Blues scene gives blues fans well, the blues

Over the past few weeks a number of blues fans have written expressing concern about the blues scene - or lack thereof - here and, presumably, elsewhere.

To borrow liberally from one eloquently written and non-psycho maniac-on-speed rant (thank you!) email:

Case in point... I went to a Discovery Music series blues concert at the Attucks Theatre and was surprised when the MC told the roughly 40 people in the mostly empty theatre, “I’m glad to see so many more people coming out for events than we had last year.” It made me sad to see the historic black theatre so empty for a young musician, John Bigham (The soul of John Black), who mixes blues, soul, R&B and rap and who’s played with Dr. Dré, Eminem, Fishbone, Miles Davis, Everlast and Nikka Costa. Why were the few people in attendance 60 year old white men with pony tails and their wives? There were maybe 5 African Americans in the theatre.

He went on to talk about how the blues - a traditionally Afro-American form of music with such deep historical ties and such a rich legacy - was going largely unobserved by, more or less, young black kids. Sad though that it is, it's an unremarkable occurrence; it happened with jazz, and will no doubt one day happen with hip-hop music.

Others have called or written saying that the blues, in general, don't get no respect, and well, yeah, you're probably right. While I certainly have nothing against the blues per se it's not exactly the sexiest form of music out there. While I do appreciate it very much, it is, to be blunt, kind of a Debbie Downer. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Ghostface Killah isn't always a visit to Disneyland either.

So we'd like to officially kick off a genuine attempt to pay more attention to the blues (and believe me, it's not like we can't relate...shout out to the homies Xanax and Klonopin) with letting you know about the following.

Tonight, acclaimed group Sparky & Rhonda Rucker will do a FREE show at Dockmaster's at Waterside at 7 p.m.

On Friday, the wonderful Homemade Jamz Blues Band will do a show at the Attucks Theatre as part of the fabulous Discovery Music Series; they're a trio of siblings from Miss. who play homemade instruments.

And on Saturday, blues man Angelo plays at the Meyera Orbendorf Library in Virginia Beach; call 538-1959 for info.

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