Summer 2010: A Philanthropic Blues Odyssey

JUNE:

It was 8:00 am Mountain Standard Time. I was in the Boulder Outlook Hotel trying to get my mind around a bold cup of coffee and find an outlet for my lap top. Locating a suitable place to plug in my computer was easier on this Monday morning than getting my brain to boot up after the front range festivities of the previous weekend.

I was in the Centennial State covering the Greeley Blues Jam in Northern Colorado over the weekend. Horace Greeley famously said: “Go west young man.” I wasn’t going anywhere until my coffee kicked in. After that I was definitely going west.

As my computer and brain cells slowly got reacquainted, a woman sitting across from me looked up from her lap top and said in a friendly cheerful voice: “Good Morning”

Thinking quickly, I shot back with what I thought was an appropriate reply: “Hello, I’m David, nice meeting you.” The second I said this, I realized I had just met this woman only two days ago. We met on Saturday in a “Green Room” in Greeley. The woman was Honey Sepeda. Honey publishes a weekly email “Blues Blast” which deals primarily with the doings at the Boulder Outlook Hotel and the adjoining Blues & Greens nightclub for which she is the entertainment director. She has been booking national, regional and local Blues acts in this Mile High oasis of hip for some time. She had something more high minded in mind on this stormy Monday morning. Honey’s bold outlook as it related to the gross negligence of British Petroleum was something that would have a positive impact on the lives of people she would likely never meet.

I first heard of the Blues for the Gulf (BFTG) initiative directly from the person who conceived of this relief effort. She was sipping her own coffee a few feet away from me and told me of her plan, mug to mug.

The idea of the Blues community coming together to provide emergency financial assistance to our fellow Americans who are victims of the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill sounded like a great idea. It also sounded doable.

The Gulf Coast Region of the United States is the birthplace of the Blues and has already sustained devastating natural disasters in recent years. For the people of that area to have to endure such a completely avoidable, unnatural disaster of this magnitude seems unusually cruel.

Honey’s concept was to put together a coalition of venues, bands and fans and stage simultaneous concerts on the same day. She had already put together a board of directors and sent out a press release to every Blues society in the country asking for their help to facilitate this initiative. The date of this coordinated event would be September 26 2010.

It was an ambitious plan and yet relatively simple and straight forward. It was a new twist on an old idea. It, more importantly, was the right thing to do. Honey Sepeda’s plan resonated with me immediately.

Upon arriving back in California I anticipated that I would hear from others about BFTG. I didn’t. I read the local Blues Magazine and Blues society newsletters. I listened to Blues radio shows and attended various club and concert dates. I couldn’t find anyone who claimed they were aware of BFTG. The Gulf of Mexico was off the radar and the oil spill itself was now a “below the fold” story that would be pushed off the front pages very soon.

The people of the region whose lives were devastated were not suffering any less but most Americans had moved their attention elsewhere.

JULY:

One month after I returned to California from Colorado seismic shockwaves reverberated across the Blues landscape. KKJZ 88.1 FM, the long time producers of the Long Beach Blues Festival (LBBF) issued a press release saying it was not going to put on the festival in 2010. The event had been a Southern California institution for thirty years.

At one time, before new management took over the station, the LBBF was arguably the most famous and prestigious Blues Festival in the world. The station’s press release cited the current economic climate in the country as the reason for not staging the two day festival. Two Blues Festivals right here in Southern California set all time attendance records just weeks before the station issued this statement. Most people didn’t buy off on the disingenuous content, tone and timing of the announcement anyway. By waiting as long as they did to issue this press release, they made it impossible for another promoter to stage the annual Labor Day weekend event. The station had already solicited backstage V.I.P. tickets months earlier and still hadn’t refunded these people their money. They clearly were not in a hurry to do this either.

The day of the press release the Blues community exploded. As a long time supporter and volunteer for KKJZ, I was asked by people from all over the country: “What the heck happened to the Long Beach Blues Festival”? World class musicians from Austin to Boston had booked tour dates out west to coincide with this event. Vendors who have kept this weekend open were devastated. Fans were stunned.

I still, however, had Blues for the Gulf on my mind.

On the last week of July, six weeks after I was first told of the BFTG initiative I sent an email to Honey Sepeda asking her which organizations and which venues here in Southern California were getting involved with this initiative. She had not heard from a soul in the Golden State.

AUGUST:

On the first weekend of August I was off to cover the Mammoth Lakes Festival of Beers and Bluesapalooza. It was a wonderful event but all anyone seemed to be talking about was the demise of the LBBF some 600 miles to the south.

