| A Dream: I’ve been into blues guitar since 1958, when at 13 years old I dug up Ed Welch’s crab grass in payment exchange for an old Kay, F hole Arch Top. My first band was in 1960, and here decades later, I still have some great guys wanting to play blues with me. Somewhere around 1988, I started journaling in a little newsletter called “Strictly Nothing But The Blues.” Besides interviewing and meeting many blues legends, I made blues friends all over the USA. Later around 1997, I decided to go online to start a little Blues Guitar News web-ezine. Well, tens, of thousands of new blues friends later from all around the world, a Blues Guitar Gang of blues brotherhood formed. With that said, the list way below starts out with the Blues Guitar Gang, and Blues Guitar Associates. This circle of friends will go around the world and back many times before you are done visiting them all. This is not mainstream, but rather deep underground blues networking known by a multitudes of blues folks worldwide. The History: Somewhere around 2001, I almost tossed the towel in, and figured I was getting older, and tired of trying to keep a band together. My wife and I settled down in a little retirement community, and I was happy walking my big Ridgeback dog in the evening, and recording in my little home studio. I got an email from a guy named Johnny Mannion. He asked if I remember him, and that he had sat in with us at one of blues harp wizard Ken Scoppmeyer’s infamous house blues jams. He said some of the guys in his band, when they were young kids, used to look in the window of the garage my blues band rehearsed in back in the 60’s, and I was kind of a local neighborhood icon blues guitar hero. Gosh, a small grain of flattery to an old picker is like Noah seeing the flood waters arrive. Next thing I know, I’m sitting in with Johnny’s band, I cut a blues CD, get radio airplay all over the world, and listed on tons of blues and jazz web sites in cyber space. In 2005, I moved from California, back to my ancestral Delta Blues Motherland, Arkansas - home to my large generations of family. My daddy was born on Historic Blues Highway 49, and raised on a cotton farm outside of West Memphis, Arkansas. Now that’s blues for you. The Quest: A year ago Johnny called, and said you know in 2008, marks 50 years that you have been playing blues guitar. We should have a big celebration and jam session in Little Rock, Arkansas to acknowledge half a century of blues guitar. I know tooting your own horn goes over like asking someone to get a root canal during an IRS audit, so we cooked up a scheme to form a blues society in Little Rock, to hold a blues festival and jam session. We had one meeting, everyone got jazzed, and then when it came time to do something nothing seemed to happened. I don’t want to run a blues society anyway, and just want to play my guitar. Johnny and I got active in the Blues Hall of Fame. He was inducted as the Blues Ambassador to California, and I was designated the Arkansas representative. I sent Governor Mike Huckabee a letter with a lot of high ambitions, and the fine gentleman fellow he is, answered saying, “Good luck Mike, I’m almost out of office, and maybe the next guy can help you.” I waited a little after Mike Beebe was elected governor, and sent him a bigger precisely detailed package. Hmm, that was a lot of months ago, and not an answer at all to date, but then he is the new guy and has a lot to do getting his office and staff dialed in. I’m sorry; this is like getting gum on your shoe, as I won’t go away. The Dream: Johnny and Shannon of Trimmed & Burnin’ guitars and amps, are still planning on coming to Little Rock, Arkansas for a 50th reunion blues jam. I told them, that was fantastic, but it may have to be in my backyard. The dream is to have the blues jam in someplace more prominent with corporate sponsors, Bill and Hillary offering the Clinton Library would be a heartbeat best, and folks flying in from all over the world to join in. We wanted to make Arkansas home to the Blues Hall of Fame, and we started an Arkansas Blues Legends web site to let the world know, Arkansas is a Mississippi River Valley Delta Blues Motherland too, as we share the Mississippi River as borders between the two states. We also wanted to do the second annual worldwide “Blues For Peace” blues jam, as started by John Mayer, in Israel. Hairy Larry of Delta Boogie, in Blues Delta Country, Jonesboro, Arkansas has a “Blues For Peace” video that is on every YouTube, and Internet Video web site known. To date