When it comes to the Blues, Baton Rouge is one of the best known cities on the map. Some will even tell you the Blues were born right here in the Red Stick on the banks of the Mississippi, despite what those in the Mississippi Delta or Memphis might say. For more than four decades Stephanie s guest on Out to Lunch, Johnny Pallazotto has been a tireless promoter, producer, manager and advocate of the Baton Rouge blues scene. He has helped to shape the careers of dozens of artist, auditioned and signed new writers, filed copyrights, negotiated contracts for recording artists, produced and distributed albums, and produced concerts from Los Angeles to Louisiana. Johnny is co founder of Baton Rouge Blues Foundation, produces the Slim Harpo Music Awards and works with a program to help public school student learn about Louisiana s music roots. One of the shortcomings Johnny and other industry veterans will tell you about the local music scene is the lack of infrastructure to help develop homegrown talent. We ve got plenty of good musicians here in Baton Rouge but historically have sent them off to Los Angeles or Nashvile to grow their careers. Trey Maughan is trying to change that. Trey has opened a music studio of his own Base Camp Studios where he is recording music and other broadcast productions of Baton Rouge artists, specializing in hiphop, from wannabes to bona fide stars like Mystikal. Garrett Kessling is Stephanie s Entrepreneur du Jour on today s show. Garrett is a member of the LUS Tiger Marching Band and has created a company, Tonal Innovation, whose first product is a innovation for marching bands called the E Flip. The E Flip is a mount that attaches to an instrument and allows you to secure your smart phone or tablet to the instrument and use it to view sheet music or marching drill. The E Flip is in its early stages being shepherded through the Louisiana Technology Center. The final design is completed, a patent is pending and Garrett is working on mass manufacturing. Photos on this page taken by Ken Stewart at Mansur s on the Boulevard.

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