Monthly Meetings
5:30 pm on the 2nd Thursday of each month
Po' Boys, 202 E Universtiry Ave. Urbana

Join us for some food and fun. Share your ideas of events you'd like to see in our area and ways to reach out to new members locally. We usually have news about our upcoming Blues Jams and Blues In The Schools programs.

2024 Meetings
(underlined Meetings have Minutes)

August 08 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
July 11 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
June 13 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
May 09 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
April 11 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
March 14 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
February 08 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
January 11 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm

2023 Meetings
(underlined Meetings have Minutes)

December 14 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
November 9 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
October 12 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
September 14 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
August 10 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
July 13 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
June 08 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
May 11 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
April 13 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
March 9 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
Febuary 9 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
January 12 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm

2022 Meetings
(underlined Meetings have Minutes)

December 08 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
November 10 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
October 13 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
September 8 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
August 11 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
July 14 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
June 9 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
May 12 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
April 14 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
March 10 - In-Person Po' Boys - 5:30pm
February 10
January 13

2021 Meetings

December - Nick Moss/Curtis Salgado Rose Bowl Tavern show
November 2021
October 2021

Past Meetings

These are notes from meetings back in 2015 and earlier

PCBS August Meeting
6:30 pm Thursday August 13
Po' Boys, 202 East University Ave. Urbana

We talked about the PCBS/Bentley's Blues Jams, our upcoming local IBC Solo/Duo and Band Challenges and future educational BITS programs. Lots of fun, some tasty food and a beverage or two.

PCBS July Meeting
6:30 pm Thursday July 9
Po' Boys, 202 East University Ave. Urbana

We continued plans for future Blues Jams at Bentley's and took a quick look back at our Membership Drive at the Champaign Blues Brews & BBQ Fest. We picked Saturday October 17th at Memphis On Main as the date and venue for holding our local IBC Challenge this fall.

PCBS June Meeting
6:30 pm Thursday June 11
Po' Boys, 202 East University Ave. Urbana

Sandy Hannum was applauded for her tireless work as our Education Chair. She brought Thank You notes from the students at South Side Elementary School. The students thanked PCBS for our Blues In The Schools program and the BITS instructors, Gus Wood for blues history and Josh Spence on harmonica. We continued plans for the June Blues Jam at Bentley's and for our presence at the Champaign Blues Brews & BBQ Fest. We will recruit volunteers for our tent at the Blues Fest with a Doodle sign-up sheet. We began preliminary discussions on holding our local IBC Challenge this fall.

PCBS May Meeting
6:30 pm Thursday May 14
Po' Boys, 202 East University Ave. Urbana

We confirmed some changes in officers, Dennis Wismer as President, Greg Altstetter as Vice-President, Zack Widup as Treasurer and Lorri Coey as Secretary. Elaine Schneider is the Newsletter Editor. Plans were made for promotion of the Ori Naftaly show at Memphis on Main. We also conitnued planning for the innaugural Bentley's Blues Jam.

PCBS April Meeting
6:30 pm Thursday April 9
Po' Boys, 202 East University Ave. Urbana

Sandy Hannum our Education Chair reported on the excellent Blues In The Schools program PCBS put on at South Side Elementary School. Our instructors, Gus Wood for blues history and Josh Spence on harmonica were awesome interacting with all the kids. We will once again be participating in the Champaign Blues Brews & BBQ Fest in June and could use some help with items for a raffle basket. We finalized plans for the Johnny Rawls show, and began planning for the Ori Naftaly Band show as well as Bentley's Blues Jam.

PCBS March Meeting
6:30 pm Thursday March 12
Po' Boys, 202 East University Ave. Urbana

Sandy Hannum, our Education Chair turned in a written report indicating that our Blues In The Schools program at South Side Elementary School in Champaign has been enthusiastically received by the students in grades 3, 4, and 5. Our Entertainment Chair reported that everything is looking great for the Johnny Rawls show on Friday April 24th at The Iron Post. We are thrilled to welcome sveral new volunteers, Elaine Schneider will become the Editor of the Inlusive newsletter and Zack Widup will take over the role of Treasurer in a few months.

