#porretta soul festival

[barbarapicci]

Streetart: Sax Gordon by Edoardo Ettorre + Antonio Cotecchia @ Porretta Terme, Italy, for Porretta Soul Festival

More pics at: https://barbarapicci.com/2023/07/27/streetart-edoardo-ettorre-antonio-cotecchia-porretta-terme-italy/

[karenpulferfocht]

The Stax Documentary

A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART FOR STAX

STAX ARTISTS THROUGH THE YEARS

SOULSVILLE: The neighborhood around Stax, and home to many musical greats!

It’s no secret that what made me fall in love with Memphis and made me want to stay in Memphis for so many years was the music. The people, yes, the warm climate, yes, the fantastic professional opportunities, yes, the central location, yes and the low cost of living, yes. But the music-- absolutely yes!

I‘ve always loved jazz and the blues. My father entertained me with silly songs any child would love, like Slim Gaillard- Potato Chips and “Flat Foot Floogie.” He went to an elite school in the northeast and had to listen to this “race” music secretly, as it was frowned upon.

Memphis is home to The Blues Foundation because of the rich blues musical history and heritage. Memphis and the Mississippi Delta are like Mecca for blues fans and blues pilgrims.

As long as I’ve lived here, I have noticed that Europeans were very knowledgeable about Memphis music, much more so that many Americans. Americans came to Memphis to see Graceland.  But it’s always been the Europeans who were savvy on the blues, R&B, and the soul music that has its roots in Memphis. The Stax Documentary explains this.

There is the Poretta Soul Festival, in Rufus Thomas Park the third week of July, every year, in Porretta Terme, province of Bologna. Graziano Uliani, frequently comes to Memphis seeking out new local talent for his festival.

I have a vivid memory of Rufus Thomas telling me how excited he was that they were naming a park after him.

It’s the music created here in this region that draws people from all over the world, to Memphis.  

In the last decade, Memphis has risen to the top of places to visit by influential travel magazines like National Geographic and Condé Nast . “Memphis is one of two destinations from the U.S. highlighted in Condé Nast Traveler's “23 Best Places to Go in 2023,” which covers 22 countries and six continents,” a Commercial Appeal story reported.

I got to know Stax artist Rufus Thomas when I first moved here from Chicago. Rufus captivated me right away and quickly became of of my favorite entertainers. He was SO MUCH FUN! He was an amazing entertainer with roots in vaudeville. He could still get a crowd going with Funky Chicken and Walking the Dog, into his 80’s. I have many fun memories of seeing him perform on Beale Street. He used to say, “If you could be black for one Saturday night on Beale Street, never would you want to be white again.”

His daughter Carla, who still lives in Memphis, was also a successful Stax artist. You can still find Carla out buying flowers, or as a guest at one of the many Memphis music events held over the years. Carla is Stax royalty. She had the good fortune to record with Otis Redding before he was killed in a plane crash in 1967.

Redding’s music is so soulful, it just pierces right into your heart.

As with many great artists, he died way too young at age 26.  Stax music was experiencing some real success when Redding and many band members died in a plane crash.

As a photojournalist in Memphis, over the years I covered the only survivor of that plane crash, Ben Cauley.  Other influential Stax artists like Booker T. and the MG’s, Isaac Hayes, Albert King, Marva Staples, David Porter, Steve Cropper and Sam Moore have all been in my camera’s viewfinder.

The documentary goes into the run of bad luck that followed Redding’s death, the assassination of MLK in Memphis and the signing of a bad contract by Stax owner Jim Stewart, who in a very Memphis way, trusted the people he was working with.

By the time I had come to Memphis, Stax had closed. But there was an appreciation for the Stax contribution to Memphis music legacy.

The documentary helped me appreciate more deeply the people, their experience and the music that is so deeply woven into the fabric and culture of Memphis.

I covered the opening of the Stax Museum and the music programs they had for the kids of Memphis. These programs are still teaching our city’s youth about the magical musical legacy here while cultivating the next musical generation. I went to New York City to cover the Stax Kids when they played at Lincoln Center and I also was on assignment when Memphis Music, including several Stax artists, Justin Timberlake and harmonica great Charlie Musselwhite were honored at the White House by Michelle and President Obama.

Wayne Jackson , and his wife Amy, were good friends of ours. He was one of the Memphis Horns.  Jackson and partner Andrew Love were on hundreds of Top Ten and Number One hits, gold and platinum records. They were considered the Rolls Royce of horn sections. Jackson fully appreciated the experience and he tells about it here in this short video I did before he passed away.

Memphis is just such a musical treasure box that never ceases to amaze and entertain me. Living here you run into these folks here and there. Most of them have always been very accessible.

“Indeed, many musical luminaries either hailed from or resided in the Soulsville neighborhood,” writes Alex Greene in Memphis Magazine.

Even though I felt like I knew the Stax story and many of the players and much of the music, the Stax documentary opened my eyes with more intimate details, historical glimpses, and great storytelling to help me appreciate what the artists and producers went through, good and bad to create and capture the “Memphis sound.”

