The fourth annual Chicago Blues Festival opens Friday in Grant Park–a free three-day celebration of an indigenous musical form that is likely to draw crowds of blues fans, music-in-general fans, party-atmosphere fans, outdoor-eating fans, foreign visitors, curious passers-by and the inevitable confused couple from Cleveland who thought this was the way to Water Tower Place.
For those thinking of visiting the festival, we offer the accompanying schedule of performances. But we thought we`d go a little further and ask for some festival-going tips from three people intimately involved with the blues scene: Bruce Kaplan, founder of Flying Fish Records, a local label that issues some blues releases and also acts as national distributor for the Rooster Blues and Blind Pig blues labels; Jim O`Neal, editor of Living Blues magazine; and Mindy Giles, vice president and national marketing director of Alligator Records, a Chicago-based blues label.
We asked these people what they might tell a festival-goer that would help him or her get the most out of the event. Their responses varied, but three points were mentioned by more than one of the respondents. We`ll start with those:
— Visit the festival`s daytime shows–Grant Park activities kick off each day before noon and run well into the night, with afternoon performances on the Crossroads and Front Porch stages and evening shows at the Petrillo Music Shell. A number of people skip the daytime activities and limit their festival-going to the evening hours, drawn by shows featuring recognized names such as Albert Collins and James Cotton. That means they`re missing some great music in the daytime, say our advice-givers.
”I think some of the best and most authentic blues that people are going to hear will be on the daytime stages,” says O`Neal, ”and you can get a lot closer, so the view`s better.”
”The daytime events are just as good as the evening events,” echoes Kaplan, ”and you can see them in a much more intimate setting, without being part of a big throng. To me, that`s the best part of the blues festival.”
(See Kaplan`s tips below on performances to take in.)
— Visit the city`s blues clubs–It will come as a surprise only to the first-time visitor from Smolensk that Chicago has a lot of clubs offering blues entertainment. Each of our experts recommended checking out that club scene.
”After each day of the festival, there will be 21 `official headquarters` clubs hosting many of the players who have been part of the festival and also groups that haven`t played the festival,” says Giles.
Few people have the Olympic-caliber club-hopping abilities it would take to visit each of those venues, but if you want to take in a number of clubs in a limited amount of time, says Giles, head for the three-way intersection of Lincoln Avenue, Halsted Street and Fullerton Avenue on the North Side. The area around this juncture is home to Kingston Mines, B.L.U.E.S., Wise Fools and other clubs that will be offering blues entertainment, and the clubs are within walking distance of each other.
— Visit the record-sales area at the festival–The Jazz Record Mart will be selling blues records in the festival merchandising area along Jackson Boulevard between Lake Shore Drive and Columbus Drive (near the food and drink vendors). Both Kaplan and Giles recommend that visitors check out the LP`s for sale.
”There should be a lot of stuff that`s usually real hard to find in Chicago,” says Kaplan. ”Imports. Unusual records. Cutouts. They might well have a Japanese B.B. King set.” In addition, Giles notes that some festival performers who do not have national distribution for their records will be bringing records with them to be sold in the merchandising area.
Record buyers should note that Rose Records will have an all-stores sale on blues LP`s, tapes and CD`s through Thursday.
Now on to some of Kaplan`s tips about performances to catch during the festival:
— The brief fife-and-drum performance that opens the festival each day
–”It`s a three-piece group (bass drum and two fifes),” says Kaplan.
”They use a fife that`s like a Revolutionary War fife, made out of cane. But the fife or flute is also an African instrument, and this music has a lot of the African sound in it. It`s a traditional musical style that has survived in northern Mississippi.”
— Fris Holloway, John Dee Holman and Algia Mae Hinton–”This is very down-home stuff. All three are from North Carolina, and they`ll probably show off traditional styles of black country dancing as well as playing. John Dee plays piano, and Fris and Algia Mae play guitar.”
— Ted Bogan and Howard Armstrong–”(Fiddle player) Howard Armstrong is from Tennessee, and (acoustic guitarist) Ted Bogan is from South Carolina. They came up north, and they played with Carl Martin, who was a big favorite of Steve Goodman here in Chicago. They play all sorts of music. Back in the old days, bars didn`t have jukeboxes, so if they wanted music, they had to have musicians. Ted and Howard would go from one neighborhood to another, and if they went into a Polish neighborhood, they`d learn some Polish tunes. They`d do the same with German tunes or Italian tunes. Plus old pop tunes like `Lady Be Good.` They sing in several languages. They do some blues, but really a great variety of music.”
— Joe Liggins and the Honey Drippers–”The kind of thing you hardly ever see anymore. A big blues band with a horn section and the whole works.” — Son Thomas (acoustic guitarist)–”Pretty much the real Delta blues. He`s straight-ahead.”
