Prairie Crossroads Blues Society

Voting is open for the 2014 Blues Blast Music Awards
The Awards will be presented October 23, 2014
at the Fluid Events Center in Champaign

Voting for the 2014 Blues Blast Music Awards is open to the public and continues from July 15 through September 15. The Awards are presented by Blues Blast Magazine, a free weekly internet Blues magazine. For many years the Awards were held at Buddy Guy's Legends club in Chicago. In 2014 they will be held at the Fluid Events Center, 601 N Country Fair Drive, in Champaign.

PCBS Member Band Back Pack Jones is nominated in the New Artist Debut Release category for their CD "Betsy's Kitchen". They are also scheduled to appear at the Awards show. Back Pack Jones won our local IBC competition in 2013 and represented Prairie Crossroads Blues Society at the International Challenge in Memphis.

Some of the other artists scheduled to appear include: Bobby Rush, Lonnie Brooks, Dave Riley, Bob Corritore, Bernie Pearl, Toronzo Cannon, Annie Mack and Tweed Funk.

Vote Here! Enter your email address to cast your vote

You can listen to all of the nominations on the Blues Blast Soundcloud page.

Friday Night Live - downtown Champaign
Friday July 25
Billy Galt - 6:00 PM - Corner of Walnut & Chester
Candy Foster - 7:00 PM - Corner of Neil & Park
The Diva & The Dude - 7:00 PM - Corner of Neil & Church (One Main Plaza)

The weekly series of Friday night shows continues at the three Street Stages throughout downtown Champaign. This week is especially interesting for blues fans. Billy Galt, Candy Foster and The Diva & The Dude each do a one hour set. Thanks to 40 North & 88 West for this great series of entertainment each summer.

Friday Night Live on Facebook

IBC Challenge
October 2014

PCBS is once again holding our local competition to send the winning band to the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN in 2015. Our competition will be held in October and is open to Illinois based blues bands. We're also planning on holding a Best Self-Produced CD competition to send one of our member bands recently released CD's to the competition in Memphis. Watch our website and Facebook pages for details as we finalize our plans.

This is always one of the most exciting events we host each year. Read about the 2015 IBC on the Blues Foundation website. We expect to have all the details finalized when the we release the next edition of our Inclusive newsletter on August 1. Start making your plans now!

PCBS Monthly Meeting - August 2014
Time & Date: TBA
Location: TBA

Join us for a short business meeting. We'd love to hear your ideas to make the blues society even better in the future.

Want to help support the blues?
Consider becoming a Member of PCBS

We support blues throughout our community and the world. Our mission is preserve, promote and educate about the blues. We support the blues in a variety of ways, bringing new blues artists to town, supporting local blues bands and venues and educating the community through our Blues In The Schools programs.

PCBS is a non-profit organization formed to promote blues music and artists in East Central Illinois. We're a proud affiliate of The Blues Foundation.

You can now earmark your donations specifically for our Education programs. It's a great way to help us achieve our mission of educating about the blues and be a part of bringing up the next generation of blues musicians and fans.

Your tax deductable donation to our Education Fund helps to keep these programs alive

This PayPal link will direct your donation in any amount directly to our educational efforts, including our "Blues In The Schools" (BITS) program.

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Thanks to all the bands and artists who have contributed to our prize pool of CD's that we give away at our monthly meetings. Locally we want to thank, Back Pack Jones, Benny Jenkins bloodline, Keith Harden, The Sugar Prophets and The Kilborn Alley Blues Band. PCBS members wait for the conclusion of each meeting hoping their raffle ticket is drawn.

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all the bands!

Contact info: prairiecrossroadsblues@gmail.com

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Last Updated 07/18/2014