Honoring local legends at Blues Hall of Fame show
The Bay Area Blues Society has announced the honorees for the 2008 West Coast Blues Hall of Fame and Award Show.
Notable inductees to the hall of fame include former Muddy Waters sideman Pinetop Perkins, guitarist Fillmore Slim, Santana-vet Coke Escovedo, radio personality Ray Taliaferro, Texas blues pioneer Ferdinand “Fats” Washington and blues piano legend Nat Dove. The Bob Geddins Lifetime Achievement Awards (named after the “Godfather of Oakland Blues”) will go to local club owner Esther Brown Mabry (of Oakland’s Esther’s Orbit Room) and Frosene Phillips (a writer for this newspaper chain).
All of those fine folks will be honored in ceremonious style on March 29 at the Marriott Oakland City Center, 1001 Broadway. The main event runs from 7 to 11 p.m., immediately followed by an after-party (where all the really fun stuff will happen).
The Bay Area Blues Society, which is captained by the ever-cheery Ronnie Stewart, gives out dozens of trophies during the award show portion of the event. The categories range from the expected, like male and female blues vocalists of the year, to such relatively novel ones as Blues Bartender of the Year. Here is a sampling of this year’s batch of winners:
Blues Female Vocalist of the Year: Big Time Sarah
Blues Male Vocalist of the Year: Taildragger
Jazz Group of the Year: Carl Lockett Trio
R&B Female Vocalist of the Year: Sharon Jones
R&B Male Vocalist of the Year: Tommy Nunnelly
Blues Guitar of the Year: Larry Noble Sr.
Blues Drummer of the Year: Donny Kountz
Gospel Group of the Year: Edwin Hawkins & the Love Center Choir
Blues Band of the Year: Dynamic 4
West Coast Blues Hall of Fame and Award Show. Tickets are $30 in advance; $35 at the door. For more information, call 510-836-2227 or visit
www.bayareabluessociety.net.
Linear Mode
