SOUL SHINE 2006: THE BEST YET!

Your guide to the latest news about First Step’s Soul Shine Blues Festival!

Issue 4

November 2006

The Soul Shine Special Edition

After 11 years the Soul Shine Blues Festival is proving itself to be an event that simply gets bet-ter with age. There isn’t enough room to give you all the high-lights, so we will give you just the main ones. Here we go…

The Music: The Music: The Music: The Music: Soul Shine veterans Slick Black Cadillac warmed things up this year with their brand of rockin’ blues. Jammin’ Jay Albright on vocals and harp, the Mercer brothers on guitar du-ties, and Rusty Campbell on the skins brought a fitting welcome, as always, to the Soul Shine crowd. Then Bay Area harpist Phil Berkowitz took the stage sup-ported by Ohio’s own Sean Car-ney Band. Phil once again per-formed material from his album of songs saluting the great Louis Jordan. Phil’s set exhibited all the great things about Louis Jor-dan’s music. It also highlighted an era of blues music that is ex-tremely influential in the history of blues but which people some-times overlook. Next up on the bill was New Orleans bluesman Bryan Lee. Bryan immediately filled up the dance floor with his style of Chicago meets New Or-leans blues. It became quickly evident why Lee has been name dropped by his peers as one of the better guitarists in the blues. His guitar work brings to mind the more flamboyant side of Buddy Guy . And his band played with the effortless tightness of musi-cians who do it night after night. But if Bryan Lee brought the thunder, Slick Ballinger brought the rain. Decked out like a South-

ern reverend, Slick baptized the crowd with his Mississippi stomp blues. In a new change of direc-tion, Slick has turned from tradi-tional blues to a more gospel in-fluence. Whether the spirit of the blues or the Holy Spirit, Slick was filled with something . The crowd got a special treat when Ballinger called up his new bride to help him with the best version of “This Little Light of Mine” I have ever heard. This year Slick did not per-form with Blind “Mississippi” Morris, but that did not stop the band from filling up the dance floor. It was great to see people even dancing in the wings. When it was all over anyone could see why Soul Shine has developed a reputation for bringing only the best blues acts to Northwest Ohio. The Food: The Food: The Food: The Food: This year’s Soul Shine Blues Festival featured the fa-mous cooking of Wally’s Ameri-can BBQ. Wally’s famous BBQ has won awards at city, county, and state levels. This year Wally offered his famous BBQ ribs which are smoked for hours, and then smothered in Wally’s fa-mous sauce. Also on the menu this year were pulled pork sand-wiches, roasted beef brisquet, and BBQ chicken. As if that is not enough to whet your appetite Soul Shine also offered again its famous Red Beans and Rice (courtesy of Main St. Deli and Phil Kutz) and Seafood Jambalaya. All reports we received were unani-mous in their assessment: BEST SOUL SHINE FOOD EVER! - Continued on Page 2

Slick Ballinger and his Soul Bluez Boyz

Bryan Lee brings the noise

Phil Berkowitz works the crowd

Page 2 The Soul Shine Special Edition

tioned include autographed blues memorabilia, spa packages, restau-rant gift certificates, wine baskets, and autographed sports memora-bilia. The Gibson Guitar Company USA donated a Les Paul double cut-away guitar that was raffled and went to Madelon Megela. Also of-fered in the Soul Shine raffle was a flat screen TV donated by Best Buy distribution center, and, of course, the Bluesmobile donated by Graff Automall. This year’s Bluesmobile went to our friend Chuck Borden at

- Continued from Page 2

Everything Else:Everything Else:Everything Else:Everything Else: It was a year of records. This year’s Soul Shine brought a record 790 people to the Meadowbrook Ballroom. The event raised the most money in its history (over $15,000). In addition to great food and music, Soul Shine also offered other activities. The Silent Auction returned for the third straight year and offered goodies from local businesses. Ex-amples of items that were auc-

BuckeyeBlues.com. Above every-thing else, the highlight of this year’s Soul Shine was the people. Everyone helped to bring an at-mosphere of fun and enjoyment of great music, food, and to sup-port First Step. Our sincere thanks to all of you who came out for Soul Shine this year. It would not have been what it was with-out you. Make sure to mark your calendars for next year and tell all your friends that Soul Shine is where it’s at!