By Karen Pulfer Focht ©2024

Memphis Photojournalist

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/waynejackson-memphishorns

[lamilanomagazine]

Bologna Estate 2023, gli appuntamenti della settimana dal 21 al 27 luglio

Bologna Estate 2023, gli appuntamenti della settimana dal 21 al 27 luglio. Dal 21 al 23 luglio, per San Francesco Estate si apre un fine settimana di musica e teatro in piazza: il venerdì con Greg & The Frigidaires, sabato in scena Lavorare e vagabondare della compagnia Teatro del Pratello, mentre domenica è la volta di Dark Bologna, un progetto di Leonardo Bianconi, Leo Merati e Giulia Quadrelli. Sabato 22 luglio, appuntamento di danza a cura di DNA per la rassegna Membrane Culturali, nel Salone degli Incamminati della Pinacoteca di Bologna. La sera Villa Aldini ospita Notte Cabral, per Resistenze musicali: musica e storie di resistenza si incontrano per dare vita a una serata che avrà come punto focale il ruolo della musica nel processo di decolonizzazione di alcuni Stati Africani. Per tutto il fine settimana prosegue il Porretta Soul Festival, la 35esima edizione di uno dei più importanti festival soul in Italia e nel mondo nato nell’Appennino bolognese. Domenica 23 luglio, Villa Edvige Garagnani a Zola Predosa, ospita i Concerti danzanti: Country music / Country Manners, per la rassegna Sentieri CreAtivi. Lunedì 24 luglio, a Villa Mazzacorati, lettura animata per bambini de Il domatore di foglie, nell’ambito de Il Mistero delle Case dei Libri, a cura di Fantateatro. Martedì 25 luglio, nei Giardini di San Domenico a Imola, concerto dei Gardens Jazz Collective con il loro sound moderno che spazia dal jazz degli anni ’50 a quello contemporaneo, per la rassegna Arranzjazz! Per (S)nodi festival di musiche inconsuete prende il via con Cucòma Combo al Museo della Musica la dodicesima edizione del festival. Otto appuntamenti, tutti i martedì sera, fino al 12 settembre. Dal 25 al 30 luglio, Si gira! La piccola arena viaggiante che porta la magia del cinema nei quartieri di Bologna si sposta al Quartiere San Donato-San Vitale, nell’area all’aperto della Casa Gialla vicino alla Biblioteca Spina. Mercoledì 26 luglio a Monghidoro, per la rassegna I Concerti della Cisterna, un omaggio alle tradizioni e ai successi della Romagna con The Sound Fields. Di Mondi Festival ospita l'ultimo appuntamento del ciclo di incontri su La poetica di Lucio Dalla curato da Fonoprint: Henna con Beppe D’Onghia, introduce e coordina il giornalista Pierfrancesco Pacoda. Musica dal vivo degli Zois. Al parco della Zucca, nell’ambito della rassegna Attorno al Museo, il concerto a cura del Conservatorio G. B. Martini di Bologna nello spazio antistante il Museo per la Memoria di Ustica. Giovedì 27 luglio, alle Serre dei Giardini Margherita, Enrico Brizzi, in dialogo col giornalista Francesco Locane, presenta il suo ultimo libro "Enzo, il sogno di un ragazzo" e si racconta nel format Cinque cose con. Ai Giardini di Porta Europa, nell’ambito di CUBO live, Giovanni Truppi in concerto con il nuovo album Infinite possibilità per esseri finiti. Tutti gli appuntamenti di Bologna Estate 2023 sono consultabili a questo link: https://www.bolognaestate.it/... #notizie #news #breakingnews #cronaca #politica #eventi #sport #moda Read the full article

[delectablywaywardbeard-blog]

Porretta Soul Festival celebra lo Stax Museum di Memphis

La trentacinquesima edizione del Porretta Soul Festival, dal 20 al 23 luglio nella località dell’Appennino bolognese, celebrerà i vent’anni dell’apertura dello Stax Museum of American Soul Music di Memphis, in collaborazione con la Stax Music Academy e la partecipazione di artisti che hanno fatto la storia della musica soul. Da poco è scomparso a 92 anni Jim Stewart, fondatore assieme alla…

[mypickleoperapeanut]

"I treni storici di Porrettana Express"

Transappenninica, con i treni storici di Porrettana Express, un affascinante viaggio nel tempo e nella natura.

Da luglio a settembre cinque viaggi tematici lungo la linea ferroviaria che ha fatto la storia d’Italia

A bordo di vetture d’epoca, si parte da Pistoia, capitale del treno, per andare alla scoperta del territorio dell’Appennino Tosco-Emiliano, con i suoi piccoli borghi, i sentieri, le antiche tradizioni,

l’Ecomuseo della Montagna Pistoiese e i luoghi della Seconda Guerra Mondiale.

I cinque appuntamenti, in programma il 9, 16 e 22 luglio, 6 agosto e 10 settembre, 2023 saranno preceduti da una visita guidata al Deposito Officina Rotabili Storici di Pistoia, importante hub strategico recentemente restaurato, dove Fondazione FS esegue la manutenzione di vetture e locomotive di epoche diverse ancora perfettamente funzionanti.

Saranno due i viaggi dedicati ai bambini, il primo e l’ultimo il 9 luglio e il 10 settembre 2023, con sosta a Castagno per laboratori ludico-espressivi sul tema della ferrovia, a cura della cooperativa Intrecci.

Nel mentre gli adulti potranno vistare il caratteristico borgo-museo.

Da Pracchia si prosegue in pullman alla scoperta di alcuni poli dell’Ecomuseo della Montagna Pistoiese.

