HUM 223: Extra Credit -- Blues and BBQs Sat.

While blues had its greatest popularity as an art form during the mid-20th century, we have a good opportunity this weekend to hear some blues. It's at the "Blues and BBQs" festival in downtown Springfield. For extra credit, you can go to the festival and write a journal on it. Shoot for 750 to 1,000 words, if you can get it that long (that's three to four pages typed). Here's a link to the writeup in STLBlues.net, an electronic magazine ("eZine") in St. Louis. Here's the main details:

SPRINGFIELD, IL – This year’s Old Capitol Blues and Barbecues music lineup should please the tastes buds of all kinds of blues fans. Some rock, Chicago-style, gospel, jump, and country blues are all on tap for Old Capitol Blues & BBQs on Saturday, August 23, on Fifth and Washington Streets, downtown Springfield.

Festivities get underway at noon with a baby-back rib cook-off and continue through the evening until midnight. Admission is $5 with children 12 and under free. Twenty BBQ vendors will serve dishes such as smoked chicken, pulled pork, pork chops, ribs, brats, beef brisket, Creole pan BBQ shrimp, chicken wings, catfish nuggets, kabobs, potato salad, slaw, chips, fries and fruit parfait — for prices ranging from $1-$6. Miller beer and Coca-cola products will be available to quench any thirst.

I'm making this assignment for extra credit, since I don't feel right about making anyone spend money for class credit. But I recommend this highly, even if you don't especially care for blues. Especially if you don't much care for blues!

Here are some tips for writing about music that I posted to this blog before the blues festival two years ago. For writing my response to any work of art, I like a "cookbook" or "fill-in-the-blanks" outline that goes like this:

Circumstances. Give a one- to three-paragraph introduction to your essay (and it can go longer for a term paper). Start by describing the concert, or if you're reacting to a recording by saying what's on your mind, where and why you're listening to the work - or listening to it again - what your first reaction was, how you feel about it now, what you had for dinner, what the weather's like, anything that sets the stage. In the case of "Blues and BBQs," I'd describe the scene.

Background. Here's where you give the necessary information about the piece. Title, artist, style of music. In this case, I'd quote from STLBlues.net article.

Analysis. As always, argue a thesis. Support your thesis by quoting passages from the lyrics and analyzing the music. Check those suggestions from Dartmouth again. They'll tell you what to look for. Find some reviews on the internet and quote them. Agree with them, or disagree with them. And say why. Remember, in college-level writing, an unsupported thesis is sudden death!