December 13, 1948 – September 29, 2005

As many of you know, we lost my old compadre Sean Blackburn in September, 2005. Sean and I worked together for ten years, singing, playing and traveling. He was my brother. In October we did a big memorial concert for him here in Minneapolis at the Cedar Cultural Center. In addition to myself, it featured performances by Liz Masterson, Pop Wagner, Jay Peterson, Butch Thompson, Peter Ostroushko, Prudence Johnson, Charlie Maguire, Bob Douglas, Rod Bellville, Cal Hand, John Ashton, Lonnie Knight, Jerry Rau, Adam Granger, Willie Murphy, Mike Dowling, Pat Donahue, Kari Larson, Mary DuShane, Bob Bovee & Gail Heil, Eric Peltoniemi, Becky Riemer Thompson, Bill Hinkley & Judy Larson, Tom Lieberman, Bill Smith, Phil Heywood, Dan Newton, Karl Smelker, Andy Cohen and a few others, I think.

It was an incredible mind-blowing and healing event the likes of which I’ve never been a part of. A wonderful send-off. After expenses we raised about a thousand bucks which will hopefully go to a couple of things: a memorial plaque housed at the Cedar Cultural Center listing the local roots musicians and friends who have left us: people like Lazy Bill Lucas, Soupy Milton Schindler, Craig Ruble, Dave Ray, Steve Alarik, Dean Carr, Joel Johnson and, of course, Sean, with plenty of room to add to as needed. With any additional money we’d like to have a fund to subsidize concerts here in the Twin Cities that might not happen otherwise, in Sean’s name. People like Glenn Ohrlin who are incredible and not well known here would benefit from this. So would our entire community. If you’d care to contribute to this lofty cause you can send your donation to: The Sean Blackburn Memorial Fund 1661 Englewood Avenue St. Paul, Mn. 55104 Dave