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Clearwater will feel the blues

By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published December 20, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Willie J. Allen Jr.] Audience members at the Tampa Bay Blues Festival are treated to the hard rock-blues style of Eric Sardinas as he walks by.

CLEARWATER - You name it, the city has hosted it: hip-hop, country, hard rock, classical, Christian, Latin rhythms and, of course, more than a quarter century of jazz.

But not the blues.

Clearwater events producer Terry Schmidt thought that was kind of, well, sad.

So he created a free event called the Knology Clearwater Sea-Blues Festival, planned for Feb. 24-25 at Coachman Park, 301 Drew St.

"A seafood fest is something that Clearwater hasn't had in a long time," Schmidt said Tuesday.

"And looking at the diversity of music we've had," he added, blues was one genre that was missing.

So Clearwater got into the groove and corrected this wrong.

What's the lineup, you say? Here you go:

On Feb. 24, it's Johnny Winter, Coco Montoya and Chris Beard.

On Feb. 25, it's Eric Sardinas, Eric Lindell and Tinsley Ellis.

Impressive choices, said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar, an industry trade magazine.

"Sounds good to me," he said, adding that each artist is well-respected. "And for free ... my God, there are people who pay money to see these folks."

The event will cost about $60,000 to produce, Schmidt said. Artists' fees were pretty reasonable at less than $30,000 "for the whole bundle," he said.

Organizers chose the last weekend in February, Schmidt said, because there aren't many competing events then. It's also the weekend before spring training baseball starts, and baseball fans "will be looking for something to do," he said.

Expenses are being covered by sponsors Knology - which is donating more than $20,000 in cash and in-kind services - the Clearwater Downtown Development Board, radio stations WSJT-FM 94.1 and WRBQ-FM 104.7, and the St. Petersburg Times.

The festival will also offer a heap of shrimp, crab cakes, oysters, lobster, blackened grouper and seafood gumbo.

Schmidt said he is still trying to line up vendors, but Frenchy's Seafood Restaurants is already on board.

The park holds about 15,000 people. Admission will be free, and - unlike at the Clearwater Jazz Holiday - each attendee will be allowed to bring in one unopened bottle of water.

"It's going to be a fun, great, laid-back event," Schmidt said.

FEB 24

Johnny Winter: Legendary guitarist widely known for his blistering and bluesy rock albums of the 1960s and '70s.

Coco Montoya: Onetime drummer for blues legend Albert Collins who later switched to guitar.

Chris Beard: Guitarist known as the "Prince of the Blues," who was inspired by the likes of Buddy Guy and Matt "Guitar" Murphy.

FEB. 25

Eric Sardinas: Texas and Delta blues guitarist who was born a lefty but learned to play right-handed.

Eric Lindell: Bluesy singer-songwriter from New Orleans.

Tinsley Ellis: Hard-rocking blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist in the tradition of Duane Allman, Freddie King, Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes.

[Last modified December 20, 2006, 06:23:05]