Kansas City Blues Society

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Kansas City Blues Society

P.O. Box 32396
Kansas City, MO 64171
Tel: 913.649.0383

The Kansas City Blues Society is an active, creative society. It was founded in 1980 and is one of the oldest and most active bleus societies in the United States. Its strength lies in several factors: a wide base of involved volunteers, a lot of good blues bands, a lot of clubs booking and supporting blues, who are truly committed to keeping the music alive. Here are the ways in which KCBS excels as an organization:

Mission Statement: We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to preserving Blues history, celebrating Blues excellence, support Blues education to ensure the future of this uniquely American art form.

1. Blues News Magazine
KCBS’ Blues News magazine, published monthly since before 1991, has increased in both size and volume. The newsletter has expanded from an average of 20 pages in 1994 to 28 pages in 2006. In 1998 we were publishing 1600-1800 a month and now we are publishing 2000-2500 per month.

We distribute the magazines throughout 4 counties and about 11 cities in the Kansas City Metro area, along with mailing them to each member and corporate member. We distribute them to local hotels; we mail the magazine to the Kansas Governor, Kansas City Mayor, the Kansas City Star daily newspaper, the Pitch (a local weekly entertainment paper), and the KC Visitors and Conventions Bureau.

The magazine is focused on promoting upcoming blues events in the community and the region. It includes the monthly blues calendar, a listing of blues jams, radio shows, blues bands and blues venues, CD reviews, features on the monthly host jam band, upcoming special blues events, and reviews/reports of special events and festivals, a list of new and renewed members, and articles on blues history. We also have advertising for bands, clubs, festivals, and special events that broadens the exposure of blues in our community.

The Blues News Magazine features listings of:
Radio shows: 14 per week in 1994 as compared to 20 shows in 2006
Blues bands: 36 in 1994 as compared to 118 in 2006
Blues venues: 28 in 1994 as compared to 90 venues in 2006

2. Website
KCBS maintains a website since 1999. It features many of the things found in our magazine including the monthly blues calendar, listing of blues bands with contact information, information and pictures of special events such as Blues in the Schools or festivals, “Word From the Prez” and includes links to local and regional festivals, the Blues Foundation and other blues related links. Merchandise can be viewed, ordered and paid on line. Please review our website at www.kcbluessociety.com!

3. Educational effort
From 1994 to 2000, KCBS had a Mayfield Towns Dollars for Blues Scholars committee which carried out many activities, some of which are: hosted blues clinics, awarded four $500 per year to college scholarships to deserving music students, provided music lessons for 5-10 students, assisted with purchase of new instruments for 2 students, and rehabilitated and donated approximately 100 used instruments to needy students.

The Mayfield Towns blues clinics were all-day events. In the morning, local blues musicians volunteered to teach “sections” of students. They taught the 12 bar structure, the blues chord progression, and the notes within the chords which could be used for improvisation. Other students were involved in writing lyrics for blues songs. Lunch was pizza provided by the committee, followed by a rehearsal on stage. Once rehearsal was done, a jam session followed, where each youth could practice improvisational skills by soloing at the microphone in front of a student rhythm section. The public was invited to the jam sessions and several TV stations showed up with cameras. Blues clinics were held one to two times a year at local schools and drew attendance between 25 and 75 students. A group of “Mayfield Towns All Stars” performed several years at the Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival.

Several times the committee sponsored Hawkeye Herman to perform day long Blues in the Schools (BITS) with local schools of all ages. Several events were held at Crittenton, a local school and residential facility for children with serious emotional disturbances. This school has not budget for a music program. The Mayfield Towns committee donated instruments to this school, which had no music program. It also paid for music lessons for one of their students. Academic studies are very challenging for children with thinking disorders and success is not frequent, gains are slow. Music is one area where ill children can easily participate and thrive. One day at this school, Hawkeye taught harmonica to 4 kids, then held an hour-long performance for the student body and faculty. Two of the children performed with him. One was a very ill child, about 7 years old, who did some very out-of-character moves --he took a few running steps and slid on his knees across the floor, while blowing on his harp--leaving the other students screaming and yelling, and leaving teachers stunned that this ordinarily withdrawn young boy had connected so tightly to the music. This is the power of blues music, pure and simple. What better outreach could one hope for?

