News of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

Blues Festival lineup announced

The 8th annual St. John Blues Festival is scheduled March 17-21.  This year, the name sponsor is Johnnie Walker.  Other supporters include First Bank, Holiday Homes, and the USVI Department of Tourism.

Organizer and founder (he really is a busy guy) Steve Simon and his wife, Helen, will offer six-days of music from one end of the island to the other. The ‘big show’ will, as usual be in Coral Bay on Saturday night.  But during the week, you can count on Festival performers offering free live music at venues like the Beach Bar, Shipwreck Landing, and the ball field in Cruz Bay.

Simon has a lineup of artists including Deanna Bogart, JT Laureitsen, the Ford Blues Band, and  E,G. Knight.  See the full list at http://www.stjohnbluesfestival.com/new/schedule2010.htm#schedule.

Simon, who’s also produced and performed in blues shows in Iraq and Saudi Arabia said this is the biggest thing he’s ever done.  And, he promised, it will rock.

The Blues Festival’s Web site is at http://www.stjohnbluesfestival.com/bf/blueshome.htm.

New Chesney album, Letterman appearance

St. John’s Kenny Chesney does Letterman Tuesday night to mark the release of his new CD, “Greatest Hits II.”  He’ll sing a song from the album, “Out Last Night.”   That track has already been released as a single.

"I've heard it coming out of a few car radios and it makes me feel like summer,” Chesney has said. “You know, some songs just make you smile when you hear it ... maybe because I remember all the fun my buddies and I got in that night.”

Amazon link to the CD

Big weekend on a little island

A triple-header of activities drew hundreds of locals and visitors to the Beach Bar, the Sprauve School playground, and Mongoose Junction over the weekend.

The fun began with the 9th annual Minimal Regatta on the waterfront, an annual competition which requires competitors to build a watercraft out of not much more than nuts, twigs and Styrofoam.  About eight people entered the Beach Bar event this year.  Despite the fact their ‘boats’ could include little more than a sheet of plywood, some boards, nails and duct tape, a good time was had by all who launched and sailed their craft. None were lost at sea.

In the afternoon, it was on to Wagapalooza, the Animal Care Center-sponsored island dog show.  The St. John Source estimated 250 people attended and watched 39 dogs compete for fun and prizes.  The traditional “Wagometer” was the arbiter for awards, measuring the loudness of the audience’s applause.  Check back here later for pictures.

The nightcap was Music in the Moonlight at Mongoose Junction.  Michelle Wicklund blogged that a variety of artists sang and played several songs each, and “There were tons of people there.”

The Blues Boss's trip report

Steve Simon, the dynamo behind the Beach Bar's Sunday afternoon Jazz Islanders and the producer of the annual Blues Festival has gone international in the past few years.  He has organized tours of blues musicians to perform for US troops in the Middle East  A few weeks ago he returned from Egypt.

I contacted Steve to ask if we could do an interview.  He said he'd be traveling for a few weeks, but did a 'self interview" and e-mailed it to The Inquiring Iguana.

What made you decide to do a BLUZAPALOOZA concert tour to Egypt?

A few months ago I was contacted by Margaret Scobey, the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, and she had just read about our BLUZAPALOOZA celebrity Blues concert tours to Iraq. Having been born and raised in Memphis Tennessee, she (said she) was a certified 'Bluesaholic' and would love to arrange for me to bring a tour to Cairo.

I told her that I would have to get permission from the Department of Defense and the State Department but that I thought that would not be too difficult given my history with both organizations. Upon contacting DOD and State, I was immediately given the "green light."

Where did you entertain in Egypt?

Our first concert was at the Cairo Opera House on Friday evening, March 27th and we performed in front of a standing room only audience of over 4,000 people.  Most of our audience were Egyptians who had been invited by our Embassy and most of them were government officials and major business leaders.

The next evening we performed at the recreational facility of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and that performance was for the Embassy staff and their families.  We had about 450 in attendance and it was held outdoors.

Blues Festival '09 - a Night to Remember

Four outstanding bands and singers rocked the Coral Bay ball field and the island of St. John last weekend.

The 7th annual St. John Blues Festival, co-sponsored by Johnnie Walker and produced by island musical genius Steve Simon, drew hundreds to Coral Bay for a concert, as well as more people to Cruz Bay during the week as musicians performed at restaurants and bars.

Each year, Simon's efforts bring more musicians to St. John, amping up the entertainment.  And, for him, there is no rest.  The day after the festival's climax concert in Coral Bay, Simon and some of the musicians were Middle East-bound for another Bluzapalooza tour, including a sold out appearance in Cairo.

But just as the Festival gets better every year, so too does the 'reporting' by Steve Simonsen, the world class photographer.  His festival web site this year includes audio clips from the musicians' recordings and marvelous photo slide shows of each performance.  There must be hundreds of great shots.  See them here.

