Thanks to Paul Baughman of the Eldorado Kings for his tip on this discussion of smoking in blues clubs on bluesbiz.com.

It looks like more and more localities are banning smoking in bars and restaurants, and the question is whether that will help or hurt business.

In the Pittsburgh area, some clubs decided to act on their own, while the county smoking ban was enacted, appealed overturned -- at least for now.

One music club, Club Cafe on the South Side (a great venue, by the way), decided to go non-smoking last week. While they are not just a blues spot, they do book some great bands, like Deanna Bogart and the Holmes Brothers, who were there in recent months.

Anyway ... the bluesbiz discussion is interesting, because it gets into a variety of factors that relate to attendance, including things like early vs. late shows.

Rough guide to the blues

Here's a thoughtful piece on Blogcritics on a new album titled "The Rough Guide to African Blues."

First Published: May 30, 2007, 2:30 p.m.