In association with its annual Acoustic Showcase (our festival showcasing acoustic style music), KCBS held a weeklong Blues in the Schools workshop in 2000 at the Northwest Missouri Regional Youth Center, a correctional facility for boys age 12-18. The facility collaborated with us to have local African drummer, Bird Fleming, work with a group of volunteer youth to learn African drumming. They then performed at the Acoustic showcase at the end of the week as an act named “Tribute to Congo Square.” TJ Wheeler also did a BITS presentation for this award-winning facility.

In 2001, we expanded our work with this facility to include a multi-faceted program to be creative outlets for youth with varied interests.
a. One group of youth worked with the kitchen staff to plan and prepare a “blues menu” to be served on Friday when Doug McLeod would be there to present a Blues in the Schools workshop.
b. One group of youth worked with a volunteer teacher to build diddley-bows and washtub basses, which they learned to play. They performed at the Acoustic Showcase at the end of the week.
c. Another group of students worked with local blues photographer Evie Quarles to learn photography of musicians. They used disposable cameras and had assignments to complete, after which the film was developed, the photos were reviewed with the student, and another assignment was completed when the Blues in the Schools performance took place.
d. Yet another group worked with local blues artist Michael Allen on a mural and chalk drawings to decorate the concert room. This artwork was also displayed at the Acoustic Showcase.
e. The final group worked with a volunteer to interview a musician and write up an article. These articles were also on display at the Acoustic Showcase.

At the Kansas City Kansas Street Blues Festival in 2001, KCBS brought home made diddley bows and a washtub bass and let kids experiment with them. We had handouts of instructions how to make these instruments. We also brought supplies to make egg shakers and other percussive instruments, and helped kids make and decorate them. We then held a drawing and gave away a diddley bow to a youngster.

We have hosted multiple other one hour single day BITS, several a year, throughout the last 15 years.

Education is not limited to youth. We have a history of blues education through our magazine. Yesterday’s Blues by Doyle Pace was a longtime feature in the Blues News and featured history about a different blues artist each month. Our Big Joe Turner festival also has education components; the emcee discusses different styles of music in contrast to the Kansas City jump and swing blues style of Turner. This type of attention to detail helps create more meaning and brings richness to KCBS events.

4. Festivals
a. In the late 1980’s KCBS was one of the seed organizations starting the KC Blues and Jazz Festival. The festival became its own organization in 1992. And, at its demise in 2001, had a budget of $600,000.
b. KCBS has presented a Mardi Gras Club Crawl since 1991. The crawl occurs on Fat Tuesday and involves 16 to 20 blues bands and clubs. KCBS hires about 12 buses to drive routes from club to club, carrying “crawlers” during the 5 hour evening event, which features 2 national acts and the others being local acts. The event is the biggest annual fundraiser for KCBS and involves a budget of around $15,000. We use 150 volunteers for this event.
c. In 1996 KCBS sponsored the “Beggin’ for the Blues” blues stage at the 18th and Vine Heritage and Jazz Festival in the historic 18th and Vine Jazz District. This was the first and only year for the festival. This was a major collaboration of the KCBS with the black community. The budget for our part of this festival was $1800.
d. In 1998 KCBS began the Acoustic Showcase, a daylong festival featuring national and local acoustic and roots music that has continued annually into 2006, the budget growing from about $5000 at inception to $10,000 currently. City grant money of $10,000 has been receiving for the last 2 years. Beale Street Caravan recorded the festival in 1998. The importance of this festival is, according to TJ Wheeler, it is one of few in the country to focus on acoustic blues.
e. In 2005 KCBS began the Big Joe Turner Birthday Bash, a daylong festival featuring national and local bands, with emphasis on blues jump and shout and the heritage deriving from the Big Joe Turner Kansas City sound. The festival has a budget of about $10,000. We have obtained city grant money in the amount $10,000 each year to assist with this festival.
f. KCBS has a long tradition of providing volunteers for many local and regional festivals. More information is included in Section 8 on Community Outreach.

