**UPDATED** FUNERAL SERVICES AND BENEFIT JAM FOR JOHNNY WOODS

Here is the info I received last night from Jackie Don Loe:

Tonight's Sunday Blues Happening Jam at Nate's Seafood in Addison will be dedicated to the memory of bassist Johnny Woods. Johnny held the bass spot for the entire 3 1/2 years of the jam, never missing a Sunday. Donations to help with Johnny's funeral costs will be collected at the jam. Carl Bush will stand in tonight on bass with the band.

I've said many times, this jam is by far the best in the Dallas/Ft Worth area because everyone feels welcome, and the jams represent the whole of the blues: traditional, soul, classic, country, funky and always fun! Johnny was an intricate part of this, and will be missed by all his friends and fans alike. Come out tonight, sit in, jam, and pay your respects to a classy Old-School Bluesman, our friend Johnny Woods.


Services for Johnny will be:
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
11 a.m.
Damascan Missionary Baptist Church
3600 Cleveland Ave
Dallas, Tx
214.428.2615

HURRICANE IKE BENEFIT

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WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE

Thanks to Joanna Iz from Southwest Blues Magazine for sending this on to me so that I can share it with you.

WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE.

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago. Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and
knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered
a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating,
choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because-why, exactly?
We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?As a junior high student in the late 1970's, when Desoto, Texas was a close minded, tiny, backwards little country town that thought itself a big city, an enlightened history teacher turned one class over to me to talk to my classmates about the struggles of women just to have basic rights. All these years later, exercising the right to vote is still one of my passions. Women (and thinkers of both genders) we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.' Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party – remember to vote.

FROG BLUES FESTIVAL

We are thrilled to part of the line-up for the 9th Annual Frog Blues Festival. Especially exciting is the chance to see Miss Lavelle White! Miss Lavelle is one of Blue Lisa's all time favorite Blueswomen - an awesome voice and stellar stage presence. You don't want to miss this show!

Here's the schedule. You can find it, directions, and more info on the web site at:

http://www.elmotxfrogbluesfestival.com/index.html

Festival Schedule - All Subject to Change

Presenting Mistress of Ceremonies.....Lady Too Tall
6:45 to 7:30- Blue Lisa & Big "D" Playboys / Special Guest: Cheryl Arena

7:45 to 8:30- Joe Moore

8:45 to 9:45- Miss Lavelle White

10:00 to 11:00- Lil Dave Thompson

11:15 to 12:05- AFTER PARTY with James Butler & The Cool Show Band / Special Guest: Johnny Ray Kimbrough and Captain Jack(Same Location)

KNON 25th Anniversary Concert

AN ADDITION TO THE BLUE LISA & THE BIG D PLAYBOYS FAMILY

I'm delighted to announce the birth Wednesday of Kaylynn Denney, daughter of our drummer Darren, his wife Hali (who, let's face it, did all the REAL work Wednesday!) and new big brother Spencer. At 9 pounds 9 ounces and 20 inches long, Kaylyne is a big girl - a Texas-size beauty. Congratulations to the Denney's on their new addition.

I'm just hoping Darren will encourage her to be a drummer, like he's been doing with Spencer. There's never enough great drummers, and Kaylyne and Spencer couldn't have a better teacher than The Professor!

ALL IS NOT LOST, IN A HRC SENSE

I am a BIG Hard Rock Cafe fan. After all, it started in London, and I'm a Anglophile to the bone. When I learned back in the 80's that Dallas was getting a HRC, I was so excited, I made my boyfriend at the time drive me to the construction site at 3 am, climbed the fence, and snuck in. (I wanted to be the first one in the new place!). At that time Dallas felt so behind the rest of the world in cool big city amenities. Getting a Hard Rock felt glamourous. And I still seek out the local HRC in every place I visit. It's still fun to me.

