Lakewood Ranch Blues Festival, Saturday, December 6th, 8:00AM – 8:00PM

Lakewood Ranch Blues Festival, Saturday, December 6th, 8:00AM – 8:00PM

Lakewood Ranch Blues Festival, Saturday, December 6th, 8:00AM – 8:00PM

Lakewood Ranch Blues Festival, Saturday, December 6th, 8:00AM – 8:00PM

          The second annual Lakewood Ranch Blues festival features a nice mix of local and national bands at the picturesque Waterside Place Pavilion, an eight acre island on Kingfisher Lake. Presented by festival promoter Paul Benjamin who’s produced countless festivals and is hands on, running a tight show. This early show kicks off at 9:30am with a showcase of students from the Music Compound with the first band hitting the stage at 10:15am and each of the seven bands receiving at full hour of stage time.

          The Shaelyn Band, a seven piece rockin’ soul group based out of mid Florida powered by Ms. Shaelyn’s vocals with backup vocals and a drivin’ horn section. This tight band has been busy touring and if you’ve seen them you know they set a high standard for this festival.   Eden Brent, a powerhouse piano-pounding Mississippi blues belter who can play it soft or take it straight to the juke joint. She won the International Blues Challenge in 2006 and the Pinetop Perkins award at the 2025 Blues Music awards.

          Albert Castiglia, a Florida native when not on tour with Mike Zito and Bill Murray as the Blood Brothers he dazzles audiences with his self depreciating prowess on guitar and we can hope he does his rampaging rendition of Paul Butterfield’s Lovin’ Cup, it blew us away when we saw him.

          Jonny Rawls, an old school soul blues legend, if you’ve experienced Rawls you know why he’s been around for more than 50 years and still going strong.

          Toronzo Cannon brings a more modern ethic to Chicago blues. The Alligator Records vocalist and guitarist Cannon grew up on the south side of Chicago and until just a few years ago was a full time bus driver in Chicago who played the clubs and festival after work.

          The Chambers DesLauriers band, is true blue love story. Texas based Annika Chambers was a Blues Music Awards winner when she met Paul Deslauriers, an award winning Canadian guitarist/bandleader at the International Blues Challenge where Paul was a runner-up. Instantly connecting they managed a whirlwind romance and marriage while out on the road and quickly merge their lives and music and for the past several years they’ve been on a road trip honeymoon.

          Desoto Tiger Testimony a blend of Louisiana and Florida artists has been called a Blues Roots Super Group. Featuring Tampa bay native Damon Fowler with Louisiana’s Jonathan “Boogie” Long on dueling hot rod guitars, lap steel and vocals, New Orleans harmonica wiz Jason Ricci who first joined the Sun Coast Blues Society 20 years ago, with a rhythm section of Tampa’s Chuck Riley on bass and Louisiana session drummer Ray Hangen. These turbo charged Tigers are all incredible players and letting them loose on a stage anything could happen so you’ll want to catch this tiger’s tail and hang on for the ride.

          The festival will be at the Waterside Place Pavilion, 7301 Island Cove Terrace, Lakewood Ranch, with parking available on site, there is also off-site parking at the Out-Of-Door Academy in Sarasota with complimentary shuttle service that drops you off right at the festival gates between 7:30am and 9:30pm. The park opens at 8:30, and tickets will be available the day of but reserved seating is limited and purchasing tickets at the website before December 3rd will save you money. Things to keep in mind, you can bring chairs, blankets and hand held umbrellas, this open-air park has minimal shade coverage so be sure to include a hat and sunscreen. Items not allowed are coolers, outside food and alcohol, tents, canopies, large backpacks, banners, and pets. Times and the line up are subject to change but being a Paul Benjamin production you know it’s gonna be good.

Roger & Margaret White

 

The Revival of Sugar and Spice

The Revival of Sugar and Spice

The Revival of Sugar and Spice

The Revival of Sugar and Spice
Roger White

When it comes to cookin’ Sugar and Spice may be regarded as simple ingredients but when it comes to music Sugar and Spice are tasty delights meant to be savored. Just a decade ago these well-seasoned ladies were described as the undisputed definition of Southern Soul and were heating up stages across the country. True sisters, Myra “Sugar” Glover and Velma “Spice” Glover, were raised in church and juke joints by their mother the late Loretta Glover, a Florida based R&B/Soul and Blues legend.

If you don’t have fond memories of the Sugar and Spice Revue, allow me to clue you in on this Dynamic Duo. We first saw the girls at local Tampa jams before they joined the Souliz Band featuring Sugar and Spice. As the hottest band in town in 2017 the Suncoast Blues Society sent Sugar and Spice and the band to Memphis for the International Blues Challenge where they came in 2nd place out of the hundreds of bands from around the world who came to compete. That win started them on a musical journey, appearing at some of the hottest festivals and clubs on the circuit including the Clearwater Blues Festival. But then came Covid and that changed everything and after the shutdown Sugar and Spice seemed to fade away.

But for these ladies singing and performing is as important as breathing is to life itself and recently Sugar made an appearance at the Suncoast Blues Societies Blues Bash on the Bay, formerly the Beach Bash on August 30, at the Lion’s Club in Gulfport where she reminded members just how talented our hometown gals were. Two weeks later, on September 13 Sugar sat in with the band for Nitro Bozman’s Last Annual House Party and those in attendance said she stole the show.

So, it’s with great pleasure and anticipation we can announce that two months later, on Thursday, November 13 the full Sugar and Spice Revue returns to the Palladium Side Door, 253 5th Ave, St. Petersburg,Florida, doors are at 7:30pm. They are saying this will be just a onetime only show but we can all hope the performance will spark a real revival of Sugar and Spice.

