The Blues, Jazz and Folk Music Society will host its 19th annual River City Ohio Blues Competition in February and is seeking local and regional blues acts to vie for the chance to perform in an international blues competition.
The deadline to apply to enter as a blues band or solo/duo act is Saturday.
"We've received a good response... they're coming from a lot of different places," said BJFMS member John Bolen.
On Jan. 28, last year's duo and band winners will hold a "Memphis Bound Getdown" show to raise money to cover costs of traveling to Memphis for this year's international competition. The show will feature solo/duo winner Bongo Joe and Little Steve O and the Tokyo Tramps from 8 to 11 p.m. Jan. 28 at The Adelphia at The Galley, 203 Second St., in downtown Marietta.
The Tokyo Tramps will also perform at 2 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Campus Martius Museum, 601 Second St. in Marietta, as a fundraiser for the museum.
The blues competition will be Feb. 18 and 19 at the Lafayette Hotel in downtown Marietta. The winner will compete for cash prizes and BJFMS sponsorship to the International Blues Challenge in 2012 in Memphis, Tenn. The cash prizes are $1,000 for first, $200 for second and $100 for first.
The complete information, format, application and rules are available online at www.bjfm.org. For more information contact Steve Wells, one of the organizers, at (304) 295-4323 or e-mail bluesphotog@gmail.com.
The River City Ohio Blues Competition is the oldest and largest blues talent competition in Ohio, with 18 competition slots to be filled by local and regional blues acts from all over Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and other states.
Wells said while the competition can no longer be considered a purely amateur contest, The International Blues Challenge (IBC) represents an international search by The Blues Foundation and its affiliated organizations for the blues band and blues solo/duo most deserving of taking their act to the international stage.
In 2010, more than 90 bands and 60 solo/duo acts from 34 states and eight countries competed, making the IBC the largest gathering of blues acts in the world.
This year's Marietta competition will again be a two-day event. The competition will begin on Friday night with the First Preliminary, followed by the Second Preliminary on Saturday afternoon. The Finals on Saturday night will feature the winners from the two preliminaries.
For those wishing to attend the blues competition, tickets are $5 for BJFMS members and $10 for non-members for the Friday night show, $10 for members and $15 for non-members for Saturday afternoon and $15 for members and $20 for non-members for the Saturday night performances. Weekend passes are $25 for members and $40 for non-members. Participating band members will be admitted free for the weekend. There will be one special guest ticket at member price for band members.
For ticket information, call Wells at (304) 295-4323, or by e-mail at bluesphotog@gmail.com; or Peggy (evenings) at 376-0222 or by e-mail at bolen@bjfm.org.