I'll even admit to shedding a few tears earlier this year when I finally got up the nerve to drive by the now empty corner of McKinney and Routh, where they not only razed the building to the ground, but a level below - to the basement. I'm easily bored and thrive on change, but having lived here my whole live, I DO have an emotional attachment to a few places (including the Granada Theater - God bless Mike Schroder for loving the place as much as me! He is one of my heroes for taking such good care of her) and the Dallas Hard Rock Cafe was one of those. I had so much fun there over the years. I once kissed John Waite in the lobby, and played on the stage many times with 5 different bands, sharing many a plate of nachos with my awesomely cool niece Amanda, not to mention celebrating plenty of my birthdays there, attending Guitar Show parties and seeing some great bands. The HRC partnered with KNON on several occasions, including a Thursday night blues series I hosted several years back. I was enraged at the closing - that a city our size, with the surrounding teeming Metroplex, couldn't keep it open. I really blamed the city for taking the focus off UpTown as a destination for tourists, and sending them instead to the bland lets-pretend-we're-Times-Square Victory Plaza outside the AAC.

So I was thrilled to read the following article this morning. All is not lost. Hey, you can take the girl out of rock (and give her the blues), but you can't take the rock out of the girl.

And I'm betting they'll resume their relationship with the local Blues scene, unlike that other big chain restaurant/concert place that recently came to town, that refuses to even acknowledge KNON or Southwest Blues......

So, Yes, a New Hard Rock Cafe's Coming to Dallas. Hard Rock Hotel Too.
Thu Jun 19, 2008 at 08:47:29 AM
Gone, but absolutely not forgotten.
A very curious note this morning, courtesy The Miami Herald. Because in its story about the Seminole Tribe striking a deal to put a Hard Rock Cafe inside the new $1.3-billion Yankee Stadium, along with an eatery called NYY Steak, there was this reference to the tribe's plans for expanding the chain: "In total, the tribe owns 127 Hard Rock Cafes, not including the new one to be built in Yankee Stadium plus two others planned in Seattle and Dallas." Pardon?
After the jump, the official word.
Of course, the old McKinney Avenue location's was razed in January. And we've heard rumblings about a Hard Rock Hotel: That was, in fact, the original plan for the St. Regis Hotel site in Uptown, says its developer; and there have been rumors swirling for more than a year that it might yet wind up in Victory Park.
New York-based publicist Marissa Mastellone, who handles PR for the Hard Rock's hotels and casinos, tells Unfair Park this morning that there are "no plans for a Hard Rock Hotel Dallas," at least in the next two years. "But I have a call already in to my development team based at the Hard Rock Corp. headquarters in Orlando to give me info on if they are at least 'looking'," she says, and promises to get back with more later.
As for a new Hard Rock Cafe here, Florida-based John Gogarty, who handles that side of the chain's publicity, is in transit from New York and has been unavailable for comment. We've left messages at his office and on his cell, and we'll update when he calls back.
Update: Gogarty has called back, but he's not sure "whether [the Miami] reference was a line from a press conference or something else." He too has said he will "check to see what's cooking" and get back later today with an official statement. But he does not that "Dallas is obviously a very important location to Hard Rock, and unfortunately it didn't work out there the first time." Which doesn't mean there won't be a second.
Update to the Update: At 9:25 a.m., Amanda Early, another publicist for Hard Rock, sends the official word: It's a go. Dunno where, dunno when. But Hard Rock returns. As in:
Below please find the statement released on behalf of Hard Rock International regarding plans for Hard Rock Cafe Dallas.
We believe that Dallas, and surrounding areas, are important markets for Hard Rock International.
We are actively exploring other opportunities in the area, including a Hard Rock Hotel/entertainment complex and more strategic locations for a Hard Rock Cafe in this market. A number of locations are currently under consideration.
We expect to return to the Dallas market, at the right time in the right location.So, indeed: a hotel and a cafe. Overpriced burgers for everyone! --Robert Wilonsky