Blues Education and Preservation Third Sunday Clinics Are Back! Starting Sunday, October 20th at the Candlelight Cafe and Bar, Noon - 1:30 p.m.

    We (Stu Kinzel and I with support from the CBA) presented the Third Sunday Clinics for 12 months (non-consecutively), but had to put them on the back burner for a while. The clinics were a true labor of love on my part, and I felt that I had left a ton of great presentations out, and that some clinics really needed to be presented again. With financial difficulties abounding and no convenient venues offering a Sunday each month, I was at a loss.

    Thanks to Joe Shore, with help from Jan Bisconer and LeEtta Clark, the Third Sunday Clinics are back! Every third Sunday starting October 20^th we will be presenting a variety of clinics, workshops and seminars at the Candlelight Café & Bar on SW 5^th and Lincoln in downtown Portland. Each clinic will begin at 12 noon sharp, and conclude at approximately 1:30 in the afternoon. Food and beverages will be available from the kitchen and bar, and a comfortable seating area with plenty of room for note taking, etc. will be provided to those who attend the clinics. Stu Kinzel or I will bring in a small PA and help get folks seated and set up. We will be asking for $5 from each attendee, which will be paid to the artist/clinic host.

    The fabulous Jack Cook will host our first clinic, and that is a great way to get some up-close schoolin' from one of the NW's very best Resophonic players. More information regarding Jack's clinic and the schedule of booked clinics will be available here starting in October.

    A very important feature of the clinics is that they will be supported directly by the membership. Jan Bisconer, LeEtta Clark, Rose Allen, Amy Allen or I will be walking the room for donations to our educational programs, specifically the clinics, at each monthly membership meeting. We still have enough of a budget left in the Blues in the Schools fund to get through to our next big fundraiser, so we are not asking for those funds — just a few bucks to pay our clinic hosts. The clinics are very important to aspiring musicians, and to the expert teachers and technicians we have who are willing to donate a workshop for very little money. In fact, only professional musicians and technicians staff our clinics and BIS presentation program. We are one of the few Blues Associations in the country that can boast such a huge roster of talent who gives so generously to our BIS and Third Sunday Clinics.

    So when you see me coming your way with the ol' Plastic Bucket o' Joy, please take a minute to dig out some spare change, or even a buck or two. Your spare change will pay a fantastic artist like Jack Cook (October) or Alan Hager (November) to come on down and teach their craft. Even if you don't play a musical instrument, there is a ton to learn about the Blues and no one better to teach it than the fine men and women we have lined up for you at the Third Sunday Clinics. You may want to make the Candlelight your Sunday brunch hangout, with good music, a good cause, and good food and drinks!

    More next month, and "thanks to you it is working!"

- LynnAnn Hyde