|
blues
festival
Cal
State Long Beach has the blues
By Heather Clarke
Summer Forty-Niner
KKJZ’s 23rd Annual
Long Beach Blues Festival is the largest blues festival west
of the Mississippi, said Mark Roberts, vice president of finance
at KKJZ.
“It took us 23 years to get where we are,” Roberts said.
The festival did not start out with widely acclaimed blues
artists.
The event has been going for 23 years and started to get big
names on the bill 10 years ago, according to Gary Chiachi,
special events coordinator at KKJZ.
“It’s grown from primarily local blues musicians to international
stars,” Chiachi said.
The festival was started in 1980 by two of the station’s blues
hosts, Dan Jacobson and Bernie Pearl. The station was then
known as KLON.
There was not much money to book blues stars in the festival’s
early days, he said.
The festival has grown from having an attendance of 750 people
at the first festival to 15,000 in recent days. The largest
attendance for the festival was 17,000 people in 2000 and
13,000 people are generally expected, Chiachi said. When Al
Green played in 1999 and when the Allman Brothers played in
2000, people had to be turned away because there was such
a large turnout, he added.
A few changes have been made as the festival evolved. The
event was first held at Veteran’s Stadium but was moved to
Cal State Long Beach in the 1980s, Chiachi said.
The blues festival was originally one day and had expanded
to two days by the sixth festival. Soon after, it expanded
to three days due to its popularity. Changes were made once
again after the 2000 festival and the event was knocked back
to two days because of their biggest problem, booking acts,
Chiachi said.
Both Roberts and Chiachi said the biggest problem for the
festival has been booking artists because so many great blues
artists have died.
“The challenge is always to better or maintain what you’ve
done,” Chiachi said. “That doesn’t always happen.”
The blues festival was initially called the Blues and Gospel
Festival, Chiachi said. Although there is no longer as much
of an emphasis put on gospel music, Sunday morning traditionally
began with a gospel act.
Saturdays have evolved to mix rock music and rhythm and blues
but Sundays stay true to blues, Roberts said.
Both Chiachi and Pearl have each received a “Keepin’ the Blues
Alive” award from the Blues Foundation. Chiachi said he was
given the award for being the producer for the festival and
Pearl was given the award as a disc jockey.
“[The blues festival] keeps one of the true American art forms
alive,” Chiachi said.
The festival has been a fundraiser for the radio station from
its beginning and has always been an in-house production,
Chiachi said.
The station receives 25 to 35 percent of its revenue through
the festival, Roberts said.
Money from the blues festival supports KKJZ’s ability to provide
commercial free music to its listeners.
“It’s sensitive to the performers but we still have a core
of supporters that, no matter who we put up there, will still
go to the festival and contribute,” said Roberts.
|
|
John De
Leon
The annual festival draws over 13,000 people
and has attracted musicians including blues legends Etta James
and Bo Diddley. Presented by KKJZ, the event has always served
as a fundraiser for the station and accounts for nearly 35
percent of the station’s revenue.
KKJZ
Organizers have changed the festival over the
years to incorporate a variety of formats while staying true
to the blues. The challenge is to maintain and improve
upon past years.The festival is a big fundraiser for the radio
station.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Search our site
DEPARTMENT
OF
JOURNALISM
ONLINE 49ER
DEPARTMENTS
ADVERTISING
ADMINISTRATION
DAILY
49ER ALUMNI
SUBSCRIPTION
SERVICE
GIVE
FEEDBACK
|
