Greetings Blues Fans:
This years second Annual Garvin Gate Blues Festival was an enormous, and for those of you who did not make it down to Garvin Place and the Rudyard Kipling during both nights of the festival, you missed a great party! This year the Society presented the first Sylvester Weaver Award for excellence in and preservation of the blues to Henry C. Woodruff, who has been playing the blues around these parts for over thirty-five years. Henry stared out here in the fifties with Fred Murphy when those two formed a "backyard" band. A short time later, with the addition of several more players, they moved over to the Sunset Bar on a fairly regular basis and played road gigs at black clubs around the state as well. Henry was rediscovered several years back at the Pleasure Inn on 7th Street, between Oak and St. Catherine, where he appeared with his band, the Noisemakers. The rest is recent history. Congratulations, Henry! Sylvester Weaver, by the way, was the first ever recorded blues guitarist and was from right here in Louisville. Weaver died of cancer in the early sixties and is buried here.
Special thanks and recognition must go out to the following: for organizational support, the Garvin Gate Association and Paul Porzio, event coordinator; Randy Coe, 1989 Festival Chairman; and all officers, board members and general members of the KYANA Blues Society. For organizational support and in kind services, River City Distributing, Inc., Al Scherer, Special Events Manager and Treva Profitt, Special Events Assistant; Ken Pyle, owner of the Rudyard Kipling Restaurant; Metro Parks, Bobo Kirchdoefer, Director, Bruce Nickerson, Regional Manager and Joe Williams, Foreman; Dismas House, and Jefferson County Government for personnel assistance at the soundstage. For funding, the JEFFERSON DISCOVERY PROGRAM, through the office of Jefferson County Judge/Executive Harvey I. Sloane, M. D., through the cooperative partnership of the Jefferson County Commissioners and the Louisville Board of Aldermen; the Family and Neighborhood Services Cabinet for F&NS FY "Neighborhood Awareness" grant; the Louisville Federation of Musicians and the Music Performance Trust Funds of the United States.
Also, special thanks to Bob Hutcheson. for media coordination; Kevin Hines, for musician's hospitality; Mom's Music, for sound at the soundstage; and Scott Mullins, WFPL-FM 89.3, for Master of Ceremonies and Festival host; and to Barry Harris, Divisional Manager and the Luxbury Hotels for making Eddy Clearwater's stay a comfortable one. and to everyone else, thanks for loving the blues.
Yours Truly,
Rocky Adcock-Amaretto
President