Bman's Blues Report

  LONG BEACH BLUES SOCIETY PRESENTS: "BLUES IN THE SCHOOLS" AT RENAISSANCE HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS, THURS., MAY 25            (Long Beach, CA) - The newly-formed Long Beach Blues Society presents Blues in the Schools, an exciting new program bringing together musically-inclined high school students and professional blues artists, coming to Renaissance High School for the Arts, 235 E. 8th St.,  Thursday, May, 25, from 1pm-2:40pm.   Students will experience a hands-on opportunity to work with established blues musicians who'll encourage and push them to achieve confidence in their musical development.  Through direction and collaborations, students will gain understanding about the importance of performing an engaging live show.    Life-long blues evangelist, legendary guitarist, radio host, and educator, Bernie Pearl, will sh...

I had the opportunity to talk with Josh Coen of the Rainy Day Blues Society (Eugene, Oregon) about their Blues In Schools program and how it is growing. Bman: Hi Josh. I appreciate you taking time out from your busy schedule to talk with me. I've been hearing about your " Blues In Schools " program. Can you tell me how that came about? Josh: Like most blues societies, The Rainy Day Blues Society , here in Eugene has a mission to educate the public and preserve America's foundational music form, The Blues . Before I got involved, the blues society did a few random programs for local schools. But in 2007, I joined the committee and knew that for the program to be effective and taken seriously by the schools, it needed to have a standardized curriculum and regular scheduling. I worked on that for the first year, including creating all the necessary materials and gathering volunteers, and relaunched the program in 2008. Bman: Wow! That's a lot of work! What exactl...