Making strides against Breast Cancer with “Vote for my Rack” People’s Choice Rib Competition
August 31, 2010 by Larry
Filed under Community, Music, Our Events
Now this is a great combo – enjoying world class blues, Roanoke’s best ribs & fighting Breast Cancer at the same time! New at the ‘10 SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival- participate in the US Foodservice Rib Cook-Off People’s Choice Award and help the American Cancer Society too. Get a ballot that day (suggested donation of $1.00) and cast your vote for your favorite ribs.
*Pink “Vote for my Rack” apparel will also be on sale – with a portion of the proceeds going to the American Cancer Society.
SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival – Podcast Preview Show
August 31, 2010 by Larry
Filed under Community, Music, Our Events, Volunteers
Can’t wait for “Mr. Tuff Enough” – Jimmie Vaughan along with John Lee Hooker Jr., Teresa James & The Rhythm Tramps, plus special guests Lou Ann Barton, and Clarence “The Bluesman” Turner?
This year’s SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival , on Sat. Oct. 2 (Elmwood Park, downtown Roanoke, VA) will be the best yet! And that’s saying something since over the last few years we’ve had Delbert McClinton, John Hammond, Shemekia Copeland, Jimmy Thackery, Jimmy Hall, Paul Thorn, Anna Popovic, Hamilton Loomis and others on stage!
So you can get a preview of the music – our friend “Bratha Dave” from BluzNdaBlood has just competed show #102 for his podcast – it features the artists and music from this year’s SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival. Enjoy!
You can subscribe to the BluzNdaBlood Blues Podcast via iTunes too!
If you’d like to contact “Bratha Dave” here’s his email.
Now accepting merchant vendor applications for SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival- Oct.2
August 31, 2010 by Larry
Filed under Community, Music, Our Events
The 4th annual SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival will take place October 2, 2010 in Elmwood Park, downtown Roanoke, Virginia. For the past three years, this all day event has drawn large crowds from all over the east coast. From now until September 22, EventZone will be accepting vendor applications for product/service, craft artisans and goods and product sampling.
This is a unique opportunity because this event has grown to become a highly anticipated festival every year and unlike other events, Big Lick Blues will not have rigid guidelines for vendors (approval based upon application review). Fabulous local restaurants cooking up ribs and BBQ, People’s Choice awards, Rib eating contest and great blues and jazz music are just some of the elements that make this event so popular.
This year SunTrust Big Lick Blues is excited to bring Grammy winning performers like Jimmie Vaughan, Teresa James and John Lee Hooker Jr. to the Roanoke Valley. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to have prime space during an event that brings over 3,000 people to Elmwood Park.
Click here to print your merchant vendor application or e-mail amanda@eventzone.org.
If you have any questions or need additional information please do not hesitate to contact Amanda Gaylor.
It’s time again for the 3rd Annual Humana Big Lick Ice Cream Dance!
August 29, 2010 by Larry
Filed under Community, Music, Our Events
This Thursday at 
Party in the Park, featuring The Kings, Humana will once again present the Big Lick Ice Cream Dance and an ice cream social. Courtesy of Humana, there will be yummy flavors of Homestead Creamery ice cream for your enjoyment – all FREE while supplies last. If you’ve never witnessed this before you won’t want to miss this year’s. Couples will compete to provide the most entertaining dance while holding a HUGE ice cream cone! If you want to enter, all you have to do is show up; we will be picking competitors before the band break at 7:00.
Become a fan on Facebook and stay up to date with announcements and weather updates!
Check out the video of 1st Annual Humana Big Lick Ice Cream Dance!
“Downtown Getdown” at Blues BBQ Co this Thursday!
August 29, 2010 by Larry
Filed under Community, Music, Our Events
This Thursday (Sept.2) after The Band of Oz, head over to Blues BBQ Co. for Party in the Park’s “Downtown Getdown” Special. Blues BBQ is offering their slow cooked pulled pork sandwich with their fresh cut boardwalk fries for only $6.00! Blues BBQ Co. is all about the love and food, you won’t want to pass up this special deal! So head on over to this blues hideaway after PITP. It’s just a short walk down the breezeway, located in the heart of the Market Square, right beside of Blue Ribbon Boutique.
*These amazing specials are only for Party in the Park goers! Be sure to pick up your “Downtown Getdown” Card at Party in the Park. Become a fan on Facebook for updates on Downtown Getdown, weather and any other changes.
