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OBS is interested in keeping up with what is happening on the Blues scene and scans regularly for blues stories local, national and international. We are particularly interested in what goes on in the Ottawa/Gatineau area.
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Blues in Canada
13th ANNUAL MAPLE BLUES AWARDS

Legendary bluesman Son House is quoted as saying "I'm talking about the blues now, I ain't talkin' about no monkey junk".  Such was not the case at the 13th annual Maple Blues Awards, held at Koerner Hall in Toronto. Ottawa based blues band Monkey Junk were the big winners with five awards, including Entertainer of the Year, Electric Act of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year (Steve Marriner), Guitarist of the Year (Tony D) and Harmonica Player of the Year (Steve Marriner).

Musician Ken Whiteley presented Chris Whiteley & Diana Braithwaite with the SOCAN Songwriter of the Year award. Chris Whiteley was the also winner of both the Horn Player of the Year award and the Blues With a Feeling Award. Toronto's Blackburn were awarded the New Artist of the Year.   The late Jeff Healey's "Songs From the Road" won Recording of the Year, presented to producer Alec Fraser, who recently recovered from a serious illness.  Fraser also took home the Bassist of the Year award.  A stunning performance with the Maple Blues Band from Harry Manx followed his win for Acoustic Act of the Year.

Saskatchewan native Suzie Vinnick picked up female vocalist of the year and also presented, along with Toronto Blues Society president Derek Andrews, the Blues Booster Award to DAWG FM's Ed Torres.   DAWG FM will launch the nation's first all blues radio service in Ottawa this June.

A celebration of Canadian blues music; the Maple Blues Awards is Canada's only National blues awards program. Its goal is to promote blues music across Canada, and to recognize outstanding achievement in the field.
  

For a full list of 2010 Maple Blues Award Winners - http://www.torontobluessociety.com/mba/winners.htm
(Thanks to Sarah French, Sarah French Publicity and Time Des Islets, Toronto Blues Society) 

The Maple Blues Awards are supported by FACTOR and the Government of Canada through the Canadian Music Fund, the SOCAN Foundation, SOCAN, the Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Ministry of Culture, KMP Designs Inc., Long & McQuade Musical Instruments, DAWG FM, Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, Stony Plain, Saturday Night Blues, and Lee Oskar.

Blues Underground Network

Blues Underground Network is a blog that is dedicated to "Promoting, Preserving, and Advancing the Culture and Tradition of Blues Music as an Art Form".
The author is a B.C. native who features news, reviews and many interesting and relevant blues related links on his blog. http://bluesunderground.blogspot.com/
International Blues

2010 Keeping the Blues Alive Recipients Announced

The Keeping the Blues Alive Awards recognize the significant contributions to blues music made by the people behind the scenes. Each is selected on the basis of merit by a panel of blues professionals.

The 2010 Keeping the Blues Alive Award recipients are:

Art and Photography: Michael Maness, Memphis, Tennessee
Blues Club: Bradfordville Blues Club, Tallahassee, Florida
Blues Organization: Connecticut Blues Society
Education: Spencer Bohren, New Orleans, Louisiana
Festival: Heritage Music Blues Festival, Wheeling, West Virginia
Festival International: Piazza Blues, Bellinzona, Switzerland
Historical Preservation: Eric Leblanc, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
International: Finnish Blues Association, Helsinki, Finland
Journalism: David Fricke, Rolling Stone, New York, New York
Literature: Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson, Tom Graves, Memphis, Tennessee
Manager: Pat Morgan, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Print Media: Block, Almelo, Netherlands
Producer: Andy McKaie, Universal Music Enterprises, Santa Monica, California
Promoter: Pozitif Productions, Istanbul, Turkey
Publicist: Richard Flohil, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Radio Commercial: Charles Evers, Jackson, Mississippi
Radio Public: Rick Galusha, Omaha, Nebraska
Record Label: Crosscut Records, Bremen, Germany
Visual Broadcast: Film, Television and Video: Pocket Full of Soul.

For more information about the recipients, read the biographical sketches on the Blues Foundation's website at:  www.blues.org/#tagNews_854