Riverside Blues Fest slated for Saturday
By TILLMAN ELLIS Staff WriterDeep, soulful blues music will flow from River Street this Saturday as the Riverside Blues Festival kicks into high gear. While strolling the street listening to musicians, festivalgoers can enjoy raffles, food, history and artists demonstrating their craft.
"All proceeds go to rehabilitate and revitalize the old Riverside School," said Alice Sabatino, a coordinator of the Riverside Blues Festival. The festival will take place in front of the Riverside School.
The Riverside School served to educate the African American populace from 1905 to 1954. Originally, the school was designed for eight grades until in 1925 when a second floor was built to accommodate grades nine through 10. Until 1928, the limited training and quality offered by Riverside School irked African American residents to the point they sent their children to West Virginia Collegiate Institute. After 1928, Riverside School attained a higher curriculum, extra curricular activities and eventually became a four-year high school. Riverside gained a legacy of academic excellence in the African American community and students from adjacent counties entered Riverside to finish their high school education.
Musical artists confirmed for the festival include Nat Reese, Sam Lamont, Ian Walters and Company, Miss Freddye and the Blue Faze and The Dennis McClung Blues Band.
Reese began playing music when he was 6 years old and moved on to playing for money when he reached the age of 9. Now more than 80 years old, Reese has been inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.
Lamont is a guitarist, vocalist, harmonica player and a 2008 West Virginia Blues Society Contest Winner.
Walters is a piano playing bluesman from Washington, D.C., who has created his own blend of the blues.
Miss Freddye and the Blue Faze is a R&B, soul, funk and blues band noted for high-energy shows that represent a diverse range of influences. Blue Faze won the 2008 Appalachian Blues competition in West Virginia.
McClung is a bluesman with a respect for the traditional sound. He recently recorded his latest CD low-tech with only two microphones in order to capture an authentic sound. According to McClung, "The blues is the language of the truth."
The Riverside School has so far received a $48,282 grant, but more funds for the roof renovation are desperately needed.
"The money that we raise, it is impertinent that we use it to put a roof on the school. It will be used for that immediately," Sabatino said.
Aside from musicians gracing the festival, there will be a bike raffle, a 50/50 drawing, a silent auction and plenty of barbecue.
Restoration of the Riverside School is meant for something greater than posterity according to Melvin Marks, an alumnus of Riverside and the current president of the Riverside School Association.
"Making it an asset for the community is our purpose," said Marks, who graduated in 1951 three years before the school shut down.
Marks aims for Riverside to be more than a school. The plan once renovations are finished is for the building to become a youth center as well as a historical landmark.
The Riverside Blues festival is not just a fundraiser for a historical site but also a good time for blues lovers, according to Marks.
"It is a money making project for us," said Marks. "More importantly, we want people to come out and enjoy themselves. We have good entertainment, good food and good music."
The festival will span most of Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
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lazylion
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07-22-10 3:46 PM
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Sounds like a good time and a worthy cause! I am surprised (or am I?) that the Inter-Mountain would use a quote that makes the speaker sound so ignorant. "The money that we raise, it is impertinent that we use it to put a roof on the school. It will be used for that immediately," Sabatino said. Impertinent is quite obviously the wrong word. Perhaps the speaker meant imperative, but the Inter-Mountain could have gotten the point across without the use of a quote that is so contradictory.
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