Blues Power/ Celtic Festival

Aug. 22, 2007

One of the nation’s top blues guitarists is bending a string to help kids cope with cancer in a benefit for Camp Quality.
The Larry McCray Band will perform a benefit for the Petoskey-area camp this Sunday, Aug. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Traverse City Central High School gym. Sponsored by the Northwestern Michigan Masons, tickets to the show are $10.
Born in 1960 as the eighth of nine children in rural Stevens, Arkansas, Larry grew up in blues country before moving to Saginaw to live with his musical older sister, Clara, who had a band of her own. He got his start in the early ‘70s when Clara turned him on to the music of the “three Kings” -- Albert, B.B. and Freddie. McCray added his own blistering Hendrix rock licks to these influences and became the first artist signed by Virgin Records’ blues division in 1991. Since then, he’s released five CDs and has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and internationally. In 2000, he was named the Orville Gibson Male Blues Artist of the Year, beating out the likes of Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. McCray’s performances on a Gibson Flying V guitar have been compared with that of the masters of the blues, including Jimi Hendrix and Albert King. Currently a resident of Davison, Michigan, McCray is blessed with a deep, soulful voice and is a perennial favorite in Northern Michigan.
McCray offered to play a benefit for Camp Quality after being approached by blues fan Craig Maison at the Petoskey Blues Festival last year. Maison is a member of the Traverse City Masonic Lodge, which organized this Sunday’s benefit concert.
Camp Quality -- for kids with cancer and their families -- is currently in its 20th year. The camp is held at Camp Daggett near Petoskey and offers four annual outings, including a winter adventure camp, a snow weekend, and two week-long summer camps.
The theme of the camp is “letting kids with cancer be kids again.” The camp offers all of the traditional summer events -- archery, boating, swimming, campfires and hikes -- but tailored to meet the needs of kids who are seriously ill, or even terminally ill, with cancer.
“The camp allows kids to have fun in between the chemo and the cancer treatment,” says concert publicist Kathy Rodger. “It’s a pretty traumatic thing when a child has a terminal disease. The camp helps get the family away from medical problems for some fun.”
Currently, Camp Quality is serving 78 children with cancer, along with their families. It’s a national organization with ongoing events held throughout the year.
Tickets for Sunday’s concert are available at Horizon Books and The Music Factory in TC, or at the door. Rodger notes that Larry McCray usually charges much more for a show -- the $10 entry fee is a good deal for a good cause.


Celtic Fest livens up Harbor Springs
The sounds of dear old Ireland and all things Celtic will put a lilt in the step of visitors to Harbor Springs this weekend, Aug. 24-25 with the Fifth Annual Harbor Celtic Festival.
Sponsored by the BlissFest Music Organization to highlight the region’s Celtic roots, the event includes an Irish Film Festival, showing “Shake Hands with the Devil,” about Irish guerillas fighting their British overlords on Aug. 22. On Friday, Aug. 25, a Celtic Pub Crawl includes musicians along the route, as well as a free film, “The Boys and Girl from County Clare,” in Zorn Park.
Saturday, Aug. 25 offers a day of workshops, including how-tos on the Irish whistle, bodhran, guitar, fiddle and songwriting. A 7:30 p.m. concert will feature fiddler Mick Gavin with the Crossroads Ceili Band. A native of County Clare, Ireland, Gavin has since become a popular performer in the Midwest, organizing well-attended “Crossroads Ceili” shows at The Ark in Ann Arbor each December. Tickets to the show are $12 advance, $15 at the door at the Harbor Performing Arts Center.