It was the Year of the Blues and the twentieth anniversary of the Chicago Blues Festival, so it seemed like a good time to check out the city and festival. The City of Chicago has put on this festival for all these years, and claims that it is the world’s largest free festival. Of course their sponsors, including Best Buy, help. I was fortunate to be able to walk out of my room with a view, cross the busy South Michigan Avenue, walk a little further, and voila, be in this lovely down to earth Grant Park where the festival was. It was great to almost escape the concrete, cars, and city for four days of blues, soul, and zydeco music. The six small venues were a contrast to the surrounding skyscrapers, including one of the tallest buildings, the Sears Tower.


There were more than seventy performers. Continuous music could be heard each day from noon to nine-thirty p.m. at such stages as The Front Porch, Juke Joint, Crossroads, Fun Zone Showcase, or the main stage, the Petrillo Music Shell.This latter stage had three or four acts each night. Since it was the fiftieth anniversary of Delmark Records, some of their recording stars opened each evening. These artists included Big Time Sarah, Willie Kent and the Gents, Jimmy Johnson, Ken Saydak, Zora Young, and James Wheeler. Others performing on the main stage included Otis Taylor, Charlie Musselwhite, Otis Rush, Bonnie Raitt, Cicero Blake, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Mose Allison. Chicago’s 20th Anniversary Salute show, also on the main stage, featured some of Chicago’s finest musicians, including Billy Branch, Carl Weathersby, Melvin Taylor, Butch Dixon (Willie’s son), Mathew Skollar, Koko Taylor, and more.


Of course there was a lot of other good music during the days. The elder statesmen of the blues, Henry Townsend, Homesick James, and David “Honeyboy” Edwards performed, as did students of the Blues In the Schools program. There was a Barry Goldberg Reunion with a group of veteran musicians. Some of the festival highlights included the excellent guitar playing, vocals, and high energy antics of Roy Gaines and Lil Ed, who both played solo and with their bands. Guitarist and vocalist, Johnny Rawls and his daughter, Destini, put on a good show. Destini’s vocal style seemed to be like that of Mavis Staples and Aretha Franklin. Seventy-year old Drink Small was humorous and entertaining with his stories, finger pickin’ Piedmont blues guitar and barrelhouse piano playing. His very deep vocals were mesmerizing. Blues diva, Sharon Lewis, was outstanding with her sultry, soulful vocal performance. She has a lot of vibrant energy. She was particularly dramatic with the song, “Sweet Mother Blues.” She has traveled extensively with her band, The Mojo Kings, for the past five years, and plays in Europe on a regular basis.


Route 66 was the sixth venue. Twice each day it featured panel discussions of a variety of topics like record collecting, songwriting, festival promotion, a tribute to Delmark’s founder, Bob Koester and to the late bluesman, Big Joe Williams, who would have been 100 this year, blues, and the year of the blues.


Since Chicago is a heartland of the blues, there were also special blues activities throughout the month of May. This year’s festival was the end of May and first of June. Next year the festival will be June 10 through June 13. It was a worthwhile experience to help Chicago celebrate their twentieth year of blues festivals.
Check the website http://www.cityofchicago.org/specialevents for further information.


Chicago itself is an interesting city of three million people. It has a wide variety of fascinating architecture. An excellent way to get more acquainted with the city is to take a bus tour, and I did just that. We toured the North Side and South Side for two hours each, and our narrator was very informative. We passed by the original Chess Studio building which is now owned by the family of the late Willie Dixon and the Blue Heaven Foundation. Dixon had a role in almost every record that was issued by Chess. This building has been named a Chicago Landmark, because it was the site of some of the most influential blues and rock n’ roll recordings. It was interesting to note that the Chess brothers only used the building for ten years, between 1957 and 1967. Interesting limited tours are available by calling 312-808-1397.


There are three buildings that are over 1,000 feet high and one can go up in the Sears Tower or The John Hancock Building and get views of the city. Call either place to check the visibility first. Chicago is known to have a variety of weather, and one taxi driver commented that Chicago could have four different seasons in a day or two, and I would agree. The festival music goes on, rain or shine or chilling wind, and we had all three. There are excellent museums, shopping, restaurants, and cultural events in the city, and many special events throughout the year. Recreational activites abound. Plus there are many blues clubs and nightlife activities to check out. Chicago has received numerous awards praising the city as a great travel destination. It is definitely worth a visit. The tourist information is online at: http://www.cityofchicago.org/Tourism. Maria Bainer

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