When I started discussing this with Charlie Lange of Charlie’s Blues Beat Music who was a vendor at the Mammoth Lakes event, he said something that stuck in my craw. Charlie pointed out that Long Beach has always been a great Blues town. Charlie had been a vendor at the LBBF for as long as I can remember. As we visited and I started mining the bins of Blue Beat Music, I knew right then and there that there would be a Blues for the Gulf Concert and it would take place in Long Beach.

I knew I didn’t have much time. The first thing on the agenda was to secure a venue. I did. The Cellar on Broadway and the Promenade in Downtown Long Beach was not my first
choice but the owner Paul St. Bernard agreed to host this affair. The club has literally zero visibility. It is in fact in the basement of an old office building. It does not book Blues acts on a regular basis anymore. It does however represent the ground zero for the old Southern California Blues scene, as it sits right next door, and practically underneath, the old Blue Café. The neighborhood has been gentrified since those good old days but the area still holds a great deal of sentimentality for me nonetheless.

Second on my list was getting bands to play and play for free. This, as it turns out, was the easy part.

Next on my plate was… putting the word out. As it has often been pointed out this should have been the easy part. Maybe that is a nice way of saying I have a big mouth and know a lot of people. I cop a guilty plea on both counts. Putting the word out turned out to be the hard part.

September:

There is an old saying that goes: “Evil happens when good people do nothing.” I feel very lucky to know a lot of good people and they are not the type of people who do nothing. Thank goodness they had my back.

I also know a lot of other people and I would give them a chance to do the right thing as well. I spoke with Stephanie Levine. The station that she manages, as part of her father’s holding company, would be given the chance to rehabilitate its image in the local Blues community by getting behind this cause. I wanted to do an on air interview on their very popular weekend Blues program that broadcasts out of Long Beach. The director of the station that calls itself America’s Jazz and Blues Station was having none of it. She refused to offer any media support whatsoever. She would not site a specific reason but said her decision was: “final and non negotiable.”

I contacted the Southern California Blues Society (SCBS) and spoke with its President, “Cadillac Zack”. I asked Zack if his organization could support the BFTG initiative. Zack is a genuinely likeable guy and an intelligent individual who possesses a deep knowledge and passion for the Blues, but for a variety of reasons, he said that he would not inform his membership of this event through a (SCBS) email “blast”. His reasons were numerous, well articulated and principled. I don’t agree with Zack on this point but it is not up to me to tell him how to run his business. I was then forced to ask the Los Angeles Blues Society (LABS) for their help.

I emailed them on numerous occasions and I spoke to them personally at a private event. I had one of their members contact them. They wouldn’t contact me until after the event was over.

When I ran into the President and Treasurer of the LABS Lorey Maurer and Gene Carlson at a small, private party in Los Angeles in August where David “Honeyboy” Edwards was performing and celebrating his 95 birthday, I handed them printed material that detailed the event. I asked them for their help. Gene and Lorey showed up at the BFTG show. The President of the LABS Lorey Maurer walked around the room, during the concert, telling at least three people that if I would have contacted her she could have “packed the room with her members.” Not only is this bad form but it simply is not true.

Gene Carlson called me a few days ago. He did what he has no doubt done on numerous occasions and that is, apologize for Lorey’s behavior. He said: “The Los Angeles Blues Society (LABS) mission is to support their member bands” He went on to say: “The LABS gets
 requests like this all the time. If they help this cause it wouldn’t be fair to their members” He did recall our meeting back in August but said in order for the LABS to help in any way… “I should have submitted a formal request.” He could not tell me how formal requests are submitted. It is logic like this, the kind of events they do support, the quality of the bands they do showcase as well as the behavior these people exhibit in public that speaks volumes as to the merit of this “non – profit” organization.

One of the great musicians on the bill for the BFTG concert is in fact a member of the LABS, Bernie Pearl. Bernie Pearl is one of the most important figures in the history of west coast Blues. I don’t hold it against him that his initials are the same as British Petroleum or that he is a member of the LABS. Bernie posted this event on his website. This still didn’t nudge the LABS to support this charitable cause or one of its members.

Cutting a deal with the Devil never really works out anyway. I felt it was worth setting aside small personal and professional differences and pulling together for the greater good would carry the day. Silly me.

Not to be deterred I sent an email to Bill Wax of XM Satellite Radio’s B.B. Kings Bluesville. Bill did get back with me and was kind enough to support BFTG by conducting a live 15 minute interview with me which was broadcast nationally on September 21.

