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LIVING
BLUES
Well into our 33rd year of publication, Living Blues® magazine remains
true to its journalistic mission of serving blues artists, musicians, promoters,
and fans with news and insight on the growing and expanding African American
blues tradition. The past few issues have included in-depth interviews with pedal
steel
phenomenon Robert Randolph and O Brother, Where Art Thou? star Chris
Thomas King. Recent issues have also included detailed articles on multi-instrumentalist
Howard “Louie
Bluie” Armstrong, the legacy of ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, an overview
of the Rochester, New York, blues scene, and a “Blues Today” essay
by famed columnist and author Stanley Crouch. A piece on “Jook Women,” that
included a number of photographs from Bill Steber, has garnered particular praise.
The upcoming year-end issue will highlight the king of the chitlin’ circuit,
Bobby Rush, and a long overdue remembrance and reconsideration of sanctified
gospel-blues singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Living Blues® has seen a few changes during 2003. Brett Bonner is
the new editor, having previously served as a contributing writer, photographer,
and advertising director for the last 17 years. Additionally, Preston Lauterbach
has moved on to Ph.D. work at the University of Virginia and Mark Camarigg replaces
him as assistant editor. Finally, with advice from magazine consultant Samir
Husni, Living Blues® has a new logo, look, and feel. Our latest issues have
been a huge success on the newsstand.
Planning is under way for the second annual Living Blues® symposium
to be held in February 2004. Reservations will be taken soon. We are also working
on an upcoming issue dedicated specifically to the blues in Mississippi today,
with sponsorship from the Mississippi State Board of Tourism. 2004 should be
a great
year for the blues and for Living Blues®. Subscribe today and see
what the
blues is really all about.
Mark Camarigg
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GOOD
NEWS FOR BLUES LOVERS
The second annual incarnation of “The Blues Today: A Living Blues® Symposium,” will
take place in late winter or early spring of 2004. Paul Oliver, author of the
pioneering study Blues Fell This Morning and a legend in the field of
blues scholarship, will deliver the keynote address. “From Africa to Mississippi” is
the symposium’s theme; planned panels include “Africa and the Blues,” “The
Year of the Blues: A Critical Appraisal,” “Living Blues®:
From Chicago to Oxford,” “Hip-Hop, Spoken Word, and Contemporary Blues
Poetics,” and “Blues Music Today.” The symposium panels will be
leavened by documentary films (about Honeyboy Edwards and Othar Turner), several
live blues shows, and an “Afrosippi Jam” (plus a catfish dinner) at
a local Mississippi juke, featuring blues and hip hop poets.
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