Another Successful Set of Blues in the Schools Programs Held in the Rockford Area

Blues in the Schools (BITS) for Spring 2007 were completed in a hugely successful manner. Six school BITS programs were done with 2,150 students and several hundred teachers lives having been touched by the blues. We completed two days of Spring BITS set of programs today with Ann Rabson while the Reverend Raven and Madison Slim completed their "rookie" day of BITS programs. All in all, the kids got exposed to the blues in a fabulous manner on March 6th and 7th.

Ann began the first day at WNTA AM 1330. Then she was off to school as were the Rev and Slim. In all, they did 4 school programs on Tuesday. The evening show on Tuesday night had 50 blues lovers in attendance. The Rev and Slim opened, Ann did a second set and then the three of them went at it for almost an hour of a great blues jam. The 10 or less minutes of the artists "conspiring" together prior to the show resulted in about an hour of super music with Ann, the Rev and Slim trading the lead back and forth like the seasoned pros they are. It was a great night of blues and the Just Goods Store Music Room is an outstanding and intimate venue for music.The Rockford Register Star came out to Conklin Elementary School and gave the program a glowing review. Music
Teacher Paul Smith joined Ann Rabson on his sax and the kids just loved it. You can check out the newspaper article on line at: http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/NEWS03/103070023/1118

All schools visited were new to BITS. They were:
· Conklin Elementary School
· West View Elementary School
· Summerdale Elementary School
· Dolan High School
· Spectrum School
· Carlson Elementary School

Thank you to the Rockford Area Arts Council for their continued support of our BITS programs. Thanks also go out to our members who make BITS both possible and a superbly successful effort!
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Rockford Area Arts Council which receives support from the City of Rockford, the Illinois Arts Council, and its members.