{"id":1132,"date":"1997-09-27T11:59:56","date_gmt":"1997-09-27T16:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/framingham.com\/wordpress\/?p=1132"},"modified":"2011-03-27T03:51:22","modified_gmt":"2011-03-27T08:51:22","slug":"framingham-blues-festival-1997","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/1997\/09\/27\/arts-culture\/framingham-blues-festival-1997\/","title":{"rendered":"Framingham Blues Festival (1997)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Harely<\/a>FRAMINGHAM, MA -<\/strong> The Framingham Park & Recreation Department outdid itself once again, hosting the 2nd Annual Framingham Blues Festival at Bowditch Field which featured local and<\/em> international blues talent including Rufus Thomas, Levon Helm, and Leon Russell.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
Bob Merusi<\/strong>, (Framingham resident and Town Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs Director)<\/em>, and Ted Epstein<\/strong>, (of the Sit n' Bull pub in Maynard, MA)<\/em>, were the driving force behind both this year and last year's Framingham Blues Festival.<\/div>\n
During the first festival, (in 1996)<\/em>, performers played to a crowd of only 1000 who braved the rain and the cold to hear the blues<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 This year, under blue skies and with temperatures in the 60's, attendance tripled, with families pushing baby carriages, teens and 20-somethings<\/em>, bikers and blues lovers enjoying an early Fall afternoon and evening of blues, bar-b-que, (and beer)<\/em>.<\/div>\n
\"kids<\/a>The festival opened with high-school Battle of the Blues Bands<\/em> finalists Auntie Darth<\/strong>, followed by local favorites The Regulators<\/strong> and Boston jazz and blues pianist David Maxwell<\/strong> as some festival goers packed in around the stage and others wandered about -- talking with old and new<\/em> friends, shopping for t-shirts and souveniers, and just plain enjoying the day.\u00a0\u00a0 Special accomodations included ice-cream, face painting, and a MoonWalk<\/em>, plenty of room to kick or throw a ball, run around, or just roam in an area the Park & Recreation Department set up just for kids<\/em> at the north end of the field.<\/div>\n
\"Rufus<\/a>As the sun went down and the stadium lights came on, rock n' roll, soul, funk, and R&B legend<\/em> Rufus Thomas<\/strong> took command of Bowditch Field and all who were within the sound of his voice.\u00a0\u00a0The eighty year old Thomas who's hits include \"Walkin' the Dog\"<\/em> and \"Do the Funky Chicken\"<\/em> was backed up by local blues band B.J. Magoon & Drivin' Sideways<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 Rufus' humor and style were as much a hit as his show-stealing set.<\/div>\n
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\"Katie<\/a> Listening to the blues, you almost can't help but sway to the music or at least shuffle your feet around a little, but Katie Lennon<\/strong>, a graphic designer from Natick. MA took things a few steps<\/em> further... tap dancing on the cement bleachers and stairs for hours just behind the stage as the legendary acts performed.\u00a0\u00a0 In her opinion the blues<\/em> and tap dancing<\/em> are a natural mix -- she hopes to one day put together a troupe and call it \"Blues on Tap\"<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It was rumored that Leon Russell's truck had broken down, and that he may not make the show -- but as scheduled, just after 8:00 PM he and his band walked onstage and began to play.\u00a0\u00a0 Russell seemed a bit uptight at first, but soon relaxed as he delivered the final set of the festival which included \"Delta Lady\", \"Tightrope\"<\/em> and about a dozen tunes in the smooth and cutting style that is<\/em> Leon Russell<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\"PHOTO<\/a>###<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… [read more]<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[533,548,544,459,542,538,391,547,545,543,539,541,540,546],"class_list":["post-1132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-533","tag-auntie-darth","tag-b-j-magoon","tag-blues-festival","tag-bob-merusi","tag-bowditch","tag-concerts","tag-david-maxwel","tag-drivin-sideways","tag-katie-lennon","tag-leon-russel","tag-levon-helm","tag-rufus-thomas","tag-the-regulators"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1132"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10890,"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132\/revisions\/10890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.framingham.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}