Riservato agli amanti del trekking e della mountain bike il viaggio del 16 luglio 2023, con sosta a Piteccio e visita al museo fermodellistico presso la stazione locale e arrivo a Castagno dove è prevista la discesa dei trekkers per il rientro a Piteccio a piedi, lungo un suggestivo itinerario nel bosco alla scoperta di alcuni manufatti della ferrovia. I bikers, invece, proseguiranno per Pracchia per una sosta gourmet e un giro sulle due ruote nel bosco. Ad accompagnare i viaggiatori GAE - Guide Ambientali Escursionistiche. Il treno storico ripartirà da Pracchia fermandosi a Piteccio per far salire i trekkers.

Sabato 22 luglio il tema è quello della musica: si parte da Pistoia in direzione “Porretta Soul festival”. Prevista una sosta alla rampa di salvamento di Valdibrana, costruita all’epoca dei treni a vapore per permettere alle vetture di prendere velocità e superare la salita.

All’arrivo nella cittadina termale emiliana i viaggiatori potranno visitare il caratteristico mercatino del festival, conoscere i murales del soul e passeggiare per il centro, godendosi i concerti lungo le vie del paese. Il ritorno a Pistoia è previsto per il tardo pomeriggio.

Il 6 agosto si va alla scoperta del Museo SMI e della Linea Gotica : non tutti sanno, infatti, che sull’Appennino pistoiese si trovava un’importante fabbrica di munizioni e proprio da qui passava la Linea Gotica.

Dopo la sosta a Piteccio, per la visita al museo fermodellistico, si prosegue a Pracchia e da qui in navetta verso il Museo SMI di Campo Tizzoro per una visita guidata e a una rievocazione storica. Anche in questo caso il ritorno a Pistoia è previsto per il tardo pomeriggio.

Il ciclo estivo 2023 si concluderà il 10 settembre con un nuovo treno Kids.

Attraverso l’esperienza del viaggio su treni storici, Porrettana Express si propone di raccontare e promuovere il territorio, esaltandone le eccellenze e permettendo ai viaggiatori di immergersi nella storia delle comunità, nel patrimonio naturalistico, artistico, culturale e museale che arricchisce di qualità e contenuti un’offerta turistica sostenibile.

Cinque affascinanti viaggi nel tempo e nella natura.

Ufficio Stampa

Chiarello Puliti & Partners

Francesca Puliti / Jacopo Carlesi

press@chiarellopulitipartners.com

I Treni storici di Porrettana Express

https://www.porrettanaexpress.it/

.

[koufax73]

Porretta Soul Festival 2019: dal 18 al 21 luglio la 32esima edizione

Porretta Soul Festival 2019: dal 18 al 21 luglio la 32esima edizione

Un festival al ritmo soul, blues e R&B con una line up impressionante. Questo sarà il Porretta Soul Festival 2019, il festival musicale che si aprirà il prossimo 18 luglio per la sua trentaduesima edizione.

Sul palco si avvicenderanno artisti in arrivo da tutto il mondo come Don Bryant & The Bo Keys, in arrivo da Memphis, Annika Chambers da Houston e J.P Bimeni dal Burundi.

Durante il festival…

[globalhappenings]

Three days of Porretta Soul Festival, from 27 to 29 December

Three days of Porretta Soul Festival, from 27 to 29 December

(ANSA) – BOLOGNA, 15 DEC – It will be a special edition for the ‘Porretta Soul Festival’, the three days dedicated to black music scheduled from 27 to 29 December, because the first in the winter edition, causes the pandemic, in collaboration with Umbria Jazz Winter. On the bill at the cinema Kursaal Stan Mosley, Vasti Jackson, Curtis Salgado, Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88’s, Terrie Odabi and the…

[dirtylowdown2]

Sugar Pie DeSanto ,In The Basement.mp4

Sugar Pie De Santo sings "In The Basement" at Porretta Soul Festival 2007 with the Austin DeLone All Star band.

[blackkudos]

Rufus Thomas

Rufus C. Thomas, Jr. (March 26, 1917 – December 15, 2001) was an American rhythm-and-blues, funk, soul and blues singer, songwriter, dancer, DJ and comic entertainer from Memphis, Tennessee. He recorded for several labels, including Chess Records and Sun Records in the 1950s, before becoming established in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax Records. He is best known for his novelty dance records, including "Walking the Dog" (1963), "Do the Funky Chicken" (1969) and "(Do the) Push and Pull" (1970). According to the Mississippi Blues Commission, "Rufus Thomas embodied the spirit of Memphis music perhaps more than any other artist, and from the early 1940s until his death . . . occupied many important roles in the local scene."

He began his career as a tap dancer, vaudeville performer, and master of ceremonies in the 1930s. He later worked as a disc jockey on radio station WDIA in Memphis, both before and after his recordings became successful. He remained active into the 1990s and as a performer and recording artist was often billed as "The World's Oldest Teenager". He was the father of the singers Carla Thomas (with whom he recorded duets) and Vaneese Thomas and the keyboard player Marvell Thomas.

