On Sunday, August 31^st, something very special happened here in Southern California and on the worldwide web. Jeff Scott returned to the radio. He had broadcast out of a small college radio station that has but a 200 watt signal, but was enjoyed by a worldwide audience for about 15 years. Jeff, who has had a long career in the blues business, is the recognized authority on the international blues scene. His credentials and accomplishments in the blues field are as long as my arm. He is a blues music connoisseur of the highest order. Even though he is several years my junior, I consider him a mentor and he has been a valuable consultant to me since the very beginning of BLUES JUNCTION. It was a thrill to hear what a real blues radio show sounds like hosted by a dedicated person who puts the music and not himself in the spotlight. Few people, if any, know the music like Jeff. His next broadcast will be on Sunday, September 28^th at 12:00 Noon Pacific Daylight Time on www.kuci.org. I give Jeff’s show, called The Blues Disease, my highest recommendation.

This is an exciting time of year as we are on the cusp of the San Diego Blues Festival this weekend. The event not only takes place in a spectacular resort setting, but always has a great line-up. It is also a fund raiser for the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank. In the September edition of the ezine we have the festival line-up on our site, but I also conducted an interview with the event’s producer Michael Kinsman. Michael is a native Southern Californian and long time San Diegan (or is it San Diegoan?) who is as interesting as he is affable. Enjoy a conversation I had with the Sage of San Diego, Michael Kinsman.  

In the fall of 2012, I became aware of a great blues band from the southern Brazilian, port city of Itajaí, in the State of Santa Catarina; they are known as the The Headcutters. I got to know the band’s singer and harmonica player Joe Marhofer. In February of 2013, I “published” an interview I conducted with Joe. We continued our semi-regular online chats. He mentioned to me that the Brazilian government had made available cultural grants to travel so that the band could play their music abroad. Joe said that he wanted to bring the band to America so that he can play this American music to American audiences. For Joe and his band mates this would be a dream come true. I put Joe in touch with some American promoters, not the least of which was one of Southern California’s greatest blues ambassadors, Art Martel. That dream has, in fact, come true and The Headcutters have announced their American tour schedule, which commences later this month. With this in mind I have “re-published” that old interview with Joe and have a separate tab with the band’s tour dates. 

Here in September we also have the third and final installment of my interview with John Stedman of JSP Records. In case you missed either one or both of the first two installments of this interview, they appear in front of part three so as to maintain some continuity.

Today, Tuesday, September 2^nd, marks the release of a terrific new album by “Big Harp” George, entitled, Chromaticism. In case you are not familiar with this talent, I thought I’d introduce him to our readers as he is the musician who stands in our Monthly Artist Spotlight for September. Enjoy a conversation with a world class bluesman who has a unique story to tell.

Most of our readers are well aware we lost one of my favorite musicians last month, Lynwood Slim. I left my appreciation of Slim on the top shelf for those of you, especially our European friends who were on Holiday in the month of August, who may have missed it.

I was moved, as were Slim’s family and close friends, by the outpouring of affection to this article. I also found it kind of curious that there were those, primarily in this country, who wrote to me that were not familiar with Slim and his music. With that in mind I put together a Jukebox that highlights some of my favorite tunes from my favorite albums on which Slim participated.

One of our most important ongoing contributors has been, for some time Alex Gardner. He is best known as a world class photographer yet continues to flex his writing chops now and again. He contributed another fine essay that I happen to like a lot entitled, A Hooker in a Strip Joint. 

As always we had an outpouring of letters to the editor and correspondences and comments via social media. A sampling of some of those are in our ongoing Letters to the Editor feature. It is wonderful to hear from so many people who take the time and effort to actually read our ezine “cover to cover.” Our readership continues to grow as your worldwide word of mouth advertising campaign seems to bring new people to the JUNCTON in numbers I truly didn’t think possible.

Many of you have asked me how you can support our efforts as there is truly nothing like BLUES JUNCTION in the market place. With that in mind, I will make available for the first time advertising and sponsorship opportunities to a very small select number of musicians, bands and organizations who would like to help us continue to provide you with a quality reading experience. Feel free to check out the tab that reads Advertising and Promotional Opportunities on the site. Feel free to contact me, as I would be happy to answer any questions you might have regarding this new and ground floor opportunity.

Something that has been on the horizon for a long time is now coming very close to becoming a reality. That is a complete overhaul of our rather voluminous, and frankly difficult to reference, archive section of the site. I will keep you informed as to the goings on there, but that long awaited, much improved and admittedly long overdue re-vamping of the interviews, essays, editorials and recommended listening is imminent. We finally will be making it easier to find your favorite pieces and read interviews with your favorite musicians. Stay tuned...in the meantime thanks so much for your support. Until we meet again, be well and be in touch.

-  David Mac