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| Blues Guitar NEWS January 2008 |
| Since 1988 Journalizing on Blues |
| by Mike Dollins www.mikedollins.biz |
| Advertise & Support the blues, and pass the word around to thousands of worldwide blues fans about your blues adventure. Cheap affordable rates, and safe, convenient PayPal, Visa, Master Card, Discover, Amex payment. This site receives up to 8,000 hits on good days and averages 3,000 hits per day. Get known, exposed and passed around in the blues network. One Month Six Months One Year Banners, graphics, or photos with link to your web site or MySpace Inquiries: Blues Guitar News POB 2077, Benton, AR 72018 mike@bluesguitarnews.com Mike Dollins Blues Guitar CD www.mikedollins.biz $10 per CD: Donations to Blues Guitar News - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -> Hey, I've played gigs all my life. This is our tip Jar. Thank you Back Issues of BGN |
I was going to write a long deal on 2007 in retrospect, but didn't. I'll list the
highlights from my perspective below, and all the thank you's to the folks that I
saw "sharing the hog" last year. What I planned to do is try and list as many
Blues Societies I could find so folks could support their local blues entity. If you
are in the blues as a lone wolf, that's cool. But, like most of us, we feel we have
to support one another. Running a Blues Society is often a thankless, major
labor of love, with little reward. That is why I'd like to list as many blues
societies I can find surfing, and whereas y'all contact them, support them and
get active assuring they are successful. Enough said, and I hope this finds
your new year happy, healthy and wealthy. Thank you, and God bless; Mike
P.S. Mouse click the photos and graphics to see their blues sites.
highlights from my perspective below, and all the thank you's to the folks that I
saw "sharing the hog" last year. What I planned to do is try and list as many
Blues Societies I could find so folks could support their local blues entity. If you
are in the blues as a lone wolf, that's cool. But, like most of us, we feel we have
to support one another. Running a Blues Society is often a thankless, major
labor of love, with little reward. That is why I'd like to list as many blues
societies I can find surfing, and whereas y'all contact them, support them and
get active assuring they are successful. Enough said, and I hope this finds
your new year happy, healthy and wealthy. Thank you, and God bless; Mike
P.S. Mouse click the photos and graphics to see their blues sites.
Texas Jake
| Advertise with us, get seen around the world. Cheap & Easy, Details Page Down |
The Daytona Blues Society
Thanks to a lot of wonderful Blues Friends in 2007 As we enter into 2008, I have a lot to be thankful for. All my kids and grand kids are happy and healthy. My wife Jo Ann, supports me in my music adventures, still after all these years, and keeps encouraging me to keep on chugging on. Also, I’m thankful for my grandson Ralphie who is my number one fan. I thank and love all my family, and it would take a ream of paper to list them all - Thank you. Most of my readers know all about Johnny Mannion, and the Blues Guitar Gang and all the great guys in the gang. If you are new to that, this crew of blues pickers is first and foremost in sharing the hog. We aren’t on this planet alone, but you stumble over so many folk’s ego trips in the music business these days, as most of the music world wears “I am somebody” on their sleeve. These six guys are the real deal, but jump out there helping, encouraging and supporting other pickers. Heck who don’t want their name as a headliner once in awhile, we all like a little smoke and flames coming out of our ears. You can start with Johnny at www.johnnymannion.com who is one of the most remarkable caring humans on earth, and can rip your lips off with his blues licks too. But, he is the most modest guy walking, and will be first to brag and shout out about other folks. You can find Texas Jake, John Krier, Steve McTaggart, Mark Kerr and Greg Martin at the Blues Guitar Gang site: www.myspace.com/bluesguitargang All in the same mold as Johnny, and super great guys and pickers. I want to thank Pat Graham and his Blues Highway, at KLBC in Los Angeles, CA for spinning our blues guitar CD on his show. We’ ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from his exposure on his broadcast this year. www.klbc.org Pat Lynch, for having me on his Arkansas syndicated talk radio show this year, making the old guy here feel real special and fuzzy all over. www.lyncho.com A big thank you to Harold Hanover and Mrs. Taffany Arnold-Shipp at Chittlin’ Circuit magazine for the featured article on me, and including the CD in their radio show play list. www.chittlincircuit.com My buddies Roy & Sandy McCann, in Fayetteville Arkansas for keeping the blues flame burning, and all their hard work with the Ozark Blues Society, and Blues Builders. You folks are always there for me, and I can’t thank you enough. www.bluesbuilders.org We got to perform two times this