Early life

Thomas was born in the rural community of Cayce, Mississippi, the son of a sharecropper. He moved with his family to Memphis, Tennessee, around 1920. His mother was a "church woman". Thomas made his debut as a performer at the age of six, playing a frog in a school theatrical production. By the age of 10, he was a tap dancer, performing on the streets and in amateur productions at Booker T. Washington High School, in Memphis. From the age of 13, he worked with Nat D. Williams, his high-school history teacher, who was also a pioneer black DJ at radio station WDIA and columnist for black newspapers, as a master of ceremonies at talent shows in the Palace Theater on Beale Street. After graduating from high school, Thomas attended Tennessee A&I University for one semester, but economic constraints led him to leave to pursue a career as a full-time entertainer.

Early career as a performer

Thomas began performing in traveling tent shows. In 1936 he joined the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, an all-black revue that toured the South, as a tap dancer and comedian, sometimes part of a duo, Rufus and Johnny. He married Cornelia Lorene Wilson in 1940, at a service officiated by Rev. C. L. Franklin, the father of Aretha Franklin, and the couple settled in Memphis. Thomas worked a day job in the American Finishing Company textile bleaching plant, which he continued to do for over 20 years. He also formed a comedy and dancing duo, Rufus and Bones, with Robert "Bones" Couch, and they took over as MCs at the Palace Theater, often presenting amateur hour shows. One early winner was B.B. King, and others discovered by Thomas later in the 1940s included Bobby Bland and Johnny Ace.

In the early 1940s, Thomas began writing and performing his own songs. He regarded Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller and Gatemouth Moore as musical influences. He made his professional singing debut at the Elks Club on Beale Street, filling in for another singer at the last minute, and during the 1940s became a regular performer in Memphis nightclubs, such as Currie's Club Tropicana. As an established performer in Memphis, aged 33 in 1950, Thomas recorded his first 78 rpm single, for Jesse Erickson's small Star Talent label in Dallas, Texas. Thomas said, "I just wanted to make a record. I never thought of getting rich. I just wanted to be known, be a recording artist. . . . [But] the record sold five copies and I bought four of them." The record, "I'll Be a Good Boy" backed with "I'm So Worried", gained a Billboard review, which stated that "Thomas shows first class style on a slow blues". He also recorded for the Bullet label in Nashville, Tennessee, when he recorded with Bobby Plater's Orchestra and was credited as "Mr. Swing"; the recordings were not recognised by researchers as being by Thomas until 1996. In 1951 he made his first recordings at Sam Phillips's Sun Studio, for the Chess label, but they were not commercially successful.

He began working as a DJ at radio station WDIA in 1951, and hosted an afternoon R&B show called Hoot and Holler. WDIA, featuring an African-American format, was known as "the mother station of the Negroes" and became an important source of blues and R&B music for a generation, its audience consisting of white as well as black listeners. Thomas used to introduce his shows saying, "I'm young, I'm loose, I'm full of juice, I got the goose so what's the use. We're feeling gay though we ain't got a dollar, Rufus is here, so hoot and holler." He also used to lead tours of white teenagers on "midnight rambles" around Beale Street.

His celebrity in the South was such that in 1953, at Sam Phillips's suggestion, he recorded "Bear Cat" for Sun Records, an "answer record" to Big Mama Thornton's R&B hit "Hound Dog". The record became the label's first national chart hit, reaching number 3 on the Billboard R&B chart. However, a copyright-infringement suit brought by Don Robey, the original publisher of "Hound Dog", nearly bankrupted the record label. After only one recording there, Thomas was one of the African-American artists released by Phillips, as he oriented his label more toward white audiences and signed Elvis Presley, who later recorded Thomas's song "Tiger Man". Thomas did not record again until 1956, when he made a single, "I'm Steady Holdin' On", for the Bihari brothers' Meteor label; musicians on the record included Lewie Steinberg, later a founding member of Booker T and the MGs.

Stax Records

In 1960 he made his first recordings with his 17-year-old daughter Carla, for the Satellite label in Memphis, which changed its name to Stax the following year. The song, "Cause I Love You", featuring a rhythm borrowed from Jesse Hill's "Ooh Poo Pa Doo", was a regional hit; the musicians included Thomas' son Marvell on keyboards, Steinberg, and the 16-year-old Booker T. Jones. The record's success led to Stax gaining production and distribution deal with the much larger Atlantic Records.

Rufus Thomas continued to record for the label after Carla's record "Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)" reached the national R&B chart in 1961. He had his own hit with "The Dog", a song he had originally improvised in performance based on a Willie Mitchell bass line, complete with imitations of a barking dog. The 1963 follow-up, "Walking the Dog", engineered by Tom Dowd of Atlantic, became one of his most successful records, reaching #10 on the Billboard pop chart. He became the first, and still the only, father to debut in the Top 10 after his daughter had first appeared there. The song was recorded in early 1964 by the Rolling Stones on their debut album, and was a minor UK chart hit for Merseybeat group the Dennisons later that year.

As well as recording and appearing on radio and in clubs, Thomas continued to work as a boiler operator in the textile plant, where he claimed the noises sometimes suggested musical rhythms and lyrics to him, before he finally gave up the job in 1963, to focus on his role as a singer and entertainer. He recorded a series of novelty dance tracks, including "Can Your Monkey Do the Dog'" and '"Somebody Stole My Dog" for Stax, where he was often backed by Booker T. & the MGs or the Bar-Kays. He also became a mentor to younger Stax stars, giving advice on stage moves to performers like Otis Redding, who partnered daughter Carla on record.

