Bluesweek

More like Bluesweekend. This event took place on Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday of our Memorial Day long weekend. We've had blues festivals in different formats for years. This version is, in part, to promote the National Blues Hall of Fame, under development here.

At lot of local events that are behind a barrier (because of alcohol sales) have a "no professional cameras" policy, enacted just to annoy me, I'm sure. Turned out not to be a problem yesterday but I took my little Olympus E-M5 just in case. These pictures were all taken with it. Stunning quality in a little package. Right, Grace?        

Harp

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A blues singer belts it out at last weekend's festival. You might wonder if his hands were cold but that wasn't possible. I think we've had 11 days with record high temperature so far in 2012, including Sunday when these were taken.

So what is with his hands? He is playing a small harmonica. usually known as a blues harp in this context. The players bend and twist the notes like hot oil. Here's a great example, played by Paul Butterfield. The crowd loved it but evidently the fashion police had not arrived by the time I took these.

Hey, there's actually going to be an Arch picture tomorrow.

Listening To The Oldies

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The blues is an old art form by American standards. It was appropriate, then, that many of the performers I shot at Bluesweek were, um, mature musicians. One or two might even have been my contemporary. But it's spring (even if it feels like summer) and a young man's fancy may turn to thoughts other than melodies and chords. Unless, perhaps, he finds a way to use them to advance other interests.

St. Louis Blues

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One of the things going on during this Memorial Day weekend is the Bluesweek festival downtown. It's so refreshing - no hassles about "professional" cameras. It was hot out on the streets with music to match. Some of it was so intense that it could, as they say, blow you away.