PennsylvaniaAllentowns ArtsquestBy KmK JACKSON

Inwork, location, relationships, whateveraspect of life, when one thing ends, some-thing else replaces it. You miss the old,but the new proves intriguing. This

applies to blues events like Pennsylvania'sBlast Furnace Blues Festival, which debutedSept. 16-18 at the SteelStacks Campus, anentertainment complex built on the site of theold Bethlehem Steel plant.

The festival was organized jointly byMichael Cloeren and Artsquest, a non-profitarts organization based in Bethlehem. Cloerendeveloped his chops as a blues promoter withthe Pocono Blues Festival, which closed in2010 after 20 years but was given new birth byCloeren as the Pennsylvania Blues Festival.

The Blast Furnace Festival featured theKinsey Report, tile James Supra Blues Band,the Deb Callahan Band, Eddie Shaw and theWolf Gang, the Cedric Burnside Project, MikeDugan and tile Blues Mission, MississippiHeat, Sarah Ayers, Andrew "Junior Boy"Jones, Eden Brent, Todd Wolfe, HomemadeJamz, Johnny Rawls, Dana Fuchs, DonovanRoberts, Charlie Musselwhite, singer BevConklin and the Be Combo, Bernard Allison,Buckwheat Zydeco, Sharrie Williams, GuyDavis, Ruthie Foster, JJ Grey & Mofro, PhilMinisale, the Holmes Brothers and TeenyTucker.

The event ended with a performance by"Chicago All-Stars" Hubert Sumlin, Bob,Stroger and Bob Margolin. It was likely one ofthe last public appearances of Sumlin, whodied of heart failure on Dec. 4, 2011.

Like Pocono, the Blast Furnace festivaloffered three stages. Most groups gave twoperformances, one outside and anotherindoors at the Musikfest cafe, an auditorium-

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style restaurant/performance center.Also like Pocono, each night ended with

musicians from the various acts joining togeth-er in a jam.

One big difference: Blast Furnace took achance-and ultimately broke new ground-by including many regional up-and-comerswho more than held their own with the morenationally-known performers.

Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley was well rep-resented by singer Sarah Ayers and her band;Mike Dugan and the Blues Messengers; bassistRob Fraser and by Bev Conklin's BC Combo.There was also a blistering Saturday night per-formance by the Craig Thatcher Band and aSunday afternoon concert by Friar's Point, agroup which had represented the region at the2008 and 2010 International Blues Challengecompetitions.

The majors were in rare form. Everyonewho came with a band-from Fuchs to Allisonto Musselwhite to Foster-had a good one. Incontrast, with his story-telling, comedicapproach to the blues, guitarist-harmonicistGuy Davis showed the audience what a goodsolo performer could do.

Johnny Rawls, an entertainer as well as astrong guitarist and singer, maintained hispoise despite being on his feet for 12 hours,first delivering "Mississippi Soul Blues" withhis own band, then hosting a jam that pairedhim with guitarist Eddie Vann Shaw of EddieShaw and the Wolf Gang.

And Homemade Jamz-19-year-old Ryanon guitar, l8-year-old Kyle on bass, and 12-year-old Taya on drums-have not onlymatured physically, but have become moreseasoned and polished performers since I lastsaw them at the 2010 Pocono Festival.

Another unique feature of the BlastFurnace festival was a panel discussion onmusic legends Big Mama Thornton and BigMaybelle, held by Tucker, Cloeren and JonnyMeister of the University of Pennsylvania radiostation WXPN.

But the biggest difference was the venueitself. Living in the Lehigh Valley for 20 years,I remember how the Bethlehem Steel complexfascinated me the first time I saw it etchedagainst a moonlit sky. I almost felt like Iwasin the middle of a science fiction movie.

The SteelS tacks, as they are now called,gave the event a personality all its own, risingbehind Bernard Allison as he and his band

38 Big City Rhythm & Blues • February-March 2012

played "The Way Love Was Meant to Be"Saturday at twilight. They were omnipresentthrough the huge glass windows of theMusikfest Cafe Sunday afternoon as ChubbyCarrier led a line of dancers from the audienceto the stage for an impromptu Zydeco party.

And the smell! Even though the plant hasbeen closed down since the mid-'90s, the crispsmell of residue from years-gone-by steel pro-duction still hung in the air, Overall, youcouldn't have picked a better place for a festi-val.

One sad note: Willie "Big Eyes" Smith wassupposed to be part of the Chicago All-Starsperformance, but died from a stroke two daysbefore the festival. "Willie wanted us to keepgoing," Bassist Bob Stroger told the audienceduring his performance with Margolin andSumlin. "The last few days have been hard.But are you ready to have some fun?"

They were. And they did.