After "Jump Back" in 1964, the hits dried up for several years, as Stax gave more attention to younger artists and musicians. However, in 1970 he had another big hit with "Do the Funky Chicken", which reached #5 on the R&B chart, #28 on the pop chart, and #18 in Britain where it was his only chart hit. Thomas improvised the song while performing with Willie Mitchell's band at a club in Covington, Tennessee, including a spoken word section that he regularly used as a shtick as a radio DJ: "Oh I feel so unnecessary - this is the kind of stuff that makes you feel like you wanna do something nasty, like waste some chicken gravy on your white shirt right down front." The recording was produced by Al Bell and Tom Nixon, and used the Bar-Kays, featuring guitarist Michael Toles. Thomas continued to work with Bell and Nixon as producers, and later in 1970 had his only number 1 R&B hit [and his second-highest pop charting record] with another dance song, "Do the Push and Pull". A further dance-oriented release in 1971, "The Breakdown", climbed to number 2 R&B and number 31 Pop. In 1972, he featured in the Wattstax concert, and he had several further, less successful, hits before Stax collapsed in 1976.

Later career

Thomas continued to record and toured internationally, billing himself as "The World's Oldest Teenager" and describing himself as "the funkiest man alive". He "drew upon his vaudeville background to put [his songs] over on stage with fancy footwork that displayed remarkable agility for a man well into his fifties", and usually performed "while clothed in a wardrobe of hot pants, boots and capes, all in wild colors."

He continued as a DJ at WDIA until 1974, and worked for a period at WLOK before returning to WDIA in the mid 1980s to co-host a blues show. He appeared regularly on television and recorded albums for various labels. Thomas performed regularly at the Porretta Soul Festival in Italy; the outdoor amphitheater in which he performed was later renamed Rufus Thomas Park.

He played an important part in the Stax reunion of 1988, and appeared in Jim Jarmusch's 1989 film Mystery Train, Robert Altman's 1999 film Cookie's Fortune, and D. A. Pennebaker’s documentary Only the Strong Survive. Thomas released an album of straight-ahead blues, That Woman is Poison!, with Alligator Records in 1990, featuring saxophonist Noble "Thin Man" Watts. In 1996, he and William Bell headlined at the Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1997, he released an album, Rufus Live!, on Ecko Records. In 1998, he hosted two New Year's Eve shows on Beale Street.

In 1997, to commemorate his 80th birthday, the City of Memphis renamed a road off Beale Street, close to the old Palace Theater, as Rufus Thomas Boulevard. He received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1992, and a lifetime achievement award from ASCAP in 1997. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001.

Death and legacy

He died of heart failure in 2001, at the age of 84, at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis. He is buried next to his wife Lorene, who pre-deceased him in 2000, at the New Park Cemetery in Memphis.

Writer Peter Guralnick said of him:

His music... brought a great deal of joy to the world, but his personality brought even more, conveying a message of grit, determination, indomitability, above all a bottomless appreciation for the human comedy that left little room for the drab or the dreary in his presence.

Thomas was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Byhalia.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Rufus Thomas among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

In popular culture

Bobby Brown portrays Thomas in the BET television series American Soul.

[allinfoit]

PREMIO BRUNO BOTTIROLI – Canzone d’autore | Chiusa a Porretta Terme la Prima Edizione

PREMIO BRUNO BOTTIROLI – Canzone d’autore | Chiusa a Porretta Terme la Prima Edizione

Si è da poco conclusa la Prima Edizione del “Premio Bruno Bottiroli” – Canzone d’autore che ha raccolto la passione e l’entusiasmo di 30 giovani ragazzi che ce l’hanno messa davvero tutta per esprimere in musica il proprio talento. (more…)

[cento40battute]

Emilia Romagna: sulle onde della musica e del relax

Music e Spa sono le parole chiavi all’Hotel Helvetia Thermal Spa in occasione del Porretta Soul Festival

Il Porretta Soul Festival è alle porte, per chi non sapesse di cosa stiamo parlando si tratta dell’unico evento in Europa a celebrare la musica “old school”, ossia il soul classico anni’60 e ’70.

L’invenzione della musica soul, che in inglese significa anima, viene comunemente attribuita a Ray Charles e la sua caratteristica principale è fondere il canto gospel con l’impeto del rhytm & blues.

Quest’anno il festival prende il via il 18 luglio e sarà l’Hotel Helvetia Thermal Spa a fare da “casa” a grandi artisti Soul internazionali.

Siccome è proprio la musica la protagonista, che ci accompagna sempre, in un modo o nell’altro, nella vita di tutti i giorni, l’Hotel Helvetia Thermal Spa ha pensato di creare per i propri ospiti un’esperienza unica… “Spa & Soul” dove musica, relax e terme si fondono in un tutt’uno.

Hotel Helvetia Thermal Spa in pieno stile Liberty

Nasce nel 1904 l’Hotel Helvetia e anno dopo anno ha saputo rinnovarsi restando al passo con i tempi senza mai rinunciare all’eleganza e l’austerità che contraddistinguono da sempre questa struttura.

È l’anno 2006, quello in cui l’hotel viene completamente ristrutturato sempre nel rispetto dello stile architettonico originale… portandolo a diventare un 4 Stelle.

