Area schools were rockin’ on October 14^th and 15^th because the Blues were in the Schools!  The Crossroads Blues Society (CBS) hosted another set of successful Blues in the Schools (BITS) programs for area schools.  The programs were capped off by a concert at Honenegah High School.  Blues artists and educators Michael “Hawkeye” Herman and Fruteland Jackson were this year’s featured artists. 

Hawkeye spent Thursday morning at Lewis Lemon Elementary School in Rockford entertaining two sessions from Kindergarten through 5^th graders.  In all, over 400 students and their teachers attended the BITS programs at Lewis Lemon Elementary School. 

In the afternoon, Hawkeye was at St. Peters Cathedral School in Rockford entertaining and educating with another two sessions totaling well over 200 students from 1st through 8^th grade.  Both schools thoroughly enjoyed the programs.  In fact, the gym teacher at Lewis Lemon said this was the second best assembly she had ever seen at the school.  She stated that she was a little biased because she was the PE teacher and the only one she liked better was a soccer assembly that she had arranged.

Thursday’s successes were followed by another day of great music and enrichment of students’ lives because both Hawkeye Herman and Fruteland Jackson were out and about.  Fruteland spent the morning at Rockford’s Keith School with an assembly of over 200 students and then had two afternoon sessions at the same school with over 100 students attending.  Hawkeye spent Friday morning at Honenegah High School in Rockton where he worked with over 300 students.  At Johnson Elementary School, Hawkeye worked with another 300 students in the afternoon.

The Friday evening concert at Honenegah HS with both Hawkeye and Fruteland attracted a crowd of about 70 people.  There was a good mix of high school students, CBS members and area residents.  The local attendees included some senior citizens who were jamming to the evening of great music.  Fruteland lead off with a set of his acoustic blues.  Jackson played several tunes from his recent album “Blues 2.0” in addition to some older and more traditional material.  He asked Harmonica Joe from our club to join him for a number and Joe gladly pitched in with his harp.  After a short break, Hawkeye went into a set of his own acoustic blues music.  He also featured several numbers from his latest CD “Blues Alive!” along with other material from previous albums.

The concert attendees saw and heard a first; Fruteland and Hawkeye joined up to play a set together for the first time ever.   They jammed as if they had played together many times before.  It was a superb event.  This night of great music lead to two new members joining CBS at the concert and raised about $200 to support future BITS programs.  CBS also hopes to be able to have a Spring BITS program for area schools.

Blues in the schools happens because of a lot of peoples’ efforts and time.  Thanks to all the Crossroads members who worked to make the Fall BITS Program a huge success!  Financially, our membership dues and fund raising play a part in getting the programs funded.  The majority of funding comes from grant money from the Community Arts & Humanities Fund of the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois.  Many Thanks for their support year in and year out that allow BITS to keep the blues alive!