News Release

20 years of blues, community and fighting hunger 

FedEx Freight Workshop Stage to offer rich learning experience

PORTLAND, Ore. (June 25, 2007)— It’s intimate. It’s dynamic. It’s the little gem of the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, presented by First Tech Credit Union, July 4 to 8, 2007.

The FedEx Freight Workshop Stage is the cozy corner of the festival site … where blues legends tell their stories and talk to fans one-on-one … where world-class musicians teach children to play blues rhythms and riffs ... where the experts share their musical knowledge … and where amazing things happen.

Now in its fifth year, the FedEx Freight Workshop Stage will offer a full line-up of educational workshops, performances, interviews and children’s programming that help give the festival its distinctive character and cultural depth.

Here are just a few of the FedEx Freight Workshop Stage highlights:

• Harmonica legend James Cotton and guitarist Hubert Sumlin will present a demonstration and workshop Thursday, July 5. Cotton, arguably the greatest living blues harmonica player, was a longtime member of the Muddy Waters Band. Sumlin has been hailed by the likes of Jimi Hendix, and Eric Clapton as one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

• Lurrie Bell, son of the late harmonica legend Carey Bell will present a workshop on Thursday, July 5. Bell has been hailed in his own right as “perhaps the most talented blues guitarist of his generation.”

• More workshops for children, including hands-on blues piano workshops for kids; Seattle music educator John Marshall will teach children to construct Diddley Bows. Award-winning guitarist/educator Victor Johnson will play a children's blues performance. And ComedySportz will perform Frozen Carrots, presented by NW Natural, a bite-sized musical for children about hunger issues.

• See aspiring young blues musicians. On Friday, July 6, impressive teenage blues guitarists Ben Rice, Ty Curtis and Gunnar Roads will host a New-Blues Jam-Session with help from the mature harmonica work of Hank Shreve. Talented young students of the Paul Green School of Rock will close the stage on Sunday, July 8, with a blues workshop and demonstration.           

• Hawkeye Herman, considered one of the nation’s foremost blues performers and educators and winner of the coveted Keeping the Blues Alive Award for his pioneering of blues education in the schools, will teach his audience the history of the blues on Saturday, July 7, and Sunday, July 8.

• San Diego's Nathan James and Ben Hernandez, who won the International Blues Challenge in Memphis last year in the solo/acoustic category, will teach blues fans about “Getting Down with Home-Made Instruments” on Saturday, July 7.

• Saturday, July 7, the festival will focus on Gulf Coast musical traditions. Jeffrey Broussard & the Creole Cowboys of Lafayette, La., will lead a Zydeco accordion and fiddle workshop. And New Orleans bluesman Jumpin Johnny Sansone will lead an accordion and harmonica workshop.

• Mary Flower, described as “one of the best blues-based singer-songwriters working today,” will present a workshop on The Essence of Ragtime Guitar on Thursday, July 5.

• The Texas Horns, one of the most sought-after horn sections in the world, will present a workshop on Brass in the Blues, Thursday, July 5. The Texas Horns have recorded and toured with Buddy Guy, Marcia Ball and many more.

• Blues historian and photographer Dick Waterman will take blues fans on a fascinating journey of blues history through his photographs and stories of blues legends on Saturday, July 7.

• Masterful guitarist and educator Steve James will present a Blues Mandolin workshop. And Seattle’s Del Rey will present a dobro/blues guitar workshop on Friday, July 6. Both are longtime faculty at the Port Townsend Country Blues Workshop.

• Former B.B. King drummer Tony Coleman will lead a workshop on 'The Groove,' Wednesday, July 4.  The workshop will focus on drums and bass — the part of the band that creates the drive and momentum — and how they are used in the blues genre.

• Blues guitarist, historian and writer Steve Cheseborough will present a workshop and demonstration on the Life and Music of '30s Blues Star Bo Carter on Saturday, July 7.