Un centro termale all’interno di una grotta termale naturale, camere ben arredate e confortevoli, business room, salone elegante e un ristorante che non rinuncia mai alla qualità, sono solo alcuni degli elementi distintivi che caratterizzano questa struttura nel cuore dell’Appennino Tosco Emiliano.

ph, Claudio Beduschi

Lo staff dell’’Hotel Helvetia Thermal Spa si definisce un luogo dove “l’arte del ricevere e “buon vivere” sono di casa”

In cucina: leggerezza e gusto

Creatività e tradizione sono le regole del Ristorante Helvetia, che valorizza i sapori dell’Appennino proponendo piatti che fondono insieme gusto e benessere.

Materie prime di qualità, ingredienti di stagione, sapori del territorio è tutto ciò che potrete aspettarvi.

Anche la prima colazione è ricca, con un buffet internazionale e bevande calde servite al tavolo. Insomma, niente male per cominciare al meglio la propria giornata.

Beauty Farm: una Spa termale da sogno

Una grotta naturale mutata nel tempo… inizialmente utilizzata come un rifugio antiaereo bellico, che offriva riparo alle minacce aeree per gli abitanti di Porretta; mentre oggi è divenuto un luogo di riposo dell’anima e del corpo per tutti.

Un luogo dove stress e ansia vengono abbandonati, dando posto al relax e alla pace fisica e mentale.

La protagonista assoluta è l’acqua termale, le cui proprietà salso bromoiodiche sono conosciute già in epoca romana: composta da cloruro di sodio, bromo, iodio e sodio, ricorda le acque del mare.

Nello specifico, questi componenti, conferiscono 2 proprietà fondamentali: attraverso il bromo le proprietà rilassanti e attraverso lo iodio e quindi la salinità, proprietà antinfiammatorie.

Queste acque sono particolarmente rinomate ed efficaci per disturbi muscolo/tendinei, neuromuscolari e vascolari.

Tutti gli ospiti potranno scegliere tra una vasta offerta di trattamenti che prendono spunto dalla natura e dai suoi prodotti.

A disposizione c’è una “zona secca” dedicata ai trattamenti medici ed estetici per il corpo ed il viso e la “zona umida” ricavata in una grande grotta naturale, scavata nella roccia durante la Prima guerra mondiale e situata ad oltre 30 metri di profondità, con al suo interno un grande hammam aromatizzato, una sauna finlandese, una biosauna, docce tonificanti, piscina di acqua termale Salsobromoiodica alla temperatura di 35° con cascata d’acqua, idromassaggi e percorsi vascolari caldi/freddi. A completare un angolo tisane e zona relax.

L’Hotel Helvetia ha voluto creare qualcosa di particolare per i propri ospiti in occasione del festival della musica Soul preparando un pacchetto che possa offrire un’esperienza indimenticabile: il pacchetto “Spa & Soul”.

In cosa consiste il pacchetto? 

Potrete pernottare per due notti in una camera affianco a una delle star del Soul e di giorno potrete fare uso della Spa per due trattamenti esclusivi:

“Thermal massage” (50 min.) grazie a sfioramenti con tamponi caldi imbevuti di acqua termale contenenti minerali e oligoelementi, mentre ci si abbandona al relax si può beneficiare delle proprietà drenanti e decontratturanti del trattamento.

“L’Helvetia Soul massage” il benessere arriva all’anima, il trattamento diventa sensoriale, psicosomatico e profondo alla ricerca del proprio equilibrio di corpo e psiche per un’armonia anche interiore.

Ogni ospite avrà in omaggio il cd celebrativo del Porretta Soul Festival, un piccolo ricordo da poter rivivere anche a casa.

E siccome il pacchetto è pensato in occasione di questo evento musicale, si ha la possibilità di vistare il Soul Museum, inaugurato di recente. 

Situato proprio nel vicolo che presenta il murales dedicato a Sam Cooke, nel pieno del centro di Porretta Terme a pochi passi dall’Hotel Helvetia Thermal Spa .

All’interno del museo potrete trovare testimonianze del passaggio dei grandi del soul sul palco del Porretta Soul Festival, a cominciare da Rufus Thomas, The Memphis Horns, Solomon Burke, Bobby Rush, Millie Jackson di cui si conservano abiti di scena, calzature o altri oggetti personali. La collezione si avvale di una vasta raccolta fotografica e un ricco archivio audiovideo.

Maria Elisa Altese

SOCIAL FB Per maggiori informazioni sull’evento, sull’Hotel e i suoi pacchetti, visitare il sito: www.helvetiabenessere.it

Spa & Soul Emilia Romagna: sulle onde della musica e del relax Music e Spa sono le parole chiavi all’

[stefanogazzotti]

#porrettasoulfestival#porrettasoulfestival2019#soulmusic#soulmusiclovers#Bologna#bolognatoday❣️#EmiliaRomagna#sunday (presso Porretta Soul Festival) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0OHWn_IG3O/?igshid=k7ia9yxsvx2s

[ducdemoneton]

THE AUSTERITY PLAYBOOK at HOXTON HALL Friday 18 January 2019 8pm

CAST PROFILES No.3 GEORGIA VAN ETTEN

Georgia van Etten is a soulful, blues-driven songstress based in London with a unique, creative voice and a badass mouth trumpet. She has wowed audiences globally from major festivals in her homeland Australia, to Ronnie Scott’s to famous European stages like Montreux Jazz (Switzerland), Porretta Soul (Italy), and Jazz à Vienne (France).

