Sun's Gonna Shine in my Backyard

2008 Chicago Blues Festival-Friday, June 6

2008-06-07T04:11:00Z

11:30 in the morning is the best possible time to arrive at the blues festival--not only did the temperature hover at a manageable seventy degrees, but the grounds were almost empty. I was able to stroll up to the stages without impediment. Seating was not a problem, and I could dance with the reckless velocity of a whirling dervish without smacking into anyone. Not many people were doing this so early in the day. The crowd smiled and nodded sleepily at the Keith Frank and Soileau Zydeco Band when...(read more)

2008 Chicago Blues Festival-Thursday, June 5

2008-06-06T23:15:00Z

The first day of the blues festival is always filled with the same sort of anticipation that accompanies Christmas morning. There was a brief but dramatic thunderstorm on Wednesday night, and the Thursday morning sky was gray and creepy, filled with ominous clouds. When I arrived at the festival, drenched with sweat, the thermometer was almost at ninety degrees. The crowd was enthusiastic, but strangely listless. The unbearable humidity caused me to collapse in front of the Front Porch Stage, where...(read more)

SPACE is the Place--Chicago Blues Festival Pre-Concert

2008-06-05T04:45:00Z

Chicago is a town that can't get enough of the blues, and the annual blues festival kicks the typical Chicagoan's passion for the genre into overdrive. By the time the second week of June rolls around, we're impatient for the chance to sit in the sun, sipping ridiculously overpriced cups of warm beer and screaming at the top of our lungs. Several local venues feature previews for those people, like myself, who have trouble waiting until Thursday to get their annual blues transfusion....(read more)

The Blues Festival Returns to Chicago!

2008-05-30T01:54:00Z

It is difficult to believe that an entire year has passed since the last blues festival, even after the exceptionally cold winter and spring. Many times, as I was shivering and cranking the heater in my apartment in April and May, I consoled myself by remembering that the blues festival was only a few weeks into the future. Well, those weeks have passed, and the blues festival is little more than a week away. An almost imperceptible warming trend gives me hope that I will not have to wear a down...(read more)

Blues Festival Addendum: Where to Go in Chicago for the Blues

2007-06-14T14:46:00Z

I'm feeling a bit melancholy, now that the festival is over, and I imagine that others may be, as well. However, Chicago is a mecca for this musical genre, and you can hear blues in the clubs, seven nights a week. Here is a short, but handy guide to some great clubs in Chicagoland where you can dance, sob into your beer, and do other fun things. BLUES ON HALSTED 2519 N. Halsted www.chicagobluesbar.com This tiny club can get so packed that I once had an agoraphobia attack in there, and had to...(read more)

Chicago Blues Festival--Saturday June 9

2007-06-11T15:37:00Z

Saturday is arguably the most popular day of the Chicago Blues Festival. We are over a half hour late meeting my friend Joel at nearby Buckingham Fountain, and parking is almost nonexistent. Joel and Russ (my husband) have never met each other, and we are stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, with me at the wheel. I instruct Russ to look for a 50-something tall man with curly hair. Russ leaps from the car, sprints across Lake Shore Drive, hops over a fence, and disappears into the crowd. I park twelve...(read more)

Chicago Blues Festival - Friday June 8

2007-06-09T15:44:00Z

The 24th anniversary of the Chicago Blues Festival is well underway when I arrive at Grant Park. I am accompanied by my husband Russ, who is carrying a huge backpack full of mineral water, a Mexican blanket, and extra clothing. Trailing along behind us are two pre-teens, who are loudly bemoaning the lack of video game opportunities at the venue. It's a radically transformed festival from previous years, which included people dancing on folding chairs while drunks attempted to kick them over,...(read more)

Anticipatin' the Blues

2007-05-23T01:57:00Z

I am a lifelong blues aficionado. It began when I was a small child in Chicago, listening to AM radio on my babysitter Liz' hand-held transistor while walking home from school. When I heard the amazing "Walk On By" by Dionne Warwick, it made my heart beat faster. Tears formed in my eyes, and I loved it. Technically, this might not have been a blues song, but it was blues the way Dionne sang it. Before I was of legal drinking age (don't tell anyone) I was hanging out at Kingston...(read more)