Experience
a Virtual Ride-Along at the 2008 International Blues Challenge!
Stage 1, the First Set of the Semi-Finals
by Laurie Morvan
**Note - This article was published in Big City Blues
Magazine (April/May 2008) and Southland Blues Magazine
(May 2008)
You grab your guitar and pedal board and step onto the
stage, giving congratulations and encouragement to the
passing band who just finished their set, their faces
still flush from the exertion. The lights are hot against
your back as you survey the line of provided amps, from
which you have just a few seconds to choose the one that
will give lungs to the tone and timbre of your guitar’s
voice. This is your debutante ball, your tribal passage,
your first set at the semi-finals of the International
Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN.
Alfred’s on Beale is bustling and filled with blues
fans, some standing in the open areas but most sitting
at the tables, many of which press right up to the front
of the stage. The air practically crackles with their
anticipation and energy. As you turn to face the audience
for the first time, ice rattles in a gin and tonic somewhere.
Forks and knives clang in the hands of those whose appetites
are soon to be sated. Your band, who has truly become
family to you over the years, is rehearsed and ready.
You feel that familiar surge of confidence, completely
at home on the stage because this is where you live. You
know exactly who you are and what you were born to do.
Mom and Dad are there. Your brother and sister are there.
Your regular touring schedule keeps you more than 2000
miles away from them, so they almost never get to see
you perform, but here they are. You make momentary eye
contact with your bass player and see the pride and exhilaration
in his expression. You’ve worked hard together for
this moment. The MC announces your name, the soundman
ramps up the mics and that newly-crowned guitar amp trumpets
forth with your opening proclamations. Heads bob, bodies
lean forward, and that intense and beautiful symbiosis
has begun. For these precious 25 minutes, you play as
though your life depended on every note and nuance and
you are acutely aware of the enormous privilege you’ve
been afforded: a heart to heart conversation with the
core blues audience.
As in any honest communication, you don’t change
who you are or what you have to say. You don’t try
to please anyone by guessing what you think they might
want to hear. You simply do your best to give them a bona
fide look into your soul and you pray they will like what
they see and hear. You don’t worry about there being
a judge, or a record label executive, or a booking agent
present. Your heart is filled with reaching out to the
very folks who truly keep the blues alive: the fans.
Like a tornado, your set is over seemingly almost before
it started. The aftermath begins. Fans want to meet you,
talent buyers press their cards into your hand, leaders
of blues societies from around the country introduce themselves,
members of the press ask for interviews, radio DJs request
a copy of your latest recording, other bands offer their
well wishes, and CDs are passed to you in need of autographs.
You feel so incredibly blessed that someone wants to hear
your words again, wants to share in that musical experience
enough to trade some of their hard-earned money for your
art.
You sense the gravity of this moment. Your entire universe
is about to change. Forces have been put into motion and
you will have to take over and push lest they are damped
out by the friction of overwhelming resistance that every
musician faces. The stone walls of the music business
loom tall, daring you to put your shoulder into them,
challenging you to heave against their seeming impenetrability.
This doesn’t scare you. You are invincible. You
just finished your first set at the semi-finals of the
International Blues Challenge.
Laurie and her band will be on tour this summer. For
more information about the Laurie Morvan Band, visit www.LaurieMorvan.com
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