Join record release party for Leland Bluebird Sessions Feb. 19
The Fox Valley Music Foundation is partnering with Sky Club Records and The Leland Tower in the presentation of a concert and tribute to the original Bluebird recordings that took place in downtown Aurora back in 1937 and 1938.
The Leland Bluebird Sessions Record Release Show will feature Leland, led by Scott Tipping, Dave Nelson, Scott Stevenson, Rick Sherry, Matt Thompson and Chuck Lacy, at 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19, at the Copley Theater, 8 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora. It also will feature Mae Koen, Mick Ducker, Nora O'Connor, Mary Lou O'Brien, Chicago Farmer, and Robbie Fulks. Special guests will be Pete Galanis and Dave Herrero.
Tickets to the record release show only are $25. For $50, get admission to the show plus the Leland Bluebird Sessions double-gatefold 180-gram vinyl record and a CD.
At 6 p.m., there will be a preshow cocktail party in the Copley atrium, with a cash bar and complimentary hors d'oeuvres provided by the Leland Legends Pub & Grill. Three works of Mosaic Blues Art, created by Jason Larson, will be offered in a silent auction. Leland will take the stage at 7 p.m. The bar will remain open during the Leland concert. A post-show party will begin at 9 p.m. at the Leland Legends Pub & Grill in Leland Tower, 7 S. Stolp.
To get details or purchase tickets, follow www.facebook.com/LelandBluebird/ or find the event on the Eventbrite website.
The Fox Valley Music Foundation is planning to expand, grow, and develop more programs. They continue to seek a permanent home for the foundation. Discussions are underway with potential partners so they can repeat the Blues on Water Street event (scheduled to take place on June 10) and expand the singer/songwriter workshops. Future History Salons are scheduled, as they collect material for the Fox Valley Music History database and plan for an education program.
They welcome your membership, financial contributions, and donation of your time as a volunteer. Visit foxvalleymusicfoundation.com orwww.facebook.com/foxvalleymusicfoundation, or contact Steve Warrenfeltz at (630) 335-0598 for more information.
In 2016, the foundation established a singer/songwriter and performance workshop program with six events held over the summer, alternating between the West Branch of the Aurora Public Library and the Batavia Public Library. The workshops were conducted by Fox Valley area musicians Kevin Trudo, Greg Boerner, Dave Ramont, Noah Gabriel, Gerald Dowd and Scott Tipping. There was good attendance at these free events, featuring a range of age groups.
2016 also marked the second year in which the foundation formally assisted, by way of the Blues Month program, in the promotion of the Blues on the Fox festival as it was the 20th anniversary last summer. Most of the foundation board members were instrumental and key in the development and advancement of the festival dating back to its early beginnings. Board members currently provide advice and guidance when it comes to selecting the festival artists.
A big part of the foundation's Blues Month program has included a mini-concert to whet everyone's whistle for the upcoming Blues on the Fox festival. In 2015, the foundation sponsored a free show featuring John Primer in the atrium of the Paramount Theater. In 2016, the foundation kicked that up a notch or two, joining forces with Water Street Studios, Kiss The Sky and Batavia Main Street to create the Blues on Water Street festival. The one-day festival, took place within the friendly confines of Kiss The Sky and Water Street Studios and featured performances by Toronzo Cannon, Andrew Diehl & The Nightmen, Edward David Anderson, Bubbles Brown and Ross Berman. It was a success and completely sold out
The foundation also hosted a seminar during Blues Month at the Batavia Public Library, featuring Scott Tipping and Steve Warrenfeltz, who presented an overview and discussion of the 1937-1938 Leland Bluebird Blues recordings made in downtown Aurora atop the Leland Hotel. A repeat presentation was held for a standing-room-only crowd in attendance at Fermilab, prior to a performance by Corky Siegel's Blues Chamber Ensemble in September in the Ramsey Auditorium.
The foundation also sponsored a free screening of the film, "In Search of Blind Joe Death," a Blues-themed art exhibit featuring the work of Blues on the Fox poster artist Rex Bohn in the Paramount Theatre Gallery; a window-decorating contest in downtown Aurora called Paint The Town Blue; North Aurora's Thursday in the Park concert by The Jake Mack Trio; and Downtown Aurora's Music In The Plaza series featuring Scott Tipping. The foundation collaborated with the City of Aurora, Aurora Downtown, and the Cultural Creatives Inc. to reach out to local writers for a display of their work last June as part of the ongoing "Poetry in Public Places" project.