"enthralling audiences around the world with her refreshing creativity and rich vocal tones" The Telegraph

Bookings https://www.hoxtonhall.co.uk/event/the-austerity-playbook

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Porretta Soul Festival 30th edition,Porretta Terme by gabbiere1 the Porretta Soul Festival (the festival which is held annually on the Apennines between Bologna and Pistoia, winning in Memphis with the Keeping the Blues Alive Award in 2017) will present 20 to 23 July in Porretta Terme a real general overview of the city where Rhyhtm American soul and blues were born and have grown to a great extent. November 10, 2017 at 04:31PM

[musicvilla]

I musicisti fanno squadra a sostegno della ricerca contro l’Alzheimer, J. Cole pubblica il suo primo singolo del 2020, Alison Mosshart si prepara a pubblicare un disco parlato... via Rockol Music News

[blackkudos]

Rufus Thomas

Rufus C. Thomas, Jr. (March 26, 1917 – December 15, 2001) was an American rhythm and blues, funk, soul and blues singer, songwriter, dancer, DJ and comic entertainer from Memphis, Tennessee. He recorded for several labels including Chess and Sun in the 1950s, before becoming established in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax Records. He is best known for his novelty dance records including "Walking the Dog" (1963), "Do the Funky Chicken" (1969) and "(Do the) Push and Pull" (1970). According to the Mississippi Blues Commission, "Rufus Thomas embodied the spirit of Memphis music perhaps more than any other artist, and from the early 1940s until his death... occupied many important roles in the local scene."

His career began as a tap dancer, vaudeville performer, and master of ceremonies in the 1930s, and he later also worked as a disc jockey on radio station WDIA in Memphis, both before and after his recordings became successful. He remained active into the 1990s, and as a performer and recording artist was often billed as "The World's Oldest Teenager". He was the father of singers Carla Thomas (with whom he recorded duets) and Vaneese Thomas, and keyboard player Marvell Thomas.

Early life

Born a sharecropper's son in the rural community of Cayce, Mississippi, Thomas moved to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family around 1920. His mother was "a church woman". Thomas made his debut as a performer at the age of six, playing a frog in a school theatrical production. By the age of 10, he was a tap dancer, performing on the streets as well as in amateur productions at Memphis' Booker T. Washington High School. From the age of 13, he worked with Nat D. Williams, his high school history teacher who was also a pioneer black DJ at WDIA and columnist for black newspapers, as a master of ceremonies at talent shows in the Palace Theater on Beale Street.

Early career as a performer

Thomas also began performing in traveling tent shows. After graduating from high school, he attended one semester at Tennessee A&I University, but due to economic constraints left to pursue a career as a full-time entertainer. In 1936 he joined the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, an all-black revue that toured the South, as a tap dancer and comedian, sometimes part of a duo, Rufus and Johnny. He married Cornelia Lorene Wilson in 1940, at a service officiated by Aretha Franklin's father, Rev. C. L. Franklin, and the couple settled in Memphis. Thomas worked a day job in the American Finishing Company textile bleaching plant, which he continued to do for over 20 years. He also formed a comedy and dancing duo, Rufus and Bones, with Robert "Bones" Couch, and they took over as MCs at the Palace Theater, often presenting amateur hour shows. One early winner was B. B. King, and others first discovered by Thomas later in the 1940s included Bobby Bland and Johnny Ace.

In the early 1940s, Thomas began writing and performing his own songs. He regarded Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller and Gatemouth Moore as his musical influences. He made his professional singing debut at the Elks Club on Beale Street, filling in for another singer at the last minute, and during the 1940s became a regular performer in Memphis nightclubs such as Currie`s Club Tropicana. As an established performer in Memphis, aged 33 in 1950, Thomas recorded his first 78 rpm single, for Jesse Erickson's small Star Talent label in Dallas, Texas. Thomas said: "I just wanted to make a record. I never thought of getting rich. I just wanted to be known, be a recording artist..... [But] the record sold five copies and I bought four of them." The record, "I'll Be a Good Boy"/"I'm So Worried", gained a Billboard review stating: "Thomas shows first class style on a slow blues". He also recorded for the Bullet label in Nashville, Tennessee, when he recorded with Bobby Plater's Orchestra and was credited as "Mr. Swing"; the recordings were not recognised by researchers as being by Thomas until 1996. In 1951 he made his first recordings at Sam Phillips' Sun Studio, for the Chess label, but they were not commercially successful.

He began working as a DJ at radio station WDIA in 1951, and hosted an afternoon R&B show called Hoot and Holler. WDIA, featuring an African-American format, was known as "the mother station of the Negroes" and became an important source of blues and R&B music for a generation, its audience consisting of white as well as black listeners. Thomas used to introduce his shows saying: "I'm young, I'm loose, I'm full of juice, I got the goose so what's the use. We're feeling gay though we ain't got a dollar, Rufus is here, so hoot and holler." He also used to lead tours of white teenagers on "midnight rambles" around Beale Street.

