TBG (The Blueshift Group) Promotions and PR

07/01/2024

https://www.facebook.com/dominic.franks.90?mibextid=ZbWKwL

05/20/2024

LoL..
Here's a thought! Happy Monday, All!

Are we de-volving? 😂

05/20/2024

😔

Billy Gibbons at the first ZZ Top Show without Dusty Hill.
Dusty would have turned 75 today!

05/20/2024

Interesting, yes?!

Was it always your dream to become a musician?
Dr. John: I have no idea. That’s about as far as my brain could operate as far as what I wanted to do. I was failing in school so bad that my father told me to go on the road. My dad said, “Kid, my advice to you is to take a job on the road.” It made me feel okay to do that.

You’ve learned music from some of the greatest musicians. What are the most important things that they taught you?
DJ: I learned from piano players like Huey "Piano Smith," Allen Toussaint, Professor Longhair and James Booker. It would be hard to say what was the most important, but I’ll say this much: Huey Smith taught me how to write songs—more than just play piano—which helped me later in life. They all gave me ideas about writing songs and that’s all so important—a lot more than just playing the piano. I studied guitar originally and if I hadn’t gotten my finger shot off I would probably still be playing guitar.

What was it like to work in the music industry back in the 50s and 60s? And how does it compare to today?
DJ: You can’t compare, because we were making records one track at a time. The recording techniques were way different. Today you can record 16, 32 tracks—whatever you want to do. The other thing is that today nobody plays the music live together. Back then you had to because when you left the studio it was a finished record. No mixing or all that.

HK Magazine
Photo by Barrie Wentzell

05/18/2024

May is Robert Johnson Month at the Delta Blues Museum - Clarksdale, Mississippi
Visit the Gift Shop during Robert Johnson Month. Shop online now through the end of May and get 10% off any Robert Johnson merchandise with the code RJ2024.
https://www.deltabluesmuseum.org/
(CLARKSDALE, MS) - In 1938, Robert Johnson played at Three Forks, an establishment near a three-highway junction outside of Greenwood, an hour southeast of Clarksdale. As described by David “Honeyboy” Edwards, “Behind the Three Forks Grocery was a big juke house with a gambling shack in the back.” There, Johnson was allegedly given poisoned whiskey by a jealous husband who ran the place, believing the blues musician had started an affair with the owner's wife.

Read about Johnson’s legendary last gig in Edwards’ colorful memoir, The World Don’t Owe Me Nothing. Learn more about Johnson by taking the Delta Blues Museum's Field Trip, their Virtual Tour, and follow his life in our interactive biography in the “Explore and Learn” section of the museum website.

You can visit the location of Three Forks, which is now a vast empty field—the establishment was blown away by a tornado in 1942.

In Delta Blues Museum's Robert Johnson exhibit, you can see the actual sign from the Three Forks store—and purchase a replica from our Gift Shop. And the Museum has created an exclusive t-shirt featuring the Three Forks store sign.
Visit Clarksdale

05/18/2024

Yes indeed!

Local favorites Bobby Rush and John Németh were also recognized.

05/18/2024

They are my people! 🫶🏻

05/16/2024

And... here you thought it was called music city for another reason!

Nashville was given the nickname ‘Music City’ by England's Queen Victoria after hearing the Fisk University Jubilee Singers in concert in 1873.

05/16/2024

Indeed!

Some people will never believe in you

They aren’t your people

It really is as simple as that

Regardless of who they are

They aren’t your people

Regardless of the relationship, how long you have known them or how not having them in your life may change every single thing about your life

You will be better off by recognising the need to move in your own direction

It may not be easy, it may be incredibly hard

But you’ll make it

Funny how we always do isn’t it

When we do the things that are best for us, the things that are aligned with us that allow us to truly live the song our heart is singing

Not everyone will hear the beauty of that song, your song, your unique perfectly imperfect frequency

Some people will NEVER EVER hear it, they will just tell you what’s wrong with it on repeat trying to drown it out

But don’t you stop singing

Just don’t

You hold on and you keep singing all
the dreams in your heart

Those that can hear you will find you ❤️

Picture credit: Magical words by Edmund Lee ❤️

05/16/2024

Yup...

Keith Richards: It's very difficult to say - when did I identify the blues as a particular form of music? My mum was playing me jazz - a lot of Billie Holiday, Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughan. I mean, it's not your country blues but, as I went on, I realised that I was brought up on a broad basis of blues music without even knowing it, so, in a way, I'm a result of what my mum played. I had a natural affinity for it, I think, so it wasn't like a conscious thing or anything like that. You know, I didn't think in terms of black or white then. You didn't know whether Chuck Berry was black or white - it was not a concern. It was just what came in the ears and, my, what it did to you. And then I slowly realised that what these cats were doing was closely related to what I'd grown up listening to. You know, it was more stripped down, it was more rural. And then I went into this thing of finding out - where did he get it from? And without actually being able to call up Chuck Berry - I was 15 - and say, "Hey, Chuck, where do you get that from?", you went through record labels and [found out] Muddy Waters had been the guy to introduce Chuck Berry to Chess Records - then there's a connection. Then I got into Muddy Waters and then, before I knew it, that leads you immediately to Robert Johnson, and then you're before the war and you're into this other stuff - and a lot of it's, like, pretty rubbish.