5. Concerts
a. KCBS sponsored an annual Riverboat Cruise from at least 1993 to the late ‘90’s when the riverboat left Kansas City. This evening event was a 3 hour summer riverboat cruise on the Missouri River and featured national bands such as Eddy Clearwater and Joe Louis Walker and local bands, with an annual budget $1700.
b. In 1998 KCBS secured $4000 in local arts council and Rhythm and Blues Foundation grant money to present the “Big Eleven Lake “ outdoor free concert in Kansas City, Kansas, an economically deprived community with higher concentrations of minorities. The festival featured an international artist and a local band.
c. In 1998 and’ 99 KCBS provided sponsorship for the Cypress Recovery Ball, an alcohol-free fundraising event for a drug and alcohol recovery organization.
d. On Jan, 2, 2000, we held what was termed “The Party After,” a ‘New Year’s Eve” concert for those in the service industry who were working on Dec. 31 1999 and unable to party themselves on this biggest New Year’s Eve of our lives.
e. KCBS began a “Blue Sunday” summer concert series in 2000 and continues to the present. The series received city grant support several years until a budget crisis occurred. Featuring local bands in the beginning and now includes both local and national acts, the annual budget of $10,000.
f. In 2000 and 2005 KCBS hosted very successful 20th and 25th anniversary parties. Both events featured both local and national acts and celebrated the history for the KCBS through music, photography and memorabilia displays.

6. Jams
Since its inception in 1980, KCBS has faithfully held monthly jam sessions and membership meetings. A host band is paid and plays a set before calling musicians to the stage. Jams have ranged from being “cream of the crop” jams to those where beginners make their first entry on stage. We rotate clubs each month so that new attendees get exposure to clubs. We have had jammers as young as age 10. KCBS also publicizes other local jam sessions, which number 20 jams per week in 1993 and 20 jams in 2006. KCBS also publicizes other local jam sessions, which have consistently numbered around 20 jams since 1993 to the present.

7. IBC sponsorship
KCBS has sponsored a blues band competition every year since at least 1991. The contest typically has 16 competing bands each year, in 4 preliminary rounds, with the winner of each advancing to the finals. KCBS gives $1750 in prize money to help the band make the trip to Memphis. In 2005 we sponsored the first solo/duo competition consisting of 6 acts, whose prize money is $500. The winning acts also receive gigs in blues society functions and festivals in Kansas City. This year, separate from the IBC competition, we have initiated a songwriting competition as well. The Kansas City Star newspaper is a cosponsor and will publish winning song lyrics.

8. Community outreach
Kansas City is a geographically large metro area, with many far outlying suburbs that are predominately white Anglo-Saxon Protestant population, and is where most of our membership lives. It is important to us to be involved in multicultural events at the community level to broaden our exposure and cultivate future blues fans.

We collaborate with local community radio KKFI 90.1 FM to support their blues programming. We prepare and they record the weekly blues calendar, which airs on their blues programs. KKFI webstreams and can be thus heard around the world.

We collaborate to supply volunteers for regional blues festivals. A couple of the bigger festivals require around 150 volunteers over the festival weekend, medium ones require 50, and smaller ones involve perhaps 10-20. A list of the festivals we provide volunteers for follows:

Festival Years in operation Yeas KCBS provided volunteers
Rhythm and Ribs festival 2 2 (in the historic 18th and Vine jazz district)
Weston Festival 3 3
Parkville Festival 8 8
Gladstone Festival 10 10
Paola Roots Festival 7 7
Kansas City Kansas Street Blues Festival 8 8
Liberty Springtime Blues Burner 2 2
Kansas City Spirit Festival, approx 9 9
KC Blues and Jazz Fest 9 9
Blues and Heritage Festival 1 1
River Valley Festival 1 1
Olathe Summer Concert Series 4 4
Blue Springs Summer Concert Series 2 2


At various times, we have collaborated with Kansas City Kansas Public Library to produce their Brown bag concert lunches. We have donated blues CDs to the library and donated a poster signed by Luther Allison to be used as a prize for their blues essay contest.

In 1998 we also donated blues CDs to the Kansas State University campus radio station.

In 1998 KCBS sponsored the annual Thanksgiving Breakfast Dance, a 35+ year event unique to Kansas City. The event, typically featuring 2 national soul blues acts and a local blues band, has been a longstanding mainstay in the black community.

Since 2005, and with a budget of $500, KCBS has sponsored bands at the First Friday event, which is an event in the arts district where art galleries open for display in the evening on the first Friday of each month.

KCBS sponsored the 2006-2008 Olathe Summer Concert Series, a 6-week concert featuring blues bands as well as other genres. Due to its success, we expect to continue our sponsorship in 2007 and beyond.

Other community outreach included sponsoring benefits for the following organizations: Harvesters area wide food pantry, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome organization, Hope House battered women’s shelter, Hurricane Katrina victims, and Sherwood Center for autistic children. We also helped organize benefits for national and local musicians such as Johnny Clyde Copeland, Lester King, Freddie Johnson, Bob Schnebelen, Little Hatch, Lawrence Wright, blues community personalities Amy and Sandy, volunteers George Geelan and Connie Crash, to name a few.

