VERY RARE-BOB KOESTER November 1966 "Blues News" Vol. V, No. 2; DELMARK RECORDS

Description

If you want to know what was happening in the realm of the whirlwind that was "The Blues" in 1966, you could not do better to find the vortex than in this amazing relic.  It is titled "Blues News" Vol.V, Number 2. and was personally written by Bob Koester of the Jazz Record Mart and Delmark Records of Chicago.  Koester is considered the leading expert in the Blues music business and his Delmark Records label was the first independent label to put out blues records.  Koester mailed these out with record sold through the mail and order form requests.  I'm sure they were available at the Jass Record Mart, but I imagine that that was the extent of their distribution.
The issue is EIGHT (8)
legal length
typewritten pages all written by Koester himself.  To give you an idea of the incredible tone of this publication I'll give you the masthead lead:  [punctuation and capitalization as printed]  "last bn  was in early 1966, We've lost our file copy.  BLUES NEWS is published as a public dis-service by Delmark Records, seven west grand, chicago, illinois (60610) with disgusting irregularity, about 5.00 per issue and the best of intentions, under the influence of old-fashioned beverages of slight potency, in the interests of greater understanding of the peculiar institution and person sitting here at 4 AM when he should be in bed."  It goes on in that witty vein but when it gets down to business it is all about the music and the people who make it and where they perform it and who records it.  It's like a time machine back to that time and what was happening in the world of hard-core blues.
As a sample the first feature is titled "News....Junior Wells Arrives".   It tells of Junior's gigs at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and Club 47, Cafe Au Go Go etc.  Then about his Delmark album "HOODOO MAN BLUES" DL-612 mono and DS-9612 Stereo (The first Delmark record ever to be re-printed.)  He reports other Delmark artists Yank Rachell, Sleepy John Estes, Roosevely Sykes, Little Brother Montgomery, Otis Rush, Jack Meyers Fred Below, Sippi Wallace, Robert Pete Williams, J.B. Lenore and Big Joe Turner.
There is an article titled "Jimmy Rogers Live in Chicago"  and the
Delmark Folk and Jazz Catalog
is printed with 13 albums listed. (4 by Sleepy John Estes, 3 by Big Joe Williams, and 1 each by Rambling Jack Elliott, Junior Wells, Yank Rachell, Speckled Red, Roosevelt Sykes and Curtis Jones)
There is a great article titled "Whatever Happened to Washboard Sam?" with lots of details about many in the Chicago blues scene and their reminisences and encounters with Washboard Sam.
A memorial for the passing of Mississippi John Hurt who died on November 2, 1966.
Then there are rememberances of Mississippi John Hurt, Robert Brown and "the next lost blues artist".
The last four pages list "Recent Blues Releases" with lots of details about and from the following:
Sleepy John Estes in Europe;  Muddy Waters Brass and Blues;  Big Joe Williams-Classic Delta Blues;  Memphis Slim-The Real Folk Blues;  John Lee Hooker-The Real Folk Blues;  Bo Diddley-The Originator;  Mississippi John Hurt-Today;  Percy Sledge-Warm & Tender Soul;  Billy Boy Arnold-More Blues on the South Side;  Bobby Bland-The Soul of the Man;  Otis Spann's Chicago Blues;  Homesick James-Blues on the South Side;  Blind Willie McTell-1940;  Lowell Fulsom-Soul;  The Sound of the Delta;
and Re-Issues:
Piano Blues with 10 artists RBF 12 (this was a bootleg album)
Blues Rediscoveries with 8 artists RBF 11 (also a bootleg)
Flight of Armageddon #1 and #2  Origin #12 & #13 (more bootlegs)
Blues Classics (#1 through #10)  Here #3 and #9 were circled by me, both Sonny Boy Williamson albums which I ordered from Jazz Record Mart.  The circles are the only damage to this issue of Blues News.
It's just an amazing repository of information and blues minutiae that you may not find anywhere else.
I can find no references to these old newsletters.  I doubt that many have survived.
Shipped in a stiff mailer.
Reasonable offers are welcome.  I respond quickly to all offers.