PCBS Organizational Meeting
6:30 pm Thursday February 12
Po' Boys, 202 East University Ave. Urbana

We started planning for a reorganization of the PCBS officers at our February meeting. These plans include holding officer elections in a couple months. We're looking for a few blues lovers to volunteer to become more involved with Prairie Crossroads Blues Society. Sandy Hannum gave a report on an upcoming Blues In The Schools program at Southside School in March. PCBS approved hosting Blues Music Award winner Johnny Rawls on Friday April 24 at The Iron Post.

PCBS Holiday Party/Monthly Meeting
6:00 PM Thursday December 18
The Clark Bar, 207 W. Clark St., Champaign

We had so much fun with our Holiday Party last year, we did it again! Very listtle business was conducted we concentrated on having fun. Keith & Kathy Harden provided the majority of the musical entertainment and played blues, pop classics and Christmas standards. Monica Morris, one half of our Solo/Duo IBC representatives came by and amazed the crowd with her powerful vocals. We enjoyed some great Clark Bar food and a beverage or two. We had a raffle and gave away several CD's to help spread the Holiday cheer.

November Meeting
6:30 pm Thursday, November 13
Po' Boys, 202 E. University, Urbana

We reviewed our IBC Challenge and our participation in the CU Folk & Roots Festival. We got email updates from Education, Finance and Membership chairs. We discussed some possible future Entertainment events.

Tony O. won the free CD giveaway.

October Meeting
6:30 pm Thursday, October 9
Po' Boys
202 E. University Ave. Urbana

We wrapped up planning on our IBC Solo/Duo and Best Self-Produced CD Challenges and discussed volunteers for various tasks such as timekeepers, preparation of judges handbooks and data entry.

We got updates from committee chairs, Education, Entertainment and Finance.

September Meeting
6:30 pm Thursday, September 11
Po' Boys
202 E. University Ave. Urbana

We discussed our IBC Challenges; Band, Solo/Duo and CD. We talked about food vendors, and volunteers for various IBC tasks.

Jim gave an update on finances, Sandy gave an update on an upcoming Education meeting with Champaign elementary school music teachers and Phil gave an update on our Membership numbers.

Sandy won the CD giveaway open to members who attend the meeting.

August Meeting
6:00 pm Wednesday, Aug. 13
The Clark Bar
207 W. Clark St. Champaign

Our local IBC Band Challenge will be Saturday October 18 at Memphis On Main, we will open entries on Aug. 15. We decided to have a Solo/Duo IBC Challenge this year and elected to hold it Saturday Nov. 1 at Bentley's Pub in Champaign. We're also holding our Best Self-Produced CD competition this year as well.

We will join with WEFT 90.1 FM to bring Tweed Funk to Memphis on Main on Saturday Sept. 13. We will use our corporate rate at Eastland Suites and pay for three double rooms, we will receive a percentage of the door the night of the event. WEFT will pay the band's appearance fee.

Jim delivered the Education Committee report for Sandy, it included news that we'd applied for an Orange Krush Grant and discussions we are having regarding possible Blues In The Schools projects.

Jim gave the Treasurer's report, our account balance is similar to last month.

Tony & Maureen Juodis won the New/Renewal Member CD for July and donated it back to our Society. Tony Odendahl won the free CD from among the members that attended our monthly meeting.

July Meeting
5:30 pm Saturday, July 12
The Iron Post
120 S. Race St. Urbana

We began discussing our IBC Challenge. We discussed our Blues In The Schools program and our application to the Orange Krush Foundation.

Sandy won the CD given to a pre-meeting drawn member and Jim won the free CD from among the members that attended our monthly meetings.

June Meeting
6:00 pm Thursday, June 12
The Clark Bar
207 W. Clark St. Champaign

We finalized plans for the upcoming Champaign Blues Brews & BBQ Fest, Friday & Saturday June 27 & 28. We discussed plans for information handouts and our Blues Basket Raffle for new and renewing members.

This was a short business meeting and then we enjoyed the music of Birds on the Wire who played at 6:30.

Phil won the free CD from among the members that attended our monthly meetings.

May Meeting
7:00 pm Thursday, May 8
Triptych
1703 Woodfield Dr. Savoy

We talked about our Blues In The Schools program at the Urbana Free Library on Saturday May 31. We finalized plans for our upcoming show with Alligator recording artist Jarekus Singleton. PCBS was thrilled to present Jarekus to the C-U blues community 6:00 pm on Sunday May 18th.

