Page 16-The Michigan Daily/New Student Edition -Thursday, September 10, 1992
FESTIVAL
Continued from page 8
budget and the University said
'Woh, we can't handle it.'
"I said, 'Well this is what you
need. If you want to do it, this is
what you need to do.' So they said
'No,' and by that time I was so ex-
cited about the concept and the idea,
I was so into it, that I said, 'I'm go-
ing to do it anyway, somehow.'
cil rescinded our permit," Andrews
explains. "I don't think they liked
the image we were portraying of
Ann Arbor. That was during the re-
ally controversial days, youth versus
adults ... politics ... natural points of
conflict. All of those are gone now."
The Blues and Jazz Fest lasted
one extra year, but not in Ann Arbor.
The same people put the show to-
gether and put it on for one very dis-
appointing year in Windsor.
"CKLW offered us fifty thousand
for additional advertising. I stupidly
thought that would be the difference,
but the borders were shut down for
groups. Certain artists couldn't get
there," says Andrews.
"There were political ramifica-
tions of it, too. It wasn't just a beau-
tiful musical event."
DOWN WITH THE COUNT
No matter how long it lasted -
or if the revival succeeds - the
Blues and Jazz Fest originally had a
major impact on those who attended
as well as those who played.
Bob Whiteall, now a photogra-
pher, headed up security at one gate
in the first incarnation.
"It was exciting," he says. "Every
day was exciting back in those years
... It was like heavy-weight music
came though, then there was always
the local scene, which was heavy,
with Iggy and Alice Cooper ... and
Bob Seger living in town.
"But then those old guys would
come through (to the Festival) like
the Count Basies. They were just
like different. They were like gods
or something. I was terribly influ-
enced by the whole experience."
Andrews says the Festival af-
Automotive
Q (9
-.4
Some cool dude expresses his extreme joy while attending the 1973 Blues and Jazz Fest. Photo reproduced from
the 1974 MichiganEnsian.
Davis
"I went outside and John Sinclair
had acquaintances that put up some
cash and so off and running we
went."
But the Ann Arbor Blues and
Jazz Festival lasted only for two
years.
"The Republican-majority coun-
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fected the Count Basics just as
deeply.
"I remember Count Basic arriv-
ing. le was asleep on the back of his
bus from date to date. He didn't re-
ally know where he was going from
date to date. 'Oh, Ann Arbor, okay.'
"And his bus drove in and all
these journalists were swarming
around the front of it. le woke up
and said, 'Wait a minute. What is
going on here? Ann Arbor.' And he
got out of the bus said, 'Wait a
minute gentlemen,' mikes thrown in
his face and stuff.
The 1992 Ann Arbor Blues
and Jazz Festival,-
September 11-13
Friday night, Crisler Arena: Chisel
Bros. featuring Thornetta Davis.
Katie Webster, and Bonnie Raitt.
$22.50 and $18.50.
Friday night, Michigan Theater:
Dave Murray Quartet featuring Don
Pullen, Archie Shepp Quartet
featuring Roy Brooks. $20.
Saturday day, September 11,
Gallup Park: George Bedard and
the Ann Arbor All-Stars, Snooky
Pryor & John Nicholas, Luther
Allison, Maria Muldaur, and James
Cotton. $15.50.
Satuday night, Michigan Theater:
Sonny Rollins. $20.
Sunday day, Gallup Park: Blues
Factory All-Stars, Straight Ahead,
Robert Jr. Lockwood, Charles
Brown, and Al Green. $15.50.
Packages:
Saturday and Sunday Gallup Park:
$25
Friday Crisler, Saturday and Sunday
Gallup Park $47.50
Friday and Saturday Michigan
Theater $37.50
For more information, dial 99-
Music. Tickets are available at
TicketMaster or charge by phone,
645-6666.
"He said, 'Come here,' and asked
me to go out on stage with him and
looked out, 'Wow, ten thousand or
more white folks to see me? What is
going on here?' It was like no other
date he'd seen on his tour. And I
said, 'Well that's right and you've
got about twenty journalists to talk
to over there.' le kind of got him-
self together and said, 'Let's go."'
NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT
Reviving the Festival wasn't
easy, and recapturing the original's
magic will be just as challenging.
Andrews says, ,"I've been trying
for eighteen years to revive the
perfect site.' I'm sorry but some-
body's got to be affected by every-
thing.
"Can you imagine if this art fair
came along, new idea, and it hadn't
taken place. They come and say,
'We'd like to take over all your
streets downtown for three, no, four
days. Just wreak havoc with all the
traffic flow and everything else.'
They'd say, 'Get out of town. You
people are crazy.'
"Everything has it's negative im-
pact along with its good. We're try-
ing to minimize the negative as
much as we can."
main links to the original event is
Bonnie Raitt. Andrews says getting
Raitt on the bill was one of the keys
to the revived Festival's credibility.
"I kept saying just keep trying on
Bonnie, keep trying and trying,"
Andrews explains. "That would
make it perfect. It would make a
great transition from the past. The
perfect example of a gal who got her
break here. This was one of her
larger, earlier performances. And
look what happened."
Raitt played a large role in the
organization of the "Women of the
Blues" Friday night kick-off show.
"She said, 'Well, you know, I'd
like Katie Webster to be in the
show,"' Andrews says. "And I said,
'Let's make it an all-women's show
... What could be more perfect for
Ann Arbor? ... I hope the mayor
will come out and say hello ...
"We said to Bonnie, 'Dig some
local acts around here.' We sent her
the Chisel Bros. tape ... Bonnie said,
'Woh, this gal's great. I approve her
to open the show ...'
"It's a little bit of magic that
came right out of the blue. It's going
to put us back on the international
music festival, bam, real fast."
Equally pleased with Raitt's
choice is Chisel Bros.' vocalist
Thornetta Davis.
"This is going to be real cool. I
can't wait to do it. I had a dream that
I had opened up for Bonnie Raitt
actually. But it was so long ago, you
know, and I guess it's just coming
true. It's weird."
Davis says she thinks the Festival
might affect how younger people
perceive blues and jazz.
"People in my age group, espe-
cially in the Black community, don't
get off on the blues as much as they
should," Davis says.
"I think it's our heritage and I
think we need to get back to our
heritage and start learning more
about the music. And not just listen
to hip hop and all this stuff, but
listen to where it's coming from ... I
was really happy that (Raitt) won the
awards that she won, too, because
that means that (the blues) is coming
back."
ANN ARBOR WINS, TOO
One of the most interesting parts
of the whole package is the local as
potentially international. A number
See FEST, Page 18
0
'Can you imagine if this art fair came along ...
They come and say, 'We'd like to take over all
your streets downtown for three, no, four
days. Just wreak havoc with all the traffic
flow and everything else.' They'd say, 'Get out
of town. You people are crazy."
- Peter Andrews
01
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Blues and Jazz Festival ... It's just
been a thing that wouldn't go away
in my mind because I knew we were
so close to a nearly perfect event be-
fore."
Ile claims that for a number of
reasons from staging to ready-made
local spaces, the Festival is easy to
put on, but that in the past, the city
didn't understand this fact.
"It's really a straightforward pro-
duction, but I know many people
think it would be difficult. That's
why, over the years, many politi-
cians and people at City Hall said,
'This is a great idea. We really like
your event, Peter, but can't you do it
somewhere else?'...
"I said, 'No Gallup Park is the
TO THE PAST WE GO
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from the 1974 MichiganEnsian.
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