There have been many great performers in Music Land, for example Bono, Freddie Mercury, and Madonna, just to name a few. There are also many folks who go out of their way to exude cool via ironic t-shirts purchased at Urban Outfitters and meticulously unkempt hair. It’s one thing to dance with a pretty girl in the audience, but how many rock stars put a guitar in her hands and then proceed to wrap their arms around her and play it? Likewise, there is no way the boys from Arctic Monkeys could rock a gold lamet or candy apple red suit and pull it off. At last night’s Congressional Blues Festival, a benefit concert for the Music Maker Relief Foundation held at the Mellon Auditorium, we saw the real deal. Bono and indie scenesters alike should take lessons in showmanship and cool from the cats that were on stage.
The evening was a study in contrasts. The music was, for the most part, down home American roots music set in a hall built in a classical Greek style, complete with Doric columns. The crowd ranged from aged hippies to Hill staffers, who were there only to take advantage of the free boozin’ and schmoozin’, to high school kids wanting to be the next Jimi or Stevie Ray. The giant Volkswagen logos projected onto the ceiling and the wall behind the stage definitely added to the event’s schizophrenic ambience. This variety exists partly by design, as the festival is, in the end, a lobbying event. As Music Maker’s administrative director and co-founder Denise Duffy put it, “We preserve music by preserving musicians. We use this event to educate [lawmakers] about the importance of preserving musical and cultural traditions.”
Music Maker’s efforts are clearly having an effect. Alabama native Adolphus Bell (pictured) had been performing for decades and proudly tells of his marching with Dr. Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement. Still, he was at times homeless before joining Music Maker’s roster of artists. “I was a street musician for years and survived by taking my guitar to the pawn shop. Music Maker really did well for me. They’ve taken me all over the world to countries I never imagined I’d go to.” Bell is now trying to share his success by working with the poor and homeless. “Whatever society did to me, I would make a song about it. I want to tell my story and when I go home, I make sure I tell people that ‘I won’t forget y’all.’”
