Windsor Hotel happy to be singin’ blues again

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This article was published 20/04/2010 (6018 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE Windsor Hotel appears to want to recapture its glory days as a blues music venue with performances this weekend by Winnipeg bluesman Big Dave McLean and blues band Rumblefish.

McLean is booked to perform at the downtown watering hole Thursday and Friday nights, according to a news release from the Blues Society of Manitoba. Rumblefish will play Saturday night and will be present for a jam session on April 27.

“It’s going to be a celebration this weekend, that’s for sure,” said Winnipeg blues singer and community activist Kathy Kennedy.

The storied hotel on Garry Street was bought in March by Winnipeg hotelier Wayne Towns.

McLean, once a regular performer there, has not played the room in several years.

“They’ve got a new sound system, I hear,” said Kennedy, who is booked to sing in the room May 7 and 8. “They’ve also got a sound man, which is something they haven’t had in eons.”

In January, Kennedy organized a rally in support of the hotel after she heard it was being demolished. Her information turned out to be incorrect, but not before 3,070 people signed a petition to save the 107-year-old facility.

Kennedy has also been trying to get the Windsor located on the city’s historic properties register but so far has had no success.