BIG CITY BLUES January --February 2002 Issue The California Blues Festival By Johnny Ace The California Blues Festival, sponsored by the Blues and R & B Music Foundation, Inc., will have its seventh show this May 28th. In the tradition of the original San Francisco Blues Festival, this event is free and held always in the band shell in San Francisco’s beautiful and historic Golden Gate Park. Yes, there is still a whole lot of magic in the band shell! You can feel the vibes of the great blues and rock artists who are no longer with us visiting when today’s performers at the festival are playing the blues The president and founder of the California Blues Festival is singer/ tenor saxophonist, Bobby “Spider” Webb, a native of San Francisco, who in the past worked with Charles Brown, Albert King, Pee Wee Crayton, Charlie Musselwhite and many more. The festival is non-profit and since it is a free event, what money that is left over goes to charity. Bobby is still hoping to get funds to buy instruments for schools in the Bay Area. Bobby got the idea for the festival while he was playing with keyboardist Mark Naftalin (of the original Paul Butterfield Blues Band) at the Sleeping Lady in Fairfax with their band called Blues Power. Ten years ago, Naftalin and Webb had backed up many top blues artists at the Monterey Jazz Festival, performing with Lowell Fulson and other blues greats. So, Bobby meeting up with Naftalin again was flooded with memories of those great times and was inspired to try and put together a festival of his own. In the seven years of the California Blues Festival, many great blues artists have graced its stage, including Jimmy McCracklin, Sonny Rhodes, E.C. Scott, J.J. Malone, Fillmore Slim, The Blackie Jones Revue, featuring Tommy Castro, Johnny Nitro, Stu Blank and yours truly. This year's show on May 28th will feature Bird Leg and the Tight Fit Band, Juce Garcia (send off vocalist for John Lee Hooker’s band), Steve Lucky, Bobby “Spider” Webb and the Smooth Blues Band with special guests Fillmore Slim and Miss Carmen Gettit along with headliner, the “Texas Twister,” Sonny Rhodes. It will be a fine day of blues--and it's free. Also, the Blues and R&B Music Foundation will be giving away plaques to Lou’s Pier 47 of San Francisco, Bluesville in Oakland and Rasselas in Berkeley for keeping blues alive in the Bay Area. This is the only free blues festival left in San Francisco and is really cherished by San Francisco and Bay Area blues lovers. It is commendable that Bobby Webb and the Blues and R & B Music Foundation, have been producing and sponsoring The California Blues Festival for the last seven years—and we hope it continues. Bobby “Spider” Webb can be reached at www.bluesexpress.