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Lebanon Blues Festival to offer cool music in heat of summer

12th annual event will be held Saturday in downtown Lebanon

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By Justin McClelland, Staff Writer 9:55 AM Friday, August 6, 2010

LEBANON — Alice Hoskins is not worried how the heat will affect her when she sings at the Lebanon Blues Festival.

“When I take the stage, I’m somebody else,” Hoskins said. “I do what I have to do to put my craft out there and hope somebody likes it.”

Hoskins and her group, the Unfinished Business Blues Band, are one of eight acts performing Saturday, Aug. 7, as part of the 12th annual Lebanon Blues Festival in downtown Lebanon.

Last year’s festival brought 10,000 to 12,000 people downtown, said Anne Smith, president of the Lebanon Optimist Club, the organizer of the festival. “Every year, it gets bigger and better,” Smith said.

Besides the music, the festival also features a classic car show, food booths, a deluxe beer garden and a children’s area. The Red Hot Blues Run, a 5K and 15K race to support the Lebanon Parks, begins at 7 p.m. Hoskins said those who come to see her can expect to be moved by the music she performs.

“Blues is a living music,” Hoskins said. “It tells a story and relates to life. I always sing songs I feel people can relate to.”

The festival is a fundraiser for the Lebanon Optimist Club, which returns all the money to the community through a variety of youth-oriented projects and scholarships.

This year’s festival will feature past favorite musical groups like Them Bones, as well as newcomers such as Hoskins and Robin Lacy and his band DeZydeco.

“There’s a lot of high energy and audience participation in our shows,” Lacey said.

Lacey performs zydeco music, a Louisiana up-tempo type of music that originated from the same rhythms and chords as blues and rock ‘n’ roll.

“We play the same blues rhythms but faster and with a rubboard and accordion,” Lacey said of his six-person band. “Outdoor festivals like the blues festival are a lot of fun because there’s so many people and the crowd can get really energized.”