We discussed plans for some other exciting events throughout the summer and fall. Jim won the drawing for a free CD from among the members that attend our monthly meetings.

April Meeting
6:30pm Thursday April 10
Po' Boys
202 E. University, Urbana

Sandy updated us on our Blues In The Schools program at the Don Moyer's Boys & Girls Club, and the BITS workshop at the Urbana Library on May 31. We also discussed our involvement with the Kilborn Alley Blues Band 14th Birthday Party show at The Iron Post Saturday April 26th featuring guest vocalist Jackie Scott. We also talked about our upcoming show with Alligator recording artist Jarekus Singleton on Sunday May 18th.

Welcome to Mel Hoaks a recent new member who contributed some great ideas. Greg and Jim won the free CD giveaways from among the members that attend our monthly meetings.

March Meeting Notes
Thursday, March 13
at Po' Boys

We finalized plans for the Ori Naftaly show, Saturday March 22 at Memphis on Main. Sandy Hannum updated us on plans for our spring Blues In The Schools program at Don Moyer's Boys & Girls Club

We had some delicious food and tasty beverages and enthusiastic discussions. Phil and Greg won the CD giveaways to members that attend our monthly meetings.

February 2014 Meeting Notes
at Black Rock Pizza

An excellent meeting, and welcomed some new and returning members! We talked about our upcoming show with the great young band, Ori Naftaly at Memphis on Main on Saturday March 22. We wrapped up the results of our IBC Fundraiser with Back Pack Jones and Benny Jenkins bloodline. We discussed future plans for our BITS program, other possible events, and a design for a new T-Shirt . Lorri Coey and Greg Altstetter won our CD giveaways.

January 2014 Meeting Notes

We finalized plans for our IBC Fundraiser at Memphis on Main featuring Back Pack Jones and Benny Jenkins bloodline. We discussed future plans for our BITS program. Tony Ohdendahl and Greg Altstetter won our CD giveaways.

Holiday Party/December Monthly Meeting Notes

6:00pm Wednesday Dec. 18
The Clark Bar
207 W. Clark St., Champaign

Wow what a lot of fun! It was great to see so many friends and members. Thanks to Keith & Kathy Harden for the entire night of entertainment, blues classics, Christmas songs and tunes from Keith's brand new "sky songs" CD. Thanks to all the guest artists who sat in during the night. Thanks to Back Pack Jones and Benny Jenkins bloodline for their CD donations. We handed out a bunch of CD's and download cards to raffle winners.

November Meeting Notes

We began planning our January Fundraiser for our IBC representative, Back Pack Jones with openning act Benny Jenkins Bloodline. We took a look at our recently concluded Blues In The Schools program at Thomas Paine School in Urbana, and discussed a fundraising effort for our Education programs. We also discussed plans to bring some new blues bands into town in the next year. Mike Ball and Phil Hult won the CD giveaways and selected new CD's from Brandon Santini and Shaun Murphy.

October Meeting Notes

We took a look back at our local IBC challenge won by Back Pack Jones at Memphis on Main on Oct. 5, and looked for ways to improve it for next year. Back Pack Jones goes to Memphis to represent PCBS in the Blues Foundation's IBC in January, and we're planning a fundraiser for the band before they go. We also discussed the recent shows at Bentley's, featuring RJ Mischo, Kilborn Alley and Bill "Howl-N-Madd" Perry and his daughter Shy Perry. Lorri Coey won the CD giveaway. She went home with a copy of "Can't Take The Blues" by Benny Jenkins Bloodline which is the winner of our Best Self-Produced CD Competition and has been sent to the Blues Foundation in Memphis to compete in the international BSPCD competition.

September Meeting Notes

We finalized plans for our upcoming Blues In The Schools fundraiser at Louie's Dixie Kitchen & BBQ for our fall program at Thomas Paine School. We also discussed plans for our local IBC challenge at Memphis on Main in October. Lorri Coey won the CD giveaway.

