One of the best line-ups in years will herald the relocation to Bateman’s Bay of what will now be called The Great Southern Blues Festival on 1st ~ 3rd October.

Here’s a little taste of what’s on offer over the October long weekend @ the 15th annual festival.  Internationals artists Harry Manx, Watermelon Slim & The Workers, Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, Todd Lundgren, Wolf Mail, Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm, Ben Kweller, John Cleary, Pink Martini, Toni Childs, Little Band O’ Gold and the Court Yard Hounds (2/3rds of The Dixie Chicks) and Aussie greats………..Dallas Frasca, Marshall & The Fro, Dave Hole, Blue Shaddy, Ray Beale Band, Pete Cornelius Band, Whose Muddy Shoes, Swamphouse, Adam Hole & Marji Curran Band and The Travellers (Brian Cade, Russell Morris, Joe Camilleri and Darryl Braithwaite.  Plus a whole lot more. 

For tickets and more information ….go to http://www.bluesfestival.tv/

Following Sunday’s 6th Annual General Meeting, the CBS’ new Management Committee is;

President: Steve Russell

Secretary/Public Officer: Kerry Sattler

Treasurer: Col Whittaker

General Committee Members are: Cath Graham, John Van Buuren, Richard Egan and Grant Osbourne.

Congratulations to these members.

Here it is…………..all the blues you can handle for the rest of August and into September.  Go to it and support the venues that support live blues!!

August-2010-Gig-Guide

As previously advised, The Southern Cross Yacht Club at Yarralumla has suspended its Sunday Blues and Jazz afternoons during August and September while it assesses their viabilty.

In the interim, it appears that the focus has shifted to the Southern Cross Club Jamison, cnr Catchpole & Bowman Sts, Macquarie with it suddenly announcing a programme of Blues and Jazz on Sunday afternoons from 1:00pm ~ 4:00pm.

The Festival is now in its 2nd year and this year there will be two outdoor
main stages and several participating venues, including the Hawkesbury Paddle Steamer, which will be running two ‘blues-cruises’ per
day.

The promoters have advised that any Blues Club/Society members who’d like to attend are entitled to a 10% discount on individual ticket purchases on proof of membership, although the offer excludes the current early-bird tickets.

In order to make the process of selecting host bands for the monthly jams more transparent, the CBS Committee has come up with the following approach to selecting bands.

If you have a band that has performed at the Jams, that meets the selection criteria outlined below and would like to nominate as a host band for a jam, please email the name of your band and contact details to: .au  or telephone or SMS Dom Melano on 0412 105 074. We will need to receive your nomination by the Jam on the 15th August.

The names we receive will be screened by the Committee before going into the draw to ensure the bands are of a standard suitable to host the jam.

Host bands will be selected by placing the names of bands that nominate in a hat and drawing sufficient names to fill the dates available. Initially this will be for August – December 2010 period.

Two reserve names will be drawn in case a first choice band is unavailable. If a reserve is needed, they will be offered a booking in the order in which they were drawn from the hat.

While accommodating the CBS needs for a host band each month, the CBS will work with bands to try and meet their preferences for dates to host.

The Musicians’ Representative and another Member chosen by the Committee will vet potential names. If they do not feel a band meets the required standard, they will defer to the Committee for a decision.

 Preference will be given to professionally rehearsed bands – not scratch bands formed to host a jam.  Host bands must play blues or blues-related music and provide professional PA equipment, drums, a bass guitar amplifier and two guitar amplifiers for jammers.

The majority of members in the host band must be financial members of CBS.

 As far as practicable, host bands will be limited to performing not more than twice a year.  This does not exclude musicians, who may be part of more than one band, from performing more than twice a year.

Col Whittaker

Acting Prersident