Prairie Crossroads Blues Society

Champaign-Urbana IL

Blues Fest Volunteers Needed

Friday, June 28 3pm-9pm and Saturday, June 29 11am-9pm

This year we have two tents, one in the Kid's and Family Area and one near the main stages, so we're looking for double the volunteers. You can help set up tables and tents, work with kids making musical instruments, answer questions, sell raffle tickets and generally have fun with other blues lovers.

We have a sign-up page here or you can send email with your availability to pcbsweb@gmail.com.

Thanks for helping us preserve, promote and educate about the blues!

PCBS Raffle - Rossville Sound Werx SF112

[RSW Speaker Cab]

Thanks to the fine folks at Rossville Sound Werx who've provded us with a 1 x 12 professional series speaker and cabinet (Celestion Vintage 30) for a raffle. Tickets are only $5, so tell all your musician friends to get in on this. We'll pick the winner at the Blues Fest on Saturday night.

Rossville Sound Werx manufactures speaker cabinets in various configurations and hand-wired point-to-point tube amplifiers. Their products provide quality, durability and awesome sound. Check out all their terrific products.

[RSW Logo]

This sound equipment is locally made and of the highest quality. PCBS member band, The James Jones Trio uses Rossville Sound Werx equipment.

Upcoming Meeting

June Meeting
6:00 pm, Wednesday June 12
Louie's Dixie Kitchen & BBQ
1104 N. Cunningham Ave. Urbana

Come for our meeting and stay for a bite to eat and a beverage or two. Remember that all PCBS memebers are eligible for the Free CD giveaway at the conclusion of our monthly meeting.

We'll be finalizing our plans for the upcoming Champaign Blues, Brews & BBQ's Fest, Firday and Saturday June 28 & 29.

PCBS is 3 years old!

We held our first formational meeting on May 23, 2010 at Jupiters at the Crossing. We were formed as a Not-For-Profit with the following mission; To educate, preserve, and promote the blues tradition in East Central Illinois.

It's been a fun and exciting three years with lots of accomplishments. We became a proud affiliate of the Blues Foundation based in Memphis, TN. Among the highlights was the chance to bring lots of new entertainment to the Champaign Blues scene. We're also extremely proud of our outstanding Blues in the Schools educational programs that we've hosted at area schools and libraries. Another highlight was sending Hurricane Ruth and Jerry Lee & The Juju Kings to Memphis to represent us in the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge.

The best part was being around all the great blues fans in the area. It's truly a pleasure to assoicate with such a fine group of people.

Contact us at: prairiecrossroadsblues@gmail.com

Blues in the Library

[Kids in the Library]

What a fun time everyone had at Prairie Crossroads Blues Society's second Blues In The Schools - Library Edition, which we held at the Urbana Free Library on Saturday March 30th.

Thanks in part to the Orange Krush Foundation for their generous grant, we once again reached out to the area youth to educate them about blues history and teach them some harmonica basics. We also want to send a big thanks to the Urbana Free Library who provided a terrific venue and the audio/visual equipment that allowed us to put on such a great event.

Courtney Cain, a graduate student at the U. of I. in African-American History, gave an oustanding talk including a Power Point presentation on blues history. Thanks to Courtney for making her slides available to all. Then Doug Schroer, a local harmonica player and educator, taught some harmonica basics and demostrated a few advanced harmonica techniques.

[Blues in the Library]

We handed out free harmonicas to all the kids who came through the door, and many of the parents as well. A special thanks goes to our friends at Samuel Music for a generous donation of some of the harmonicas and a great deal on the rest.

What a fantastic job our instructors did at both the Champaign Public Library on Saturday Feb. 9 and at the Urbana Free Library on Saturday March 30.

Thanks to all the attendees and contributors. We loved seeing you at the library.

Check out our Education page for details about our Blues in the Schools programs. Contact us if your organization would like to have us present a similar program at your location.

Remember, you can make a Donation to our Education Fund through PayPal.

Want to help support the blues? Consider becoming a Member of PCBS. We support blues throughout our community and the world, and want to educate everyone about the history and value of this amazing musical art form.

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.