Independent Newsmedia

Books & Blues will go out with a bang.

The series of performances by local blues legends draws to a close with a show featuring three bands at 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11 in downtown Glendale.

Tom Mein, Glenville Slim, and Geo Bowman & House Party will feature a mix of R&B standards and original material. A blues icon, Bowman “is at the center of the Phoenix blues community,” according to organizers. The show takes place at the E. Lowell Rogers Amphitheatre inside Murphy Park, at 5850 W. Glendale Ave.

Books & Blues has been presenting a series of local blues legends to not only perform live but to spread knowledge about the music genre.

The Phoenix-based Sugar Thieves, who blend soul with their brand of American roots music, kicked off the celebration earlier this month with a Glendale appearance at Heroes Regional Park Library, 6075 N. 83rd Ave. Bluesman Mike and the Blues Review Band, a five-piece blues band also calling the Valley home, continued the musical education with a performance at Glendale’s Foothills Library, 19055 N. 57th Ave. And the Lucius Parr Band, playing old school R&B mixed with blues and fronted by Lucius who moved to Phoenix in 1968, took a turn performing, this time at Glendale’s main library, 5959 W. Brown St. Lucius was inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame in 2021.

The event will close out with the finale concert featuring Tom Mein, Glenville Slim, and Geo Bowman & House Party on Dec. 11 in downtown Glendale.

These performances are funded by a City of Glendale Performing Arts Grant.