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It's stories of life. It's true-to-life experiences. All you got to do is listen to the lyrics, and you'll see that they are related to some true-to-life experience of somebody - me, you and anybody else that hears it.

- John Cephas

Bill Lupkin Brings Chicago Blues Harmonica to the Redstone Room September 5

Veteran harmonica player Bill Lupkin and his band will bring Chicago-style blues to the Redstone Room in Davenport on Friday September 5. The show, sponsored by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, begins at 8:30; admission is $10.

West Coast harmonica master Mark Hummel notes that “Bill Lupkin has been in the thick of Chicago blues for more than 38 years and still gets one of the best tones in the Blues Biz.” In fact, according to writer Dick Shurman, 'In the Chicago blues harp club, Bill Lupkin has the chops, the tone, the attitude, and the dues paid in full for ‘Real Deal’ status.” And, as Whatzup Magazine points out, “Lupkin's vocals mirror his evocative harp, able to express resignation and regret alongside rage and excitement.”

Originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, Lupkin arrived on the Chicago blues scene at the end of the 1960s, when blues was still mainly heard in the ghetto clubs on the South and West Sides, and most of the great names of the post-war era were active.

Michael Hawkeye Herman

With Portland’s Bayfront Blues Festival under his belt, accolades from Blues Sur Seine in Paris, and just arrived from the Grafton (Wisconsin) Blues Festival, which he helped to found, Quad-City native Michael “Hawkeye” Herman will present a benefit concert for the Mississippi Valley Blues Society at the Redstone Room in Davenport on Tuesday, September 23. The music starts at 7:30, and admission is $10 for this special show by Hawkeye Herman and friends.

“I heard about the MVBS needing funds in order to have a 25^th anniversary Fest in 2009, and I saw something I could do to help,” Hawkeye says. He is donating his music free of charge to the MVBS, and the RME is donating the space of the Redstone Room to help the Blues Society in its efforts to raise $100,000.

Chris Avey

Congratulations to The Avey Brothers for winning the 2008 Iowa Blues Challenge, held Saturday, May 17 at the Hotel Fort Des Moines. This Quad Cities band consists of Chris Avey on guitar and vocals, Mark Avey on bass, Bryan West on drums and Chris Ryan on harmonica. Formerly collaborating in the Twin Towers Band and rock band Blue Ash Ink, Chris and Mark Avey have been a fixture on the Quad Cities music scene for the past ten years or so. While Chris was off in Phoenix playing lead guitar with the Big Pete Pearson Band, Mark had a successful stint playing bass with the Mercury Brothers, who also won the Iowa Blues Challenge and made it to the finals of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, which is a significant feat in itself.