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On to Memphis
The 2011 International Blues Challenge will be the 27th year of Blues musicians from around the world competing for cash, prizes, and industry recognition. The Blues Foundation will present the 27th International Blues Challenge February 1-5, 2011 in Memphis, TN. The world's largest gathering of Blues acts represents an international search by The Blues Foundation and its Affiliated Organizations for the Blues Band and Solo/Duo Blues Act ready to take their act to the international stage. In 2010, 110 bands and 80 solo/duo acts entered, filling the clubs up and down Beale Street for the semi-finals on Thursday and Friday and the finals at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday. We will have at least that many in 2011.
The week of events will once again kick off Tuesday night with a Meet & Greet hosted by the Beale Street Merchants Association at the New Daisy Theater, followed by the FedEx International Showcase. In addition to the evening Blues competition, the days are filled with seminars and workshops and topped off in a moving Saturday morning brunch in which the Blues community will honor its own with the prestigious Keeping the Blues Alive (KBA) awards that honor the men and women, who have made significant contributions to the Blues music world, in 20 categories such as journalism, literature and photography and to the best clubs and festivals, as well as managers, promoters and producers.
Upcoming Shows
Wilbert's Food and Music
Downtown Cleveland, right across from Progressive Field
9PM
Saturday, Jan. 15th
Here's where I write a short bio as if I paid someone else to do it.
Mitch Reed was born in Mantua, Ohio and has spent most of his life in Kent, Ohio. When he was 16, he got his first paying gig as a bass player, in a 50's music show at the now-defunct Geauga Lake Park in Aurora, Ohio.
He is not a blues man, folk-singer, or the often over-used and meaningless term "singer/songwriter". He's just a guitar player, and particularly enjoys fingerpicking in the styles of Leo Kottke, Bob Brozman, Merle Travis, and countless others.
Mitch spent an inordinate amount of time trying to play like one his main guitar influences, Greg Ginn. He is no music snob, and favorite players range from Ginn to SRV to Eddie Van Halen.
Go see a Mitch Reed show and hear some ragtime, country blues, 12 string, and whatever else he is in the mood for.