I had to stick people up. We would borrow records and lend records, and stuff. Some guys had interesting sounds, and you sort of gravitated towards people that had a collection of records. And you try and steal one here and there, or just borrow. Let's put it like that: borrow. It wasn't just necessarily blues - there was a lot of folk music involved. We'd pick up anything we could listen to. I mean, my experience of art school is basically sitting in the john all day playing guitar when I wasn't forced to draw some fat old lady. And there I found a whole hotbed of music, where we distilled this stuff and listened and tried to figure out what we've been missing out on. You know, the BBC had not been particularly generous in its deliverance of blues and esoteric kinds of music. You started to search out certain guys that had more knowledge, more material than you did, and you had to know where it came from. So then I went to study this stuff and I realised that these blues men, they're talking about getting laid. And there's me studying what they're doing, but I ain't getting laid. I mean, there was something missing in my life - obviously, to be a bluesman I have to go see what this lemon juice is, running down your leg. And you know, these guys are actually living a life - they're not studying. I loved rock'n'roll but there's got to be something behind the rock'n'roll. There had to be. We found, of course, that it was the blues. And, therefore, if you really want to learn the basics, then you've got to do some homework. We all felt there was a certain gap in our education, so we all scrambled back to the 20s and 30s to figure out how Charlie Patton did this, or Robert Johnson, who, after all, was and still probably is the supremo. Blues didn't just mean doing one thing or another - there was a lot of room to manoeuvre around the blues.

The Guardian

Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones at the Union Club on London's Greek Street, 19th September 1995. (Photo by Steve Pyke)

05/13/2024

Oh my... doing this night after night?! Amazing!!!

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/3KqxQEm78zNq85ia/?mibextid=xfxF2i

05/09/2024

Good thought, yes?!

05/08/2024

Need to make time for THIS!

Now available — video of YDS Professor Willie Jennings' recent Humanities Center lecture on "To Build a Sad Land: Coloniality, Racial Reasoning, and the Imagined Built Environment of Christian Zionism."

https://whc.yale.edu/videos/build-sad-land-coloniality-racial-reasoning-and-imagined-built-environment-christian-zionism

05/08/2024

This!

Black Books Matter because they offer a unique perspective and insight into the lives of Black people, helping to break down barriers and promote understanding and empathy.

05/08/2024

Next trip to The City may find me here...

05/08/2024

Acknowledging the Roots!

Sister Rosetta Tharpe (born Rosetta Nubin, March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973)[1] was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and electric guitar. She was the first great recording star of gospel music, and was among the first gospel musicians to appeal to rhythm and blues and rock and roll audiences, later being referred to as "the original soul sister" and "the Godmother of rock and roll".[2][3][4][5] She influenced early rock-and-roll musicians including Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and also later guitarists, such as Eric Clapton.[6][7][8]

05/08/2024

How about that?! 🤗

05/08/2024

One of the best events in the Capital of NYS...

04/30/2024

Fyi...

Don’t miss this great event.

04/30/2024

Lord knows we do want to be there!

Closing out day 2 of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival with Jon Batiste! See y’all again tomorrow! 😍

04/30/2024

Another interesting fact!

Did you know that In 1982, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble was the first unsigned band to book the Montreux Jazz Festival. At that performance David Bowie saw SRV play and asked to record with him. SRV then played lead guitar on “Let’s Dance.” It is Bowie’s best-selling record to date. I always love seeing amazing artists collaborate 🙌❤

04/30/2024

Recall from AGT... check out his first LP!!!

Introducing, Timeless, Vol. 1, my 14 Song Cover Album!
Tyler Butler-Figueroa, Violinist

Step into a time machine and let your senses be transported to the vibrant sound soundscape of musical selections spanning from the early 90s to the late 2020s. (R&B/Soul/Country/Ballads/Hip Hop).

Listen to Timeless, Vol. 1 now, out on all streaming platforms.

https://tylerbutlerfigueroa.fanlink.tv/timeless

04/30/2024

Interesting!

