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LL: What is coming up you are looking forward to?

AS: We are currently entering our second week of lockdown here and only allowed to leave our property for very
short walks, to do essential shopping (only one of us is allowed to do this) and medical reasons and that is about it.
To leave we have to carry a form signed, dated and timed and we can be fined if we do not have a form with us. This
means all travel is banned so our trip just after Easter is cancelled.

n April my wife and I, were planning to drive to Zaanstad near Amsterdam for the 2020 European Challenge, an
event which is held all round Europe and which I have attended for the last 7 years taking me to Riga, Hell
(Norway), Horsens (Denmark), Toulouse, The Azores, Brussels and Torrita di Sienna, a great way to travel round
Europe, see great blues acts and meet, face to face, some of the wonderful musicians who have become digital
friends. This has now been postponed sine die!

As I mentioned earlier, the live 2020 FORM UKBlues Awards presentation event in London has been cancelled so
my planned UK trip in May has also been cancelled.

Assuming some form of normality has returned, at the beginning of August, it will be 6 intense days, well evenings
and nights really, with the Fresque. This will mean six very late (for me!) nights as I am rarely home from this event
before 2 a.m.! This is always one of the highlights of my year!

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Between 19 and 22 August there is the 15 edition of the Le Buis Blues Festival which means that for four days I
live and breathe blues and friendship and speak a lot of French! This year I am particularly looking forward to seeing
the wonderful Kaz Hawkins with her Band of Men again but, as ever, Laurent has put together a great international
line-up which will be announced soon. Tune in to Digital Blues to hear more!
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Then on 19 September, it will be back to the UK again for the 2020 UKBlues Challenge to choose who will be
representing the UK in Memphis and Chorzów in southern Poland for the 2021 International and European
Challenges. As we talk, I am putting we have a selection process in place which will end up with five acts who will
play at a venue which will be announced shortly.

So, plenty to look forward to and I have no doubt there will be other things that come up which will keep me more
than occupied!

~ Lawrence Lebo

Lawrence Lebo is an award winning, critically acclaimed Blues recording artists living in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
She can be found on the web at www.lawrencelebo.com

WWW.BLUESANDROOTSRADIO.COM