Back To Beale Street

South Sound Blues Association presents a night of blues
by Bobble Tiki
Nov 01, 2007

If Bobble Tiki knows one thing, it’s how to get on his boss’s good side. Bobble Tiki has spent years refining the art of sucking up, and at this point Bobble Tiki considers himself a bona fide expert. Within the bowels of the Weekly Volcano World Headquarters, there’s not another employee with the ass kissing skills of Bobble Tiki. Surely you’ve thought to yourself, “How does Bobble Tiki hold onto his job?”

Sucking up is how.
 
Some time ago, Bobble Tiki realized one surefire way of getting on his boss’s good side was by covering shows that his boss sponsors. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize if the boss is throwing his paper’s name behind something, he’d probably like to see it written about in the paper. While other scribes tend to choose their subject matter based on what appeals to them, Bobble Tiki often chooses his subject matter by looking at what will make his boss the happiest.

Sunday, Nov. 4, the Weekly Volcano will sponsor the South Sound Blues Association’s Back to Beale Street 2008 fund-raiser featuring the Red Hot Blues Sisters, Lady A, Randy Oxford, Becki Sue and Her Big Rockin’ Daddies, Kim Archer Band, and Beth McBride. The event will raise money to help the South Sound Blues Association send the Red Hot Blues Sisters — who, as you may recall, won the Back to Beale Street competition at this year’s Freedom Fair — to Memphis, Tenn., where they’ll compete in the “International Blues Challenge.” Aside from being for a good cause, this Sunday’s show at Jazzbones will bring together a formidable collection of blues musicians, all of whom will no doubt bring the house down.

To help us better understand the event, Bobble Tiki caught up with Gary Grape, president of the South Sound Blues Association.

BOBBLE TIKI: How will the fund-raiser work and how will the money be spent? 

GARY GRAPE: We have an agreement with Jazzbones that we will receive 80 percent of the door at our event. All the entertainers at our concert and dance are performing for free to help send The Red Hot Blues Sisters to Memphis, Tenn., in January to the International Blues Challenge. The proceeds from the Sunday’s fund raiser will help pay for air fare and accommodations while they are in Memphis.

TIKI: What can fans of blues expect at the show?

GRAPE: We have a great solo blues artist, Beth McBride, opening the show for five of the top blues groups in the Pacific Northwest — Kim Archer Band, Becki Sue and Her Big Rockin’ Daddies, Randy Oxford Band, Lady A and the Baby Blues Funk Band, and of course, The Red Hot Blues Sisters. Plus, you never know what guest artists will happen to show up and sit in.

TIKI: Why is this cause worthy of people’s support?

GRAPE: The South Sound Blues Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving blues as an American art form on behalf of its performers and fans through education, community and performance.

TIKI: For people who don’t know, what is “Back to Beale Street” all about?

GRAPE: The Red Hot Blues Sisters won the South Sound Blues Association’s Back to Beale Street Blues 2008 Competition at this year’s Tacoma Freedom Fair on July 4th. Ten bands competed to represent the South Sound Blues Association at the International Blues Challenge, on Beale Street, in Memphis, Tenn. Hence, we call it “Back to Beale Street” each year we produce the event. Blues musicians from around the world will compete for cash, prizes and industry recognition as The Blues Foundation presents the 24th International Blues Challenge beginning Jan. 31 and continuing Feb. 1 and 2, 2008. The world’s largest gathering of blues acts represents an international search by The Blues Foundation and its affiliated organizations for the blues band ready to take their act to the international stage. In 2007 more than 90 bands competed, and even a greater participation is expected in 2008, 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.

TIKI: Who are you excited to see on Sunday?

GRAPE: I’m familiar with the groups performing on Sunday, with the exception of Lady A and The Baby Blues Funk Band. I’ve heard great things about them, and that they put on one heck of a show. All the groups in Sunday’s lineup are knocking at the national door, and it wouldn’t surprise me if any one of them hit the big time real soon.

TIKI: How can people become involved with the SSBA?

GRAPE: If you’d like to learn more about the South Sound Blues Association go to our Web site, www.southsoundblues.com. We have a membership of around 200 with a current membership of 25 bands.

As always, Bobble Tiki doesn’t care what you do this week because he doesn’t even know you. Hopefully Bobble Tiki’s lack of regard for your existence isn’t surprising at this point. As Bobble Tiki’s prophetic father used to say, “It is what it is.” All you can really do is check out www.weeklyvolcanospew. com for Breakfast with Bobble Tiki every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and consider yourself lucky not to be on the short list of people Bobble Tiki calls when he needs to borrow a few bucks or needs a ride to AA.

[Jazzbones, Sunday, Nov. 4, 5-11 p.m., $5-$10, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169]

Bobble Tiki is going out of his head via e-mail and MySpace.

User comments

submitted 09:43 on Aug 31, 2008 by Lamar Cole

It Ain't Snowing in Memphis Looking out the window. Feeling cold inside. It ain't snowing in Memphis. Chilling to the bone. Baby by my side. It ain't snowing in Memphis. How I wish I were in Memphis. Walking down Beale St. Sipping on a Coke. Hearing BB sing the Blues. Cause it ain't snowing in Memphis. Cause it ain't snowing in Memphis.

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