Blues at Centrum

2008 YouTube Channel

This YouTube Channel contains videos recorded by a variety of 2008 Port Townsend Country Blues Festival attendees.

Videoblogging 206 Video Guide:
Interviews, Jams, Concerts (4.5+ hours)

1. Interview Phil Wiggens 15:23 - 2003-2008 Artistic Director
2. Interview Ari Eisinger (Part 1) 04:53
3. Interview Ari Eisinger (Part 2) 08:53
4. Interview Ari Eisinger (Part 3) 07:55 - College drop-out, Xeroxer, C++ Programmer, Teacher
5. Interview Ari Eisinger (Part 4) 03:30
6. Interview Reverend Robert Jones Sr (Part 1) 08:36
7. Interview Reverend Robert Jones Sr (Part 2) 07:42 - First songs and buying a National Guitar
8. Interview Reverend Robert Jones Sr (Part 3) 09:49
9. Interview Reverend Robert Jones Sr (Part 4) 06:56 - What is the blues? Where is the mecca of blues?
10. Interview Reverend Robert Jones Sr (Part 5) 05:57
11. Interview Reverend Robert Jones Sr (Part 6) 09:02
12. Interview Reverend Robert Jones Sr (Part 7) 07:46 - 08Blues Fest highlights
13. Interview Rick Franklin (Part 1) 08:37
14. Interview Rick Franklin (Part 2) 07:07 National Guitar Tricone explained
15. Interview Jerron Paxton Medley 08:31 - Singing Interview
16. Interview Rev. John Wilkins (Part 1) 07:56 -
17. Interview Terry "Harmonica" Bean (Part 1) 08:18
18. Interview Jay Summerour (Part 1) 09:05
19. Interview Shirley Smith, Gospel Choir 15:39
20. Interview Roy Brown WA Blues Society 05:48
21. Blues In The Clubs Reverend Robert Jones Sr 08:50
22. Blues In The Clubs Jerron "J-Dog" Paxton Plays The Uptown Pub 05:25
23. Blues In The Clubs Rick Franklin Plays The Public House 02:46
24. Participants' Concert JT Moor 04:22
25. Participants' Concert - Jerronettes 05:45
26. Participants' Phil Wiggens and Zoë Carpenter Concert 03:02
27. Participants' Concert Shirley Smith Gospel Choir 04:30
28. Student Mary Hilts 03:51
29. Student Tanner Wells 05:21
30. McCurdy Pavilion Friday Night Performances 05:33
31. McCurdy Pavilion Saturday Afternoon Performances 14:02
32. Jam Rev. John Wilkins 204 Sing-a-Long 05:37
33. Jam 204 Jerron Paxton 07:12
34. Jam 204 Tuesday 09:32
35. Jam 210 Jerron Paxton, Jay Summerour, Warner Williams 02:26
36. Jam 204 Monday 09:13
37. Historial Blues Musicians Mural 04:12 - A Medley of Blues Icons by Helah Blumhagen

Phil Wiggins Performs At The Participants' Concert

Singer Zoë Carpenter performed with Phil Wiggins at the participants' concert Thursday night.

Interview with Phil Wiggins

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Phil Wiggins shares his thoughts about retiring as Centrum's Artistic Director for Blues. At the end of the interview, Phils holds court at the Thursday 3:30 204 jam session. Watch Video on Facebook.

Port Townsend Country Blues Fundraiser

Barbara Hammerman and Raymond Lavine are inviting the Centrum community to their beautiful home in Gig Harbor, Washington for food, fun and music to support Centrum’s Country Blues scholarship program. At this event the scholarship program will be officially named The Cephas and Wiggins Scholarship Fund in honor of retiring Centrum Blues Artistic Director Phil Wiggins.

The private concert takes place inside the magnificent Mighty Wurlitzer music room in Barbara and Raymond's home, Wurlitzer Manor, and is produced by Amanda Gresham's Delta Music Experience. Tacoma businessperson Ryan Harder will open the event with his award-winning slide guitar stylings, including original songs and stories full of the knowledge of the blues.

Please join us on Saturday, July 26, from 3-7 pm and hear some outstanding performances. Blues musicians Phil Wiggins and John Cephas will perform along with a young, accomplished blues duo from Southern California, Nathan James and Ben Hernandez, who triumphed over dozens of other groups in the 2007 International Blues Challenge.

Barbara, Raymond, and Amanda will underwrite all costs so that every dollar contributed will support the Country Blues Festival scholarships. A $100 donation is requested.

For further information, reservations, address, and directions, please contact Barbara at 253.858.4435 or barbara(at)wurlitzermanor(dot)com.

Checks should be made out to "Centrum" and sent to: Port Townsend Country Blues Festival Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 1158, Port Townsend, WA, 98368

John Cephas and Phil Wiggins

[The music of John Cephas and Phil Wiggins]

Artistic Director Phil Wiggins

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1954, Centrum's Artistic Director for Blues Phil Wiggins began his musical career with some of Washington's leading blues artists, including the locally noted slide guitarist and gospel singer Flora Molton. He also apprenticed with Mother Scott (a contemporary of Bessie Smith). He met John in 1976 and, along with pianist Wilbert "Big Chief" Ellis and bassist James Bellamy, they formed the Barrelhouse Rockers. After Ellis' death in 1977, the duo of Cephas & Wiggins was born. Besides being a renowned harmonica player, Wiggins is also a gifted songwriter whose material has helped define the duo's sound. Often called the Ambassadors of The Blues, Cephas & Wiggins continue to bring Piedmont blues to audiences all over the world.

As a duo, Cephas & Wiggins are recognized as the leading exponents of traditional Piedmont blues. They recorded their first domestic album in 1987, Dog Days of August, and it quickly won a W.C. Handy Award (the Grammy of the blues community) for "Best Traditional Blues Album Of The Year" They also took home the Handy Award for "Blues Entertainers of the Year," an Award that usually goes to electric blues artists. In 1989, John Cephas received a National Heritage Fellowship Award. Often called the "Living Treasure" Award, this is the highest honor the United States government offers a traditional artist.

Aside from his busy schedule performing, Wiggins has also done his share of acting. Phil was in the cast of Matewon, a prize-winning Hollywood film. Cephas & Wiggins  together have appeared in the stage production of Chewing The Blues and in the documentary films Blues Country and Houseparty. They've also been featured in four nationally touring productions: Masters of the Steel String Guitar, Juke Joints and Jubilee, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Echoes of Africa. Two albums in the early 1990s brought them even more recognition and earned them additional critical acclaim and praise.