| April 19th, 2005 09:18 PM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Blues fans campaign for plaques
(BBC News)
A campaign to mount plaques at key sites in the 1960s British blues music boom is to be launched at London's Jazz Cafe venue on Wednesday.
Magazine Blues in Britain wants to mark places where home-grown acts such as the Rolling Stones and US stars like Muddy Waters performed.
Organisers hope to show how the UK scene helped revitalise blues music, which was out of fashion in the US.
A concert and an exhibition of rare photos will be held to mark the launch.
Blues in Britain want the public to nominate places and then vote on their campaign website from Wednesday.
British blues
Venues to receive a plaque may include the sites of the now defunct Ealing Club in west London where the Rolling Stones used to play and the South Kensington building which once housed Blaise's, where Jimi Hendrix performed.
The campaign will raise the profile of Britain's part in the blues story, a Blues in Britain spokesman said.
"We hope these plaques will draw attention to Britain's previously unrecognised role in saving blues music," he said.
"People here have never had the same sense of ownership about blues music as they have with say the Beatles, but Britain's part was very important.
"The plaques will not just be confined to big cities as we hope to feature unusual places like US air force bases in East Anglia, where the American stars used to play."
Colour plans
School children living near the plaque sites will be asked to come up with designs for the marker.
Organisers say the plaques will not be blue, however, as that colour is already used by English Heritage.
They may opt for red, white and blue - signifying the colours used in the Union Jack and American flags - or black and white to show the link between the US black and British white communities.
New British blues star Matt Schofield is due to perform at the launch, which will feature archive photographs from photo agency Rex Features. |
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