//November 27th, 2009

EXCITING ADDITION TO THE LONDON TOUR! Back by popular demand, Kilborn Alley is going back to Charlotte Street Blues for a special 12:30 am show this Saturday night, 28/29 November. Come on out London!

CHANGE IN LONDON TOUR SCHEDULE! There has been a change in Kilborn Alley's London tour schedule. Saturday, 21 November, the show is now at the beautiful Trafalgar Tavern in Greenwich-- a few blocks east of the original location, and right next to the Thames-- in the same town as previously scheduled, Greenwich. Start time has been moved up to 9. Come check out the Trafalgar, and check out the band! The London shows have been great; don't miss this.

KILBORN ALLEY BLUES BAND WINS THE SEAN COSTELLO RISING STAR IN THE BLUES AWARD at the Blues Blast Magazine's annual music awards, held at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago on October 29th. The award was presented by Sean Costello's parents. This is a great honor, with remarkable international nominees. Also winning an award was Kilborn's label mates, Nick Moss and the Flip Tops, who took the prize for "Band of the Year"-- a big damn deal.

THE BLUES BLAST MUSIC AWARDS in Chicago made a wonderful gathering of friends from the blues family. The small backstage and upstairs at Buddy Guy's was packed with musicans-- John Primer and Lurie Bell, the Flip Tops, Shirley Johnson, Curtis Salgado, The Insomniacs, Bob Corritore (who wrote about the event in his weekly newsletter), Robin Rogers, Dave Herrero, Matthew Skoller, Dave Gross, Eden Brent-- and many more. What a night. Make a mental note to plan to go to next year's awards which will be at the new Buddy Guy's in the next block on Wabash.

LONDON PUBS AND CLUBS TOUR! No U.S. blues band has made a sustained tour of London in-- well, no one seems to be able to remember. But KABB is doing it, starting next week--Tuesday 17 November, kicking off at Effra Hall in Brixton. The idea is to infest the place, to soak in all that guitar blues that comes from Britain. We are real proud of the pubs we have been able to put together for this tour. See for yourself on the "Shows" page-- and we won't mention them all here-- but Effra Hall has been an amazing jazz and reggae venue in the little West Indies that is Brixton, Moors Bar is a gem in Crouch End with one of the coolest owners in all of tavern-dom the world over, The Globe has an incredible blues jam scene in Hackney lead by John Parry and his band, The Oval features Graeme's dj work plus great blues bands, Weavers Arms is a veritable monument in rock history, North Pole is making a statement as an r&b venue, -- each place is special in its way, and we are looking for big turnouts on what is supposed to be a resurgent London blues scene. We hear the new Charlotte Street Blues may be the finest facility dedicated to blues on planet earth.

GOING BACKWARD IN OUR SOMETIMES FOGGY MEMORIES: the first ever Champaign-Urbana Folk and Roots Festival was a tremendous success in September. We urge you to support this important event in our hometown. We had a great time on our trip to Wausau, Wisconsin for the Blues Ala Carte weekend of the Great Northern Blues Society.

AND LOOKING AHEAD we see a special Charlotte's Web show in Rockford, Illinois, three shows in St. Louis when we get back to London, and a New Years Eve trip to the Pittsburgh, PA area to revisit our pals at the Blues Society of Western Pennsylvania. There is always more-- stay tuned

GO TO YOU TUBE (TM), search for Kilborn Alley, and see what comes up. Here is what we think you will find: an amazing mini-documentary that ran repeatedly beginning in 2006 as a part of WILL-TV's "Prairie Fire" series. Built around footage shot at the Shades of Blue music festival on 8 July 2005, and subsequent interviews, this is a treat. Next, you will find some live performances taped at The Iron Post in Urbana, Illinois on 11 January 2008. You'll see some smokin' hot play there.

CHECK THE SHOWS PAGE, and just check back often to see what we're doing!

DID YOU KNOW, or maybe you knew and forgot, Kilborn Alley Blues Band has a distribution agreement with Burnside Distribution Corporation of Portland, Oregon? What this means is, when you are looking for the two Blue Bella releases, TEAR CHICAGO DOWN and PUT IT IN THE ALLEY, have your local records store contact BDC about getting the cds.

DON'T FORGET, while this site changes slowly, the Kilborn Alley Blues Band Myspace page changes almost daily, at least in some small way-- and additions to the performance schedule get posted there fastest. Check it out at: myspace.com/thekilbornalleybluesband

. . . it is the music which changes the place from the rear room of a
saloon in back of the yards to a fairy place, a wonderland, a little
corner of the high mansions of the sky.
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)