Jim Quick’s “Down South” CD Release concert in downtown Roanoke – it’s FREE!
August 23, 2010 by Larry
Filed under Community, Music, Our Events
Jim Quick & Coastline are a fan favorite in the Roanoke Valley and all points south. Their music is a unique blend of soul, blues, rock and country all with that unmistakable beach music rhythm – or as Jim Quick describes it, “
Carolina swamp music.” Their last CD, released under the alias band name of King Tyrone & The Graveyard Ramblers, contained the smash hit, “Mama’s Drinkin’ Liquor Again” (watch YouTube video). Now Jim and the boys are set to release their new CD entitled “Down South” any day, and they are coming to Roanoke for a FREE admission CD Release concert on Wed. Sept. 15, 2010! We’re told the band will perform some of their classic hits, but also plan to play the entire new CD during this show.
Wed. Sept. 15, 2010
Market Square downtown Roanoke – starting at 6:00pm.
Become a Facebook Fan of this concert so we can keep you up to date on teh latest news and also so we can provide you with a sneak preview from the “Down South” CD when we get it.
John Lee Hooker, Jr. has truley lived the “life of a bluesman.”
August 23, 2010 by Larry
Filed under Community, Music, Our Events
John Lee Hooker Jr. was born in Detroit “Motor City” with Delta blues-filled blood running through his Motown veins. The son of the great John Lee Hooker, he was exposed the life of 
the blues from a young age. At only eight years old Jr. performed on Detroit’s WJBK radio and knew from that moment that he wanted to follow the path of his father and become a world-class musician. Touring alongside Hooker, Sr. throughout his teens, Jr. had already performed in prestigious venues such as Detroit’s Fox Theatre with acclaimed musicians like Jimmy Reed by the time he was 16. In 1972, an eighteen year-old John Jr. was singing vocals alongside his father for the recording of Hooker, Sr.’s album Live at Soledad Prison.
Unfortunately, while living the “life of a bluesman” he succumbed to the demons that surround it, derailing his musical career for many, many years. Drugs, alcohol, divorce, incarceration, and death nearly brought his once promising career to a screeching halt, but it was living the blues and his faith in the Almighty that resurrected Jr. Hooker. With the support of his family and friends, and a crew of talented musicians who never ceased to believe in him, Jr. Hooker finally found his own inner muse, making music that expresses the depth of emotion he has experienced in his personal life.
His first album, Blues with a Vengeance, is what he called his “celebratory redemption.” After struggling through years of extreme hardship and nearly losing himself to the streets, the remarkable John Lee Hooker Jr. overcame the adversity to begin a rapid emergence into the blues spotlight. Released in April 2004, Blues with a Vengeance certainly lived up to its name by wrapping up 2004 with a Grammy nomination in the Traditional Blues Album category and a nomination for a distinguished W.C. Handy Award as Best New Artist Debut. The California Music Awards (formerly the BAMMYS) named Blues with a Vengeance 2004’s Outstanding Blues Album of the Year, and the Bay Area Blues Society presented John Lee Hooker Jr. with the 2004 Comeback Artist of the Year award, as he performed alongside world-class musicians Jimmy Reed, BB King, Bo Diddley, Lenny Kravitz, Taj Mahal, Koko Taylor, Charlie Musslewhite, Etta James, and John Lee Hooker.
Cold As Ice, Jr. Hooker’s second album, was released in June of 2006 and showed his progression as a contemporary blues artist. Blending his roots with a modern sound, his style is indicative of his Motown base. Music enthusiasts describe his style as R&B, Jazz, Funk, and “down home blues”. While the record did not gather as much attention as his debut, it received positive reviews across the board and solidified Jr. Hooker as one of blues’ rising stars. Epitomizing the synthesis between traditional blues and the new age funk, the record at times pays homage to his father while at others it blazes a trail of its own.
John Lee Hooker Jr. releases his third CD, All Odds Against Me only to discover the impact it has made worldwide in its infancy… it generated a ‘08 Grammy nomination. Jr. Hooker continues to carry the blues into the 21st. century. The 12-song album was his first effort to include only new original tracks, a contrast to either of his previous solo projects.
