Here's the back story if you're not familiar with the situation. The King Biscuit Blues Festival has been a tradition in the town of Helena AR. for many years. It is the largest free blues festival in the country. The King Biscuit Flour Hour was the home of Sonny Boy Williamsona dn many other blues greats and it's still aired on the radio of KFFA. A group in NYC has purchased the name "King Biscuit" and has shut down the festival claiming misuse of the name they now own. Not only have they refused to honor the heritage of the festival, they have refused to deal in good faith for the naming right and are now sposoring a concert in direct competition with the original event.
If you care to join the fight to preserve the heritage of Delta blues, read on.
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Most of you have heard about the big rip-off of The King Biscuit Blues Festival name by Performa Entertainment Real Estate in Memphis. In short, the NYC company "King Biscuit Entertainment", who produced the rock shows for radio in the early 70s, won the rights in a New York court to the King
Biscuit name and leased the use of that name to Performa.
Performa is now planning to hold a festival just accross the river from Helena, AR (where "The Biscuit" is held) on the same weekend as the original festival, bringing in hip-hop and pop acts, and calling it "The King Biscuit Music Festival". They also plan to force the "King Biscuit Time" radio show off the air at KFFA in Helena, where it has been broadcast from since 1941, so that they can broadcast it from Beale Street. they are also planning to open a chain of "King Biscuit" restaurants.
This move of pure corporate greed is a huge slap in the face to all Blues fans. They are stealing the heritage of the best free festival in the country and trying to steal festival goers and income from an impovershed area in the Delta, the place where it all started. It may be legal, but it is WRONG.
An online petition has been started to help combat this injustice and return the King Biscuit name to the festival that has nurtured it for 20 years.
Please help by signing this petition and boycotting the Memphis Festival and any peoject Performa is involved in. It`s simple to do. Just click this link, sign the petition. You have to include your e-mail address, but rest assured it will be kept private. Only one person (me) can see your e-mail address if you choose to keep it private. My only agenda is to bring The
King Biscuit name back to the Helena Festival, and your e-mail address is only needed, and will only be used, for confirmation purposes.
Please show your support as a Blues fan and help us bring the "Biscuit" back where it belongs!
Just click this link and sign, and Thank you for your support!
new.PetitionOnline.com/Bi...ition.html