Through its Mayfield Towns Dollars for Blues Scholars, committee, KCBS conducted an instrument donation and rehabilitation program for needy music students. We donated approximately 35 instruments in lower income area schools.

9. Membership
Our society has 1000 members, up from about 700 in 2004. We offer different levels of membership:
Basic Single Membership - $25
Basic Family Membership - $40 – Receives an extra card for family member (at the same address).
Blues Fan Membership - $60 –Receives additional membership in the Blues Foundation and a KCBS t-shirt.
Family Blues Fan Membership - $80 - Same as Blues Fan, but with two shirts and two cards
Corporate Membership - $250 – Receives an extra card. Your company name will be listed each month in a special section that identifies our corporate members.
Julia Lee Commemorative Membership - $100 – Receives a KCBS t-shirt, two free passes to a KCBS event of your choice, and a membership in the National Blues Foundation.
Walter Page Commemorative Membership - $500 – Receives a KCBS t-shirt, two free passes to all KCBS events for the year, and a membership in the National Blues Foundation.
Joe Turner Commemorative Membership - $1,000 – Receives two KCBS t-shirts, two free passes to all KCBS events for the year, a membership in the National Blues Foundation, and dinner for two at BB’s Lawnside Bar BQ.

We named the advanced levels of membership for local musicians who were prominent in KC’s music scene in their lifetime. Our most popular advanced membership is the Blues Fan, which has resulted in a significant number of new members for the Blues Foundation. KCBS is the only blues society successfully promoting membership in the Blues Foundation in this way.

10. Collaborative relationships
KCBS is important to several community entities. Examples of our support of are::
a. We have a “Blue Sheet” project whereby bands that are members of KCBS are given first chance for KCBS events and referrals to gigs. We feel this is an important way to engage in mutual support bands.
b. We have sought funding from city government as a way to bring their focus on the importance of tourist dollars from the blues community.
c. We support KKFI radio, mentioned earlier, as a way to repay their support of our calendar and to be a part of the critical mass (bands, clubs, radio, KCBS, fans) that makes the blues scene strong in Kansas City.
d. We use the “Blues Fan” level of membership as a collaborative way to support the Blues Foundation who, in turn, supports us through the offering of the IBC competition.
e. In the late 1990’s, we promoted the Cypress Recovery “Where There Is Hope” CD, a fundraiser for the Cypress Recovery substance abuse treatment program.

11. Creative fundraising
KCBS was the first organization to raise funds by raffling tickets to the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise. We sell only 500 tickets costing $20 each for the pair of tickets and $500 cash. This has been a relatively easy source of new income.

Funds are the basis of our ability to promote blues. We have greatly expanded our fundraising in the last 15 years through sales of merchandise. Our t-shirt and merchandise sales provide a huge amount of revenue, in the $15,000 to $17,000 range annually, compared to $2,000 in the 1980’s. This is all done by KCBS volunteers who design, order, manage and sell the merchandise at festivals, concerts, and other related events. Especially popular is our Missouri license plate design T-shirt, the item responsible for expanding our exposure. Five years ago we would be hard pressed to say we saw one of our shirts at a non-blues event, and now it is common to see it anywhere.

For the past several years, we applied and were accepted to the Greater Kansas City Combined Federal Campaign, which is a charitable opportunity for federal, postal and military employees to donate funds to worthy non-profit organizations in a cost-efficient way. In 2006, during our first year in the campaign, we raised $6,000.

We are proud that we have no casino sponsorship of our events. While casinos can be a ready source of cash in the blues world, we feel that money now spent in casinos is money that used to, in part, be spent in the local blues venues. Avoiding casino money is a point of commitment to our local clubs whose profit stays in our community and isn’t siphoned out of state.

In summary, KCBS has been continuously committed and active in promoting blues education, and outreach; promotion of the artists, clubs, radio; and in support of fans of blues music. Our education activities with youth were strongest in the late 1990s and early 2000’s. When new presidents are elected, the focus of activity often shifts according to the new presidents’ interests, and that is what happened in our organization. Since 2001, the focus shifted to creating the Blue Sunday concerts and the one day festival of Big Joe Turner.

Overall, we feel that our body of work during the last 15 years is testimony to our continued commitment to promoting blues in a variety of ways. We appreciate your consideration of this nomination.