Hot Times Community Music and Arts Festival
Click here for the 2017 Hot Times Program!
Applications
Hot Times Festival May Gathering & Networking
The Hot Times Festival planning committee has been meeting early, with the goal to expand the participation inside the community and make the 40th Hot Times Festival extra extra special.
One step in outreach is to host gatherings where folks have a chance to connect, break bread together, get involved, share thoughts and get fired up to help.
The Central Community House has volunteered to host a pot-luck gathering on Wednesday, May 17, 6:30 - 8, to start Hot Times' outreach efforts.
At this gathering hear an update about Hot Times, share what you love about Hot Times and what you wish to have at a future Hot Times!
Please feel free to pass the word. If you have questions, please contact lynn.stan@gmail.com (614-218-5613) or at Central Community House contact, Danny Schlingman, Community Organizer, 614-252-3157 ext. 126, dschlingman@cchouse.org
We look forward to having you join us.
Can't attend this gathering but have questions or thoughts to share about Hot Times, please pass them on to us, use the contact info above.
Eventbrite RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hot-times-festival-may-gathering-networking...
Last year's featured performers
C.J. Chenier!
Almost immediately after launching into their first song, C.J. Chenier and The Red Hot Louisiana Band will have young and old up on their feet and cheering in unison. With a solo career dating back to 1987 and six albums under his belt, C.J. Chenier is widely regarded as one of Zydeco’s best singers, musicians and live performers. According to The Boston Globe, “C.J. Chenier attacks the accordion with the tension and drive of James Brown...creating contemporary, turbo-charged dance music.” Living Blues magazine named C.J. Chenier “the best living zydeco singer and accordionist,” and Billboard called him “the heir to the zydeco throne.” C.J.’s music has always embraced the traditions of his famous father, zydeco legend Clifton Chenier, but he continues to push the music to new levels. One week before C.J.’s 21st birthday in 1978, Clifton asked him to join The Red Hot Louisiana Band. In 1985, as the effects of diabetes began to take their toll on his father, C.J. (at Clifton’s request) picked up the accordion and started opening the shows. After Clifton’s death in 1987, C.J. inherited his dad’s accordion as well as The Red Hot Louisiana Band. When asked about his accordion playing, C.J. is quick to defer to his father, whom “nobody could ever touch,” as C.J. says. But others have formed their own opinions. According to Blues Revue, “Whether he and his band of red hots burn on rocking contemporarysongs or simmer on traditional country waltzes, C.J. Chenier is Zydeco’s torch bearer.”
Gaye Adegbalola, Blues Music Award winner (formerly called the W. C. Handy Award) and a founding member of Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women, plays guitar, harmonica and is a composer.
She has recorded 10 CDs on Alligator Records and has toured widely through-out the U.S. and internationally. Gaye has also released five CDs on her own Hot Toddy Music label: “A former Virginia State Teacher of the Year, Gaye is also in demand for workshops, lectures and motivational public speaking.
Foley!
Foley, from Columbus, Ohio is a composer, musician, and photographer who was the "lead bassist" with trumpeter Miles Davis from 1987 until 1991 and shared the stage with diverse artists including Sly Stone, George Clinton, Santana, Herbie Hancock, Prince, Chaka Khan, Patrice Rushen, El DeBarge, Al Jarreau, Alice in Chains, Foreigner, Bootsy Collins, Fishbone, Arrested Development, David Sanborn, Jungle Bros., Macy Gray, Mint Condition, Monica, Davina, Larry Dunn, Lenny White, Marcus Miller, Res, Khaleel, and Primus. Foley played drums on tour with George Clinton. In 2008, he served as music arranger for performances with George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love on The Tonight Show and The Late Show. Clinton and Foley were on a mission to showcase "the jazzier side of Parliament-Funkadelic", to quote "Sir George," as K.C. Jones knighted him. FOLEY is amazing!
ComFest Appreciation Party!
The Hot Times Festival has long been the site of the ComFest Volunteer Appreciation Party - If you volunteered at ComFest 2016, wear your official 2016 volunteer T-shirt and come to the Party on Friday of Hot Times (9/9/16) and check in at the ComFest table in the Hot Times Volunteer Check in tent (right behind Sweet & Speedy.) The group photo is at 7pm, in front of the Porch Swing stage!
Jazz Poetry Ensemble!
Joining the Jazz Poetry Ensemble in the Kate Shulte memorial Make Jazz Not War performance will be avant-guarde legends “Kidd” Jordan, Hamiet Bluiett, Oliver Lake, D.D. Jackson, and Marlon Jordan