As a writer, he has published several books and articles for various magazines and was "world music" critic for The Boston Globe for many years. Currently he is teaching blues history at UCLA and working on an alternative history of American popular music and performing whenever possible as a guitarist and singer. He has won numerous awards, including a 2002 Grammy for the liner notes to the Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Box, the 2001 Best Performing Arts Book award from the Independent Publishers association for Josh White: Society Blues, Best Arts Book at the 2002 Latino Book Awards and an award from the Southwestern Library Association for Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns, and Guerrillas, an honorable mention for the Otto Kinkeldey Award of the American Musicological Society for Escaping the Delta, and an ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for The Mayor of MacDougal Street.

Mr. Wald will be introduced at the keynote brunch by York University professor and Grammy Award winning liner note authority Rob Bowman.

Blues Summit Bios

Derek Andrews is an arts consultant, concert promoter and volunteer with a wide range of non-profit music organizations including Small World Music, Worlds of Music Toronto, Folk Alliance Canada and is founding President of the Toronto Blues Society.

Ian Angus is the host of Let the Good Times Roll, a weekly blues program on CIUT-FM in Toronto, and Chair of the Nominating Panel for the Maple Blues Awards. As the Director of the Socialist History Project (www.socialisthistory.ca), Ian has written and spoken extensively on issues related to discrimination, rebellion and social change.

Ron Beer is a singer, songwriter and author originally from Toronto and living in Whitby, Ontario since 1994. He is going into the studio in spring 2007 to record his first blues project under the name Boogie Boy Blues. Boogie Boy Blues will be Ron’s third television show. The show is loosely based on Ron’s experiences in 1974 when he hitch-hiked across Canada with his guitar on his back. Each song tells a story of the people he met in the towns he visited. Now proposed as a children’s animated series where Boogie Boy and his multi-cultural band travel across Canada teaching children fitness and social competence.

Eddy Brake (aka Eddy B) I first got hit with the Blues back in 1964. Since then, Blues music has became my love and my life. I've travelled to as many places as I could to find and hear this incredible and moving music. Blues records led me further into more research and collecting more memorabilia. Only later did I realize the term, "collectable". Over the years I've been Blues writer, a radio host, a collector, but I'm probably best known for documenting the Blues through my photographs that cover nearly 40 years. To share my Blues journey of life please visit my Blueheart Archive website at www.blueheartarchive.com

Joan Berger has worked with Festival Distribution as their Toronto and SW Ontario Sales Agent since 1999. Currently she is the National Sales Manager for Festival and Jericho Beach Music. Along with her regional sales territory, Joan coordinates efforts with the other eight field reps to ensure independent music is still found in the stores of the nation.

Elaine Bomberry was selected as Blues Booster of 2003 and is a tireless Aboriginal arts activist, promoter and producer. Of Ojibwa/Cayuga descent, Elaine is the producer of Rez Bluez, a Native blues concert series that got the attention of Year of the Blues organizers and landed in and the PBS series The Blues. Her advocacy has helped performers hit the stages of the Chicago Blues Festival and Blues Sur Seine. Rez Bluez TV airs on Bravo and in Anishinabe-Ojibwe, Mohawk and Cayuga languages on APTN.

David "Daddy Cool" Booth is a renowned archivist and collector of photographs, posters, recordings, many of which appear in box sets and as liner notes for recordings. For many years he broadcast a weekly radio show at Brampton's CFNY and will return to the airwaves this year at Whistle FM (102.7) in Stouffville where he now lives.

Brian Blain is a popular mainstay of the Toronto blues and roots community both as a player and behind the scenes. He arrived from the hills of rural Quebec in 1990 and brought his unaffected, slow-cooked, country blues sound with a “relentless groove” (Blues Scene Quarterly) and light-hearted (sometimes bilingual) lyrics that offer a wry commentary on the music scene and modern day life. His new release on NorthernBlues, Overqualified For The Blues includes four tracks with Michael Jerome Browne and guest appearances by Harry Manx, Paul Reddick and members of Downchild. www.brianblain.ca, www.myspace.com/brianblain

Laura Brehaut is Marketing Manager and Jazz Programmer for Standard Interactive/ IcebergRadio.com. Laura believes the evolving digital music business and distribution model is about access, not restrictions. She is interested in how the digital platform can assist independent artists, labels, and niche genres in reaching their audiences. Laura has a BA in Linguistics and Anthropology from the University of Victoria, a BA (Honours) in Radio and Television Arts from Ryerson University, and a passion for music and technology.