August Meeting Notes

Our first meeting at Old Chicago in Champaign. Congratulations to both Jim Hannum who was elected Treasurer and Phil Hult who was elected as Membership Chair. We talked about our upcoming fundraiser at Louie's Dixie Kitchen & BBQ for our fall Blues In The Schools program at Thomas Paine School. We also discussed our upcoming local IBC challenge and a few other events in the planning stages. Jim Hannum won the CD giveaway.

July Meeting Notes

Our third consecutive meeting at Louie's Dixie Kitchen & BBQ. We wrapped up our our experiences at the Blues & BBQ Fest. We discussed our upcoming fundraiser for our fall Blues In The Schools program. Initial planning on other future events including our 3rd Annual local IBC challenge. Lorri Coey won the CD giveaway.

June Meeting Notes

Once again we met at Louie's Dixie Kitchen. We discussed plans for the Champaign Blues, Brews & BBQ Fest, verifying we'll have pop up tents, tables and volunteers. We started selling raffle tickets of the Rossville Sound Werx 1 x 12 Professional Series Speaker Cabinet. The raffle will culminate on Saturday June 29 at Blues & BBQ Fest. Mike Ball, Phil Hult and Tom Cullop won the CD giveaways.

May Meeting Notes

We had a fun meeting at Louie's Dixie Kitchen discussing our presence at the Blues & BBQ Fest. We went over the performance schedule on our Blues In The Schools stage. We also firmed up details of our raffle of a Rossville Sound Werx 1 x 12 Professional Series Speaker Cabinet. The raffle will culminate on Saturday June 29 at Blues & BBQ Fest. Lorri Coey, Jim Hannum and Phil Hult won the CD giveaways.

April Meeting Notes

We had a productive meeting at Destihl on Wednesday April 17. Jeff Grant and Mike Galloway of Fluid Events presented us with some options for our role at the upcoming Champaign Blues, Brews & BBQ Fest in June. We're excited to take an expanded role at the Fest and further our Educational and Entertainment mission. Phil Hult and Sherry Cibelli won the CD givaways.

March Meeting Notes

The No Meeting Meeting
We enjoyed Keith & Kathy Harden as they played at The Clark Bar on Wednesday March 20. It was a great way to combine a little bit of a meeting with a fun night of socializing. The room was packed full of friends and fans enjoying the outstanding entertainment. Most of the business conducted revolved around the discussion of our role at the upcoming Champaign Blues, Brews & BBQ Fest in June. Phil Hult, Sandy Hannum and Sherry Cibelli won the CD givaways.

February Meeting Notes

We had a great meeting in February when we met at Crane Alley in Urbana. Lots of excitement about our education efforts. We received updates on both our BITS after school program at Garden Hills School, and our upcoming youth harmonica workshop at the Urbana Free Library on Saturday March 30th. Our library workshops feature a short lesson on blues history and harmonica instruction. Phil Hult and Jim Hannum won the CD giveaways.

January Meeting Notes

We had a productive meeting in January when we met at Jupiter's at the Crossing in Champaign. A major focus of the meeting was on our upcoming educational programs. Among our various efforts are a BITS after school program at Garden Hills School. We'll also have an educational workshop for grade school kids at the Champaign Public Library on Saturday February 9th. It will feature a short lesson on blues history and harmonica instruction. Sherry Cibelli won the CD giveaway.

December Meeting Notes

Our December meeting took place Saturday the 8th at The Iron Post in Urbana. We had fun with all the members and fans who showed up to see The Painkillers entertain the crowd. As at most of our meetings we gave away a few CD's in a drawing. We've had a great year and look forward to even more success in 2013.

November Meeting Notes

Our November meeting took place on Thursday the 8th at Dublin O'Neil's in Champaign. We looked back on our recent, highly succesful, 2nd Annual IBC. Updates from Committee chairs showed increases in members, bands and corporate sponsors. Our Education Committe also reported we'd received a grant from the Orange Krush Foundation for a series of workshops this winter at local libraries, and that we will be involved in an After-School Program at Garden Hills School in Champaign. The Entertainment Committee gave updates on three upcoming shows. It was an excellent meeting with lot's of good news and good food. Phil won the CD giveaway and selected an Anders Osborne CD.