year with Liz Lottmann in Fayetteville at George’s Majestic Lounge, and owe big thanks for Liz inviting us up. Check out her songs at: www.myspace.com/lizlottmann & www.myspace.com/ozarkbluessociety Peter Read & Doug Treadway at Nightflying Entertainment Guide have been good as gold to us, and even got an invite to play at the 27th annual celebration this year. For you folks not in the Blues Motherland states of Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas where you can find this super great publication, what the Rolling Stone used to be in the sixties, you can find miles and acres of great music online at: www.nightflying.com This is worth you time and effort. Gog, as we know him, has been one of the hardest working blues networking guys on the planet. His main site is worth a visit, and we can’t thank him enough for all the special attention he has given us: www.southernrockuk.proboards50.com see BoogaBlues above Father John, and Rhythm & Blues, I’ve got to mention, as he allowed us to put on my first all blues show in Arkansas this year. The show was very successful, and the launching pad for my new Friends Band. www.myspace.com/rhythmandbrewscoffeehouse Since I mentioned the Friends Band, as most of you know I play in a lot of venues, and with lots of folks. I get around. These groups of highly talented individuals were all in different groups, but we did a showcase together celebrating Stax/Volt’s 60-year anniversary this year. Al Bell actually came out and saw the show. Out of that massive big stage band, I invited a couple folks to help me put on a blues show. Since then, we’ve been rolling and rocking on down the road at a pretty good clip. You can see their photos at www.mikedollins.biz/Band We plan on a new CD in first of the year, and here is the line-up: Ginny Becton - Sweetheart of song on vocals, Steve Giles – Keys, Greg Jones – Drums, Bill McCumber – Bass, John Thaden on Smokin’ Blues Harp, David Wollard – Guitar, and the old man here dragging up the rear. Thank you all, and looking forward to a great New Year in 2008. Bab’s Bearden, President of the Arkansas River Blues Society www.myspace.com/bluesbabs has given me a lot of encouragement to keep on playing my old school style of blues, along with Downtown Deb on the Gold Radio Network. www.myspace.com/downtowndeb and a two thumbs up on the new group, and coming out to support us. Hairy Larry, my good blues buddy in my dad’s hometown of Jonesboro, Arkansas along historic blues Highway 49. Hairy has kept a standing invitation for my crew of folks to play at all his blues festivals, and we thank him for all his promotion of the blues. He has longest running blues web site in cyber space. Pack a lunch, and visit Hairy’s site to get a deep understanding and education of blues in the motherland, delta country along the Mississippi River Valley. www.deltaboogie.com Terry Knott, my good buddy in the UK, who I think never sleeps and spends 24 hours of everyday promoting the blues worldwide. Terry has been a super supporter of all we do here at Blues Guitar News, and we thank him for that. www.myspace.com/britpackblues Joe Pitts Band. Now here is the short story. When I first moved from California, back to the ancestral land of my forefathers in Arkansas to be with my massive extended family, I met Joe at Guitar Center, in Little Rock. I was in the acoustic room trying on Martin guitars. I knew he was different, and special as he sat very polite on a stool listening to me play. He asked to join me. We had a few good clips of some tunes, and he whooped out a bottle, and did some mean slide work. He asked me what’s up, and I explained I had just moved into town. He invited me to go to Memphis with him, and we exchanged phone numbers. Well, they found a tumor in me, and I went under surgery thereafter removing my right kidney. I was out of it for over a year. I lost Joe’s phone number. Bab’s invited me to come out to an Arkansas River Blues Society jam session this summer, and there she introduced me to Joe Pitts. We played the last set together, and had super great time-sharing chops. I then remember when I had met Joe, years back. Well we struck up our friendship where it left off three years ago, and I’ve been sitting in with his band as they tighten up for their 2008 European Tour with other major USA artists and acts. Joe comes out and sits in with my new band of Friends too. This is the most gracious, kind hearted person that has one smoking tight band, with international attention, but will make sure he gets around, and supports all the other local blues bands in their endeavors. Rare, and good is he, and like I said he is special, besides ripping and shredding leads on his ‘59 Les Paul. www.joepitts.com For you pickers, don’t drool on your computer screen when you see Joe’s ’59 Lester, and I guarantee he knows how to use it. I could go on listing miles and acres of friends and associates that have been good to the senior blues cat here, but I’m tired and out of room to possibly get everyone listed. Above are folks caught sharing the hog big