Saturday, May 15, 2010

Change

Change can be an interesting thing in the world of entertainment. And a new change is happening dealing with the Bull Durham Blues Festival......This year in September the Blues Festival will be at the Hayti Heritage Center and on the Saturday of the festival it will be at the Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham's newest jewel, which has already such acts as B.B. King, Roger Daltry, and the Stylistics, and for the 2010 Blues Festival will be featuring legendary Blues Guitarist Buddy Guy.
For years, people have enjoyed the family atmosphere of the Blues Festival with its Kids Zone, various vendors and great food and of course Great music, but as with any outside venture, there is always the danger of what the elements can do and that will not be the case with this year's Festival....Though there are plans to have some outside events, and maybe even in the future having the festival spread throughout town at different venues, some outside and some inside...If that is the case, the Festival could take on the nature of something like the Heritage Festival in New Orleans or Spoleto in Charleston, S.C.
While, I personally will miss the atmosphere of the outside festival and its ambiance, I am looking forward to seeing how the new incarnation takes place and what kind of environment it creates...remember Bimbe too had to go through many moves before landing on its current spot in downtown Durham, and last year's festival with Whodini was tremendously successful and I suspect there will be a good crowd for Slick Rick as well.....But I can tell you one thing though, in my world, Terraplas has become a cuss word first causing discomfort to some, either through glare or just plain dislike when it was layed down to protect the field, and to be honest, it was a factor in the decision to make the move as well...as it was going to be a major cost factor in this year's festival....once again the city has changed the rules...While I love the Ballpark when I go the Bulls games, remember initially it was voted down, and then a end run was done...and now after promising that they would work to keep festivals in the Ballpark, including Blues and World Beer Festival, it looks like neither will be there in 2010 and who knows when, or even if, they will return.....See what happens when folks who were adamant in their defense of a cause like Allen DeLisle and Reyn Bowman either move to new pastures or into retirement....It is true that a new breed of Advocates need to work their magic as well so Durham can keep its unique kinda of energy going............

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