• The triple-threat singer, songwriter and pianist Teresa James, a surprise hit at last year's festival, will return to the workshop stage for an intimate performance and workshop on Saturday, July 7.

• David Vest will present Blues, Barrelhouse & Boogie Woogie Piano, Friday, July 6. Vest grew up in the Gulf Coast, learning directly from boogie-woogie masters. 
• And take in workshops on Bottleneck Guitar by Joe McMurrian, fingerpicking and traditional Jazz and Blues by Louisiana guitarist Steve Howell, an introduction to delta blues guitar by Handy Award nominee, Mark Lemhouse and a guitar workshop by Australia's premier blues woman, Fiona Boyes.

The FedEx Freight Workshop Stage is one of four stages, featuring 125 performances, at the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival. Daily admission to the festival is a suggested donation of $8 per person per day and two cans of food. For every dollar donation, OFB can collect and distribute 6 pounds of food. The festival is the major annual fund-raiser for Oregon Food Bank, a charitable nonprofit agency. All festival proceeds benefit Oregon Food Bank’s work to eliminate hunger and its root causes … because no one should be hungry.

About Oregon Food Bank: Oregon Food Bank is a nonprofit, charitable organization. It is the hub of the Oregon Food Bank Network, a statewide network of 20 regional food banks and 884 hunger-relief agencies serving Oregon and Clark County, Wash. Last year, OFB distributed 34.3-million pounds of food.

About festival sponsors. The 2007 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is presented by First Tech Credit Union. Major sponsors are iQ Credit Union, The Oregonian A&E, KINK.fm, Good Neighbor Pharmacy, PacificSource Health Plans, FedEx Freight, DaimlerChrysler Truck Financial, Miller Brewing, Delta Music Experience and Land Rover.

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FedEx Workshop Stage Schedule

WEDNESDAY, July 4

12:45PM  Blues Piano for Kids: David Moore
2:15PM  ComedySportz:  Frozen Carrots
3:45PM  Blues for kids: Victor Johnson
5:30PM  The Groove: Tony Coleman
7:00PM  Down-home Southeast Acoustic Blues: Lauren Sheehan
8:45PM  Reggie's Blues Forms: Reggie Houston's Box of Chocolates

THURSDAY, July 5

12:00PM  Fiona Boyes
1:30PM  Essence of Blues and Rag Guitar: Mary Flower
3:15PM  Brass in the Blues: The Texas Horns
4:45PM  Chicago Blues Guitar: Lurrie Bell
6:45PM  Kinzel & Hyde
9:00PM  James Cotton and Hubert Sumlin

FRIDAY, July 6

12:45PM  Blues, Barrelhouse & Boogie Woogie Piano: David Vest2:15PM  Blues Mandolin workshop: Steve James
3:45PM  Guitar workshop: Del Rey
5:15PM  Intro to Country Blues: Mark Lemhouse
7:15PM  New Blues Jam: Ben Rice, Gunnar Roads, Hank Shreve, Ty Curtis Band
9:15PM  Alternate Tunings and Finger-style Slide Guitar: Joe McMurrian

SATURDAY, July 7

12:00PM  Life and Music of '30s Blues Star, Bo Carter:  Steve Cheseborough
1:30PM  Hawkeye Herman
3:15PM  Blues Photo Presentation: Dick Waterman
5:15PM Alone with the Blues: Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps
7:00PM  Gettin' Down on Homemade Instruments: Nathan James & Ben Hernandez
9:00PM  Zydeco accordion and fiddle: Jeffrey Broussard & the Creole Cowboys
9:30PM  Gulf Coast harmonica and accordion:  Jumpin' Johnny Sansone

SUNDAY, July 8

12:45PM  Diddley Bow Workshop: John Marshall
2:30PM  Blues Piano for Kids: David Moore
4:15PM  Fingerpicking Country Blues and Traditional Jazz: Steve Howell
6:30PM  Hawkeye Herman
8:15PM Blues workshop/performance: Paul Green School of Rock