2 Stones Events and the Brighton Center for the Performing Arts have teamed up to present the Brighton Blues Bash! — an evening featuring two of metro-Detroit’s finest performers: Boogie-woogie blues piano master Mr. B, and Detroit’s Queen of the Blues, Thornetta Davis, presented by Cooper & Binkley Jewelers.
This special community event to feed one’s soul includes a food drive for the Livingston Hunger Council; attendees are asked to bring a non-perishable item to place in drop-off boxes in the lobby. Of course, monetary donations will be accepted as well — every dollar donated provides three meals locally.
“For quite a few years, we’ve been making food drives part of our events,” said Cal Stone who, along with his wife, Whitney, runs 2 Stones Events. “Yes, even in the state’s richest county, there is absolutely a need. This is a simple way for people to help their neighbors.”
The doors for this special Sunday show at the BCPA will open at 3 p.m. with Mr. B taking the stage from 4-5 p.m. followed by Thornetta Davis from 5:30-7 p.m. It will top off a full weekend of blues music with the Brighton Smokin Rock-N-Blues Festival on Sept. 5-6.
Tickets are $25 for the Main Floor and $15 for the balcony online before Sept. 7. Prices will increase to $35 and $25 day of at the door. Click HERE for tickets or visit http://www.2StonesEvents.com.
Single Barrel Social is sponsoring the event as a Silver Partner. Media Partners include The LivingstonPost.com, WHMI 93.5 FM and The Marketeer.
For more than 23 years, Stone has booked major concerts at the BCPA featuring international artists (Wynton Marsalis, George Winston, Marty Stuart, Branford Marsalis, and Ramsey Lewis); festivals and fairs (South Lyon Live! @ Pumpkinfest, Michigan State Fair, Cleary University’s Summerfest) and live music for countless local bars, restaurants, hotels, corporate parties, etc.
“The BCPA is one of the best venues for live performances in southeast Michigan,” said Whitney McClellan-Stone. “Nine-hundred seats, free parking, close to the freeway, great acoustics, and an amazing nine-foot Steinway piano that is going to sound incredible when Mr. B sits down to play it.
Mr. B: A king of the keyboard
Blues and boogie-woogie pianist Mark Lincoln Braun has become one of the premiere purveyors of a vanishing art. Having learned his craft first-hand from the early masters, he is a rare living link to the first generation of blues and boogie pianists. Steeped in the rich legacy of this tremendously exciting music, Mr. B learned directly from blues and boogie legends like Little Brother Montgomery, Boogie Woogie Red, and Blind John Davis.
In demand for both educational programs and concert performances, he has performed coast to coast and throughout Europe, Canada, Mexico, and South America. In 2002 and 2016, he was a guest artist at the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. He is also the organizer of the annual Mr. Bʼs Blues and Boogie Piano Celebration that attracts major figures in the blues and jazz piano world to Ann Arbor for collaborative performances with Mr. B.
Mr. B appears by arrangement with Great Lakes PAA, greatlakespaa.org.
Thornetta: Detroit’s Queen of the Blues
Crowned Detroit’s Queen of the Blues, international singer/songwriter/recording artist Thornetta Davis has opened for blues legends such as B.B. King, Ray Charles, Etta James, Koko Taylor, Johnny Johnson, Bonnie Raitt and more. A 2018 Kresge Foundation honoree, she also won the 2023 Blues Foundation Blues Music Awards for Best Soul/Blues vocalist female. A winner of over 30 Detroit Music Awards, Davis received six of those honors in 2018 and also won several in 2017 for her album Honest Woman (including Outstanding Record Producer, Outstanding Blues Recording, Outstanding Blues Vocalist and Outstanding Live Performance).
In 2017, the winner of awards from Blues Blast Magazine (Best Soul/Blues Album) and Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine (Coolest Blues Song) also garnered international attention by winning first place in the International Songwriting Competition for Best Blues Song (“I Believe Everything Is Gonna Be Alright”), and the following year earned the prestigious French La Academie du Jazz Award for Best Blues Album (Honest Woman).
From Down Beat Magazine’s 2018 Monterey Jazz Fest performance review: “The follow-up at the Garden Stage on Saturday blew the crowd away. In her first time performing at Monterey, Detroit’s Queen of the Blues, Thornetta Davis, sang with no-nonsense sass, fearless in her missives against lovers, as she preached the Blues.”
Community benefits
The Livingston County Hunger Council works to prevent hunger in this community by maintaining a food response system. Highlights in 2024 include:
- 26,248 meals and snacks were provided at seven locations during Summer Lunch Bunch, which supports children and families throughout the summer.
- A total of 13,638 frozen weekend meals were served by Meals on Wheels.
- 46 food distribution sites available throughout Livingston County distributed 3,576,465 pounds of food through Gleaners, including 1,045,777 pounds of fresh produce.
- Distributed 146,403 pounds of food through Mission Nutrition Mobiles and senior mobiles which provided 122,002 meals.
- 2,350 pounds of fresh produce were grown in a local community garden and 11 fresh produce carts were spread across Livingston County.
- Mission Nutrition Livingston served 2,939 meals to 1,982 households at school food mobiles.
“2 Stones Events has taken us under their wings for many years by letting us host food drives at their events, giving us a stage to talk about the Hunger Council and bring awareness to the community,” said Cathy Wormsbacher, chair of the Hunger Council, who noted that the donated food is dropped off to Gleaners for disbursement. “We appreciate the support!”
