"...you're good...here's the audience....go now, go now..."
The Hat, dedicated
romantic-hopeful that he is, doesn't often read the Runes, Tarot,
Stars or the lines on his elegant hands – on balance, he would prefer Not To
Know.....(if he did and he was any good at it, there certainly would
be fewer tearful heart-breaks, more adulation and much more money)....but,
right now here is a Confident Hat Prediction. Last year the
Hebden Bridge Blues Festival, without any insider information
but a lot of Smart Insight, managed to include 16 future British Blues
Award nominees in their three day mega blues line-up – and, as
you know, some of them went on to collect one of those precious heart
shaped acknowledgements of their talent. Oh – and by the way, the
Hebden 'family' picked up the Best British Blues Festival Award while
they were at it...
So....The Hat's short
odds, dead-cert, put-your-shirt-on-its-nose Tip is that this year
there will be another Bonanza of
Brilliance and the line-up will, once again, raise the bar, with one
after another band or soloist staking their claim and marking their
British Blues Award card firmly and with finesse.
Just a glance at this
year's Headliners reveals a list of the hottest names around (seen here
http://yorkshirebluesfestival.co.uk/News.html)
, some of whom have just
produced spectacular Cds and all are in constant demand, around the
country and across Europe. These are major players and the presence of any of them, let alone a hatful, on any festival bill would be great coup anywhere. However,
what is always exciting about the Hebden Bill of Fare is that the
quality runs through The Whole Card. Unlike the entertaining world of
wrestling, at the Hebden Festival there is clearly no such thing as
an 'Under Card' and from the Main Stages to the Juke Joints you get
talent, excitement, young guns, old masters, brand new girls and boys
on the block, acoustic, slide, drum, bass and electric brilliance,
singers with golden voices and song-writers with poetry in their
veins – and, oh dear, yes, it is going to be really hard to split
yourself into enough pieces to get to see everyone. When the
nominations for the 2013 British Blues Awards get announced next
month you can bet your Cleanest Dirty Shirt that you will be seeing a
lot of them when you come to Hebden. The Hat will, of course, be the
first to bring them to your attention....
On a totally different
and somewhat inferior subject, one of the curious aspects of the Ding
Dong Download Furore is the revelation to a wider audience as to how
very few copies of a single you have to shift to get into the infamous Top
Forty charts. Anyone in the music business has known for some years
now that it is Precious Few and quite within the reach of a quick and sustained
marketing campaign with either a high profile or a lot of spare cash.
It is difficult to imagine that there used to be a music world
without downloads or Amazon.....and yet a good popular record would
still sell tens of thousands of the physical disc to hit those starry
heights. Yes, I know, I know...the rose-tinted good old days...(where
payola and bribery could change a chart position!), but nevertheless
the numbers would still put today's modest claims in perspective. The Hat
delights in the fact that today's singles charts are tomorrow's
firelighters and what is much more important is the quality and
staying power of the music and the continuous stream of on-coming
talent. The Blues is blessed with that in abundance. Just go and look
at last week's Eric Clapton's Crossroad Festival highlights to
witness the raw joy of that rich tapestry. Yes, as you would expect,
all the Big Players were there....but just check out the Buddy Guy
set where 14 year old Quinn Sullivan strutted his truly amazing stuff -
fulfilling that tradition now hotly pursued by the Hebden Blues
Festival organisers..."you're good; here's the space; here's the
audience; go now, go now...". Doncha just luv it?
Finally, as most of you
will know, The Hat, from time to time turns to his old friend the
Inscrutable but Smart cat, Cozy for an alternative view on the
Meaning of Life and Other Important Stuff. On this occasion, showing
a maturity beyond his years, he asked me to say a word on behalf of...er....A Dog. Without question, one of the stars of Hebden 2012
was blues dog Genghis, best friend of uber blues guitarist Todd
Sharpville. Genghis charmed many hearts of many blues fans last year,
on the Main Stage and elsewhere and it has been sad to learn that he
has been struggling with his health. Glad to say he is battling
through and hopefully will soon be back headlining with his rather
tasty backing band. We send him virtual plates of whatever stuff he
likes most.....
Pip Pip!
The Man in The Hat