Festival Web site: http://www.stjohnbluesfestival.com/bf/blueshome.htm

What are you doing New Year’s?

On or Off island, there will be lots of celebratin’ going on Wednesday night.

St. John’s Cool Session Brass will headline the two-day-long party at Foxy’s on Jost Van Dyke.  The self-styled “Times Square of the BVI’s” will also feature Zac Harmon and Eric Stone on Old Year’s Night.  There will be ferry service from St. John.  Adult beverages available will include four brews, made from pure Caribbean waters as well as the legendary Pain Killer, Dread Fox, and  Sly Fox libations. One small bar, one great party, they say.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch ... er ... island ...the St. John Sun Times reports how bars and restaurants will be making merry.  Among them, Paradiso is hosting a Black and White Ball.  A DJ will make the music, and there will be a dessert buffet and martinis.

Morgan’s Mango will pour champagne, free, from 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m, with dancing beginning at 11 p.m.  Skinny Legs will start rocking at 8 p.m. with the music  of Work of Art.

The Inquiring Iguana and Mrs. I.I. will spend the evening celebrating their wedding anniversary.

Christmas festival this weekend

The 4th annual Christmas Music Festival and Parade is next Saturday, Dec. 6.  The event’s organizer,. Steve Simon, said it begins at Mongoose Junction with Santa leading a torch lit parade through Cruz Bay, around the ferry dock and then up to Winston Wells Ball Field. “Live Christmas music fills the air with our own children’s steel pan band and plenty of Reggae sounds. The parade route is filled with Christmas spirit as locals and visitors line both sides of the street.”  Once at the ball field, Santa will give each child a gift.

The music concert, set to begin at 7:30 p.m features 13-year-old Jazz piano prodigy Matt Wigler and his trio.

 Another teen music sensation, 13-year-old Jazz trumpeter Tyler Lindsay (pictured at the right) and his band will also entertain.

The show's headliner is ‘the Diva of all Divas’ Maryel Epps.

More information is available at http://www.stjohnbluesfestival.com/new/christmas08.htm.

Bluzapalooza saved souls

What they may have lacked in audience, they more than made up with heart and lots of soul.  So said Steve Simon, St. John’s ‘ambassador’ to Iraq, on his return from a second tour of the war zone as part of a military-sponsored concert tour, Bluzapalooza.

“At the Kuwait International Airport on our way home, I was talking to Colonel Shock and I told him that from a corporate profit and loss perspective (the businessman in me) our tour was not very cost effective when measured by the size of our audiences,” Simon remembered.

“Colonel Shock responded that our mission was to ‘save souls’ and ‘what price can you put on a soul?’  That left me speechless.”  Nonetheless, Simon, who co-produced the tour, said as many as 20,000 soldiers attended his series of concerts.

The tour of bases in Iraq and Kuwait lasted 12 days, ending Oct. 6.  Dispatches from the tour make the troops’ appreciation clear even though many of he soldiers didn’t know what the blues are (is?). 

But it was just the thing for “a handful of soldiers and civilian contractors ... a break from the hard work and long days of kicking in doors,” wrote one. “And when the soldiers lined up top meet the performers, the headliners kept thanking them for what they do.  It was sincere,  It was a breath of fresh air.”

•     First-hand reporting from some of the tour stops: here and here.
•     New York Daily News photographer Joseph Rosen was on the trip and took dozens of photos, including the one you see above.  Dozens more are here.

Beach Bar's music man back to Iraq

The man who brought Sunday afternoon jazz to the Beach Bar is bringing the blues back to Iraq. 

Steve Simon's Bluzapalooza second concert tour will feature Shemekia Copeland, Michael Burks, Deanna Bogart, Zac Harmon and The Bluzapalooza All-Star Band in 12 days of concerts for the troops presented by Armed Forces Entertainment, now through Nov. 11.

 

"We are thrilled to be going back to Iraq (and Kuwait) and to have so many great Blues artists volunteering to go to a war zone," Simon said. "This is certainly an historic event for the Blues and for our men and woman who so proudly serve our country.

You can see videos of some of the performers on Bluzapalooza's MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/bluzapalooza as well as video from Simon's first tour to Iraq, in April this year.

Be a Pan man

Victor Provost is offering lessons on how to play the steel pans.  “They are personalized to meet your individual goals,” provost, an internationally-known musician born and raised on St. John and now living in the States.  Lessons start at the beginner level (scales, learning tunes, basic dexterity) and continue through more advanced skills.

Each includes specific written instructions, accompanied by both mp3 examples and sheet music.  Victor corresponds directly with you for personalized lessons that fit your goals.   You can get pricing and details on the lessons, delivered online, by e-mailing Provost at victor@victorpanman.com.

A sample lesson is available on his Web site, http://www.victorpanman.com/lessons.html