CLIFTON FORGE, Va. (WDBJ7) At the Historic Masonic Theatre, musician Bobby Blackhat is playing the blues.
“You never know what’s going to happen at a Bobby Blackhat show,” he said, but at a Blues jam in the Underground, and Saturday in the main theater, people will find out at the Masonic’s third annual Blues Festival.
“I love the Blues,” Jeff Stern, the Masonic’s Executive Director said. “I love the Blues, because it informs so much of the music we know.”
But Stern has a few people here singing the Blues for real, as he has announced he will be leaving as the Masonic’s executive director.
“I’m really sad to be giving up the executive director role,” he said. “But I’m not walking away from the organization.”
It’s all a matter of logistics, he explained, as his family moved two hours away in Strasburg.
“I always saw myself as serving the mission rather than the organization,” according to Stern.
And so the man who has guided the theater from its restoration into a healthy schedule, including events like the Blues Festival, is stepping back.
Stern said, “I really support what’s happening here, and I believe in it, and I think I’m always going to be involved in some way.”
But in the meantime, he can sit back and enjoy the music.
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