— Snooks Eaglin–”As far as I know, he has never played up here before. He`s a New Orleans street musician, a guitarist.”
— Jessie Mae Hemphill–”A one-person band, with a little foot drum and everything. Son Thomas, Snooks Eaglin and Jessie Mae are all roots stuff you`re not going to find in a local bar.”
— The Sun Session Rhythm Section–(A group consisting of drummer D.J. Fontana, vocalist/guitarist Sonny Burgess, guitarist Paul Burlison, pianist Smoochy Smith, vocalist/harmonica player Marcus Van Story and electric bass player Stan Kesler–all musicians who were part of the Southern rockabilly scene during the heyday of Sun Records in the late 1950s.) ”They`ll be doing basically a rockabilly thing, which is somewhat of a departure for the festival,” says Kaplan. ”We`re going to be releasing a record of theirs, and I`ve heard the master tape, and it`s the real thing. They play with authority. They have to. They`re almost the definition of rockabilly.”
And finally, a couple of miscellaneous tips from Giles:
— Printed guides–A brochure with a map showing the locations of the
”official headquarters” blues clubs will be available at the festival grounds and the clubs, says Giles. Also, an issue of Jam Sessions magazine devoted to blues and the festival is scheduled to be available at a Jam Sessions booth in Grant Park.
— Radio broadcasts–Public radio station WBEZ (FM 91.5) will broadcast the evening festival sessions (5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Friday, 7 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday). ”So even if you`re, like, totally fagged out and can`t get your body moving and you`re lying in your room going, `My God, I drank too much last night,` you can turn on WBEZ and hear broadcasts live,” says Giles. ”There will also be extensive coverage given by WXRT (FM 93.1). You could get your taxicab driver to turn his radio on. Sure, you could. Chicago taxi drivers? Nicest guys in the world.”
A medley of music
FRIDAY
Crossroads stage
11:55 a.m.–Fife and drum opening
Noon–A tribute to Howlin` Wolf, with Sunnyland Slim, Henry Grey, Hubert Sumlin and Johnny Shines
1:30 p.m.–Billy Boy Arnold and band, with Henry Grey
3:30 p.m.–Buster Benton
4:10 to 5 p.m.–Dion Payton and the 43d Street Blues Band
Front Porch
12:25 p.m.–Fife and drum opening
12:30 p.m.–Buddy Scott and the Rib Tips, with Howard Scott
2 p.m.–James Cotton, with Pinetop Perkins and Jimmy Rogers
3:30 to 4:10 p.m.–The Kinsey Report featuring Big Daddy
Petrillo Music Shell
5:35 p.m.–Billy Branch, with Sons of the Blues and the Chi-Town Hustlers 6:20 p.m.–Cicero Blake
7:15 p.m.–Jimmy Dawkins
8:10 p.m.–Valerie Wellington
9:10 to 10:30 p.m.–James Cotton and his band, with ”special guests”
Nick Gravenites and possibly (unconfirmed at press time) Elvin Bishop
SATURDAY
Front Porch
11:30 a.m.–Fife and drum opening
11:35 a.m.–Fris Holloway, John Dee Holman and Algia Mae Hinton
1:15 p.m.–Ted Bogan and Howard Armstrong
2:40 p.m.–Lazy Lester
4 to 5 p.m.–The Bell Family
Crossroads stage
12:15 p.m.–Fife and drum opening
12:20 p.m.–Katie Webster
2:10 p.m.–Blues from the `30s: Jimmy Walker, Homesick James, Yank Rachell, Snooky Pryor
3:40 to 4:40 p.m.–Lil` Ed and the Blues Imperials
Petrillo Music Shell
5:30 p.m.–Kuumba Theater
6:20 p.m.–Sunnyland Slim
7:20 p.m.–Tyrone Davis
8:20 p.m.–Joe Liggins and the Honey Drippers
9:35 to 10:30 p.m.–Albert Collins and the Icebreakers
SUNDAY
Front Porch
11:25 a.m.–Fife and drum opening
11:30 a.m.–Son Thomas
12:55 p.m.–Snooks Eaglin
2:55 p.m.–Jessie Mae Hemphill
3:40 p.m.–The Johnson Family: Jimmy and Syl Johnson
Crossroads stage
12:25 p.m.–Fife and drum opening
12:30 p.m.–Mose Vinson
1:40 p.m.–Sun Session Rhythm Section
3:10 p.m.–Rosco Gordon
Petrillo Music Shell
(A tribute-to-Memphis lineup featuring performers who have lived or recorded in Memphis)
5:30 p.m.–Rufus and Carla Thomas
6:35 p.m.–Carl Perkins and the Sun Session Rhythm Section
7:30 p.m.–Clarence Carter
8:30 p.m.–Denice LaSalle
9:30 to 10:30 p.m.–Little Milton
