ASA/GSA Collection of "Bo Diddley Track" blues program materials, 1993–2009 | Center for Black Music Research

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Collection Overview

Title: ASA/GSA Collection of "Bo Diddley Track" blues program materials, 1993–2009

ID: 3000/ASAGSA_3001

Primary Creator: American Society on Aging

Other Creators: Gerontological Society of America

Extent: 2.0 Boxes

Arrangement: Chronological

Date Acquired: 00/00/1993. More info below under Accruals.

Subjects: Aging, Musicians, Black

Forms of Material: Blues (Music)

Languages: English

Abstract

Collection, dated 1993–2009 and undated, consisting of sound and video recordings, meeting materials, photographs and posters for a program track at the meetings of two major gerontological societies in the United States, honoring elderly blues musicians.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

Materials from each year are varied and no materials exist for some years. Sometimes the sessions are recorded by the official recording company for the meeting; sometimes the recordings are made by attendees representing the organizers of the program track; sometimes no recordings were made. After 2003 some sessions have posters printed at the primary printer for blues concert posters, Hatch Show Print in Nashville.

Musicians presented at the sessions include Sunnyland Slim, Charles Walton, Bo Diddley, Miss Lavelle White, Mama Laura Mae Gross, Earl Gaines, Roscoe Shelton, Clifford Curry, Robert "H-Bomb" Ferguson, "Weepin' Willie" Robinson, Wylie Trass, Eddie "Bluesmaster" Watson, Deacon Jones, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Mary Lane, Tommy Brown, and Sandra Hall.

Collection Historical Note

In 1993 two gerontologists and blues lovers, Michael Marcus and John Migliaccio, decided that there should be sessions at meetings of the two major gerontological societies, the American Society on Aging (ASA) and the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), to recognize elderly blues musicians and to present them and their concerns.

The "Bo Diddley program track" was named for the major musician who was the presenter at the second session, in San Francisco in 1994. A committee of blues fans among the gerontologists has attempted to keep the track going at one or both societies since 1993 by locating local musicians in the cities where each meeting was held and inviting them to talk at the session. Often the daytime session is followed by an evening concert in a blues club.

Subject/Index Terms

Aging
Musicians, Black

Administrative Information

Repository: Center for Black Music Research

Accruals: Donations continued from 1994 to the present. More donations expected from future programs.

Access Restrictions: None

Use Restrictions: None

Physical Access Note: Includes VHS video, audio cassettes, CDs, DVDs

Technical Access Note: VHS player, audiocassette tape player.

Acquisition Source: ASA, GSA program facilitators

Related Materials: Caleb Dube papers have interviews and ethnographic study of blues musicians in Chicago.

Finding Aid Revision History: Added subjects, exported EAD and MARC. March 10, 2015, Laurie Moses.

Other Note: Program track facilitators belong to the donor organizations, and facilitate donations. Communications are made through them as well. Michael Marcus and John Migliaccio are the founders of the track.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Meeting materials],
[Series 2: Media, audio-visual recordings],
[Series 3: Posters (Poster File)],
[All]

Series 2: Media, audio-visual recordings

Physical Description: 7 CDs

Sub-Series 1: Session recordings

Box 2

Item 1: Videotape (VHS) of Bo Diddley, 1994
Item 2: Session tape "The Blues as Reality for Older Minority Musicians: More than Just Music.", 1995: Presentation with Miss Lavelle White, March 13, 1995. Cassette recorded by Nationwide Recording services.
Item 3: Session tape "The Blues and Older Minority Musicians IV: More Than Just Music," with "Mama" Laura Mae Gross, 1996: Cassette recorded by Nationwide Recording Services.
Item 4: Session tape "The Blues and Older Minority Musicians: More Than Just Music" with The Excello Legends: Earl Gaines, Roscoe Shelton and Clifford Curry, 1997: Recorded by Nationwide Recording Services. 2 cassettes. Nashville, 1997.
Item 5: Videotaped presentation (VHS) by Robert "H-Bomb" Ferguson, Gerontological Society of America, November 1997., 1997
Item 6: Videotaped interview and performance (VHS) by "Weepin' Willie Robinson at ASA, 2002: Boston, Massachusetts, 2002. Labeled "interview and songs."
Item 7: ASA and Bay Area Blues Society All Stars presentation: Wylie Trass and Eddie "Bluesmaster" Watson. [San Francisco] Tape cassette., 2004
Item 8: ASA and National Council on Aging presentation: "The Blues and Older Minority Musicians: More Than Just Music. Los Angeles, March 2006. Deacon Jones. Compact disc., 2006
Item 9: ASA and National Council on Aging presentation: "The Blues and Older Minority Musicians: More Than Just Music." Chicago, March 2007. Mary Lane and Honeyboy Edwards. Compact disc., 2007
Item 10: GSA presentation, Bo Diddley Track: Sandra Hall and Tommy Brown. DVD., 2009

Sub-Series 2: CDs by featured performers, most inscribed by the artists.

Box 2

Item 11: Bay Area Blues Society Caravan of All-Stars. The Music They Played on 7th Street. (Fifty Fifty Record Company)
Item 12: Edwards, David "Honeyboy." The World Don't Owe Me Nothing. (Earwig CD4940).
Item 13: Hall, Sandra. One Drop Will Do You. (ER9901)
Item 14: Holiday, Juanita. To Joe with Love. (HBE 5174)
Item 15: Mayfield, Sammy. I Can't Get Over You. (MPAC Records).
Item 16: Bobbie Webb and the Smooth Blues Band. (Collector's Classic Gems, Vol. 105).
Item 17: Weepin' Willie. At Last, On Time. (APO 2009).
Item 18: DVD: Deacon Jones on the Joe Soares Show, Sao Paulo, Brazil. [Undated.]

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Meeting materials],
[Series 2: Media, audio-visual recordings],
[Series 3: Posters (Poster File)],
[All]