October Meeting Notes

Committee chairs gave updates on Membership, Finanace and Education. Most of the meeting focused on planning for our upcoming 2nd Annual IBC Challenge which takes place Saturday October 20th at Memphis on Main. Rich Cibelli won the monthly CD giveaway and gave it to Phil Hult who walked away with a copy of the recent Little Ed & The Blues Imperials CD.

September Meeting Notes

We talked about progress recruiting bands for our 2nd Annual IBC, October 20 at Memphis on Main. Posters were available for distribution around town, noting that the deadline for bands to sign up, September 25, is rapidly approaching. We discussed our involvement with CU Folk & Roots Fest. We also heard about plans for some upcoming PCBS Friday night blues shows and plans for continuing our successful Blues In The Schools program. Phil Hult won the monthly CD giveaway and walked away with a copy of the new Michael "Iron Man" Burks CD - "Show of Strength".

August Meeting Notes

We made plans for getting the word out to bands about our IBC challenge in October. We discussed our involvement with the C-U Folk & Roots Festival and the upcoming Donna Herula workshop and show. We also are investigating restarting a once a month Friday night blues show for November, December and January. And we're thinking about ways to reward our great volunteers.

July Meeting Notes

The new officers were introduced. We discussed our goals and directions as we begin our 3rd year in existence. Committee Chairs gave reports about their current status. The Entertainment Committee made a presentation on PCBS holding an IBC challenge to select a band to represent us in the Blues Foundation's 2013 IBC in Memphis. The vote was unanimous in favor of holding our local challenge on Saturday, Oct. 20 at Memphis on Main in Champaign.

June Meeting Notes

Wow what an exciting meeting, there's lot's going on at Prairie Crossroads Blues Society. Stay tuned for all the details! PCBS is hosting a an educational stage inside the Orpheum Children's Museum on Friday evening from 5:00 to 8:00pm, and Saturday from noon to 8:00 June 29th and 30th, as part of the Champaign Blues Brews & BBQ's Fest. Our focus will be a series of seminars and workshops on instruments and their creation, blues history, blues dancing and songwriting.

May Meeting Notes

Our meeting included a rundown of our upcoming participation at the Champaign Blues, Brews & BBQ's Fest on Friday and Saturday June 29th and 30th. Prairie Crossroads Blues Society will be hosting education events at the Orpheum Children's Museum on Friday evening from 5:00 to 8:00pm, and Saturday from noon to 8:00. Our focus will be a series of seminars and workshops on instruments and their creation, blues history, blues dancing and songwriting. T-Shirt #2 was chosen as the winning design in our T-Shirt redesign contest. Our Entertainment Committee announced the suspension of our First Friday series of shows at least through the summer, and an increased focus on preparing for our IBC competition.

April Meeting Notes

Another informative meeting as we've got a lot of great things going on these days! Our Membership Chair reported that we continue to grow, adding two new bands and having additional families and individuals signing up. Our Education Committee brought us up to date on the 6 week after school Blues In The Schools (BITS) program currently underway at Wiley School, which features blues history lessons and basic harmonica instruction. There was also discussion on our increased involvement and educational efforts associated with the Champaign Blues, Brews & BBQ's Fest coming up on June 29th and 30th. The Entertainment Committee gave an update on our First Friday events, and also discussed plans for additional shows and events in the coming weeks and months.

March Meeting Notes

What a great meeting! Our Education Committee announced that Prairie Crossroads Blues Society had received an Urbana Arts Council Grant to assist us with our Blues In The Schools (BITS) program. This will kick off with a concert by one of our member bands, The Painkillers, and includes a 6 week after school program at Wiley School, which will feature instruction on blues history and basic harmonica. The Entertainment Committee announced the lineups of our next two First Friday events. We also learned about many of the great shows and festivals in the upcoming weeks and months.

February 2012 Meeting Notes

We had a productive meeting, with wrap ups from our President and Membership Chair. Our Education Committee announced an assembly at Wiley School on March 30th as part of our Blues In The Schools (BITS) program. This will feature a performance by The Painkillers, one of our member bands, and a short program on Blues history. The Entertainment Committee announced the lineups of our next two First Friday events.