Richard Davis is a Program Officer in the Music Section since 2001. He came to the Canada Council from the presenting community with experience in programming, administration and marketing at The Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Harbourfront Centre and The Corporation of Roy Thompson Hall & Massey Hall. Richard currently oversees Non-Classical music applications to Music Touring

Dan Kershaw brings the experience of a life all wormy with guitars and records to his role as SOCAN Member Relations Relationship Manager, along with many years of more or less gainful employment in the concert business as a production coordinator at Massey Hall & Roy Thomson Hall, followed by lots of fat in the fire as music programming assistant at Harbourfront Centre. Member outreach and public speaking on behalf of SOCAN are special aspects of his job which keep him out and about at shows, seminars, and industry events. In addition, Dan sneaks out of the house to write and perform with the Juno-nominated alt-country group The Brothers Cosmoline, and was a 2002 winner of the OCFF/Galaxie Songs from the Heart songwriting competition. Dan is on the board of the Songwriters Association of Canada and is a passionate believer in the power of late 50's Gibson flat-tops.

Chris Kirby is a young St. John's blues songwriter with a sound beyond his years. His eclectic and soulful new recording "Chris Kirby on Rum & Religion" is a collection of all-original material, and has been unofficially classified as "modern pop-blues". Chris is joined by his new band, the Marquee. The Marquee includes bassist Craig Follett and drummer Mark Marshall.

Treasa Levasseur's debut album, “Not a Straight Line” has received critical acclaim since its March 2006 release. Skillfully crossing genres like borders with her unique and powerful voice as passport, Treasa's high-energy, heartfelt performances take listeners on a journey through old soul, new funk and country blues.

Colin Linden wears more hats than you'd find at a Royal wedding, and we're not just talking about the trademark big black hat he favours on and offstage. This musical renaissance man is indeed a multiple threat-as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer. He is in major demand by artists wanting him to produce, write for, and/or play on their records (he has played on 300 and produced 60 albums), yet somehow finds time to both pursue a prolific solo career and play a key role in Canadian roots-rock "supergroup," Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.

Fred Litwin is the Owner and President of NorthernBlues Music, a blues label based in Toronto that has tried hard to stretch the boundaries of the blues. To date, about half of all NorthernBlues titles have received some sort of award nomination. This year alone, NorthernBlues received nine Blues Music Award nominations in the US - including two for Album of the Year.

Harry Manx has been called an "essential link" between the music of East and West, creating musical short stories that wed the tradition of the Blues with the depth of classical Indian ragas. Add a sprinkle of gospel and some compelling grooves and the result is a "mysticssippi" sound that is deliciously addictive to listen to. A five-year tutelage in India under Rajasthani musician Vishwa Mohan Bhatt learning the mohan veena (a 20-stringed sitar/guitar designed by Bhatt) was the catalyst for Harry's now signature style. The prolific Manx has released six albums in a six-year span. Manx's latest CD, a collaboration with guitarist Kevin Breit, will be released on Stony Plain Records in the spring of 2007.

Danny Marks is the current holder of the Blues with a Feeling Award for lifetime achievement. His roots go back to the sixties as a founding member of Edward Bear and after a span as a journey man session musician throughout the seventies, Danny established a cult following as a genre bender in music and humor. A house band gig at Albert's Hall led him to host his own nation-wide TV show, Stormy Monday. Through the eighties, Danny starred in CBC radio's hit series the Hum Line. Danny recently recorded two original music albums, Guitarchaeology and True. Danny is the host of JAZZ.FM91's Saturday night blues show, bluz.fm.

Chris Murphy is a musician, bandleader and booking agent based in London, Ontario. His main gig is playing saxophone with the Jack de Keyzer Band. He also has fronted his own band since 1985 and is a member of the Maple Blues Band. Chris is nominated for a Maple Blues Award and has released 2 CD's of his own music. He played his first Blues in the School show in Detroit, in 1997, with the late Chicago Pete. This year Chris expects to perform 80 dates with his six piece Blues in the Schools show.

Holger Petersen is the host of CBC Radio One's Saturday Night Blues which is celebrating twenty years on the air. Holger began blues broadcasting at CKUA's Natch'l Blues. In addition he is the brains behind Edmonton based Stony Plain Records a roots music label renowned for its support of Canadian and international blues performers, which celebrating thirty years of success. He has been a volunteer director at a variety of music organizations including SOCAN and CIRPA.

