This was mentioned in the St. Louis Centre thread but I feel like it deserves it's own thread at this point...
http://www.nationalbluesmuseum.org/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/National ... 0722193896

Seems like a lot of support brewing... Buddy Guy mentioned on their site... Alicia Keys involved. This is long overdue and my fingers are crossed 10 times over that this comes to life...

thats great. I was just thinking about this project a few days ago. WHere do you see Alicia Keys being involved?

I am glad this is truly a National Museum, something that will add to our profile of activities to do while you visit. It is also another venue that can host special events with blues legends. I wonder what will be going on after a few years of operation during the blues festivals downtown.

I can't verify the Alicia Keys thing, but I heard it from a source that is involved in the project... I'm not sure why they would make that up. Supposedly we will be hearing more about this in the news in the coming months

I've always thought St. Louis is waaaaay underrepresented nowadays concerning it's contribution to music over the years. Basically, Chuck Berry invented rock'n roll. Just ask Keith Richards. And if he DIDN'T then a lot of people will tell you it's Ike Turner. Turner's contributions are completely overlooked for the most part. People point to "Rocket 88" as being the first "rock n roll" song ever (1951!). Of course, he's basically off-limits now because he popped his old lady in mouf for gettin' lippy (just kiddin'). He had to go off and die in San Diego. It's a shame the Ike Turner/Black Keys record didn't get finished before he died.

Turner was born in the Mississippi Delta region which REALLY is the cradle of blues (or rock n roll) but he basically grew up in the St. Louis area. Memphis gets more credit because you can throw in the country side of rock n roll history. Chicago, meh. Chess Records of course. All of STLs studios are long gone. Thetre was one down around "Midtown Alley" that Ike and others used. Forget the name.

I guess the only problem I foresee is that STL's biggest contributions involve:

1) Ike Turner beat is wife and was a junkie.
2) Chuck Berry likes to get crapped on.
3) BPV would be a good spot for this!

There IS a blues museum in Clarksdale, MS. Just ask Robert Plant. Actually, I thought about driving all around the Delta region and stopping in all the spots and just hanging out and drinking and listening to music. It's kind of out of the way. A good Blues Museum in a major city is a really good idea. There is a TON of info and historical stuff. Enough to fill a good museum for sure.

"Future Home of the National Blues Museum"

Cool. I hope this comes to fruition. I'll be one of the first to visit.

Sounds sweet. Hopefully it comes to be.

How much of the building is it going to use?

I'm definitely excited to see this thing take shape...though I firmly believe the vacant modernistic building at the northwest corner of Washington and Broadway is a <I>perfect</I> location).

I'm in Chicago right now. Ill check out their Blues/Jazz museum in a couple of weeks here and hopefully snap some pictures. I'm sure it'll offer up some idea of what ours can be and I suspect, with the motivated designers and supporters we have for this, the St. Louis one will exceed it (especially if they can include a world-class studio.

If they are still thinking of including a restaurant with the National Blues Museum project, I think that Blue Smoke (the only place in NYC I've found that serves t-ravs) could be the perfect partner. The Blue Smoke here couples itself with a venue called the Jazz Standard and has gigs throughout the week. They could execute a similar concept in St. Louis with the blues. Also, it'd be great to finally have a Danny Meyer restaurant in St. Louis. With Shake Shack his company has extensive experience and success in creating a multi-location brand, and I'd think Blue Smoke might work with that model as it is one of his lower priced offerings.

Blue Smoke has a St. Louis area connection in Mike Mills, a partner in that restaurant. He is the owner of 17th Street BBQ in Murphysboro with locations in O'Fallon, Marion and Sparta, IL. They've won many awards, most notably Best Ribs in America by Bon Appétit Magazine.

While I am partial to Pappy's and Bogarts, 17th Street is also very good. Blue Smoke and Shake Shack would be welcome additions MX,or downtown in general. Although I wouldn't mind seeing Pappy's either.

They were discussing this on KDHX yesterday afternoon as I was driving home. I'm getting pumped for this!

If you have been to Memphis or the Mississippi Delta in recent years you surely have noticed how many international tourists pay homage to the shrines of Blues music down there.

Quite a few of them also travel up to Chicago as well. The thought of diverting some of them along the way with this project is really exciting.

Blues Museum Renderings






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Nice article about the Blues Museum. Not exactly close to the riverfront though.

Chicago Tribune - U.S. blues museum planned for St. Louis riverfront

The National Blues Museum, which Museum chairman Rob Endicott said he hoped would open next year depending on the final design, would be a part of an ongoing public and private effort to revitalize the St. Louis riverfront.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns- ... 2754.story

^ i love the one, awkwardly inserted, completely out-of-context sentence about SLU law moving downtown. is it just me, or is SLU propaganda conveniently popping up all over the place since the PRB ruled against the Pevely demolition?

urban_dilettante wrote:^ i love the one, awkwardly inserted, completely out-of-context sentence about SLU law moving downtown. is it just me, or is SLU propaganda conveniently popping up all over the place since the PRB ruled against the Pevely demolition?

That's a tad paranoid. A major new development 12 blocks from the riverfront is perfectly in context for that article, which is (rightly or wrongly) positioning the Blues Museum as part of the overall effort to get Arch visitors to circulate downtown and/or to "reconnect downtown with the riverfront." We tend to think in microsubdivisions when we discuss downtown, but he's painting with a broader brush, in part because it's his job to write about broader trends in St. Louis.

I still lament the fact that 505 Washington wasn't tapped as the location for the museum. For so many reasons -- geographically, aesthetically, functionally -- this building would have been perfect as the home to the National Blues Museum and its studios/interactive elements. Much better than the Laurel, by my opinion anyway.

Alex Ihnen wrote:IMO - the SLU Law mention is out of context.

Why?

And, yes, I do believe that SLU in on the PR offensive, letters to the STLBJ, etc.

Well, of course they are. But that's completely out of context in the current discussion. Even if they're calling the Reuters guy charged with general St. Louis features and pushing the law school (which I think gives them credit for way more PR savvy than they've ever exhibited), I find it pretty far-fetched to think that they're doing it to counter the Pevely thing.

bonwich wrote:That's a tad paranoid. A major new development 12 blocks from the riverfront is perfectly in context for that article, which is (rightly or wrongly) positioning the Blues Museum as part of the overall effort to get Arch visitors to circulate downtown and/or to "reconnect downtown with the riverfront." We tend to think in microsubdivisions when we discuss downtown, but he's painting with a broader brush, in part because it's his job to write about broader trends in St. Louis.

exactly. what does SLU law have to do with the blues museum or the effort to get Arch visitors to circulate downtown? don't get me wrong; SLU law's move is inarguably good for downtown. however, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the subject of this article (except peripherally, perhaps, but in that case so does, say, Teach for America moving into the Jefferson Arms, which wasn't mentioned in the article) and so i suspect it was inserted upon request or out of sympathy.

also, i don't think i'm being paranoid in noticing the uptick in pro-SLU related editorials and stories lately. i think, like Alex said, that Biondi is on a PR offensive due to Pevely.