 

 

We Will Survive

We Will Survive

We Will Survive

We Will Survive

The best message I could find, musically, appeared ahead of this message. BB King’s “I’ll Survive.” Because that’s what we do here in Florida.

It’s been a rough two weeks for all of us. Most lost power, some had some flooding, and unfortunately a few lost homes. Our venues took a hit, and our musicians are going to be out of work.

But we came together. In traveling between my home and my mom’s home frequently in the days following Milton (and how long before I can again listen to Little Milton?) I witnessed many acts of human kindness – people helping each other.

Of course, the music schedule is a mess. Known is that Camping With The Blues was cancelled. Florida Sands Music took a large hit from the storm and will need time to recover. This message was issued on Facebook:

We are sad to say, the Florida Sand Music Ranch has suffered quite a bit of damage due to Milton. They went through Helene with few issues. This time, however, there is a lot of flooding, more trees and power lines down. They currently have no power.

Unfortunately, the 2024 Camping with the Blues has been cancelled.

Best to check with any venue before you head out to a show. So, in the near term, your newsletter is not going to publish events in our Current Happenings section.

Stay Safe, be well. And we’ll be together before you know it.

Scott Morris

President, Suncoast Blues Society

 

 

Suncoast Blues Society Donates

Suncoast Blues Society Donates

Suncoast Blues Society Donates

Suncoast Blues Society Donates

The Palladium in St Petersburg has a rich history of bringing music to our community. The non-profit foundation at the venue has started a restoration campaign that will reimagine this important venue.

Prior to the Southern Hospitality show, on behalf of our membership your board of directors, represented by Cheryl Spradling and Scott Morris, presented a donation to The Palladium executive director Paul Wilborn.

You can read, and hear, more about this $10 million dollar makeover at this link. Within the presentation, our own Selwyn Birchwood explains what The Palladium means to him.

And if you can do so, Paul Wilborn will appreciate any additional donation. Many of us have fond memories of shows at The Palladium. Let’s help to make new memories inside of a world-class venue.

Lakewood Ranch Blues Festival, Saturday, December 6th, 8:00AM – 8:00PM

Message from your President 2024

Message from your President 2024

 

Suncoast Blues Society Events Calendar

(Or, Where is my show?)

While this message is primarily for our local artists, members may find interest in better understanding how events find their way to the Suncoast Blues Society event calendar SBS Events Calendar, and sometimes into the newsletter.

Being an all-volunteer organization, your board of directors does not have the time to maintain a calendar. Anyway, there is a better option called GoTonight.

GoTonight (GTN) is a wonderful partner with Suncoast Blues Society, and without going deep into the technology details GTN sends SBS a calendar of local blues events which populates the calendar on the website. And from there it’s a manual process to transpose the shows into the newsletter. Time consuming for sure; prone to errors as well. But given the volunteer staff, or lack of, it’s the best that we can do for our members

There are two ways that shows do not make it to the SBS calendar. The most prevalent issue is the shows not making it into GTN. Venues and artists can populate their calendar on GTN – and many do. But not all take advantage of the GTN calendar and GTN relies on some of their own volunteers to fill in many of the gaps.

If you are interested in participating, or need more information on GTN’s features, reach out to GTN at  Contact GTN.

The second issue arises with the cut off time for the calendar load to SBS. To help solve this problem GTN and SBS have agreed to a 1:00 PM cutoff time on Monday’s for shows to be in the calendar. We realize that event bookings can be fluid but to get our newsletter out on time we do need to put a stake in the ground, and if a show does not make the cutoff day and time, it may not make the calendar or newsletter.

SBS members find the event data valuable. We know this because the event page is the one that receives the most visits to the website. However, here is one instance where it really does take a village for all to benefit. If you are interested in helping make the event data complete, and a better experienced for all members, reach out to GTN at the above link, or send an email to volunteer@suncoastblues.org

Scott Morris, President Suncoast Blues Society.

 

THE INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE – 2024

THE INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE – 2024

THE INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE – 2024

This year’s International Blues Challenge will be held on Beale Street in Memphis, TN from January 7-11, 2025. The tickets will be available starting October 1, 2024.

THE INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE

From International Blues Foundation website:https://blues.org/international-blues-challenge/ The International Blues Challenge represents the worldwide search for blues bands and solo/duo blues performers ready for the international stage, yet just needing that extra big break. The world’s largest gathering of blues musicians will take place on Beale Street, with over 20 clubs hosting the challengers and fans. In addition to featuring these final rounds of the prestigious blues music competition, the IBC event week will offer seminars, highlights, master classes, film screenings, networking events, book signings, and receptions for blues societies, fans, and professionals.

MUSICIANS: WE NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU

Your Suncoast Blues Society is considering hosting a regional IBC competition. We are calling for Blues musicians to state their intention to compete before June 1,2024.

If there is enough local interest in competing your society will move forward with hosting the competition.

Please review the rules for entry https://blues.org/ibc-rules-guidelines-local-affiliate-challenges/. It is important that your music contains some original blues music. Any winning act(s) from the competition will go on to represent us in Memphis!

There are so many Blues musicians in our area with amazing talent and we would love to sponsor a band and/or solo/duo act to represent Suncoast Blues Society.

If you are a blues musician in our area, we encourage you to state your interest in competing by emailing president@suncoastblues.org before June 1. The board of Suncoast Blues society will decide on June 2nd on whether there is enough interest to move forward with a competition.

 

 

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