IMAGES OF SOUL SHINE!IMAGES OF SOUL SHINE!IMAGES OF SOUL SHINE!IMAGES OF SOUL SHINE!

Mark Your Calendars!

The 12th annual Soul Shine Blues Festival

September 22, 2007

Meadowbrook Park Ballroom Bascom, OH

GREAT MUSIC, FOOD, AND FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY!

Page 3 November 2006

First Step is a non-profit Fam-ily Violence Intervention Center dedicated to providing resources that empower people to make healthy relationship choices. The Soul Shine Blues Festival is our major annual fundraiser and helps fund our programs and ser-vices. Support Soul Shine. Sup-port First Step.

Contact Us

First Step

P O Box 1103

Fostoria, OH 44830

419-435-7300

firststep@firststepweb.org

www.firststepweb.org

____ ____ ____ ____ YYYYESESESES! I ! I ! I ! I WOULDWOULDWOULDWOULD LIKELIKELIKELIKE TOTOTOTO BEBEBEBE AAAA S S S SOULOULOULOUL S S S SHINEHINEHINEHINE VOLUNTEERVOLUNTEERVOLUNTEERVOLUNTEER; I’; I’; I’; I’MMMM INTERESTEDINTERESTEDINTERESTEDINTERESTED ININININ BEINGBEINGBEINGBEING AAAA::::

____ Soul Shine Street Team MemberSoul Shine Street Team MemberSoul Shine Street Team MemberSoul Shine Street Team Member Spread the word about Soul Shine by putting up posters, distributing flyers, or telling friends.

____ Soul Shine “daySoul Shine “daySoul Shine “daySoul Shine “day----of” Vof” Vof” Vof” Volunteerolunteerolunteerolunteer Help out on the day of Soul Shine by selling tickets, helping in the kitchen, and cleaning up. ____ SoulSoulSoulSoul Shine Planning Committee Volunteer Shine Planning Committee Volunteer Shine Planning Committee Volunteer Shine Planning Committee Volunteer Help organize and plan for Soul Shine throughout the year.

____ Soul Shine SponSoul Shine SponSoul Shine SponSoul Shine Sponsor sor sor sor Contribute to Soul Shine by underwriting some of our cost and receive advertising perks. Name Name Name Name ___________________________PhonePhonePhonePhone______________________

Address Address Address Address _____________________________________________________

Email Email Email Email _______________________________________________________

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You can play a part in making Soul Shine successful! From helping spread the word to helping clean up, we can always use more volunteers. If you are interested in helping with Soul Shine just fill out the re-sponse slip below and send it back to us, or send us an email at firststep@firststepweb.orgor send us an email at firststep@firststepweb.orgor send us an email at firststep@firststepweb.orgor send us an email at firststep@firststepweb.org with “Soul Shine Volunteer” in the subject line and with all your current information and we will get back to you. Help make Soul Shine great and contact us today!

Send this slip back to us at:

First StepFirst StepFirst StepFirst Step P O Box 1103P O Box 1103P O Box 1103P O Box 1103

Fostoria, OH 44830Fostoria, OH 44830Fostoria, OH 44830Fostoria, OH 44830

First Step

THANKSTHANKSTHANKSTHANKS TOTOTOTO OUROUROUROUR SOULSOULSOULSOUL SHINESHINESHINESHINE 2006 2006 2006 2006 SPONSORSSPONSORSSPONSORSSPONSORS!!!! GRAFF AUTOMALL GIBSON GUITAR COMPANY WKXA THE COURIER THE REVIEW TIMES ALLEGRA PRINTING ALVADA CONSTRUCTION FREMONT MEMORIAL PLACZKIEWICZ LAW OFFICES LARICHE CHEVROLET PHILIPS ELECTRIC MAIN ST. DELI J. FLECK HOME RESTORATION AMVETS POST #48 BEHM AND HENRY LLC FELTON CPA SERVICES FORT BALL PIZZA WAYNE RILEY CAR WASH LEHMAN CHIROPRACTIC CENTER MARLEY AND MARLEY FOSTORIA BEVERAGE CENTER 1040 INC. FOSTORIA MACHINE PRODUCTS TIELL FINANCIAL GROUP

THANK YOU!

PRSRT-STD

AUTOCR

US POSTAGE

PAID TIFFIN, OH

PERMIT # 52

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