Kansas City Kansas Street Blues Festival

This year the festival moved to an industrial district of Kansas City, Kansas. Hidden behind the warehouses, factories and silos is a park at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers. Lewis and Clark spend the night at this location during their westward trek. I wrote a preview of the event for Patchchord, and took this pictures on Friday, June 23, 2006.



For the first time, the festival added a second stage. The "street stage" was actually in a parking lot near a highway exit ramp. Loud trucks would occasionally disrupt the performances at this stage. That's JJ Johnson- a soul singer, not the jazz trombonist- in red.



I was disappointed to find that the "river" stage was situated in a grassy park on a bluff above the rivers instead of in the lovely forrested area on the rivers' banks. That's guitarist Jimmy D. Lane in the flashy blouse.






David "Honeyboy" Edwards peformed on the street stage Friday night.



He was accompanied on harmonica by his manager, Earwig label owner Michael Frank.



The street stage faced downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Here's the pretty view at night.