Bessemer, Alabama International blues award winner Grady Champion will be one of the headliners for the 3rd Annual Bob Sykes BBQ and Blues Festival which will be held on Saturday, June 2nd at DeBardeleben Park in downtown historic Bessemer. In 2011 and 2012 Grady was awarded the Soul Blues Album of the year and “Make that Monkey Jump” was number 1 for over 6 weeks on Sirius XM Radio’s BB King’s Bluesville and “Dreamin” was the Top Album Charts in August 2011. Grady will take the stage at 6:00pm.

Mikey Jr burst into the blues scene less than a dozen years ago and since that time has released an impressive four CDs and praises from both blues fans and industry insiders. Mikey Jr plays all across the United States and each member of the band compliments the other with their talents. Mikey will perform at 7:30pm and at the end of the night all you can say is

WOW!
“The blues musicians scheduled are all family friendly so everyone can come out and enjoy the event,” said Lenny Madden and Roger Stephenson of the Magic City Blues Society and the music organizers. Also performing on the main stage will be Earl “Guitar” Williams, Robert Harris, and B.J. Miller all from Alabama. Th ey are no strangers to blues lovers.  The opening act for the festival will soon be announced.
Elaine Lyda, the festival organizer, said “the festival will include a Children’s Corner that will feature inlfatable games, face painting, and an assortment of i eld day games. The event is
sponsored and supported by numerous blues supporters. We couldn’t do the event without the wonderful sponsors. They will be demoing and giving away promotional items during the festival.”

“We want to make it bigger and better every year,” Van Sykes the owner of Bob Sykes Bar B Q and the festival organizer said. “We hope everyone comes out and celebrates the great love
of bbq and blues from 1-9pm.” Gates open at noon and the tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the gate. Kids 12 and under are free. Tickets can either be purchased at Bobsykesblues.
com or at Bob Sykes Bbq Restaurant. Bob Sykes Bar B Q, snacks, beer and wine will be for sale at the festival. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Hands On Birmingham and the
Bessemer Education Enhancement Foundation.

What is a colony?

Gene Walker

By biological deinition a colony is several individual
organisms of the same species living closely together, usually
for the mutual beneit of the group. Honeybees and ants are two
social insects that live in colonies.
For a colony of insects to be successful there must be communication. Bees and ants
both communicate by odors, movement and sharing of food. Ants leave a scent trail
as the foragers locate food sources for the colony. Honeybees dance to communicate
the direction and distance of the food source. The foraging insects bring back a taste
of the food source they have located to communicate the value of their ind.
The size of insect colonies varies from the type of insects to the time of year.
Honeybees and ants keep a suicient number in the colony throughout the winter
to keep the queen fed and the remaining colony members warm until spring. Food
has to be stored by the colonies and kept protected from predators. he queen
honeybee does not lay any eggs during the height of the winter season. Other
stinging insects such as the yellow jacket completely die of in the winter except
for the mated queen who hibernates through the winter and restarts the colony
in early March. Some insect control measures that are being studied in California
suggest that by trapping yellow jackets during early spring many queens are killed
thus stopping a new colony of yellow jackets from forming. If you have ever had an
experience with an underground yellow jacket nest you may appreciate the value
this trapping method. For more information about trapping yellow jackets visit

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7450.html

the honeybee colony only has 3 types of bees, the queen bee, worker bee
(females), and drone bees (male). Each bee performs duties within the colony that
beneit the entire colony. he queen bees’ only job is to lay eggs, which she does
very well by laying as many as 1500 eggs per day. The worker bees which are all
girls make up the majority of the population of the colony.Their duties began as
soon as they emerge from their cell by cleaning out the cell and preparing it for
the queen to lay another egg in. The workers also perform what is called nurse
duties, which includes feeding the larvae after they have hatched. As the worker
bees mature they move into other roles such as storing nectar, pollen and water
that is brought in by the foraging bees. They will do housekeeping chores by
removing dead bees and any unwanted items that may have found their way into
the hive. The last role of the worker bee is to forage for pollen and nectar. he
drone bee does not work in the hive. His only job is to mate with other queen
bees that have hatched and are on their mating lights. Once the male bee has
mated with a new queen he dies and does not return to the hive. For the benefit
of the colony the male bees are not allowed to winter in the hive and are forced
out in late fall to starve or freeze to death.
For comments or questions you can email me at Opabees@gmail.com. Bee Friendly!

Paul Revere’s Ride
by Michael Mayfield
So wrote Henry Wadsworth Longfellow many years later. However, the historical details
of the midnight ride are often forgotten.
Paul Revere was a craftsman living in Boston. When the citizens of Massachusetts objected
to a tax on tea levied by Great Britain, he played a leading role in the Boston Tea Party, in
which British tea was thrown overboard from a ship in the harbor in December 1773.
he British government began a crackdown on the Colony of Massachusetts. Boston
Harbor was closed, and the king sent a new governor, General homas Gage, to the colony.
he colony, which had grown accustomed to governing itself, was outraged. he colony
was further provoked as Gen. Gage sought to take stores of guns and gunpowder from the
colony. British troops controlled Boston, but the rest of the colony remained under the
control of the residents of Massachusetts.
Revere helped form a network to warn the leaders of Massachusetts that opposed the British
crackdown. He made several rides to warn of Gen. Gage’s attempts to seize stores of weapons.
Gen. Gage planned to seize arms at Concord, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775. When
Revere was told that the British troops, called Regulars, were moving by boat on the night
of April 18, he put his plan of warning into action.
He, with the help of others, crossed the harbor to Charlestown, Massachusetts, while the moon
was still low in the sky, helping him to pass a British ship unnoticed. Revere was provided a
horse in Charlestown to ride to Lexington, where he would warn the Revolutionary leaders
Samuel Adams and John Hancock. hen he planned to continue to Concord.
Soon, on the way to Lexington, he rode into trouble. In the shadows cast by the now
bright moon on the trees, he saw men on horseback. hey were British oicers. Revere
turned his horse around as the men gave chase. He found the road to Mystic, a longer way
to reach Lexington. His faster horse got away from the oicers.
Revere reached Lexington and warned Adams and Hancock. hen he continued toward
Concord, now joined by WilliamDawes and a doctor from Concord, each riding horses.
he three encountered some more British oicers, who chased the three men into a ield.
Dawes was thrown from his horse, and Revere was captured, but the doctor escaped and
warned the residents of Concord.
Revere was questioned at gunpoint and answered honestly. he oicers recognized the
name Revere as one of the revolutionaries. hey began heading back to Lexington, where
they heard gunshots. However, as it turned out, these shots were not actually hostilities.
he oicers decided to free Revere, but left him to walk.
Revere returned to Lexington and discovered that Adams and Hancock were still there. he
friends of Adams and Hancock urged them to lee, and Revere rode with them a few miles.
hen Revere returned to Lexington, where he helped hide a trunk containing valuable papers.
Early in the morning, the British troops arrived and ired on the American militia who had
assembled there. No one knows who actually ired the irst shot, but Revere was nearby to
hear it. he ighting at Lexington and later at Concord is considered the beginning of the Revolutionary War.