Thursday-Saturday October 9th-11th, 2014 The King Biscuit Blues Festival has started!!!!Weather so far.....good! Weather in this area is very unpredictable! Blues Festivals are not a fun time for Otis, he feels he has to spend too much time by himself in the RV. The Casino here offers a FREE shuttle bus back & forth to the Blues Fest. We go to the fest for awhile, give Otis a break then go back! It all works out!
So here we go, over the bridge again, to the King Biscuit Blues Festival! We'll see you later Otis!
Just a few reasons to go to a Blues Festival
The Mississippi Blues Band, their first time at the King Biscuit
Lunch time!!
"Oh Yeah"
Weather was great!!!
Sonny Burgess....the guy on the keyboards is 85!
Billy Branch & the Sons of Blues
Today we head off to the Blues Festival under a storm watch! Rain at a Blues Fest is enough reason to give any fan the BLUES! We'll just try to see as many acts as we can.....
We catch a few acts before going back to the RV to give Otis his break.....
This blues Memorial to Sonny Boy Williamson was installed yesterday during the King Biscuit!
While Lennie is walking Otis, the parking lot dog, is letting us know, this is HIS parking lot!!!!
We eat lunch at the RV, then hop on the shuttle bus & head back to the King Biscuit!
We were quite pleased we got to see any acts today, looks like the weatherman may have erred??? We're always prepared for "some rain". Out lawn chairs have roof toppers, if it doesn't rain too hard we're okay, plus we carry umbrellas & rain coats!
Tonight is the night we've been waiting for. Two acts in particular, Delbert McClinton, mainly to take pictures for Leif.....but then BOBBY RUSH, a great entertainer!
This is Paul Thorn, from Kenosha,Wisc. He was a little "too country" for me, but the crowd just roared when he came on stage. I'd never heard of him but during the day I saw a lot of people wearing PAUL THORN t-shirts.Each act performs for a hour or so. Paul Thorn was almost done when it started raining. We didn't even have our chair topper up when the skies just opened! That storm finally made it & we were not prepared for this kind of rain! We gathered up our stuff & headed to the shuttle bus stop!
Only problem was......everyone else heading back to the casino was also standing in line! It's only a 25 seat bus & there must have been 60 or so people standing in the pouring rain waiting for the bus! BEFORE the rain, the bus driver would NOT let people stand in the bus aisle. Now.....that bus looked like a sardine can! The casino also sent a second shuttle van. We still did not fit on the first group returning to the casino, but we were the first passengers on board when the shuttle bus returned!
I guess we got back to the RV just in time to reassure Otis everything was going to be okay! He doesn't mind the rain, he's not too bad with the rain & lightening together, but ooooh that THUNDER.....it gets him every time!!!
That's okay Otis....you're safe now!!!!
Oh noooooo, today is the last day of the King Biscuit! Otis will be glad!
The "camping lot" is thinning out again, last night's storm most likely sent some fans home early. We're going down to the Festival for a short while. In the morning we leave for West Memphis again.
It's just a short trip from the casino over the bridge to Helena, Arkansas where the Blues Festival is held yearly.
Sadly, more than most of the town of Helena is now dilapidated & deserted old buildings.
There's more to a Blues Festival than the main stage, & the 2nd stage. There are other players, mostly local talents on the main street & side streets playing for tips. They're really good too!
You can walk up & down the main street & listen to your favorite or all the independent players or......
you can grab something good to eat off the midway!
We better go stake out our seats, it's a bit drizzly out.
Rain or shine....the fans are out there!
Blues fans come in all shapes
& sizes!!!!!
We caught some good acts.....
This was my favorite! This is Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith
with Bob Margolin
& Bob Stroger! We'll see more of Bob Stroger later!!!!
A view of the Festival from on top of the levee
A couple of fans enjoying themselves!
This is the FRONT PORCH STAGE with Kenny Smith & his band!
& Bob Stoger. He's 76 yrs old!
Here he is is walking through the crowd
Singing...."You're so Sweet" & he was! EVERYONE was taking his picture!
We decided to leave after this act. I think Otis called, not sure, it's hard to hear anything but music!We take one last look around Helena as we walk back to our car, that's right our car. We didn't want to take a chance of getting caught in rain waiting for a shuttle bus!
 |
| GOOD-BYE HELENA! Oh.....& there's my ride!  NOT!!!!! |
No comments:
Post a Comment