JAM: December 2003/January 2004 Issue: Blues News

Stan Koron

Let's Continue to Grow and Build!

As the year comes to an end, November is the month that the Kansas City Blues Society holds its annual election of its Board of Directors. We have a few new people on our board for 2004, which is always good for new ideas and energy. Here is a list of board members for the coming year: J.F. Allen, Debbie Black, Steve Butler, Rich Carr, Bruce Hibbs, Stan Koron, Cynthia Pesselato, Charles "Rags" Ragsdell, Paul Scofield, Curt Straub and Jerry Thompson. I am very excited about the new lineup and look forward to a great year ahead as we promote our Blues music heritage.

In October we held our annual Blues Challenge competition to pick a band to represent Kansas City at the International Blues Challenge to be held in Memphis at the end of January 2004. We had fourteen bands enter the competition, which was a wonderful showcase of our local Kansas City Blues bands. The Blues Notions won this year's Blues Challenge and will represent Kansas City in Memphis for the third time. They went to Memphis to compete at the Blues Challenge in 1988 and again in 1991, when they took the trophy for third place nationwide. Good luck guys!

As most of you know, the U.S. Senate declared 2003 as the "Year of The Blues." I have some opinions about this past year's tribute to our Blues music heritage as the "Year of The Blues" comes to an end. The events associated with the YOTB proclamation have been a wonderful display of the reasons why we must continue to nurture and respect this wonderful American art form that we call Blues music. The YOTB senate resolution provided a platform from which to make many people aware of this style of music for the first time. The local concerts and activities around the country accomplished a lot as Blues music took the front seat for a while. As a result of these cumulative efforts, sales of Blues CDs and related products have risen significantly over the past year and many people are listening to Blues music for the first time!

The week that featured "The Blues" television series had a powerful impact. It seemed to pull the nation together into the same room to view scenes of our nation's past and current culture as it is addressed through Blues music. The power of television demanded the print media to also give attention to this wonderful collage of Blues documentaries, adding to the exposure given to this American art form. "The Blues" series had some of the best music movies that I have seen since my all-time favorite, "Living In the Shadows of Motown," the story about the amazing Funk Brothers.

So, what do we do now that the official "Year of The Blues" is winding down? I suggest that we continue growing and building with the boost that the YOTB provided us! We're on a roll now, why let up?

We need to come up with more events and reasons to celebrate Blues music in the new year ahead. We have to involve local Blues societies, musicians, business corporations and news organizations in events that remind people of this unique American heritage. Perhaps we should think of a theme each year that would focus on a great contribution to Blues heritage, like: best singer (male or female) locally or nationally, best band, best radio station program, etc. For example, there is a campaign in motion at this time to claim 2004 as a tribute to the "Women Of Blues," and each city can nominate a woman who has made a major contribution to her city's Blues heritage. That would be easy for me. I would pick singer Julia Lee -- who sold over a half million records in 1947 with her Capitol Records release "Snatch and Grab It" -- as she performed primarily in her home town: Kansas City!

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