Stan Koron

2003: The Year of The Blues
On September 12, 2002, the United States Senate passed Resolution #316 designating the year beginning on February 1, 2003 as the "Year of The Blues." Coordinated by The Blues Foundation and Experience Music Project, the Year of The Blues is a multi-faceted entertainment, education and outreach program recently formed to both celebrate and create greater awareness for the blues and its place in the history and evolution of music and culture, both in the United States and around the world. The program is anchored by high profile events, which begin on February 1 and go on throughout the year. The bill was sponsored by Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and led by Senators Bill Frist (R-TN), Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Fred Thompson (R-TN).

As one of the many programs that will be held during the year, there is an online petition to support a bill to provide Federal Medicare health benefits to blues artists. You can sign the petition if you like at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/qd3d2222/petition.html.

There will be a series of Blues films shown on PBS later this year. Under the guiding hand of Executive Producer Martin Scorsese, "The Blues" consists of seven, 90-minute impressionistic films that capture the essence of the Blues while exploring how this art form so deeply influenced people the world over. Other programs will be announced throughout the year; we will keep you posted.

Here is a copy of the Senate Resolution:

Senate Resolution 316
Whereas blues music is the most influential form of American roots music, with its impact heard around the world in rock and roll, jazz, rhythm and blues, country, and even classical music;

Whereas the blues is a national historic treasure, which needs to be preserved, studied, and documented for future generations;

Whereas the blues is an important documentation of African-American culture in the twentieth century;

Whereas the various forms of the blues document twentieth-century American history during the Great Depression and in the areas of race relations, pop culture, and the migration of the United States from a rural, agricultural society to an urban, industrialized Nation;

Whereas the blues is the most celebrated form of American roots music, with hundreds of festivals held and millions of new or reissued blues albums released each year in the United States;

Whereas the blues and blues musicians from the United States, whether old or new, male or female, are recognized and revered worldwide as unique and important ambassadors of the United States and its music;

Whereas it is important to educate the young people of the United States to understand that the music that they listen to today has its roots and traditions in the blues;

Whereas there are many living legends of the blues in the United States who need to be recognized and to have their story captured and preserved for future generations; and

Whereas the year 2003 is the centennial anniversary of when W.C. Handy, a classically-trained musician, heard the blues for the first time, in a train station in Mississippi, thus enabling him to compose the first blues music to distribute throughout the United States, which led to him being named "Father of the Blues":

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate --

Courtesy of Mo Paul, mopaul.com

Little Hatch
On January 14, the Kansas City blues community lost one of its most important members. Provine Hatch, Jr., better known as "Little Hatch," was, among many things, the Honorary Chairman of the KC Blues Society, as well as an Elder Statesman of Kansas City Jazz. Fellow harpist Mo Paul, who drew this sketch, said it best: "Little Hatch was a mighty, mighty man."

And he will be dearly missed.

 

 

Stan Koron is the president of the Kansas City Blues Society. He can be reached at Stan@kcbluessociety.com, or by phone at
913-649-0383



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