January 2012 Meeting Notes

We had a productive meeting, with wrap ups from our President and Membership Chair. Our Education Committee gave us more details of their proposal for our upcoming Blues In The Schools (BITS) program. We are looking at both a school assembly with a performance by guest artists and an after school program that will include instruction on blues history, harmonica and music composition. The Entertainment Committee gave a wrap up of our recent First Friday events and several upcoming events and fundraisers.

December 2011 Meeting Notes

We had a Holiday Party Dinner Meeting at The Esquire in Champaign. We focused on having a bite to eat and a good time. No official business was conducted but we did discuss a few current First Friday events. We talked about our recent show that featured BMA winner Matt Hill on WEFT 90.1 FM and at Memphis on Main, Dec. 2nd. We also looked ahead to our upcoming event that will have our local IBC challenge winning band Hurricane Ruth playing on WEFT and at Memphis on Main on January 6.

November 2011 Meeting Notes

Our President, Rich Cibelli announced that due to increasing scheduling conflicts Josh Spence has resigned as an At-Large member of the PCBS Board of Directors. We are accepting nominations for a replacement. The Treasurer and Membership Chair gave reports on our current status. A member of the Education Committee updated us on their exciting proposal for an after school program. We also had a report from the Entertainment Committee about our successful local IBC challenge, and Hurricane Ruth's progress registering for the international competition in Memphis. We also had updates on our two upcoming events, the Kilborn Alley CD Release Party at The Iron Post, November 29 and BMA winner Matt Hill on WEFT and at Memphis on Main, Dec. 2nd.

October 2011 Meeting Notes

We met at Memphis on Main to preview the venue for the IBC Challenge scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. We had reports from the Entertainment committee about logistics of the event, times, and volunteers. We also had a report from the Education committee with a draft of a proposal for an after school pilot program.

September 2011 Meeting Notes

We had reports from the Treasurer and the membership, marketing and entertainment committees.
We discussed the upcoming IBC challenge event to be held at Memphis on Main on October 22. We're completing the band sign-ups and will have a schedule of participating bands soon. We discussed details including judges, food, advertising and logistics.
The Entertainment committee also announced a partnership with WEFT and Memphis on Main to bring a performer into town monthly for a First Friday event to start in December.
We also discussed the upcoming C-U Folk & Roots festival and our involvement.

August 2011 Meeting Notes

Our President welcomed members, the Membership Chair gave a report of new members and renewals, and the Treasurer gave an accounting of our current financial affairs. The Entertainment Committee gave a report on the recruitment of bands for our IBC Challenge on October 22 at Memphis on Main. It was noted that Skins-n-Tins Drum Shop was donating use of a drum kit to the event, and the members voted Skins-n-Tins a Corporate Sponsorship.
We discussed plans for a Membership recruitment table at the B.B. King show at the Virginia Theater August 23, and plans for our involvement with the C-U Folk and Roots Festival.

July 2011 Meeting Notes

The Entertainment Committee presented a proposal for hosting an International Blues Challenge event (judged band competition) Oct. 22, 2001 at Memphis on Main. The winning band will represent PCBS at the international competition in Memphis, TN, Jan. 31-Feb. 4, 2012. The proposal was unanimously approved.
Upcoming events were discussed including shows at Memphis on Main, the B.B. King show at the Virginia Theater and C-U Folk and Roots Festival.

June 2011 Meeting Notes

We discussed the changes to the web site that allow members to renew online via PayPal. We welcomed a new corporate member, Fluid Events. Planning for our tent at the Urbana Blues, Brews and BBQ's Festival was the main focus of tonight's meeting. We will have raffle items, CDs from local bands, shirts, and hats for sale along with a thank you gift for new members. We discussed a fundraiser set for July 23rd at Memphis on Main. Soul Creek and Sugar Prophets will play and there will be a pair of B.B. King tickets raffled off.

May 2011 Meeting Notes

We welcomed several new members at the meeting. As we approach our one year anniversary we discussed several methods to reach out to our members to renew their memberships. We talked about several ways to participate in the upcoming B.B. King show at the Virginia Theatre, Aug. 23 including ticket raffles. Attention then turned to planning and volunteer recruitment for a couple upccoming events, the Memphis on Main Blues Show June 12th featuring Eli Cook, the Terry Quiett Band and Kilborn Alley, and the Urbana Blues Brews and BBQ's Festival June 24th and 25th.

