Blues Festival another Success

The economy may have slowed things down, but there were still a lot of people who really enjoyed the Blues Festival and had a great time....Things started off at the Hayti Heritage Center on Friday and got kicked off in fine form with the Jon Shain Trio, and then Jasme Kelly did a nice solo show and then Eric Bibb took people on a great musical journey that had the audience captured and had them dancing in the aisles.
On Saturday, in a new format that 12 hours long, the festival returned back to the Old Ballpark..Yes, with a newly renovated ballpark, the field had to be covered with that plastic substance, and the acts were great though a lot of folks may not have been aware of how talented many of them were, but now they have a understanding of how great they are. Among the highlights were the kids who make up Homemade Jamz Blues Band and it was great watching one of the teens going into the audience and jamming, and also the young lady who is not even a teenager yet, rock on the drums........
And all kinds of other things were going on Saturday....The Farmer's Market and the Durham Crafter's Market were happening and that afternoon there was a pig pickin'...I understand there were also events happening at NCCU......
On Thursday, I had fun with another great Blues show at WCOM.....and that evening was a relaxing day.......
The Wednesday before I was at Papa Mojo's roadhouse and it was great seeing my friend Sharon perform again at the open mike.....
This weekend a bunch of things are happening....Nnenna Freelon is doing a fundraiser for See Saw at the Arts Council on Friday, Lenora Helmsey is performing at Hayti on Friday and also Playdate is taking place in Raleigh and King and Jeff are jamming this weekend at Pinhook......And all this is going on while Centerfest is taking place this weekend and Sparkcon is going on in Raleigh......Today Liz H is performing at Marvell with several performers, King and Jeff are having a funk jam at Alivia's, and Open Mic is jumping again tonight........Like I said there is all kinds of things going on in the Bull City and surrounding areas...