Blues Musicians - Want Your Gigs Listed On This Calendar?

Dallas/Ft Worth/N Texas Blues Musicians - Want to see your weekly gigs listed on this calendar and have them read live on the air on KNON's BIG TEXAS BLUES program?

Email (no texts, messages to this blog or Facebook posts accepted) your gigs for the upcoming week NO LATER THAN Sunday Evening to: bluelisablues@aol.com

Please include the following:
Your name * Band Name (if Applicable) * If it is full band gig, solo or duo * Name of Venue * City Venue is located in * Time your show starts and ends

Remember - this is a BLUES calendar posted on a BLUES blog and read on a BLUES radio show, so please only include BLUES gigs. Also, only include shows within the Dallas/Ft Worth/N Texas area.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

IF YOU ARE A TEXAN BY BIRTH OR A TEXAN BY HEART......

The Texas Highway Department's anti-litter slogan "Don't Mess With Texas" has been nominated for a very prestigious advertising award. If it were to win, a Bronze Plaque would be placed on Madison Avenue's "Advertising Walk of Fame" in New York City and would also get a permanent place at the Advertising Icon Museum in Kansas City.

Please go to the Advertising Week Favorite Slogan's Website http://advertising.yahoo.com/advertisingweek_06/slogan_poll.html and vote!

The competition is tough, like "Got Milk? "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"; "The breakfast of Champions"; and others; so please vote before September 29, 2006 and tell your fellow Texans to do likewise.

Wouldn't it be cool for New Yorkers to have to walk past a Bronze Plaque every day that said, "DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS?"

PS Please pass this on to all of your Texas friends!! This is a matter of "Texas Pride"! We can win this if everybody forwards the link to their friends, and they vote. Do it now.

Monday, August 28, 2006

GREAT TIME AT THE TX INT'L BLUESFEST

What a great time I had at the Texas International Bluesfest on Saturday! The T-Bonz and I were already in a festive mood since it was Jim Hunton's birthday, but the enthusiastic response we received from the crowd really made our night!

I didn't get there in time to see all the acts (I hear Dallas's newest Blues Diva, 13 year old Kayla Reeves and her band Triple Threat were awesome - no surprise to me!), but I caught Cookie McGee's masterful set, and it was great to get to hang out with our friends The Silvertones, who not only played a fabulous set of their own, but then backed up Mr. Cold Blue Steel himself, James Buck.

My boys looked amazing and played even better! I dare say my boys were the eye candy of the evening - and ladies, you know how I like some eye candy at my shows! I was very, very proud to be on stage with all of them. Special thanks to Mick Carr for sitting in with us on drums. We owe you one!

And thanks again to James Buck for including us on the bill for this years Bluesfest, and for inviting me and Jim up to be part of his closing set! It was a fun night for us James. Thank you SO MUCH.

For the next 5 days, you can see pictures of us onstage at the Bluesfest taken by my friend Ginny Ivey by clicking this link: http://server.inalbum.com/cgi-bin/ia20/i2_view?117028682313234604541770361907

Monday, August 21, 2006

SCHEDULE FOR TEXAS INTERNATIONAL BLUESFEST

Come see us this Saturday at the Texas International Bluesfest at the Sons of Hermann Hall. Make sure to say Hi to our guitarist Jim Hunton - Saturday is his birthday!

We are thrilled to be on the bill between our friends Cookie McGee and The Silvertones! (Congrats to Silvertone Leo DelaVega on his recent marriage!) Thanks to James Buck for including us in this years fest.

Here's the line up:

4 pm Ed
5 pm Elmo Blue
6 pm Kayla Reeves & Triple Threat
7 pm Damaged Goods
8 pm Cookie McGee
9 pm Blue Lisa and the T-Bonz
10 pm Silvertones
11 pm Cold Blue Steel

For more info, see my earlier post.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

TEXAS INTERNATIONAL BLUESFEST COMING!!

LADIES SING THE BLUES

Dallas -- Three female acts are among the headliners at the ninth annual Texas International Blues Festival. Blue Lisa and the T-Bonz, Cookie McGee, and Kayla Reeves & Triple Threat will be joining Dallas-based award-winning blues band the Silvertones on the stage at the Sons of Hermann Hall in Deep Ellum on Saturday, August 26.

Also appearing will be two-time winner best blues band Dallas Oserver Music Awards Cold Blue Steel, Elmo Blue, from Austin Trent Turner and the Moontowers, Damaged Goods, and new band Ed, plus special surprise guests.

Admisson is $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Tickets are general admisson and can be purchased via the internet at acteva.com/go/texasblues. Bring two cans of food for the North Texas Food Bank and receive $5 off the ticket price. The Sons of Hermann Hall is located at 3414 Elm at Exposition in Dallas. Showtime is 4 pm.

For more information contact J&B Productions at 214-823-3966 or email jeb@brightok.net. Sons of Hermann Hall can be contacted at 214-747-4422.

Monday, August 07, 2006

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DENNY FREEMAN!

Today is the birthday of one of my all time favorite guitarist, Mr. Denny Freeman.

To call him a blues guitarist would only be lightly scratching the surface. He is an EXCELLENT blues guitarist: tasteful yet powerful. But Denny can play just about any style and make it work - blues, rock, jazz. Right now, he's on tour as guitarist for Bob Dylan. (Nice work if you can get it!) On top of that, he's also an accomplished pianist.

Some of my favorite stuff Denny's done include his solo CD's (my favorite - A TONE FOR MY SINS on Dallas Blues Society Records), his work on Angela Strehli's SOUL SHAKE (there just doesn't exist a more Texas guitar tone than this - and his playing on "Stranger Blues" is awesome), his work on Lou Ann Barton's READ MY LIPS (My all time favorite blues CD by anyone, anywhere), and his work on the Jimmie Vaughan solo CD's.

Go look at his website at www.DennyFreeman.com Everybody has pictures on their website, but Denny's are a history of the Austin, Texas blues scene. Look carefully, you'll see some very young versions of quite familiar faces! And don't miss the last page of the photos - his collection of business cards. True blues treasure!

In Texas, we breed some of the finest guitarist in the world. Denny Freeman is right at the top among the the best the state has ever produced. Visit his website and find out why!

HOW HOT IS TEXAS?

I've told this story to several people now, and they've suggested I post it here.

I have to admit, even after living in Texas all of my life, it was a first for me.

The Saturday I returned from Scotland, my band and I played Stroker's Icehouse on the outside stage. The actual temperature was around 101 when we started and the heat index was 106.

It was a long, hot 4 hours. When we were done, all I wanted to do was get a shower and go to bed. When I was getting undressed, I took off my tennis shoes and went to pull off my socks. Remember, I'm pretty wiped out from 4 hours in the heat, but I couldn't get the sock off my foot. I'm thinking I've got a hangnail, but no.

My toe nail polish had melted to my socks. On both feet.

THAT'S how hot it is in Texas!

NORTH TEXAS BLUES SOCIETY IBC INFO

A heads up for musicians interested in entering: The North Texas Blues Society is looking for Band and Best Self-Produced CD submissions for International Blues Challenge, otherwise known as IBC.

IBC Best Self-produced CD submissions deadline is September 21, 2006

IBC Band audition reservation mail-in deadline is September 17, 2006. The juried audition event will be held in Denton on Sunday, September 24, 2006.

Complete information is available at www.northtexasblues.com.