On Wednesday August 6th, the Jus' Blues Music Foundation hosted “The Night Of The Living Legends." The event was a delicious dinner, performances and tributes to the 2008 Jus' Blues Music Awards Honorees. A special highlight was the tribute to Grammy Award winning, legendary Blues and Soul singer Joe Simon with the 2008 Jus' Blues Music Lifetime Achievement Award. The music veteran was responsible for many hits in the 1970's and is very active in his community works. The Honorees are listed below:
2008 Jus' Blues Music Awards Honorees
Jus' Blues Music Lifetime Achievement Award
(Outstanding Lifetime Achievements in the African-American Community and in Blues and Soul Music)
Joe Simon
Lowell Fulson Lifetime Achievement Award (Outstanding Career Achievements twenty plus years)
Theodis Ealey
Denise LaSalle Award for Recording Excellence
(Outstanding Recording Excellence Award)
Roy C
Percy Mayfield Award for Writing Excellence
(Outstanding Written Compositions in Blues and Soul Music)
Latimore
Jack “The Rapper" Gibson Radio Pioneer Award
(Outstanding Contributions to Blues and Soul Music in the Radio Industry)
James Wolfe
James Brown Heritage Award
(Outstanding Blues and Soul Music Live Performer)
Mel Waiters
Johnnie Taylor Newcomer Award
(Outstanding New Blues and Soul Music Artist or Group)
Floyd Taylor
Willie Mitchell Producer's Award
(Outstanding Blues and Soul Music Productions)
Leon Haywood
Jus' Blues Music Legends Award
(Outstanding Contributions to Blues and Soul Music)
Millie Jackson
Jus' Blues Music President's Award
(Outstanding Contributions to the Business of Blues and Soul Music)
Al Bell, Alpine Records
Aaron T-Bone Walker Award
(Outstanding Guitar Musicianship in Blues and Soul Music)
Preston Shannon
On Thursday August 7th at Kings Palace on Beale Street, the Jus' Blues Music Foundation coordinated its First Annual Technology Conference covering the broad topic, “How To Use The Net As Your Best Bet For Promoting, Marketing and Driving Sales for Music Projects." Allen Johnston, The Music Specialist, served as moderator to a distinquished host of panelists: Ralph Sutton, Chairman, Producers and Engineers Wing of the Memphis MusicCommission, Harold Conover, Editor, Chitlin' Circuit Magazine, Aric Berquist, Founder,SyncLive, Gregory Lane, COO, GMOTION.com, and Tom Davis, Owner, LoveRadio.com.
Thursday evening kicked off the 2008 Jus' Blues Music Awards with stellar performances by Latimore,Kenny Neal,Floyd Taylor (son of the legendary Johnnie Taylor),Trudy Lynn, Zac Harmon, Pat Wilder, Zakira Hooker (daughter of John Lee Hooker), the fabulous Toni Green, Willie Hill, Sweet Angel and others. Lil' Ray Neal orchestrateda tribute to “Little Milton" Campbell that brought the house down.
Blues and Soul music fans from all around the world logged onto the Internet and voted on the web sites of http://www.jusbluesmusic.com and http://www.jusbluesmusicfoundation.org for their favorite Blues Man and Blues Woman, their favorite Soul Man and Soul woman, their favorite DJ, their favorite songs, their favorite juke joints and many other catagories. Thousands of votes had to be tallied to obtain the final results. Listed below are the results:
2008 Jus' Blue Music Awards Nominee Recipients
Best Traditional Blues Man
Eddie Cotton
Best Traditional Blues Woman
Tia Carroll
Traditional Blues Song Of The Year - Male
Bobby Rush - “What's Going On"
Traditional Blues Song Of The Year - Female
Trudy Lynn - “Everybody Got A Blues Song To Sing"
Best Blues and Soul Radio Show
(Radio Personality Award)
Rojene Bailey, WALR-FM, Atlanta
Best Blues and Soul Internet Show
http://www.chittlincircuitradio.com
“Little Milton" Campbell Guitar Award
(Outstanding Guitar Player)
Lil' Ray Neal
Junior Wells Harp Award
(Outstanding Blues Harmonica Performer)
Kenny Neal
Best Juke Joint Award
(Best Blues and Soul Club)
Velma's Place, San Francisco, CA
Best Blues and Soul Song Of The Year - Male
Latimore - “My Give A Damn"
Best Blues and Soul Song Of The Year - Woman
Denise LaSalle - “Mississippi Woman"
Blues and Soul Man Of The Year
Marvin Sease
Blues and Soul Woman Of The Year
Shirley Brown
Best Blues and Soul Label Award Of The Year
Wilbe Records
Jus' Blues Music All Star Award - Male
Willie Hill
Jus' Blues Music All Star Award - Female
B. B. Queen
Jus'Blues Music Artist Of The Year Award
Bobby “Blue" Bland
Best New Southern Soul Artist Of The Year - Male
Fred Bolton - “Must Be Jelly"
Best New Southern Soul Artist Of The Year - Female
Sweet Angel - “Another Man's Meat On My Plate"
Friday August 8th, the Jus' Blues Music Foundation in conjunction with the Beale Street Merchants Associationunveiled the “Beale Street Blues Crawl."
This wonderful weekend night had the clubs jumping with special performances by many of artists involved with the 2008 Jus' Blues Music Awards. It was a great night for Blues and Soul music fans to be a part of.
On sunny Saturday August 9th,Jus' Blues Music Week concluded with family festivities at W. C. Handy Performing Arts Park on Beale Street. “The Big Chittlin' Cook-Off and Blues Fest" showcased many professional and amateur grillers cooking their best BBQ wares. Also featured was the Sista Big Bone Contest. Live Blues and Soul music served as the backdrop. It was a blast for all that attended.
Charles Mitchell, Founder and President of the Jus' Blues Music Foundation says, “This year's event was extraordinary! As a result of working closer with the Beale Street Development Corporation, the Beale Street Merchants Association and the Memphis Music Commission, we were able to expand our event and outreach from one evening to four days. We appreciate the support of our sponsors, new foundation members and all the Blues and Soul music fans that attended any of the events. We look forward to doing it again next year, even bigger and better!"
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