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Blues-Jazz Festival Opens Friday

Blues-Jazz Festival Opens Friday image
Parent Issue
Day
7
Month
September
Year
1972
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
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Work Nearly Finished On Bandstand For Blues-Jazz Festival

Crowd Of 15,000 Expected

Blues-Jazz Festival Opens Friday

By Doug Fulton
(News Staff Reporter)

If you don’t have your tickets for the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival — starting tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the field next to Huron High — you’d better act fast, for it looks very much as if there will be a “Sold Out” sign on the gate by the time it opens.

And if you have a ticket that you purchased from any place but one of the authorized dealers (the Michigan Union or Salvation Records in Ann Arbor, Ned’s Bookstore in Ypsilanti, Hudson’s Ticket Service in Detroit), take that ticket to an authorized dealer to see if it is a legal one. A number of festival tickets were stolen from the printer, but before they were imprinted with a special seal, and these are being sold on the streets.

Promoter Peter Andrews of Rainbow Corp., sponsors of the festival, said today that “nearly 10,000 series tickets have been sold, and that number, plus the single-day admissions tickets also sold, pretty much assures us that we will sell out the festival.” Andrews repeated his assertion, made earlier, that once the requisite number of tickets needed to fill the field is sold, ticket sales will be closed to prevent crowding of the site. “Fifteen thousand is the limit,” Andrews said, “and the ones who come after that limit is reached will have to go home and listen on the radio.” (The festival will be broadcast, in its entirety, over WNRZ-FM, Ann Arbor and WABX-FM, in Detroit.)

“By controlling the numbers of customers we will avoid many of the problems usually associated with festivals,” Andrews noted, “and we can provide for sufficient services and facilities for the comfort of those who attend.

“Actually, though, the nature of our program itself sets it apart from what most people think when they hear the word ‘festival.’ A blues and jazz program simply doesn’t attract the kind of audience that's made festival a bad word in some areas.”

Capt. Robert Conn of the Ann Arbor police department, in charge of traffic control for the festival, agrees with Andrews’ assessment. “We are expecting no trouble, and have sufficient men assigned to handle any problem that might arise,”.

Conn also pointed out that the added police costs are being paid for by the festival promoters, who have in addition hired the Psychedelic Rangers to assist police in traffic control and other patrol duties. The normal ranger force of approximately 50 youths has been augmented with new recruits to provide a force of 180, of whom about 100 will be deployed outside the festival grounds, on traffic and parking duties, and the remainder inside the grounds for security.

In addition, Conn noted that special traffic regulations have been set up for the festival, and one-way street patterns will be in force from 4 p.m. Friday until traffic is dispersed that night, and from 10:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

In brief these patterns make Fuller Road one-way east from the North Campus intersection with Glacier Way to Huron Parkway, Glacier Way remains one-way west in back of the Veterans’ Hospital (from Oakway-Beal), and to this is added the stretch from the Huron Parkway, thus making the entire distance of Glacier one-way west from the Parkway to the connection with Fuller Rd.

In addition to the present one-way north designation of Oakway, Beal will be made one-way north to Hubbard, and Hubbard one-way east to the Huron Parkway for the festival.

Cars will be parked at Huron High school and at selected locations on North Campus and the surrounding area. Rangers and/or police will be stationed at these locations to direct traffic.

Police and rangers also will patrol residential areas in the vicinity of the festival continuously to prevent festival patrons from using these areas, which will be posted.

The Ann Arbor Emergency CB Group will provide communication facilities and manning to give coordination for police and rangers at the various locations.

Weather is expected to be cool, but the extended forecast looks fairly promising, according to National Weather Service meteorologists, Friday should be sunny, Saturday partly cloudy, and Sunday the same. There is a chance of showers Sunday, but the probabilities are low at this time.

(It might be interesting to note that Ray. Geiger’s “Farmer’s Almanac” predicts “unsettled” weather for Sept. 8-11, but forecasts no rain. Andrews also reports that one of his astrologer friends cast a horoscope and came up with the prediction of good weather.)

Good weather is important to the festival because, contrary to earlier reports, no alternate location for the performances has been obtained. The Blues and Jazz Festival will go on outdoors at the location designated, rain or shine.

Only a few changes have been made in the program previously announced. The Charles Mingus Ensemble, scheduled for Saturday night, has been replaced by Pharoh Sanders, because of an extension of Mingus’ European tour.

Other changes involve additions of personnel, and a change in sequence. Added to the Saturday afternoon program will be Koko Taylor, a female blues singer from Chicago, and added to the Sunday evening program will be the famous bluesman Johnny Shines, who will be backed by the Boogie Brothers, a local group already scheduled to perform.

And, at his own request, Miles Davis will appear first on the program Sunday evening. Miles was originally scheduled to close out the festival, an honor that will now be accorded Otis Rush. That evening program begins at 7 p.m., as with the others (afternoon programs kick off at 12:30 p.m.), so those who want to hear Davis should plan to be there well in advance.

The Saturday afternoon program, composed entirely of artists from Chicago, will feature a special presentation to Lucille Spann, widow of the famous blues pianist who appeared at the first Blues Festival and died of a heart attack early the next year. Lucille Spann is a blues artist in her own right, and will appear as pianist with the Mighty Joe Young band. Festival promoters plan to honor Spann’s memory with a formal dedication of the site as “Otis Spann Memorial Field,” and present a plaque to his widow.

Andrews also announced that a contract has been signed with Atlantic Records to record the full festival and issue a double record of selected material.