2008 IRE Conference in Miami

June 5-8, 2008

Three acts lined up for Blues Bash at Tobacco Road

Make history at the 10th Anniversary Blues Bash! Join your IRE colleagues and the ghost of Al Capone on Thursday, June 5 — the opening night of the 2008 Conference in Miami — for a party you’ll never forget.

This year’s headliner will be The Albert Castiglia Band, the best unknown blues slinger you’ve never heard.  Castiglia was lead guitarist for the late Chicago blues great Junior Wells. Now on his own, Castiglia is ready to leap back into the national spotlight with his upcoming CD, “These are the Days.” For more info, visit www.albertcastiglia.com.

But that’s not all. This year, two stellar supporting acts will try to steal the show:
JP Soars & the Redhots, winner of 2008 South Florida Blues Society Challenge, and the Gypsy Blue Acoustic Review, an intriguing ensemble that features a gypsy jazz genre popularized by Belgian guitarist Django Reinhardt in the 1930s and 1940s.

To showcase this sizzling music from these three hot acts, we’ve booked Tobacco Road – the coolest venue in Dade County history. To quote a Miami nightlife Web site:

"Its 95-year-old history for debauchery has been chronicled in newspapers, magazines, and books. The ‘Road’ is not merely a bar, it is a legend. It was a speakeasy and gambling hall during Prohibition years and a hangout of mob boss Al Capone. During World War II all of its licenses were revoked by a judge on charges of ‘lewd, wanton and lascivious’ behavior. Until the early 1980s the police moral squadron annually raided the bar. The ‘Road’ has managed to survive Prohibition, hurricanes, the Depression, the revocation of its liquor license and attempts by the city of Miami to have it legally shut down."

This year’s Blues Bash will begin at 7 p.m. with a cocktail hour (cash bar) and complementary light fare (while supplies last). For heartier appetites, bourbon-marinated steaks, slow-smoked ribs, sandwiches, salads and other goodies are yours for budget prices from the kitchen.

The music will alternate from stages on Tobacco Road’s Outdoor Patio and Upstairs Cabaret starting at 7:30 p.m. It is an ideal venue for our Blues Bash – which has starred Canned Heat, Guitar Shorty, W.C. Clark, Eddie Shaw, Sandra Hall, Lady Bianca, Luther "Houserocker" Johnson, Walter "Wolfman" Washington and other top blues artists.

All of this fun benefits a great cause.  The Blues Bash has contributed nearly $27,000 to the IRE Resource Center – the place to call when you need clips, videotapes, tipsheets, recordings of conference panels and other reference materials from IRE’s vast archive.

We expect another sold-out show this year. Don’t miss out! Buy your ticket online while you still can at a pre-registration bargain price of $20 – and sign up for the conference! On-site tickets will be $25 at the sales table and at the door the night of the event tickets will be $30.

The Blues Bash is organized and hosted by Mark Lagerkvist (), a past IRE board member.

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