Additionally, Jr. continues to stretch the envelope, becoming blues’ first animated superhero in a cartoon included on the enhanced disc. The first episode of “Bluesman” introduces Jr. Hooker. as a crime-fighting musician, singing in clubs by night and cleaning up the streets by day. Conceived by Frenchman Laurent Mercier at the Callicore Animation Studios in Paris, the video series has also inspired work to begin on a comic book. Mercier, son of a French jazzman contemporary of Hooker Sr., dreamt up the idea as a way for the two sons to pay tribute to their fathers’ legacies and Jr. immediately embraced the vision. Set to “Blues Ain’t Nothing but a Pimp” from Blues with a Vengeance, the video is the first of three to be released in 2008.
From the gravely blues of the Detroit streets to a new era of sound; from the shadow of his father’s accomplishments to standing apart from his namesake; from criminal to crime-fighter; from San Quentin to the Red Carpet, its no wonder the album is called All Odds Against Me. John Lee Hooker Jr. has built upon his colorful past as he continues to distinguish himself as a contemporary “Bluesman.”
See John Lee Hooker. Jr, at the Sat. Sept. 2, 2010 SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival in Elmwood Park, downtown Roanoke. Advance discount tickets are available now online or at all regional SunTrust Bank branch locations for just $22.00. Also appearing are Teresa James & The Rhythm Tramps and 4x Grammy winner, “Mr. Tuff Enough” Jimmie Vaughan.
Rockin’ Blues & Smokin’ Ribs! Discount Tickets on Sale NOW!
August 16, 2010 by Larry
Filed under Community, Music, Our Events, Volunteers
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The award winning SunTrust Big Lick Blues Festival, Sat. Oct. 2, 2010 – promises once again to deliver “Rockin’ Blues & Smokin’ Ribs!” And this year’s entertainment
lineup will blow you away. Featuring 4x Grammy winner and guitar legend Jimmie Vaughan and his Tilt-A-Whirl Band (featuring Lou Ann Barton). 2x Grammy nominee John Lee Hooker, Jr. and his band with their funky Blues & Soul sound! The Virginia debut of Teresa James & The Rhythm Tramps will keep you on the dance floor! Plus Clarence “The Bluesman” Turner, the U.S. Foods Rib
Cook-Off Competition, the Martin’s Rib Eating Contest and all the ribs and BBQ you can handle!
“Downtown Getdown” at Meze World Cafe this Thursday!
June 15, 2010 by Larry
Filed under Community, Music, Our Events
This Thursday after partying with the Part Time Party Time Band, head over to Meze World Cafe for Party in the Park’s “Downtown Getdown” Special. Meze World Cafe is offering buy one entree or Meze Special and get the second half off! Their food is delicious and perfect portions. Come enjoy a wordy ambiance and keep on partying after the music is done! Meze is conveniently located just a couple of blocks from Elmwood Park. Just stroll down the breezeway and they’re located on Market St. across from La De Da. You don’t want to miss such great deals on fabulous food!
*These amazing specials are only for Party in the Park goers! Be sure to pick up your “Downtown Getdown” Card at Party in the Park. Become a fan on Facebook for updates on Downtown Getdown, weather and any other changes.
Congratulations to 2010 Festival Scholarship winners!
June 8, 2010 by Larry
Filed under Community, Scholarship for the Arts
Since 1991, Festival in the Park has awarded and funded over $118,000 in art scholarships to students around the Roanoke Valley and surrounding areas. We appreciate all the teachers and school staff who help spread the word about the Festival Scholarship and encourage students to apply. Each year the scholarship judges are more impressed with the high caliber of work that is submitted, it proves to be a more difficult task choosing winners! Thank you to all of the students who applied for the 2010 Festival in the Park Scholarship, Congratulations to the following winners:
Marcie Hancock, Salem High School, recipient of the $500 Festival in the Park and EventZone Scholarship
Gwendolyn Sewell, Christiansburg High School, recipient of the $250 Visual Art Scholarship
Angela Huang, Cave Spring High School, recipient of the $250 Visual Art Scholarship
Mariah Davis, Salem High School, recipient of the $250 Visual Art Scholarship
Abagail Bagliani, Roanoke Catholic, recipient of the $500 John Will Creasy Memorial Scholarship
Emily Eyestone, Blacksburg High School, recipient of the $500 A.W. “Skip” Brown, Edward Jones Scholarship
Minjin Chung, Blacksburg High School, recipient of the $250 Music Scholarship
We wish all of these students a successful and creative future!
*Please check back around January 2011 for Festival Scholarship information.
