Henry GrayIt's only a slight overstatement to say that blues piano legend Henry Gray has played with everybody who's anybody.

IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival Welcome, blues fans!

You would think that we would be used to this by now - the months and months of hard work by dedicated Mississippi Valley Blues Society volunteers, the nonstop struggle to keep things moving forward. But it's always amazing when the fest is finally here!

The Damon Fowler Group, 5 p.m.

Robert Belfour, 5 p.m.

Robert Belfour We at the IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival are proud to open the 2007 Tent Stage performances with Memphis' own Robert "Wolfman" Belfour.

Smokin' Mojo Kings, 2 p.m.

Bad Luck City, 1:30 p.m.

Doña Oxford, 2 p.m.

Dona OxfordIf you want to hear some of the best, most energetic boogie-woogie and barrel-house blues piano around, make sure you get to the Fest site early on Sunday for Doña Oxford. As Blues Revue says, her work on the ivories is "stunning."

Drink Small, 1:30 p.m.

David Horwitz, workshop 1 p.m. Saturday

David has been traveling to festivals and clubs for years in search of great blues music for his ears and visual images to capture on film. This year he shot the Legendary Blues Cruise, and served as a judge at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee.

Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist With iTunes now the third-largest music retailer in the country and the "big box" stores selling nearly two-thirds of all new CDs, things are getting weird, with more exclusive releases snuggling up with previously unlikely bedfellows. Starbucks and Universal Music have announced an upcoming album of Sonic Youth covers entitled Hits Are for Squares, with contributions by actress Chloe Sevigny, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and comedian David Cross. In even more disturbing news, Billy Corgan is forcing fans of Smashing Pumpkins to purchase three slightly different versions of the upcoming Zeitgeist CD if they want all the bonus tracks that close out the disc. With the standard version featuring 12 tracks, does the search for the special rarities head you toward a hip, independent retailer? Unfortunately not, as fans are instead aimed towards iTunes, Best Buy, and Target for "Stellar," "Death From Above," and the title track. One more reason to jump for the iTunes set on pre-sale is a bonus pack of five Pumpkins songs covered by Panic At the Disco, The Bravery, +44, Test Your Reflex, and The Academy Is. Look for the various configurations of CDs and LP vinyls to sport different color combinations on their sleeves.

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