Color correction and final sound mix are coming along well, and Troubadour Blues will be off to the pressing plant before Labor Day. DVDs should be available by mid-September, on this site, at Filmbaby.com and Amazon.com, and of course from me at screenings.

Meanwhile, I’m starting to book screenings. Most of them will be small, anywhere from living rooms to church basements, but I’ve set up a Pittsburgh area premiere Tuesday, October 25, at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont, That’s in the South Hills, and pretty easy to get to for you non-Pittsburghers. I’ll post a map and directions later.

I’m hoping that this will be a fun night with surprise appearances by musical friends from the Pittsburgh area (and maybe one or two of the artists from the film). DVDs will be available at the special premiere price of $19.95 (cash and credit cards accepted). A suggested donation of $5.00 will help pay for the theater rental and expenses connected with the event.

“Troubadour Blues” has been selected as the Opening Night film for the 2011 Buffalo International Film Festival. This will be the world premiere of the film as well as the official DVD release date.

Two-time Grammy nominee Peter Case, one of the main subjects of the film, will be on hand for the festivities, including a 6 p.m. reception and an Opening Night party after the 7:15 p.m. screening. The event will be held at The Screening Room, 4524 Bailey Ave., Amherst, NY (enter through the Arthur Murray Dance Studio).

As I prepare to head off to the giant Folk Alliance conference and love-fest in Memphis, Tennessee, a quick update on what’s been going on in the world of Troubadour Blues.

It’s customary as December rolls around for the music industry to shower awards on the singers, players, producers, albums and individual songs that are judged the “best of” the preceding year.

This being America, the only standard we know by which to judge art is the almighty dollar. So, in practical terms, award season means that we honor those who already made ridiculous amounts of money selling bazillions of albums, singles and concert tickets.

Here at Troubadour Blues, we’re starting a different tradition this year: The Troubie Awards.

I had to dig this out to send to someone, and thought I should post it. This is the last chapter of my doctoral thesis, about reggae music and globalization. Sadly, a lot of the positive energy has gone out of reggae music in the 10 years since I wrote this; what is left is assorted Marley kids living off their old man’s reputation and a lot of Caribbean accented hip-hop. Because this is part of an academic work, I left the cites in. If you want a copy of the works cited list, e-mail me.

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If there is anything I have learned in the 10 years since I began trying to document reggae (first for newspapers and a book; later for this dissertation), it is that cultural phenomena refuse to hold still long enough for a thorough examination. Many things have changed since the first interview in 1990; some participants are deceased (Mikey Wallace, Panhead, Don Taylor and Garnett Silk) and others have made major changes in direction (Carlene Davis, Lieutenant Stitchie and Judy Mowatt are all singing Christian music). The music industry itself has been transformed by mega-mergers — who could have anticipated even a few years ago that the charts in 2000 would be dominated by teenage pop stars? To conclude this lengthy study, I will turn to my research notes and recollections in an effort to give additional resonance to some of the major themes of the study.