Ferndale's Magic Bag Hosts Antifreeze Blues Festival

To cope with the mid-winter blues, the Detroit Blues Society is organizing a two-day music shindig. Just to show their senses of humor, members are calling their event the Antifreeze Blues Festival.

It starts at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 7, and on Saturday, Jan. 8. Admission is $25 either night at Ferndale's Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., with profits going to the Detroit Blues Society.

The group is a nonprofit, tax-deductible 501-C-3 organization "dedicated to the preservation, education, and advancement of the blues tradition as it relates to the Metro Detroit area. It has as its primary goals to promote a wider appreciation for the Blues by the general public and to serve the members of the Society."

The story of just one Antifreeze Blues Festival performer, Little Sonny, demonstrates the hardscrabble roots of many of the musicians.

Aaron Willis was born in 1932 in Greensboro, Ala., where he practiced harmonica as a teenager during breaks from his job at a used car lot. Moving north, his first Detroit gig was with an artist known as Washboard Willie. He went on to perform with such notables as John Lee Hooker and Eddie Kirkland. During breaks, he would take instamatic camera photos in the audience and sell them to patrons.

Other top billings at the Antifreeze Blues Festival are for Bill Kirchen, Alberta Adams, and RJ & the Rythym Rockers.

Each of the artists has their own original stories, some more humble than others, but all in the blues tradition.

SOURCES

http://detroit.metromix.com/music/blues/anti-freeze-blues-festival/2325023/content

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Sonny