Last week I was watching the 2011 World Series and I got to thinking about what I love about our national pastime. Of course I was desperately hoping that somehow I could relate it to blues music. Well that mental exercise wasn’t terribly difficult.

Two of my favorite pastimes are steeped in tradition. Both enterprises, baseball and blues music, are played outside of the normal hectic pace of modern American life. They don’t have many of the trappings of the 21^st Century. They don’t need to reflect that tension, yet can relieve it just the same.  Both enterprises take place in the moment and yet they are timeless.

Both baseball and blues music have terrifically talented young players making the same beautiful plays or notes that their predecessors did. Yet they can do it in new and exciting ways. The primary criticisms of these venerable institutions are similar as well. They are too slow, too old fashioned and they don’t relate to the younger generation weaned on video games, texts and tweets.  

When baseball screws up, and it does so with great regularity, it is when it tries to accommodate the modern world. The people who think they know best want to speed the game up and make it shorter, look the other way when there is rampant drug use and replace the organ player in the stadium with recorded music. All of this is an attempt to attract younger fans.

Blues music makes all the same mistakes. The blues business is also run by short sighted, greedy bastards who don’t understand their own product and its timeless appeal. Making baseball parks, baseball players and scoreboards resemble football is like making blues music resemble rock music. Don’t get me wrong I like football and rock music but I LOVE baseball and blues music.

The World Series will never get a rating as high as a Super Bowl game and I can live with that. They play a 162 game season with a potential 41 post season games. Blues music is the same way. We aren’t going to sell out Soldiers Field but you can find us in nightclubs all over Chicago. The baseball season is over, but blues is played year round and there is lots of ground to cover in the November edition of BLUES JUNCTION.

Our monthly artist spotlights lands on a multi talented multi instrumentalist who just happens to be one of my favorite harmonica players as well, Al Blake. Read an interesting interview with this engaging musician. Al discusses his life, his music, his career and several other things he has in his capacious mind. His candor is very refreshing.  

This month there is an annual Southern California event in its 23rd year, the Battle of the Blues Harps. Every year someone asks me if any harmonicas were injured during this event. Over the past several weeks an interesting ramp up to this event took place in Costa Mesa, California, called the Road to the Battle of the Blues Harps. We have a photo essay that celebrates some of the best players from this “competition”. Enjoy the fine photography of Chris Corbett, and some of our own shots take at this event over a five week period.  Also read about my thoughts on all these doings in an editorial called, A Bump in the Road.

Costa Mesa, California, seems to be a new blues Mecca of sorts these days. Not only did the five week series of harp shows take place in this Orange County suburb but a series of shows entitled World Class Blues in the O.C. has become an ongoing show.  Check out an extraordinary concert that had the blues world out here buzzing for days and enjoy a photo essay from that gig by Alex Gardner. Also find out what is in store for the Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa as J.R. continues to bring world class talent to this terrific venue. We will keep you posted

With this in mind there will be a fund raiser for the great Lynwood Slim who has been out of work for some time due to some very serious health issues. The Tiki Bar will be the site of an extraordinary concert and benefit on Saturday November 12^th. See the tab Slim Jam for all the details.

We are again honored to have another fine essay from Belgium’s own Erwin Bosman. Read his thoughts on another essay written almost sixty years ago by semanticist S. I. Hayakawa. Hayakawa the former president of San Francisco State University and one term Senator from California, wrote an article entitled Blues Music is Good for You. Erwin examines this article which we both found interesting and amusing at the same time. I have never met the late professor, author and politician but I always thought of him as part of my family as it was in one of his semantics classes at San Francisco State University that my parents met.

The family of the blues lost another great last month as George “Mojo” Buford passed away. Read an appreciation of his contribution to the language of the blues harp in a piece written by another harmonica player, Bob Corritore.

You might also find it interesting to read about Bob in an article entitled Raising Arizona with a Mississippi Saxophone.

For November we have a special all west coast harp jukebox queued up with 15 tunes from some of the finest west coast harp players and their recordings over the past several years.

We also have, of course, our ongoing feature called Jukebox at the JUNCTION. We have been grooving as always to some brand new and soon to be released recordings out here at the JUNCTION. The jukebox has a few very interesting re-issues that have been released in the past few months, alongside the new releases.

November is the month that here in America we celebrate Thanksgiving. We observe this holiday by commemorating a time when our European ancestors broke bread with the indigenous people before killing them and driving the survivors into relocation centers. By overeating and spending time with relatives, who we often wouldn’t have anything to do with otherwise, we give thanks for the bountiful blessings that have been bestowed upon us and watch football. This is all fine of course but I thought this time of year we might attract attention to the fact that November is Hunger Awareness Month. We here at BLUES JUNCTION clearly aren’t missing too many meals but there are folks out there in the land of plenty who are. Find out how you can help by visiting www.feedingamerica.org.

As always I would like to give thanks to all the folks that make BLUES JUNCTION possible. I am always humbled by all the kind words and support we receive from our readers. Thank You! You all can give thanks that it will be another six months until I drag baseball into this forum. Be well and be in touch.    

- David Mac