Puerto Blues 2007

THE BLUES WERE BORN the day the West African shoreline fell from the horizon, as the first slave ship sailed to North America. It spent its infancy on the slave plantations and the Jim Crow chain gangs of the Deep South and came of age in the dark heart of America's industrial cities. The blues became the anthem for a race, an expression of collective victimization, of suffering, injustice, and troubles: troubles of life, troubles in mind.

[Jack De Keyzer] THE PUERTO BLUES FESTIVAL was born in 2001 when Bill Evans, a long-time resident of the Toronto area, who has wintered in Puerto for years, invited Canadian blues king Jack De Keyzer to come down to visit and maybe play a little. Down in the dirt was how Jack described that first visit, jamming in the original Split Coconut palapa bar with his compañeros: the rambunctious Sab and harpist David Rotundo.

So began an event that, far from sowing sadness and woe, has enlivened the Puerto music scene, and developed into a full-fledged music festival with Puerto Blues 2005 , which positively electrified the town. Last year, the profits generated, 47,700 pesos, were donated to Puerto's School for Kids with Special Needs, CAM 20, located in Fracc. Agua Marina. IFOPE, International Friends of P.E. kicked in another 25,000 or so, and the CAM 20 now has its own therapy pool.

[jimmy mamou] Am I blue? No way: the arrival of Puerto Blues, 2007 is upon us. This year, events kick off with Jimi Blue Mamou, a native of Louisiana who made his blues bones in San Francisco. This famed singer/songwriter now lives in Zihuatenejo, Geurrero, where he runs his own blues club: an appropriate choice to kick the Festival into gear.

Accompanying Jimi will be by Enrico Crivellaro, a killer guitarist who has shared the stage with the likes of John Lee Hooker, B. B. King and Mose Allison.

[Enrico Crivellarow] Enrico will hang around and join the Harp Attack with David Rotundo and Jerome Godboo, both Blues Fest veterans, demonstrating their distinct harmonica styles and complimenting each others performances. Dan Dufour will be on hand to up the ante and raise the bar with his electric guitar!

(We'll fill you in next issue on what else is coming up for Puerto Blues 2007.) The Festival this year has a fancy new home: the snazzy, new Caracol Plaza Hotel Resort. The large pool patio with provide a terrific setting; cool music under the stars, good food. Does it get any better?

Season tickets. good for two people to attend all the shows (including the Angina Attack , an extra performance on Jan 10 at the Rockaway on Zicatela) are available at the Caracol Plaza, here at the offices of El Sol de la Costa, Split Coconut and Los Tugas Restaurant.

So Bill's labor of love - - the love of music and of Puerto Escondido - -has taken root and will treat us to six weeks of blues, r&b, roots music and good ol' down-home rock n' roll. Bring it on!

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