Paul Reddick formed ground breaking blues band The Sidemen in Toronto in 1990. The Sidemen released 3 albums of original material and spent a decade touring across Canada. Paul Reddick + The Sidemen released the critically acclaimed Rattlebag in 2001 and teamed up with Colin Linden to release Villanelle in 2004. This widely acclaimed album continues the journey towards re-styling the traditional; sidestepping convention it searches further for new possibilities in blues music.

Kyle Riabko has been performing since he was 10, so he's already a road warrior of sorts. Still, an extended road trip, which led up to the recording of his full-length album, “Before I Speak” (Aware/ Columbia), was the most demanding form of musical boot camp, as he opened for the likes of John Mayer, Robert Randolph, Keb Mo, Buddy Guy and Maroon 5, playing in front of crowds who had absolutely no idea who he was. Chances are they know him now. In 2005 played Canada, Japan, Australia as well as numerous tours in the U.S. Kyle is 17, originally from Saskatoon and is currently preparing a second record.

Lily Sazz is a blues keyboard player and web designer. She has been promoting her bands on the web since the early 1990s. As web designer to primarily music-industry related clients (including the Toronto Blues Society), as well as being a musician
herself, she is familiar with a wide range of digital perspectives. Her current projects include 10-piece funk horn band “Groove Corporation”, singer-songwriter quartet “Hen Party”, the “Women’s Blues Revue”, and a yet untitled documentary film project. She is also the designated blues blogger for the Hamilton Spectator on their recently created “Jamilton” website. www.lilysazz.com

Brian Slack is an artist manager, agent and artistic director for the Mount Tremblant Blues Festival as well as Vice President of the Montreal Blues Society. He is a past recipient of the Maple Blue Award "Blues Booster". He is the proud producer ot Les Grandes Dames du Blues staged every year around International Women's Day.

Mark Bird Stafford is a bandleader, sideman, recording artist and is active in the Toronto area school system teach harmonica to the young and old. A serious student of "fat tone" harmonica, he subscribes to the teachings of the masters: Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter Jacobs, Big Walter Horton, Junior Wells and James Cotton. His "Harmonica Knights" project has featured all the top players in the GTA.

Brent Staeben has played a leading role in the creative side of Fredericton's Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival for the past 14 years. His vision for the event has seen the Festival double in size in the past 5 years and expand into newly creative and populist programming that has attracted large new audiences, totaling more than 80,000 in 2006. In 2000, he was recognized by the Maple Blues Awards as Blues Booster of the year and last year he received the Via Rail National Tourism Volunteer of the Year Award as presented by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada. A Festival volunteer, Brent is also the Director of Marketing and Communications for the crown corporation Service New Brunswick, a recognized world leader in the provision of government services.

Liz Sykes is first and foremost a blues fan and is a member of the Ottawa Blues Society since its inception. She is president of the Ottawa Blues Society (2003-present) and editor of the OBS newsletter, the OBScene (also does layout, writes articles and contributes photos). She writes and distributes a weekly email newsletter 'Ottawa Blues This Week' and maintains a website with Ottawa blues events info. In her spare time she attends and photographs blues festivals in Canada and the USA.

Suzie Vinnick is an award-winning singer, songwriter and musician. A Saskatoon native living in Toronto, Suzie is the owner of a gorgeous, powerful voice and
performs as a solo act or with her tasteful side players, as a duo and band with Rick Fines, and is also a member of the groups the Marigolds (with Gwen Swick and Caitlin Hanford of Quartette), Betty & the Bobs and the folk-pop trio, Vinnick Sheppard Harte (VSH). Her co-write on "The Honey I Want" won 1st place in the International Songwriting Contest in 2005.

Rick Zolkower was born in Detroit and grew up in the 1950's on a diet of vintage 78's, LP's and late night radio. Around 1966 Rick started sneaking into clubs like the Chessmate to listen to, sit in with, and learn from the likes of John Lee Hooker, Reverend Gary Davis, Dave Van Ronk, Jim Kweskin's jug band, Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, Doc Watson and many others on the Folk Blues touring circuit of the time. These artists and the recordings of Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Minnie, Bob Wills, Hank Williams are what forms Rick's musical style called Skillet Fried Roots Music Americana. Rick performs with his trio "Mr. Rick and The Biscuits" in Toronto and South Western Ontario. He is currently working on his 3rd CD.