BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
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In 1980, a public radio station out of Long Beach, California hosted the first Long Beach Blues Festival ("LBBF"). The one day event drew 700 people. During the next 30 years the festival was expanded to two days and for several years, from 1996 – 2000, the event was expanded to include the entire three day Labor Day weekend. For most of its run, the festival was held on the campus of California State University at Long Beach.
Labor Day weekend in Southern California is invariably the hottest time of year, yet by the time the festival reached its zenith in the late 90’s, an average of 14,000 people attended each day. Blues fans schlepped lawn chairs, blankets and coolers hundreds of yards from the on campus parking to the only spot in Southern California without shade. It wasn’t long before the LBBF became the most prestigious blues festival anywhere and was the second oldest behind the San Francisco Blues Festival on the west coast. The list of artists that played through the years is staggering. It is hard to think of a major player who has not been on the stage of the LBBF.
The festival became a huge fund raiser for KLON FM (later renamed KKJZ) A mostly all volunteer crew, that I was proud to be a part of from 1996-2005, ran a smooth operation. In 2010 KKJZ pulled the plug. Their press release blamed the economy for their decision not to stage the festival. However, blues festivals all over the west though continued to set record attendance.
Here it is Labor Day weekend and still no LBBF. Be that as it may, I thought it would be a great time to look back through the talented lenses of Billy Wayne Turner and Chris Corbett. I suppose you can guess who took the grainy shots with his trusty disposable camera. Either way these pictures represent just a tiny sampling of the goings on at the late, great Long Beach Blues Festival.
Bobby "Blue" Bland
Snooky Pryor
Little Milton
Gary Clark, Jr. & Eddie Shaw
Bill Stuve
Ike Turner
Mable John & Eddie Shaw
Clarence Holliman, Guitar Shorty & Lowell Fulson as part of a massive T-Bone Walker Tribute in 1996
Percy Sledge
Curtis Salgado, Duke Robillard and Ronnie Earl (Roomful of Blues Reunion)
W.C. Clark, Doug Sahm, Cal Green & Lowell Fulson as part of a massive T-Bone Walker Tribute in 1996
Ronnie Earl's Shirt
Lowell Fulson, Joe "Guitar" Hughes, Roy Gaines & Sonny Rhodes during the T-Bone Walker Tribute
Ike Turner & Solomon Burke
Milton Campbell & Jimmie Vaughan
Gregg Allman & James Cotton
Smokey Wilson
George Thorogood
Otis Rush
Robert Cray
Kid Ramos playing with the Fabulous Thunderbirds
Sonny Rhodes
Ronnie Earl
Matt Murphy
Jimmie Vaughan sitting in with John Lee Hooker in 1999
John Lee Hooker & Jimmie Vaughan
Buddy Guy & Jeff Healey
Buddy Guy & Jeff Healey
Irma Thomas
Ronnie James Webber as part of the Jimmy Reed Highway
Little Milton
Roy Gaines
Billy Boy Arnold & Bo Diddley
Kim Wilson as part of the Jimmy Reed Highway
Charlie Musselwhite, Billy Boy Arnold & Carey Bell
Taj Mahal (Reunion with the Phantom Blues Band, 2007)
Steve Cropper
Jimmy Dawkins
Dave Alvin (sitting in with Little Milton, 2004)
Honey Piazza
Leon Russell
Dr. John
Johnny Bazz, Bill Bateman & Phil Alvin - The Blasters
Koko Taylor
Pinetop Perkins
Copyright 2022 BLUES JUNCTION Productions. All rights reserved.
BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
info