On Sunday, April 14, 2019, a check was presented by the Community Advocacy Coalition to the Oxnard Music Advocacy Group (OMAG) for $1,200. The check was the result of a partnership between Lanny and Michael Kaufer and their music event, Bowlful of Blues, and one of the event’s major nonprofit sponsors, the Community Advocacy Coalition. The money was donated from ticket proceeds from last September’s Bowlful of Blues held at Libbey Park in downtown Ojai.
OMAG is dedicated to bringing quality music education to every child in the Oxnard School District. OMAG is made up of a diverse group of community members who share their time and resources in the belief that music enriches and enhances one’s quality of life and can promote many positive qualities in the lives of young people.
The 2018 Bowlful of Blues on Saturday, September 22, marked the 25th anniversary of the festival. Bowlful of Blues began in 1983 as a benefit concert for the Ojai Art Center. It was co-founded by the late Clarence “Cary” Sterling, musician and Art Center director, and fellow musician, Michael Kaufer, music branch chair on the Art Center board of directors at the time.
The two friends volunteered to produce an event to help the struggling arts facility. Both blues lovers, they decided it should be an outdoor blues concert, with the neighboring Libbey Bowl as the desired location. It has now become an annual event whose purpose is to bring blues music to surrounding communities and to provide funding support for music groups who are active in supporting music development, particularly among young people.
For more information, contact Bowlful of Blues at https://bowlfulofblues.org and OMAG at www.oxnardmusic.org. Also, contacts for CAC are: http://www.the-cac.org and 99One FM, KJBU-LPFM, rhythmofthecoast.com station at https://99threefm.com.
