Go with The Flow...
Funky grooves, Latin rhythms, hot jams -
it can only be East Lansing's The Flow. 10
p.m. on Saturday at the Blind Pig. $5.
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michigandaily.com /arts
ANN ARBOR'S HAD THE BLUES FOR DECADES e
By John Uhl ed by an impos
Daily Music Editor ity of police) an
affluent music
Although the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival blues festival,c
first appeared thirty-one years ago as simply the Ann event. Any mon
Arbor Blues Festival, the event has only taken place donated to Afi
twelve times in Ann Arbor. South, the birth
The original Ann Arbor Blues Festival ran for three Moreover, th
evenings and two afternoons in early August of 1969, would help ofte
with a dazzling lineup of blues legends that included festival chairma
Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Lightnin' Hopkins, Junior will play two nig
Wells, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, T-Bone Walker, ing and only get
Luther Allison, Magic Sam and Son House. Anyone to make a recor
with even an offhand conception of the blues is sure to Neverthelesst
recognize some, if not most, of these names. The fes- than 200,000 pe
tival drew approximately 20,000 spectators and was festival's audien
g lauded by Down Beat magazine as "without a doubt cionados appre
the festival of the year, if not the decade." ited to the most
It was the first major blues festival held in North about 8,000 per
America, and really one of the earliest attempts to House to lose S3
bring the blues to a wider audience. Peter Andrew:
Michael Erlewine was a member of a prominent University in 1
local blues band and worked interviewing artists for gram that he wa
their festival bios, aided in artist hospitality and is now down a studen
the festival's historical archivist. "There was a small hold another blu
country blues festival down in Memphis led by Robert '71. But Andr
Palmer, but it was very tiny," Erlewine explained in a continuing the
recent interview. "This (the Ann Arbor festival) was 1972, writing
the first modern, electric, no-holds-barred attempt to ested student or
bring out this kind of black music. This wasn't old within the
blues, this was stuffthat was happening in the clubs of declined to ri
Chicago and everywhere that white people just ment, I was
weren't privy to." approach my
A comparable roster of performers was organized friend John
for the second annual festival in 1970, as a fair amount Sinclair to
of musicians returned in addition to many who had not see if there
appeared the year before, like John Lee Hooker,
Bobby "Blue" Bland and Buddy Guy.
Both the '69 and '70 festivals were organized by
University students and sponsored by the
University Activities Center and Canterbury House.
Unfortunately, The Goose Lake International
Music Festival, a large rock festival, was
held outside Jackson, MI on the same
weekend as the blues festival.
A Daily editorial urged stu-
dents to attend the blues festi-
val rather than the rock festi-
Photos courtesy of The Michiganensan val, citing Goose Lake's bad
klison at the 1972 festival, and
at 1969's innaugural event. vibes (attendees were surround-
CHOOSE DAILY ARTS.
IT'S THE ONLY CHOICE WORTH MAKING.
ing barbed wire fence and a multiplic-
id its general capitalist nature (making
promoters and rock stars richer). The
on the other hand, was a non-profit
ey that may have been made was to be
rican American communities in the
place of the blues.
e purchase of a blues festival ticket
en hard up artists. The column quoted
an John Fishel as saying "these guys
ghts a week from 8 until 5 in the morn-
t 30. And even if they do get a chance
d, they usually get screwed."
the Goose Lake shows attracted more
ople, drawing away much of the blues
nce pool. Although some blues afi-
ciated the fact that the crowd was lim-
t die-hard fans, the low attendance of
day caused the UAC and Canterbury
30,000.
vs, who was Events Director for the
971, wrote in the festival's 1973 pro-
as forced to turn
t proposal to
ues festival in .
ews puisued
festival in**
when inter-
rganizations
university
sk involve-
inspired to
v
Top: Luther A
Junior Wellsa
f .
Depleted by tragedy, this*
By Christian Hoard turous may opt for the indoor events
Daily Arts Writer scheduled at the Michigan Theater
Just like football games and over-
crowded house parties, the Ann
Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival is a
back-to-school staple, and with Ann
Arbor once again a buzz with hordes
of students, this year's Festival is all
set to serve up plenty of hot fun in
the (late) summertime.
Despite the last minute cancella-
tions of recent stroke victims Ruth
Brown and Stanley Turrentine, the
Festival's lineup is one of the most
eclectic in its history, with a diverse
cast of blues, jazz, funk and soul
artists performing at three different
locations between tonight and
Sunday.
At Gallup Park, concert-goers will
be treated to open seating and plenty
of grilled eats as they check out per-
formers ranging from local groove
masters Funktelligence to more tra-
ditional blues and soul acts like the
Robert Cray Band. The less adven-
m