GARY CLARK,JR.

NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
BLUES CHALLENGE
WINNERS
REGI OLIVER, HUFF WRIGHT, CURTIS NUTAIL, AND SELWYN BIRCHWOOD
NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM
On December 12, 2012, the National Blues
Museum in downtown St. Louis is closer to
beginning its work. Pinnacle Entertainment,
Inc. and Lumière Place Casino and Hotels
contributed $6 million to the museum’s soon
to be announced capital campaign to raise
the remainder of the funds. The 23,000square-foot
museum will offer an interactive
The HOME Project
It may take a village to raise a child, but a village can also save an
adult. Case in point: the Housing Opportunities For Musicians And
Entertainers (HOME) fund started last summer in Austin, TX. with a
goal to provide safe housing for Miss Lavelle White.
“I was the one who sent up
the red flag and said that we
needed to figure out a way to take
care of Lavelle,” said Nancy Fly.
“She was living at my house at the
time. She had no resources and no
place to go. We’ve helped her on
many fronts, like getting her SSI
disability payments straightened
out. We decided to start a nonprophet
corporation whose goal is
to see if we can make this work by
taking care of Lavelle.”
From that red flag, Carolyn
Wonderland, Ruthie Foster, Nancy
PHOTOGRAPHY © ART TIPALDI
experience that includes a mix of artifacts
and technology-driven exhibits. This emerging
cultural attraction will showcase the
blues as the foundation of modern
American music and illustrate its rich history.
Upon opening, projected for 2014, the
museum will include a performance venue,
highly interactive touch screen exhibits, and
Selwyn Birchwood and his
LITTLE G WEEVIL
band took top honors at the
29th IBC weekend in Memphis.
Like so many other winners,
Birchwood returned to the
finals for a second time and
took the Orpheum crowd by
storm. He also won the Gibson
Most Promising Guitarist
Award. Germany’s Michael van
Merwyk and Bluesoul took second
place while Dan Treanor’s
Afrosippi band featuring Erica
Brown finished third. Guitarist
and storyteller Little G Weevil
won first place in the Solo/Duo competition while the harmonica
guitar pair Suitcase Brothers from Barcelona finished second. With
over 225 bands, solo, duo performing over four days, nightly jams at
a variety of venues, afternoon showcases, and an afternoon of youth
bands on showcase, the Blues Foundation has once again proved
that Beale Street is the place to be every February.
educational programming that will include
onsite and in-classroom opportunities to
explore the history of blues music and its
influence on rock and roll, hip hop, jazz,
gospel, and R&B. Public programs will feature
intimate performances, lectures, screenings
of documentaries and other films, and
Q&A sessions with national artists and
music industry professionals. You can check
them out at www.nationalbluesmuseum.org.
Coplin, Sarah Brown, Marcia Ball, Nancy Fly, Shelley King, Cindy
Cashdollar, Sara Hickman, Denise Boudreaux, Susan Antone, Bev
Shaw, and others came forward with a benefit concert to raise the
necessary funds.
“We’ve got enough money to take care of Lavelle for a little
while. We plan on doing maybe two concerts a year as fundraisers
with the sole purpose to sustain
MISS LAVELLE WHITE
Lavelle for another year. We’re also
putting out a CD, a live recording of
the fundraiser we did last summer
where everybody sang a Lavelle
White song. That CD will be released
in 2013.
“The mission is to keep musicians
in homes that are safe. We
think of it as a safety net for people
who are in desperate need,” said Fly.
Visit the Facebook site, Housing
Opportunities for Musicians And
Entertainers to purchase the CD or
make donations.
PHOTOGRAPHY © ART TIPALDI
PHOTOGRAPHY © ART TIPALDI
BLUES REVUE 7