Heritage Conference lineup taking shape

Helena, Ark., home of the King Biscuit Blues Festival and stomping ground for many blues greats, will host the third Delta Music Heritage Conference May 3-5.

A "blues summit," the conference is aimed at promoting tourism in the Delta while preserving the heritage of the music and the culture.

"This is a natural next step for Helena," says organizing committee chair Munnie Jordan, the former executive director of the King Biscuit Blues Festival. "We are taking the one thing Helena is best known for, the blues, and taking it to another level. This conference will be ideal for anyone in the blues business or the tourism industry in the Delta."

Registration for the conference is $175 for professionals and $75 for students. The registration fee covers all meals, including a Monday night dinner cruise on the Mississippi with entertainment by Big Bill Morganfield, the son of Muddy Waters. To register, call Linda Wagner at (870) 338-8327.

The conference will take place at a variety of locations in Helena, ranging from the Delta Cultural Center to the historic Malco Theatre, which is under renovation. The Festival Marketplace will serve as the central headquarters. The conference is being coordinated by representatives from Phillips Community College, the Chamber of Commerce, the King Biscuit Blues Festival and the Delta Cultural Center in Helena; officials from the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism; and Conaway Brown Inc., the Memphis-based publisher of BlueSpeak.

Speakers include:

o David Evans, the University of Memphis musicologist who has devoted his career to the study of blues.

o Tad Pearson, owner of American Dream Safari, who offers private tours of the Delta in a vintage 1955 Cadillac.

o Sonny Payne, the longtime host of the King Biscuit radio show on KFFA.

o William Ivey, who has been nominated to chair the National Endowment for the Arts.

o Robert Jr. Lockwood, a Helena resident who learned the blues from the legendary Robert Johnson.

o Eli Ball, producer and organizer of the Crossroads and Bluestock music expos in Memphis.

Several other speakers are scheduled for the two-day workshops and panels. The conference will begin by explaining the history and heritage of the region. It then will feature success stories, and culminate in the nuts and bolts of how to promote, produce and plan events and other tourism-related sites.

"We want people to hear from some of the best folks in the region when it comes to tourism and our music heritage," Jordan says. "We have a great gift here, that isn't available anywhere else in the world. We have to learn how to take advantage of that gift, but make it work for everyone."

The first conference took place in Memphis in 1994, and brought together more than 100 people for seminars, lectures, panel discussions and brainstorming sessions. The keynote speakers were National Humanities chairman Bill Ferris and Bob Pittman, the founder of MTV. The focus of the first conference was on the resources and popularity of cultural/heritage tourism. The second conference, which took place in Greenville, Miss., in September of 1996, focused more on preserving and defending the Delta's heritage. Isaac Tigrett, founder of the House of Blues and Hard Rock Cafe, and author Shelby Foote were the keynote speakers.