Much Respect for Ben Manilla
We are saddened to learn that award-winning audio producer Ben Manilla, whose life’s work was recently accepted into the Library of Congress with help from the Rex Foundation and the Music Forward Foundation, passed away peacefully surrounded by family at his home in Marin County, California on September 30.
Ben produced the House of Blues Radio Hours and Bluesmobile programs with host Dan Aykroyd of “The Blues Brothers” for 25 years. He created a library of recordings that included 2,000 radio programs and 2,000 hours of raw interviews that Ben had conducted with many of America’s greatest blues musicians: BB King, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, John Lee Hooker, Etta James, Dr. John, and more, most of whom are now gone, as well as modern blues-rock masters like Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Mick Jagger, Robert Plant, and Bob Weir.
Audio tape, a now-defunct medium, deteriorates over time, so these irreplaceable recordings were at risk of being lost forever. The interviews had to be digitized in real-time for the Library of Congress archives. Rex supported this expensive and time-consuming process.
Said Rex Foundation Board member Rosalie Howarth “These recordings of Blues legends — their own stories in their own voices — are a historical treasure. American Blues musicians were ruthlessly exploited throughout the 20th century, and Rex is proud to help preserve their legacy for future historians, documentarians, and regular American citizens. Ben was a remarkable human being who truly left the world a better place than he found it, and we are grateful that he got to see his life’s work preserved in the national archives.”
(Photo: Amy Carr)