time this year, and I ended with Joe Pitts. Reason being, when Joe rekindled our friendship he said, “Let me know what I can do for you in any capacity.” Now does that sound like a guy going big time tour to you? I’ve got the scars up and down my back from the whippings and lessons I’ve learned over musicians and their super ego trips from 50 years of playing guitar in bands. Yeah, I started in 1958 at 13 years old, and got photos on my web site to prove it. I’ve seen it all come and go many times over, and spent most of my life begging everyone, and anyone to play blues with me. Most of the time I got what’s worth from everyone that seemed to think they knew more about it all than a big dummy wanting to play blues. That is why I am amazed we get over 10,000 hits a day sometimes on this site, and have tens of thousands of blues friends all over the world deep into it big time. Brings tears to the old man’s heart here, seeing this international boom of blues. I want to thank all the radio stations spinning our new Blues Guitar CD this year, and you can find them at www.mikedollins.biz/Radio You got to thank the DJ’s willing to risk your stuff on their shows, and on their name. Thank you all. On our web site tracker we see folks drift in, and drift out. Sometimes they stay for hours checking out all the blues networking we provide if you get off the cover page, and dig in a little to the whole site. We soon discover the great folks that love to blues network, and they wind up at our MySpace sites, and leave super great words of encouragement. We also list these folks each month under new blues friends, or caught sharing the hog. We also see other copy and past, and add all the friends we have to their sites and don’t ever give Blues Guitar News credit as their initial source. Cool, just keep the flame burning is all we need to tell you. We understand that there are a great percentage of folks that are so intent on becoming the next big thing, or “Making It” whatever that is, and peddle their name and band in that great hope to the edge of reason. Hmmmm. Yeah, who don’t like a little spot light here and there brother. I send a lot of stuff out on my new band, as I am proud of them too. The folks above are totally unselfish, many are very well noted folks in their music endeavors, and have a common thread; networking and giving credit where credit is due – share and share alike. You will get more mileage out of treating folks like you like to be treated, instead of plastering “Look at me, and listen to my new bitchen CD on my site” as your only MySpace comment, without acknowledging your host and saying something nice to them, or thanking them for the add. My last little ditty came from an interview I did with James Harman, the Dangerous Gentleman Blues Harp great in Los Angles, CA. He was doing a show with BB King, way back when in the early days. James as usual had a great band, and they were doing every R&B and Blues cover just like the recordings. In the dressing room BB told him, “You got a real nice sound.” “Have you ever thought about doing James Harman?” James asked, “What do you mean Mr. King?” BB replied, “Well you got everyone else’s material down just like they do it. Why don’t you do your own stuff your way?” James never copied another record in his life, and has become a blues icon doing James Harman. www.jamesharman.com The world already had a Stevie Ray Vaughan, and a Jimi Hendrix. We still have an Eric Clapton, a BB King, Otis Rush, Joe Bonamassa and Derek Trucks. You can toss your SRV hats and vests in the trash can, get another guitar besides a reissue SRV, and become your own self. Re-invent yourself, and your build your own authentic, and original blues show. The blues is the ocean, and you are the vessel on the voyage. You don’t need to shred like Steve Via to play blues. Kick back and learn a few Albert King two note bends, best in the business says Eric, and do what the late great blues legend Big Daddy Rucker told me when I was choking in the middle of a solo back in 1968, “Take your time.” Sometimes playing with a note and squeezing some love in it is cooler, than ripping 200 notes per minute. Y’all have a great new year, and may it find you happy, healthy and wealthy. God Bless. Mike Dollins – Blues Guitar News. If you want to Blues Network, join in the thousands of friends we have at the following sites: www.myspace.com/bluesguitarnews www.mikedollins.biz www.myspace.com/mikedollinsband www.myspace.com/bluesguitarmike www.myspace.com/michaeljazz For all you blues folks that have not been to Blues Hall of Fame, please check this out: www.blueshalloffame.com and their MySpace site at: www.myspace.com/blueshalloffame We offer reasonable affordable advertising on this web site now. We just started this, and want to thank Texas Jake, for being our first blues guitarist to take advantage of spreading the word around the world. Use your PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Discovery, Amex etc to get some good exposure. Thank you. |
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