His celebrity in the South was such that in 1953, at Sam Phillips' suggestion, he recorded an "answer record" to Big Mama Thornton's R&B hit, "Hound Dog", called "Bear Cat" released on Sun Records. The record became the label's first national chart hit, reaching #3 on the Billboard R&B chart. However, a copyright-infringement suit placed by Don Robey, the original publisher of "Hound Dog", nearly bankrupted the record label. After only one recording there, Thomas was one of the African-American artists released by Phillips, as he oriented his label more toward white audiences and signed Elvis Presley, who later recorded Thomas' song "Tiger Man". Thomas did not record again until 1956, when he made a single, "I'm Steady Holdin' On", for the Bihari brothers' Meteor label; musicians on the record included Lewie Steinberg, later a founding member of Booker T and the MGs.

Stax Records

In 1960 he made his first recordings with his 17-year-old daughter Carla, for the Satellite label in Memphis, which changed its name to Stax the following year. The song, "Cause I Love You", featuring a rhythm borrowed from Jesse Hill's "Ooh Poo Pa Doo", was a regional hit; the musicians included Thomas' son Marvell on keyboards, Steinberg, and the 16-year-old Booker T. Jones. The record's success led to Stax gaining production and distribution deal with the much larger Atlantic Records.

Rufus Thomas continued to record for the label after Carla's record "Gee Whiz" reached the national R&B chart in 1961. He had his own hit with "The Dog", a song he had originally improvised in performance based on a Willie Mitchell bass line, complete with imitations of a barking dog. The 1963 follow-up, "Walking the Dog", engineered by Tom Dowd of Atlantic, became one of his most successful records, reaching #10 on the Billboard pop chart. He became the first, and still the only, father to debut in the Top 10 after his daughter had first appeared there. The song was recorded in early 1964 by the Rolling Stones on their debut album, and was a minor UK chart hit for Merseybeat group the Dennisons later that year.

As well as recording and appearing on radio and in clubs, Thomas continued to work as a boiler operator in the textile plant, where he claimed the noises sometimes suggested musical rhythms and lyrics to him, before he finally gave up the job in 1963, to focus on his role as a singer and entertainer. He recorded a series of novelty dance tracks, including "Can Your Monkey Do the Dog'" and '"Somebody Stole My Dog" for Stax, where he was often backed by Booker T. & the MGs or the Bar-Kays. He also became a mentor to younger Stax stars, giving advice on stage moves to performers like Otis Redding, who partnered daughter Carla on record.

After "Jump Back" in 1964, the hits dried up for several years, as Stax gave more attention to younger artists and musicians. However, in 1970 he had another big hit with "Do the Funky Chicken", which reached #5 on the R&B chart, #28 on the pop chart, and #18 in Britain where it was his only chart hit. Thomas improvised the song while performing with Willie Mitchell's band at a club in Covington, Tennessee, including a spoken word section that he regularly used as a shtick as a radio DJ: "Oh I feel so unnecessary - this is the kind of stuff that makes you feel like you wanna do something nasty, like waste some chicken gravy on your white shirt right down front." The recording was produced by Al Bell and Tom Nixon, and used the Bar-Kays, featuring guitarist Michael Toles. Thomas continued to work with Bell and Nixon as producers, and later in 1970 had his only number 1 R&B hit, and his highest pop charting record, with another dance song, "Do the Push and Pull". A further dance-oriented release in 1971, "The Breakdown", climbed to number 2 R&B and number 31 Pop. In 1972, he featured in the Wattstax concert, and he had several further, less successful, hits before Stax collapsed in 1976.

Later career

Thomas continued to record and toured internationally, billing himself as "The World's Oldest Teenager" and describing himself as "the funkiest man alive". He "drew upon his vaudeville background to put [his songs] over on stage with fancy footwork that displayed remarkable agility for a man well into his fifties", and usually performed "while clothed in a wardrobe of hot pants, boots and capes, all in wild colors."

He continued as a DJ at WDIA until 1974, and worked for a period at WLOK before returning to WDIA in the mid 1980s to co-host a blues show. He appeared regularly on television and recorded albums for various labels. Thomas performed regularly at the Porretta Soul Festival in Italy; the outdoor amphitheater in which he performed was later renamed Rufus Thomas Park.

He played an important part in the Stax reunion of 1988, and appeared in Jim Jarmusch's 1989 film Mystery Train, Robert Altman's 1999 film Cookie's Fortune, and D. A. Pennebaker’s documentary Only the Strong Survive. Thomas released an album of straight-ahead blues, That Woman is Poison!, with Alligator Records in 1990, featuring saxophonist Noble "Thin Man" Watts. In 1996, he and William Bell headlined at the Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1997, he released an album, Rufus Live!, on Ecko Records. In 1998, he hosted two New Year's Eve shows on Beale Street.

In 1997, to commemorate his 80th birthday, the City of Memphis renamed a road off Beale Street, close to the old Palace Theater, as Rufus Thomas Boulevard. He received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1992, and a lifetime achievement award from ASCAP in 1997. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001.

Death and legacy

He died of heart failure in 2001, at the age of 84, at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis. He is buried next to his wife Lorene, who pre-deceased him in 2000, at the New Park Cemetery in Memphis.

Writer Peter Guralnick said of him:

His music... brought a great deal of joy to the world, but his personality brought even more, conveying a message of grit, determination, indomitability, above all a bottomless appreciation for the human comedy that left little room for the drab or the dreary in his presence.

Wikipedia