently, the Legendary Rhythm
and Blues Cruise #19 sailed the Caribbean
October 27-November 2 and through the
good graces of Roger Naber and his team,
the Blues Foundation was offered a major
presence which proved very, very successful.
Cruisers pledged, donated, or contributed
through silent and live auctions
$185,000, including a winning $37,000 bid
on an autographed guitar by the four
Rolling Stones, signed during a 1999 visit to
Memphis. Also Denise Duffy at the Music-
Maker Relief Foundation and Shirley Mae
Owens and Robert Jr. Whitall at Big City
Rhythm and Blues helped raise contributions
to the Blues Hall of Fame via the very
successful high seas silent
auction, the proceeds of
which are included in the
$185,000 total. That same
week, another $90,000 was
donated on land for a oneweek
total of $275,000.
Earlier in the campaign,
LRBC directly contributed
$35,000 and Paul Benjamin
raised $55,000 from his
friends on LRBC #18. (Note:
Benjamin himself is responsible
for collecting over
$100,000 in donations.) The
January 2013 LRBC raised over $100,000,
while the 2013 IBC in Memphis raised
nearly $70,000 from societies and individual
donations.
This brings the fund to $1.5 million in
just over 15 months. According to Executive
Director Jay Sieleman, “Another million
dollars will get the fund to $2.5 million and
that will be enough to get to where we can
complete the physical construction of the
Hall of Fame.”
To do your part to help Raise the Roof
on the Blues Hall of Fame, simply go the
Blues Foundation site, www.blues.org.
BLIND PIG RECORDS
NEWS
Blind Pig Records has announced a live
recording date for a special tribute to Little
Walter Jacobs featuring some of the finest
harmonica players on the current blues scene,
Charlie Musselwhite, Billy Boy Arnold, Mark
Hummel, James Harman, and Sugar Ray
Norcia. The show took place on Thursday,
December 6th at Anthology in San Diego,
California. The band will include Little Charlie
Baty and Nathan James on guitars, June Core
on drums, and RW Grigsby on upright bass.
Blind Pig has also signed Southern
Hospitality, a band featuring J.P. Soars, Damon
Fowler, and Victor Wainwright, and Jimmy
Vivino. The Vivino project features Vivino
reunited with his R&B influenced band, The
Black Italians, for two shows in front of live audiences
at Levon Helm’s Studios in Woodstock,
New York. The shows took place on Friday,
November 30 and Saturday, December 1.
JACK
WHITE’S
THIRD
MAN
RECORDS
Jack White’s new label, Third Man Records,
has struck a deal with Document Records
to reissue the complete volumes from the
Document catalog. By the end of January,
White’s label will release the complete works
of Charley Patton, the Mississippi Sheiks, and
Blind Willie McTell. New volumes from the
Document catalog will be released when the
first series is complete. The albums will be available
on vinyl with new liner notes and artwork.
More information can be found on White’s
record label’s site, www.thirdmanrecords.com.
Congratulations Gaye
Congratulations to Gaye Adegbalola and her
educational blues CD, Blues In All Flavors.
We’ve just been informed that the CD has
won the Gold Parents’ Choice Award For
Music. It also received a starred review in the
School Library Journal.
BLUES REVUE 9