10:30 am
Rick Franklin and Mike Baytop
The duo of Rick Franklin and Mike Baytop perform traditional Piedmont blues and other acoustic blues styles. Their CD "Searching for Frank" was nominated for a 2007 Wammie as best blues recording by the Washington Area Music Association. Rick Franklin brings a big dose of humor to this boisterous mix of Piedmont, 1920's and 1930's blues, and ragtime music. For the past 23 years, Franklin has been playing and singing the blues at local festivals, community events, and clubs and cafes. Franklin is an aficionado of everything from African High Life, Brazilian Batucada and Samba to Reggae and Zydeco; musical idioms which, like the blues, reflect the considerable contribution of the African heritage to the musical scene. Mike Baytop is President of the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation. He performed with his teacher and mentor Archie Edwards at the Smithsonian Institute's 150th birthday celebration and at the Rocky Gap Festival, and many other events. Baytop performed at the first Bluebird Festival at Prince George's College in 1994 and at the 11th annual DC Mayor's Arts Awards in 1995. He has played at the Bull Durham Blues Festival, Blues in the Burg Festival, DC Blues Society Festival, the Smithsonian National Folklife Festival, and the Folk Festival at Ferrum College. He participated in the opening of the John Hurt Museum in Avalon, Miss. In 2007, he played the role of "Guitar Man" in African Theater Continuum Theatre's acclaimed presentation of Nora Zeale Hurston's tales in "Spunk" at Atlas Theater. In 1998, he played the role of the Bluesman in the play "I Am A Man."
Contact: rick.franklin@onebox.com
Website: www.hokumblues.com

1:00 pm
Archie's Barbershop Jambassadors
The Jambassadors are acoustic blues artists who are part of the core community at Archie's Barbershop. Located in Northeast DC, Archie's Barbershop functioned as a museum, music hall and educational facility, as well as headquarters for the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to preserving the memory of bluesman Archie Edwards and to carrying on his educational mission of keeping the Piedmont blues alive. For many decades, Archie closed up his barbershop about mid-afternoon on Saturday to preside over a blues jam with his musician friends and visitors. The tradition continues today through the foundation: Archie's Barbershop was home to an informal jam every Saturday afternoon until this winter, when the shop was sold to become a dentist office. But the weekly jams continue, at HR 57, Center for the Preservation of Jazz and Blues on 14th St., NW. Blues musicians from all over the world have visited Archie's Barbershop, and it has been featured in local and national news articles and radio and TV stories.
Contact: Mike Baytop, mbayret@aol.com
Website: www.acousticblues.com