Rehoboth to get the blues

By Christina Weaver
Special to the Coastal Point

“We were delighted when he accepted our invitation,” Artz said.

The Festival takes place over the weekend of June 3 through 5. The Friday evening will feature different blues artists at local restaurants and lounges. The Rehoboth Beach Convention Center will be the venue for the rest of the weekend’s performances. Saturday’s main feature is the legendary Muddy Waters Band featuring James Cotton (harmonica), Pinetop Perkins (piano) Bob Margolin (guitar and vocals), John Primer (guitar and vocals), Calvin “Fuzz” Jones (bass) and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith (drums). This band, with so much history and character, is not to be missed. The opening performer at 9 p.m. will David “Honeyboy” Edwards, who used to play with one of the all-time “greats” of Blues, Robert Johnson.

Opening for B.B. King on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. will be Sean Chambers with his touring band. Chambers, based in Florida and hugely popular amongst European Blues aficionados, was listed in Guitarist magazine as one of the 50 top guitarists of the past century. His progressive, attacking style has provided him the opportunity to open for both rocker royals like Lynyrd Skynyrd and blues icons like Buddy Guy.

And what is there to say about the indisputable “King of Blues,” B.B. King? Born in 1925 in the sharecropping, gospel-singing Mississippi Delta, King has sang the blues for generations of fans since he started playing guitar at age fourteen. From Riley B. King to the “Beale Street (Memphis) Blues Boy”, to the “Blues Boy”, the eventual “B.B.” has stuck and is one of those names that doesn’t need anything more to be recognized.

Just a mention of a few of the multitudes of his hits that have become household names will start you humming: “Lucille” (it was the name he gave his first and subsequent guitars and from which a line of guitars has been made), “You Know I Love You,” “Every Day I Have the Blues,” “Whole Lotta Love” and so many more.

King has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Presidential Medal of the Arts in 1990 and Kennedy Center Honors in 1995.

Recently, King, with his most recent Lucille, has been seen on television as a spokesperson for diabetes, a disease he refuses to let get the better of him. He will be pleased that a portion of the proceeds from the festival will be donated to two non-profit organizations, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Beebe Medical Center’s efforts to decrease health disparities in diabetes in the minority and underserved communities of eastern Sussex County.

Following the tradition of the highly successful Rehoboth Beach Autumn Jazz Fest that celebrates its 16th anniversary in October, Blues at the Beach no doubt will be a major regional attraction. And for Sydney Artz, “The Blues Fest represents a personal highlight for me as I have spent the last 20 years putting Rehoboth Beach on the National Blues scene. The appearance of B.B. King is a statement of the reputation that Rehoboth now enjoys. The organizers of this event hope to build this Festival to the level now reached by the Autumn Jazz Fest and provide another boost to our local economy.”

To get your tickets before they run out, call (800) 29-MUSIC. For more information, go to www.rehobothbeachblues.com.