Muhammad Ali and Bob Dylan are photographed backstage in Madison Square Garden on December 8, 1975 in New York City.
Dylan, who dabbled in boxing in his youth, has long looked to the sport for inspiration, from “Who Killed Davey Moore” to “Hurricane,” inspired by the boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter who was wrongfully convicted of murder.
A verse on Dylan’s 1964 LP Another Side of Bob Dylan was inspired by the then-Cassius Clay. “I was shadow-boxing earlier in the day / I figured I was ready for Cassius Clay,” Dylan sang on the track, which he recorded after Ali defeated Sonny Liston in February 1964 to become heavyweight champion for the first time.
Seven years later, Dylan was in the Madison Square Garden crowd to witness what was billed as “the Fight of the Century,” a 1971 bout versus Joe Frazier that marked Ali’s first professional loss.
In December 1975, following the release of Dylan’s Desire which housed “Hurricane,” Ali appeared on stage at Dylan’s Rolling Thunder R***e at New York’s Madison Square Garden alongside Rubin Carter’s wife and daughter. At the fundraising concert, Ali called Carter in prison from the MSG stage; earlier on the tour, Dylan visited Carter in prison. Dylan and Ali also spent time together backstage at the benefit concert.

Rolling Stone

Photo by Ken Regan/Camera 5/Contour by Getty Images

05/28/2023

Wow...22 years already!

This weekend Ground Zero Blues Club Clarksdale, we’re having a party! Not just any party, but our 22ND BIRTHDAY PARTY! 🎉🥳🎂It is hard to believe that we have been jukin’ and jivin’ for 22 years!

Big A & the All Stars, Al Green & the Hard Times, Jesse Cotton Stone, LaLa Craig, Terry Harmonica Bean, and Marquise Knox will perform. We will have give a-ways, drink specials, and a special showing of “The Last of the Mississippi Jukes”, written & directed by Robert Mugge.

Have ya’ll bought your tickets yet for “22 Years on Delta”? If you haven’t, visit www.groundzerobluesclub.com to purchase a weekend pass for $40. Tickets will be $25 each at the door.

Head on down to Clarksdale, MS this weekend & help us celebrate our 22nd Year to be on Delta Ave. ❤️💙😎

05/28/2023

YES!

In the throbbing heart of 1971, an explosion of sound was birthed into the cosmos of jazz, baptized 'Thembi,' from the wizardry of saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. A jazz titan known for his relentless creativity, Sanders gave us an audible journey crafted with colors from an unusual musical palette.

Through six tracks, he deconstructs the predictability of the jazz form, navigating uncharted territories, playing a dizzying array of instruments, a cultural tapestry woven with the threads of his saxophones, a balaphone, small percussion, and even a cow horn.

Joining the voyage was an ensemble of sonic revolutionaries including pianist Lonnie Liston Smith, who in a moment of divine interaction with the Fender Rhodes electric piano, brought forth the celestial 'Astral Traveling.'

Thembi echoes with the tumult of critique and praise. While some jazz loyalists find its unconventional offering unsettling, discerning ears appreciate the presentation of Sanders's multifaceted musicality. One must know the past, but not be trapped in it.

Thembi is jazz, and yet it is not. It is free, and yet it is disciplined. It is the sound of life and all its glorious contradictions. The revolution may not be televised, but in Thembi, it is, without doubt, heard.

04/22/2023

Wow!

AMAZING Leaf Art!! 😲
credit - https://www.instagram.com/lito_leafart/

04/22/2023

Some companies can do amazing things... that on further consideration should not be so far outside the norm.

04/08/2023

What you don't know can make a big difference!

PSA...
Register now: https://bit.ly/DEI-LWV-RMA

What Do NY Kids Learn About New York State’s Racist History? And… What Do YOU Know?

Two-Part Webinar: April 17 and 24, 7PM-8:30PM

We’ve seen cultural wars over teaching about racism and slavery in the US. New York has escaped the worst vitriol, but that doesn’t mean our curriculums are great. Most of us learned that slavery happened in the south and Jim Crow happened in the south and lynching happened in the south, as if there was never any racial problem in New York.

The Antiracist Curriculum Project, co-led by Rochester educators Kesha James and Shane Wiegand, is developing lesson plans for K-12 teachers covering the history of slavery in New York, as well as racist policies which have entrenched residential segregation. They also teach about the resistance to slavery and racism.

Adults need the information they’ve put together as well. In Session 1 (April 17, 7PM-8:30PM), Kesha and Shane will teach us about slavery in New York. It provided the basis for many of the biggest and most profitable corporations and New York is full of places named after enslavers.

In Session 2 (April 24, 7PM-8:30PM) they will teach us about racist policies in the 20th century and the persistent legacy of segregation that continues to trap black and brown communities in toxic dilapidated housing.

Don’t leave learning about our past to the kids, join us! Please spread the word throughout your social networks. There is important work to do and we need to be educated to do it.

Register now: https://bit.ly/DEI-LWV-RMA