Growing up as a foster child in East St. Louis, Sampson was exposed to a
life of the blues in early life. A graduate of Illinois
School for the Visually Impaired, Robert has to rely on
his gift of playing by ear as he can't see well enough
to read music. Robert started playing piano at the age
of 4, he added drums at 9 years ,and harmonica by the
age of 12. At 27, he is an accomplished Slide guitar,
guitar, harp, and keyboard musician both as a
soloist and with his band, Pleasure Chest.
"Robert's high energy blues will entertain and delight
your senses. He is a performer in every sense of the
word." said Shane Denney, of Pleasure Chest.
"The blues is what I am," said Sampson, "and I can't be
nothing else."
|
WOW!! What a
weekend! My first time on
Beale Street
was an
experience I’ll never forget! The trip to
Memphis
really isn’t
that bad or expensive. It only takes 8 hours to drive and for the
experience of three days of the best blues bands from around the world,
you can’t beat it. We left on Wednesday about
6pm
with the snow
falling since
10:30am
it took us 6
hours to get to
St. Louis
where we spent
the night. The next morning was a breeze to
Memphis
, with the roads
clear and dry. After checking into our hotel, I found out from
Brandon
,
Levee
Town
was to perform
at the 152 Club, just down the street from BB Kings.
Levee
Town
was third (out
of 9 bands) on stage and heated the place up with an excellent set of
hot originals that ended with “Gone Gone Gone” one of my favorites.
The crowd was standing room only with not only our group from KC, but a
crowd of first time blues lovers who hungered for more of KC’s best.
Believe me, all of the bands that performed at the 152 club were very
good or they wouldn’t be there. Day two was just as exciting as day
one with Levee Town performing second to the last, with the outcome the
same, standing room only. It wasn’t till we went back to our room
about
midnight
when Jacq called
me with the great news that
Levee
Town
won the
preliminary round and would be in the finals on Saturday. Out of 158
bands competing,
Levee
Town
was in the top
10. The competition was the best of the best with Levee Town finishing
somewhere between 4-10. I’m very proud of
these guys for a job well done, they did
Kansas City
proud! This
weekend leaves me with one thought and a goal for 2008, to win it all!!
It can be done. Many thanks to our own Kansas City Blues Society and all
KC members and families that made the trek to Memphis, to all the bands
that won the right to be there, they are all winners in my book, to the
Blues Foundation for all the hard work they did to pull off such a great
event.
To all the good
friends we met during this fun filled weekend, we hope to see you again
real soon!
Mario
Fwd Kansas City's Levee Town Blues Band makes it to the finals at the IBC
The IBC (International Blues Challenge) has evolved into the
nation’s biggest and most respected showcase for Blues musicians ready
to take their act to the national stage. The IBC is a judged “Battle of
the Bands” in which competitors take the stage and play a short set for
a panel of judges. The acts are judged based on an established set of
criteria.
The IBC represents an international search by The Blues Foundation and
its Affiliated Organizations (mostly blues societies) for the Blues Band
and Solo/Duo Blues Act ready to perform on a national stage, but just
need that extra break. Each Affiliate of The Blues Foundation has the
right to send a band and solo/duo act to represent the organization at
the IBC Semi-Finals on Beale Street in Memphis, TN.
The number of competing acts has more than doubled in the past five
years, from 69 acts in 2003 to over 150 in 2007. The official
count was 155 acts from 34 states and eight countries, including
first-time entries from Finland and India as well as Australia, Canada,
France, Italy, Taiwan and the United States.
The Illinois Central Blues Club board of directors selected Black Magic
Johnson to represent our society in the band division, and Jake Shane to
represent us in the solo division.
We received the following letter from Jake Shane a few days after he
returned from the event:
Dear
Illinois Central Blues Society,
I
feel very privileged and honored to have been chosen to represent the
blues club at the International blues Challenge. It
was an incredible experience to play in Memphis
on the famous Beale Street. I met many talented
musicians from around the world and was very humbled by all the talent
at the competition. I would especially like to
thank Judy Burgess for first mentioning the idea of sending acts from Springfield,
Steve and Debra for nominating me, and all the blues fans from the
Blues Society that went to Memphis
to watch Black Magic Johnson and I perform. I am
very grateful for everyone that supported the idea of me being sent to
Memphis
even through there are numerous local
artists that could have gone instead of me. Thank
you very much for the wonderful opportunity that I will never forget.
Sincerely,
Jake
Shane