Hey Blues fans, I have a lot of exciting updates to share in this newsletter! The TCBBS has seen significant growth this year, with an increase in both personal and venue memberships. We are pleased to welcome Bayside Ice House, Bay Area Brewing Company, Commercial Street Ice House, The Patio, and The Sandbox to our community, with several more venues set to join soon. Additionally, we’ve expanded our leadership team by adding Bobby Stoner as Director of Education and Media and Solomon Lopez as Executive Director. First on the agenda: Please join us this Saturday, June 27th, for the 4th Annual Jak Payne Waterfront Blues Festival. This free event will be held at Dorado’s at Conn Brown Harbor, with gates opening at 11 a.m. The music starts at 12 p.m. with the following lineup: - Bayside Electric - John Elijah - Reno Perez - Goldie Pipes - Spit Cup and the Jukes - Tyrone Vaughan (taking the stage at 7 p.m.) - Stray Dog and the Wolves - John Cortez Band Throughout the event, we will host live auctions for guitars, sell souvenir posters, and offer special membership deals. All proceeds benefit the Jak Payne Scholarship Fund, which supports students enrolled in college-level music courses. Scholarship awards are distributed annually by Celeste Trevino, our Director of the Jak Payne Scholarship Fund. Second on the Agenda: As most of you know, we have a blues jam every third Sunday at the Rialto Theater in Aransas Pass. In July, that falls on July 19th, at 4pm. That Sunday is also the birthday of one of our founding members, Mario “Hambone” Lopez. Our monthly jam at the Rialto is called “The Hambone Blues Jam” in honor of Mario. We (the board) have decided to celebrate his birthday this year at the jam and hold our annual board elections that day. We invite all active members to vote. If your membership has expired, you can become active again in just a matter of minutes on our website. We also invite all current, expired and non-members of the TCBBS to the jam/party to celebrate “Hambone”, who passed away last year. We will have a portal where you can vote online on our website soon. Our Vice President, John Cortez is stepping down over schedule conflicts, and we hate to se him go. A really nice guy and an amazingly talented musician. His position on the board will be available to qualified candidates during the election process on July 19th, 2026. Anyone wishing to run for Vice President will need to be a member for 1 year prior to applying, and available to participate in 60% of our functions (in person) as well as have no negative behavior history, on or off social media. The position is for the Vice President of the 501c3 non-profit corporation, “The Texas Coastal Bend Blues Society” Next: We had plans to start a blues camp this year but decided to postpone it until next summer when we can be better prepared for the 3 day workshop. My kids went to Blues Camp and they learned a lot, bonded with other players and met and got to jam with some great touring blues artists. We are looking forward to having our own next year. Also: We will continue with our mobile stage / parade float construction this fall and have it ready for the parade season in the spring, and we will have mobile live blues to promote the blues throughout the Coastal Bend. Please follow our Facebook Page and stop by and visit our website, which has recently been updated. Hope to see you soon! Frank Butler President Texas Coastal Bend Blues Society, Inc tcbbs.org

JUNE 2026