Because of the short window of opportunity many other media windows were missed but I trudged forward.

To my great joy, many of the fine, soulful people I am proud to count as friends helped me navigate this philanthropically minded flotilla toward a successful port. The endeavor became a true grass roots effort.
New friends emerged like Art Martel and Kate Kirby. Art is a veteran of Blues radio here in Southern California. He is also a Blues concert promoter, sound man and old school street D.J. Art and his crew at Straight up Blues Productions turned out to be an invaluable asset and helped to make the BFTG a success.

Kate Kirby is the owner of the Rock & Roll emporium in Huntington Beach. Kate’s shop on Main Street just a block from the Huntington Beach pier deals in vintage classic rock memorabilia. Kate understands that the essential demographic of her customer base is the same as a Blues audience. Kate absorbed the printing costs of the posters that were sold at the BFTG concert in Long Beach. As Muddy was often quoted as saying, “The Blues had a baby and they named it Rock & Roll.” Thanks Baby.

Jeff Scott Fleenor of Delta Groove Records and, who, like Art continues to host a terrific Blues radio program here in Southern California that has aired for many years was a tremendous help as a consultant, confidante and mentor.

Veteran photo journalist Billy Wayne Turner shrugged off recent shoulder surgery and lugged heavy camera equipment for eight hours to document the event on September 26 in Long Beach and captured the photos you see on this site.

Seasoned Blues Photographer, Mike Lavato donated, for the raffle, a wonderful photograph he took and had autographed by David “Honeyboy” Edwards.

There is someone else whose spirit and enthusiasm epitomizes all that is right with the world and who is a source of inspiration to anyone who has ever met her. Her name is Cindy Bernhardt. Cindy was in an accident 18 years ago that left her a quadriplegic. Cindy was committed to BFTG from the onset. She is a mouth artist and donated a portrait (as a raffle item) she painted and had autographed by its subject B.B.King. Cindy also offered me encouragement in the weeks leading up to the concert. She buoyed my spirits and gave me the perspective that can sometimes be lost in the heat of the moment.

The fans themselves should be applauded for distinguishing themselves by recognizing great
 music and a good cause. These patrons of cool had a great time, danced the night away and didn’t for a minute behave like they were at a drunken, road house keg party.

What moved me the most was the musicians who volunteered their time, talent and art for this cause. I know and fully appreciate that they get hit up with this kind of request all the time. Some of these guys, just like the Blues societies, reminded me of this fact. Unlike the Blues societies, they are honored to be asked to help and glad to step up to the plate. I am keenly aware that these talented individuals spend the lion’s share of their life traveling from gig to gig, lugging heavy equipment and living out of a suitcase. To ask them to perform for free on a precious night off was something I was not looking forward to doing. In many cases I didn’t have to.

As soon as I put the word out, many cats came forward. In the rest of the cases it was one phone call. “Hang on Dave…Let me check my calendar. I’m free. When do you want me?” Driving from as far away as San Diego, Camarillo or flying in from Dallas, loading in and out and playing for an hour or so is a lot more work than cut, paste and click. None of these guys asked what is in it for me? What do I get out of doing this? I didn’t hear them say: “I need some kind of tangible, immediate reciprocity.”

Every one of these very busy, talented, veteran musicians were able to return a phone call and email. They made me feel comfortable that we were all doing the right thing, even though by putting on an event like this, I was clearly operating outside my comfort zone. Most of these cats became conversant in the talking points as it relates to this initiative and understood its significance not only to the victims of the oil spill but to the Blues Community itself. They are class acts who really swing. They sounded great at the Blues for the Gulf Concert. Their names are: Bobby Albright, Benton Asbury,Mike Barry,Al Blake,Stoney B Blues, Aaron Chapman,Tim Coleman,Jeff Dale,Lance Diekmann,Paul Fasulo,Tommy Harkenrider, Emily Jack,Fred Kaplan,Pat Kelly,Harrison Manell,Melvin Mitchell,Bernie Pearl,Bob Prader, Jeff Stone,Bill Stuve

Jeff Dale & Jeff Stone

　3rd Degree

Stoney B Blues

Mike Barry &

Bernie Pearl

Bill Stuve's Big Noise (Tommy Harkenrider, Bill Stuve, Fred Kaplan)Al Blake, Fred Kaplan and Friends(Bill Stuve, Al, Paul Fasulo and Fred Kaplan)