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Home > Features > Blues Bash 2017
Blues Bash 2017
Toronzo Cannon headlines The League’s annual fundraiser
By Michael Summers
michael_summers@fortwaynereader.com
Fort Wayne Reader
2017-04-21
 David Nelson, President and CEO at the League for the Blind and Disabled, boils down the organization’s work into two main issues.
The first: “We serve people of any age with severe disabilities of any kind by providing individualized training services,” Nelson says. A few examples include white cane travel training for people who are blind; teaching people how to use adaptive equipment; providing services for deaf people who speak English as a second language.
The second: “We’re also an advocacy organization,” says Nelson. “We work to make communities more inclusive for people with disabilities. If someone leaves here and goes into a community that’s not receptive and not inclusive, we really haven’t done much for them.”
The League throws a heck of a fundraiser every year — the Blues Bash — to support the work they do. The 2017 edition happens at C2G on Saturday, May 6. But we’ll get to that in a moment…
The League serves 11 counties in Northeast Indiana, and began in 1949, when the founders brought Helen Keller to Fort Wayne. The organization shortened its name to just The League several years ago to address the misconception that it only serves people who are blind. “That’s our history, and we’re proud of that, but anyone with a severe disability should consider calling us is they’re having some issues,” Nelson says.
And with such a long legacy, The League has a different perspective when it comes to serving people who are disabled. The inclusiveness the organization advocates for is part of the make-up of the organization itself. “As a disability rights organization, we look at people with disabilities as the experts. That approach Because of that view, we hire almost exclusively qualified people with disabilities here. On our board of directors, we require the majority of the board to be people with disabilities. Same with administrative staff. After all, people with disabilities are the experts in this field.”
Nelson has been with the organization for 27 years. He’s seen some changes. “Back in the early 90s, there was a lot of resistance to things like the Americans with Disabilities Act,” he says. “The Chamber of Commerce was fighting against our issues; economic development didn’t think they had anything to do with our issues…”
The problems were what you might expect — fear of the presumed extra cost of adding accessibility or, for employers, job training; fear of legal troubles; the perception that the Americans With Disabilities Act was just another government mandate that would incur a lot of time and resources. “People’s civil rights were being compared, in the same sentence, to storm-water sewage regulations,” Nelson says.
Nelson sees far less of that resistance now, especially from economic development entities. “The issues we’re most concerned about (at the League) parallel the issues economic development is most concerned with,” he says.
One issue is employment. The League doesn’t provide employment services; rather, they help employers identify job accommodations. Nelson says that unemployment is easily one of the top problems among the disabled community — 70% of people with disabilities are unemployed. “Northeast Indiana doesn’t lack jobs, it lacks workers,” he says. “(the disabled community) is an underemployed population, and economic development entities now see it as a potential untapped resource — and not out of charity either, by the way.”
Another issue — tourism. Fort Wayne and Allen County are a central destination point for tourism in the region, and accessibility is very important. Nelson explains. “As we’re redeveloping the area, creating more attractions, the economic development people understand that accessibility is essential,” Nelson explains. “At The League, we’re asked about various projects ‘how can we make this better for people with disabilities?’ Community leaders embrace that; it’s not just lip service anymore.”
Despite these changes, unemployment is still a huge problem among people with disabilities. And Nelson also thinks that young people with disabilities aren’t being well-served. “We — and by ‘we,’ I mean the whole country — have never done a very good job of working with young people with disabilities as they transition into becoming adults,” says Nelson. “In special education, we have transition plans. We have vocational rehabilitation to help people with disabilities get jobs. But kids too often graduate into staying at home and playing video games instead of into jobs or post secondary training, or even just living and participating in community life. We’re missing these young people. That’s a big area for us. It’s a lot easier to help somebody get into their adult role when they’re young than to try to move them back into it when they’re older.”
The League’s annual Blues Bash helps the organization raise funds for all the work they do, and as anyone who has ever attended the fundraiser can tell you, it’s a heck of a party. The event has sold out the last several years, and always boasts some top-flight musical talent. This year, The League is upping the ante with Toronzo Cannon, a blues guitarist, singer and songwriter from Chicago who is just beginning to enjoy some serious attention after a handful of albums and stints as a sideman for various artists. A couple years ago, Cannon headlined the Chicago Blues Festival, and delivered a stunning set. The Chicago Tribune wrote: “Cannon made the most of his opportunity as a festival headliner to win over a new audience.”
Cannon’s latest album, The Chicago Way, boasts all original compositions and is his first on Alligator Records, the legendary blues label. Chicago blues has a heavy legacy, but Cannon’s music reveals an assured and confident artist, one invigorated by the challenge of making his own mark in the city’s rich blues heritage rather than being overwhelmed by it.
Born and raised in Chicago, Cannon came relatively late to the blues — he bought his first guitar when he was 22 (not that you can tell from listening to his lead lines), and though he always loved music didn’t he was very young, he didn’t start getting serious until then. As Cannon’s bio puts it, his initial focus was reggae, but he found himself increasingly drawn to the blues. "It was dormant in me. But when I started
playing the blues, I found my voice and the blues came pouring out." He absorbed sounds, styles and licks from Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Hound Dog Taylor, B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King, Al Green, Jimi Hendrix, J.B. Hutto, Lil' Ed and others. Although influenced by many, Cannon’s biting, singing guitar sound is all his own.”
You’ll notice a few R&B-centric artists among the blues musicians on that list, and you’ll hear that in Cannon’s music — it’s pretty funky, designed to make a body move, with a rhythm section working almost as hard as the lead guitar. And if you happened to stop dancing for a minute, you’ll hear some pretty interesting stories in the songs. For Cannon, songwriting is as important as musicianship. Of the songs on The Chicago Way, Cannon says he challenged himself at every step, writing each song to connect with someone in my audience. “I try to write songs that will be both up-to-the-minute and timeless,” he says. “Blues is truth-telling music and I want my audience to relate to my stories."
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Blues Bash 2017 with Toronzo Cannon
Saturday, May 6 at 8 PM
C2G Music Hall
323 West Baker Street
Fort Wayne, IN 46802
Tickets: $20 general admission; $75 VIP (VIP tickets include, reserved parking, reserved front row seating, dinner with Toronzo Cannon and the band, and limited free drinks).
Call The League at 441-0551 to reserve tickets or buy online at c2gmusichall.com
The Blues Bash will be a sellout, so get your tickets now!
For more information on The League, visit the-league.org.
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