"If the Blues had a baby---they'd name it Rock n' Roll"

Thursday, June 5th and Friday, June 6th

It's was one of the first "hot" days of summer. More than 750,000 people had traveled from all over the world to Chicago's lake front in Grant Park to see the "Best of Blues" legends and up and coming artists perform in one of the greatest cities deemed as Blues Territory. Performers such as Johnny Winter, Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater, Lonnie Brooks, Jimmy Johnson, Otis Clay, Koko Taylor, Theodis Ealey, Little Willie Littlefield and B.B. King were among the many that graced the stages this weekend with their soulful blues tunes. . . and I was there.

Chicago is well known for its heritage of blues music and is responsible for celebrating this history with the festival each year. This summer, June 2008, marked the 25th year of the festival and proved to be yet another successful event. This music festival gives musicians the ability to distinguish and stress the important difference between freedom and slavery. "The blues festival annually provides a blues narrative to better understand the heritage of the blues tradition and helps celebrates the icons that made the music woven within the fabric of American culture." Because of this, music in the schools has blossomed. Weeks prior to the festival, professional musicians spend time in the schools in Chicago teaching the children songs, the history of blues, and how to write and perform their own blues compositions.

I really enjoyed being at the festival on both days, although it is not the typical genre I would find myself listening to. It opened my eyes, and ears, to a whole other world of music. It taught me that music isn't just a song on the radio or a filler of noise to keep the day going---it is more than that. It's a social movement and an expression of joy and pain from the past and the present.

Standing at the XRT booth, I was exposed to a different culture of people who look to blues for definition and understanding. I talked to travelers from Canada, England, Denmark and all over the U.S. who told me stories and instilled in me the history of why blues is corner stone for not only music in general, but for society.

At our booth, we were selling t-shirts, giving away hats, stickers and buttons as well as raffling off front row seats to an up coming Buddy Guy concert, in the meantime enjoying the soulful sound of blues music at it's finest. Although it was a scorcher, I took in so much more than just the heat from the sun---an experience I hope to repeat again in the years to come.


(Pictures: BB King on guitar and Duke Robillard's sax player from www.jazzchicago.net)