Blues

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Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan was a Grammy Award-winning blues musician. As one of few blues artists to break into the mainstream in the '80s, he became an influential guitarist throughout the world. Vaughan has become a regular in "Best Guitarists Ever" polls, including being named the seventh greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003.

Stevie Ray Vaughan grew up playing blues guitar, and in the late '70s formed Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble with Chris Layton (drums) and Tommy Shannon (who replaced Jackie Newhouse on bass in 1981). Vaughan turned down an offer to tour with David Bowie to focus on his own band, and his debut release Texas Flood became a hit record behind the single "Pride and Joy." As the band continued to release albums and tour, Vaughan fell into a downward spiral of cocaine addiction and alcoholism until he was near death.

Although he made a full recovery from his addictions and became an advocate for sobriety, Stevie Ray Vaughan died accidentally when the helicopter he was riding in crashed into the side of a mountain on August 27, 1990.

updated 2010-07-17 22:52:46

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New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Parking

Gray Line Tours will offer the "Jazz Fest Express," a continuous round-trip shuttle from the Sheraton Hotel, the Gray Line Lighthouse (located at the Steamboat Natchez Dock next to the Jax Brewery), and City Park (near Marconi Meadows). Shuttle service will operate daily from 10:30am-7:30pm. This service may be added at the same time as you purchase advance festival admission tickets, and costs $17. A special one-way ticket to travel from the Festival to downtown will be available at a cost of $10. http://www.nojazzfest.com/index.php?http%3A//www.nojazzfest.com/info/faq.php

Taking a taxi at the fest is an inexpensive way to get there ... New Orleans cabs offer a special event rate of $3.00 per person. http://goneworleans.about.com/od/festivals/f/jazzfest3.htm

Another good travel option is taking the Canal Street Streetcar (you'll see it marked "City Park/Museum") from downtown. Ride the streetcar to Beauregard Circle, and you'll be within easy walking distance to the fairgrounds.

No matter which way you choose to get to the fest, make sure you're wearing comfortable shoes ... you'll be walking around a lot, with so much to do and see!

We wish you a great time at this year's Jazz and Heritage Festival. For more helpful information, please check out the additional Mahalo fest info pages which are linked at the right hand sidebar of this page.

updated 2010-07-17 16:54:21

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Free Music

It is illegal to download copyrighted material without permission. See the RIAA's website for more information. www.riaa.com/

updated 2010-07-17 05:43:58

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Willy Deville

Singer and songwriter Willy DeVille was a member of the band Mike Deville and went on to have a successful solo career.

DeVille died at the age of 55 on August 6, 2009, from pancreatic cancer.

updated 2010-07-18 02:39:33

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Janis Joplin

"I'm a victim of my own insides. There was a time when I wanted to know everything...It used to make me very unhappy, all that feeling. I just didn't know what to do with it. But now I've learned to make that feeling work for me. I'm full of emotion and I want a release, and if you're on stage and if it's really working and you've got the audience with you, it's a oneness you feel."

"Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got."

"Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. You can fill your life up with ideas and still go home lonely. All you really have that really matters are feelings. That's what music is to me."

"On stage, I make love to 25,000 different people, then I go home alone."

updated 2010-07-17 11:11:06

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New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Tickets

Advance tickets are available via Ticketmaster, but if you're in New Orleans (or know someone there who could purchase tickets on your behalf) you might find the best deal by buying advance tickets directly from the Louisiana Superdome Box Office or New Orleans Arena Box Office. The New Orleans Arena Box Office (1501 Girod Street) is open 9:00 am-4:30pm. The Louisiana Superdome Box Office (1500 Poydras Street, Ground Level at Gate A) is open Monday through Friday 9:00am-4:30 p.m. Though purchasing at these venues still has fees added--a $3 service charge is added for cash purchases, and additional processing fees are added for credit card transactions--you should still save a bit over what you would pay by purchasing online via Ticketmaster. http://www.nojazzfest.com/index.php?http%3A//www.nojazzfest.com/info/

Pricing for tickets is as follows:

1st Weekend (April 23, 24 or 25) - Single Day Admission
Adults: $45 in advance; Gate Price: $60
Children age 2-10: $5 (available at the gate only)

2nd Weekend (April 29, 30, May 1, 2) - Single Day Admission
Adults: $45 in advance; Gate Price: $60
Children age 2-10: $5 (available at the gate only)

SPECIAL PACKAGES

If you want to go first class at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, there are deluxe packages available that have many unique advantages and amenities. Available packages are called "The Big Chief VIP Experience", "The Grand Marshall VIP Pass, " and the "Krewe of Jazz Fest VIP Pass." Full ...

updated 2010-07-17 16:54:21

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Delta Blues

The Delta blues grew from music made by people with few instruments and limited resources. Bands were rare, and most musicians worked solo. Harmonica and guitar, especially slide guitar, are the most common instruments. With no formal training, the patterns in Delta blues are often uneven, and the lyrics are more spoken than sung.http://www.pbs.org/theblues/roadtrip/deltastyle.html

Blues artists were recorded commercially in the 1920s and 1930s, but their songs did not receive wide release or promotion. Instead, these "race records" were released and promoted only within the black community, and were considered to be of little interest to whites.

Beginning in the 1930s, folklorists John Lomas and his son Alan began traveling through the Mississippi delta region, searching out and recording the influential blues musicians in the area. In some cases, these recordings are all that exist of these musicians; in other others, the recordings led later musicians to search out the early blues pioneers.http://www.thebluestrail.com/artists/mus_jal.htm

updated 2010-07-17 03:09:49

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Crossroads Guitar Festival Tickets

The Crossroads Guitar Festival, which has been described by founder Eric Clapton as "the realization of a dream," will take place on June 26, 2010 at Toyota Park in Chicago's Bridgeview neighborhood. This will be Clapton's third time hosting the event, which previously took place in 2004 and 2007 and is a fundraiser for Crossroads Centre, a drugs and alcohol dependence treatment facility located in Antiqua.

General admission tickets for the show went on sale February 20, 2010 at a face value of $100, and are now sold out. But for those who don't currently have tickets, there is still hope...a variety of resellers are offering tickets, and promotional ticket giveaways are likely to be underway in the Chicago area as the show date draws near.

Ticketmaster's online store has posted a note that more tickets to Crossroads Guitar Festival are likely to become available shortly before the day of the show. In the meantime, Ticketmaster is selling Crossroads tickets at ticketsnow.com, a partner company, at prices ranging from $268 to $1200 for single admission. http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0400444375AC1394 http://www.ticketsnow.com/InventoryBrowse/Crossroads-Guitar-Festival-with-Eric-Clapton-Tickets-at-Toyota-Park-in-Bridgeview?PID=950155

Quite a few tickets to the festival are currently up for sale or auction on eBay and Stub Hub, with Buy It Now options starting as low as $230. http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m570.l1311&_nkw=crossroads+guitar+festival&_sacat=See-All-Categories http://www.stubhub.com/crossroads-guitar-festival-tickets/eric-claptons-2010-crossroads-guitar-festival-including-eric-clapton-jeff-beck-bb-king-john-mayer-and-more-bridgeview-toyota-park-6-26-2010-936612/ebay/?gcid=C12289x184

If ...

updated 2010-07-17 02:25:53

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The Wood Brothers

• 2006: Ways Not to Lose

• 2008: Loaded

• 2011: "Smoke Ring Halo (forthcoming)http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the_wood_brothers_f1/smoke_ring_halo/ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-wood-brothers-p723720/discography

updated 2010-12-13 02:48:03

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