April 2011 Meeting Notes

The Membership Chair informed us of several new members including a new band, Alex Jenkins and the Bombers, she also let us know about several new corporate donations we've received. We had open discussion about guidelines for new corporates sponsors and the possible formation of a Corporate Committee. The President said we were invited by the Decatur Blues Society to participate in an upcoming event at Longcreek Vineyards.

March 2011 Meeting Notes

We ammended our bylaws to allow us to nominate and vote for three additional at-large members on the Board of Directors. Sandy Hannum, Tony Odendahl and Josh Spence were all voted onto the Board of Directors as at-large members. David Adcock gave details about a grant the Education Committee is working on. The Entertainment Committee's proposal to host an IBC Qualifier in June was voted down by the PCBS full membership.

February 2011 Meeting Notes

We congratulated The Sugar Prophets for their great showing of making the finals at the 2011 IBC in Memphis. We talked about our upcoming events, Chainsaw Dupont at Memphis on Main Feb. 25, Blues at the Crossroads with Honeyboy Edwards and Hubert Sumlin at Krannert on March 8, and the Kilborn Alley show with Eric McSpadden at Memphis on Main March 20th. At next month's meeting we will vote to modify our bylaws allowing us to nominate and vote for 3 additional at-large members on the Board of Directors.

January 2011 Meeting Notes

Due to the weather and other factors, we did not have a quorum of the Board of Directors and thus were unable to vote on any new items. We still had a productive meeting with constructive discussions on several issues. We talked about the upcoming Sugar Prophets CD Release Party at Memphis on Main Jan. 30th. We also had informative discussions on our Blues In The Schools program and also some upcoming grant proposals.

December 2010 Meeting Notes

The President gave a wrap up of our very successfull first 6 months. He also announced the great news that the Blues Foundation will recognize us as an affiliate as soon as they receive our completed form and check. We voted to order another batch of T-Shirts. A budget was authorized for the Entertainment Committee to start looking into putting on shows and bringing artists to the area.

November 2010 Meeting Notes

The Board of Directors and Committee Chairs gave quick wrap ups, Memphis on Main was announced as our first Corporate Sponsor. Our main focus was planning the upcoming "Kick Out The Blues Fall Festival" Nov. 21 at Memphis On Main featuring our three supporting bands, Kilborn Alley, The Sugar Prophets and The Painkillers.

October 2010 Meeting Notes

The President gave a quick state of the society, and our efforts to acheive tax-exempt status. It was announced that we will have a presence at the Blues @ the Crossroads event at Krannert in March of 2011. Committee Chairs gave their wrap ups, we again increased memberships and The Painkillers became the third band to join PCBS, we appreciate the support. A decision was made to order PCBS T-Shirts. We also had fun socializing after the meeting.

September 2010 Meeting Notes

The meeting started with a great wrap up of our current status, several new members had joined and our current financial account. Committee Chairs gave their wrap ups and we had plenty of good input on both Education and Entertainment ideas. The Sugar Prophets became the second band to join Prairie Crossroads Blues Society, we appreciate their support. We also had fun socializing after the meeting.

August 2010 Meeting Notes

We had another productive meeting, with reports from all the Committee Chairs either in person or by email. We had a brief discussion on amending our corporate purpose in our bylaws. There was also discussion about changing our meetings from the 3rd Tuesday of the month to the 3rd Wednesday. The most important news is that we continue to add new members and continue to reach out to additional artists, venues and blues fans.

July 2010 Meeting Notes

We had two special guests, Steven Bentz of 40 North | 88 West, and Andrew Duncanson of The Kilborn Alley Blues Band. Reports were given by heads of the Membership and Finance Committees, and by the Newsletter group. There were a few changes in Committee Chairs, as David Adcock decided to head the Education Committee, and Bob Paleczny now heads the Entertainment Committee.

June 2010 Meeting Notes

The second meeting was held on June 22 at the Champaign Library. We now have the following committee chairs: Membership, Sherry Cibelli; Marketing, Scott Harper; Entertainment, Dave Adcock; Newsletter Co-chairs, Dennis Wismer and Sandy Hannum..