all the cards letters, emails, and solicitations have netted zero results. Our dream was that on 6-7-08, we would have a worldwide blues guitar jam session, with Little Rock, Arkansas as the epic center. Thus, this long letter, and a new push. Below are the Arkansas Governor and Little Rock, Mayor’s contact numbers. I don’t ask for much from y’all but sending out a lot of pesky blues emails, and I’m asking big time, this time. If you flood a politician with cards, letters, emails and messages, you can get an ear at least. So far the audiences I’ve humbly requested have gone ignored. Anyone know Bill and Hilary’s address and contact numbers? Somebody get the message to them. Send it around the world: Late last night Hot Tub, and I were talking dirty guitar, as we are into guitar porn. You know looking at pictures of classic vintage guitars that cost what a new BMW goes for, and rattling on about guitars. I mentioned that our blues guitar circle of friends has got to be pretty big worldwide by now. He thought it could be too. Well, here goes. This is your chance. You see the list below, add your name to it, copy, past, blog, email, fax, instant message and iphone this thing around the world and back a few times; Then to my governor and mayor’s office. You know us, we always promote other blues folks, so get yourself in the spotlight here. Add your own link, and chain-email this thing forever after more. If we get nothing out of it besides gaining some new underground blues friends, who knows our numbers could grow from the estimated 500,000 to at least an even million. Save your money, get a plane ticket and rent a car for June 6, 2008. 678. We’re gonna’ have a blues guitar jam somewhere in Arkansas, as I can feel it in my bones. Right now without government, and corporate backing it’s gonna’ have to be in my back yard. I better tell the neighbors and ask Jo Ann too. I’ll see you later, as I’m gonna’ send this thing off starting with the Rolling Stone Magazine first, the governor and mayor, and then the whole wide world. See you on 678, and bring your guitar. Contact our local and state government officials, if you want to help out: Mayor Mark Stodola 500 West Markham, Room 203 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Phone: (501) 371-4510 Fax: (501) 371-4498 http://www.littlerock.org/MayorsOffice/ EMAIL: mayor@littlerock.org Govenor, Mike Beebe Governor's Office State Capitol Rm 250 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Phone: (501)682-2345 Fax: (501) 682-1382 http://www.governor.arkansas.gov/ http://governor.arkansas.gov/contact/index.php EMAIL: info@mikebeebe.com The Blues Guitar Gang Johnny Mannion, San Diego, CA www.johnnymannion.com Steve McTaggart, Auckland, New Zealand www.myspace.com/bensonroad Mark Kerr, Greenwood, Louisiana www.myspace.com/markkerrbluesrockjazz Texas Jake, Dallas, Texas www.myspace.com/texasjake John Kreir, Royersford, Pennsylvania www.myspace.com/johnkrier Greg Martin, Glasgo, Kentucky www.gregmartin.com/ Mike Dollins, Benton, Arkansas www.mikedollins.biz Blues Guitar Gang www.myspace.com/bluesguitargang Blues Contacts Blues Hall of Fame www.myspace.com/blueshalloffame www.blueshalloffame.com Larry “Hariy” Heyl, Delta Boogie, Arkansas www.deltaboogie.com The Underground Blues Hall of Fame www.myspace.com/henrysblueshalloffame Blues Guitar Gang Fan Club http://groups.myspace.com/BluesGuitarGangFanClub Arkansas Blues Legends http://bluesguitarnews.com/Arkansas.html Terry Knott, London, South Coast, UK www.myspace.com/terryknotts_blues Shannon D. Coberly, Bellingham, Washington www.trimmedandburninamps.com Back to the Blues - Gospel www.back2blues.com Southern Rock & Blues, UK http://southernrockuk.proboards50.com/index.cgi The Pickoids, Little Rock, AR http://pickoids.com/ A Note On Blues Contacts: To meet all the thousands of blues guitar friends, check out the sites we have listed. It is like Alice following the allusive rabbit deeper, and deeper into a blues wonderland. Conservatively estimated in the tens, of thousands of blues friends. These sites will provide acres and acres of blues contacts worldwide: www.bluesguitarnews.com www.mikedollins.biz www.myspace.com/mikedollinsband www.myspace.com/bluesguitarnews www.myspace.com/bluesguitarmike www.myspace.com/michaeljazz Mike Dollins - Blues Guitar since 1958 I Have a Blues Guitar Dream POB 2077 Benton, AR 72018 501-658-0385 mike@mikedollins.biz mike@bluesguitarnews.com 678 Little Rock, Blues Festival |
I have a Blues Guitar Dream
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