Caught this in the Toronto Star over the weekend. A tragic loss for music.
GREG QUILL
ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST
If it had been left to Richard Bell, few would have known of the extraordinary contributions the Toronto pianist, composer and producer has made to popular music over the past 40 years.
"He was very smart and funny and truly humble," multi-award-winning roots music artist Colin Linden said of his long-time friend and musical collaborator.
Bell died at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre last weekend after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 61.
"Richard never talked about himself, and if you just started a conversation with him you'd never have known he was even a musician," added Linden, who worked with the prolific artist on some 80 recordings and dozens of live shows since they met in 1989.
Here’s a link to the whole story.
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A benefit jam is planned for July 1 in the Portland area to raise funds for guitar mastercraftsman Bill Chapin, whose home recently blew up. There's a story online about the the incident here
The Good Life and R&B Revue is hosting. Details are at their site.
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Some good festival news. The New York State fest has addede a third
stage, and in the tenuous world of newspaper links, you might still be able to read about it here.
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Good on the Austin, Tex. flatfoots for nailing two guys who robbed Jimmie Vaughan of a bunch of his late brother's memorabilia. But six guitars are still missing and several hundred of thousands of other pieces. Michael Shane Winders, 37, and James Matthew Malone, 29, were each charged with theft, a second-degree felony worth up to 20 years in prison. Bail for Winders was set at $100,000; Malone's was set at $132,000.
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If you're in Fayetteville, Arkansas later this summer -- July 24, for precision's sake --check out the Ozark Blues Society's free educational presentations for kids in grades 7-12 and their families.
The Fayetteville Public Library has purchased David 'Honeboy' Edwards autobiography "The World Don't Owe Me Nothing and the Sister Rosetta
Tharpe biography "Shout, Sister Shout" as their recommended reading for the presentations. The Society is also about to auction off a Robert Jr. Lockwood guitar, with details at their site.
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There's a new blues group keeping track of things in the San Francisco Bay area. Jack's Bay Area Blues Clues is at Yahoo! Groups. .
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Big article this month in the e-zine BluesWax, which is always worth checking out anyway, on our columnist and Columbus bluesman extraordinaire Sean Carney. Check it out!
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Looking for a preview ofthe new Tinsley Ellis cd Moment of Truth? Alligator Records has posted a free single download at its site
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A note from the Suncoast Blues Society:
"On Sun, July 1st from 4:00 p.m.-1:30 am, it's a Surprise Birthday Party/Benefit for blues singer/pianist and Florida Folk Heritage Award recipient BLIND WILLIE JAMES! Join us in honoring Willie, former schoolmate of Ray Charles.
He went on to become a member of the famous Blind Boys of Alabama and later, piano player for the much-beloved Diamond Teeth Mary McClain. It's happnin' at Dino's Jazz Bar (16 2nd St N, St Pete - 727-896-3466- the former Club Detroit). ENTERTAINMENT The Tampa Bay Premiere of "BLIND WILLIE JAMES & BLUE SITUATION" in concert, plus special guest performances by: (Whew!) Al Razz, Belinda Womack, Benjammin Sudano, Buster Cooper, Charlie Morris, Deacon Fuller Trio, Freight Train Annie, John Feazell, Liz Pennock & Dr. Blues, Natty
Moss Bond, Pedro, Pete Gallagher, Quency Jennings, Raiford Starke, Rocky Ruckman, RWO, Sandy Atkinson, Sarasota Slim, Shawn Brown, The Tom Kats, Tim Eddy, Tony Green, Wendy and the Soul Shakers, Willie Lomax, Wink Warren, and many, many more.
A portion of the proceeds go to: The Suncoast Blues Society's Diamond Teeth Mary Really Got the Blues Fund, to help local musicians in time of need, and Lighthouse of Pinellas, serving the
needs of the blind and the visually impaired of Pinellas County."
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People can fight about Larry Taylor's opinion of the blues world all they want, but it's great to see him trying to get involved at the organizational level of the Blues Foundation to promote the idea of helping forge a stronger connection to the African American community. People can impugn his motives all they want, and even if they were right, the end result would not cease to be positive.
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One of the ever-helpful folks on the west coast has pointed out that the great lineup at this year's Safeway Waterfront Blues Fest in Portland can be heard live on KBOO FM
Cool!
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Canadian blues film veteran Mako Funesata already has an award from the Blues Foundation for his Talking Blues series. Now, he's added a nomination from Living Blues Magazine for blues DVD "Mel Brown: The DVD." You can check it out through Electro-Fi Records, also home to this weeks' Q&A subject, Fruteland Jackson.
TINSLEY ELLIS
