Safeway Waterfront Blues festival talent coordinator receives national Keeping the Blues Alive award

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—The Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival’s Talent Coordinator Peter Dammann was honored with the Blues Foundation’s prestigious Keeping the Blues Alive Award for Blues Promoter of the Year.

Seventeen dedicated blues enthusiasts were singled out to receive the Blues Foundation's 2001 Keeping The Blues Alive (KBA) Award. The awards were presented at a Feb. 3, 2001, ceremony in Memphis, Tenn., as a highlight of the BluesFirst Convention weekend.

The KBA Awards are given each year to individuals and organizations that have contributed to the growth and vitality of the Blues industry. Recipients range from Blues societies and clubs to corporate sponsors and blues radio personalities, as well as writers and educators. Like the W. C. Handy Blues Awards, which the Foundation’s bestows on America's best blues artists, musicians and recordings, the KBA Awards recognize the outstanding accomplishments and contributions of nonperformers in the blues world. The KBA Award recipients are chosen annually through an intense selection process by a committee of professional blues industry representatives.

Peter Dammann, Talent Coordinator for the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival since 1994, says “It has been a great honor and a tremendous thrill, to be part of this great festival.”

As long-time guitarist and band manager for Portland’s harmonica master Paul deLay, Dammann has played many major blues festivals across the U.S. and Europe. “Few other festivals feature as impressive and diverse a line-up of blues artists as the Waterfront Blues Festival,” Dammann says. “And in terms of community support and involvement, no other festival comes close.”

The Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival was founded in 1987 as the Rose City Blues Festival. It has since grown into one of the nation’s most acclaimed music festivals with a reputation for showcasing both innovative new blues talent and legendary blues treasures. The festival also features intimate acoustic jam sessions, workshops with blues artists, and blues history lectures and films.

The Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival will celebrate its 14th year this summer with five days of nonstop music July 4-8, 2001. The festival, operated by Oregon Food Bank as a fund-raising event, raised $350,000 and 100,000 pounds of food last year.

More information is available at www.waterfrontbluesfest.com or (503) 973-FEST.

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Contact: Jean Kempe-Ware
Public Relations Manager
Oregon Food Bank
503-419-4170
jkempe-ware@oregonfoodbank.org