Union Pizza, Home of SPACE
What an oxymoron: The greatest way to CURE the blues is to experience the blues! I’m here to tell you there is no finer way to do that than to sing, dance, wave, jump and jive with the genuine Mississippi article. As part of the
Chicago Blues Festival this year, that visceral experience was delivered to Chicagoland’s North Shore.
SPACE,
www.evanstonspace.com a new, hot, live music venue tucked in
Union Pizza,
www.unionevanston.com, a new, hot Evanston restaurant at
1245 Chicago Avenue hosted the blues evening that threatened to go on till dawn.
Bill Wax with Michael Frank wearing is Earwig Beret
started it. In 1978, Michael Frank established the
Earwig Music Company to record and book underrepresented blues musicians.
Michael Frank, CEO of Earwig Music, celebrating over 30 years of the blues, gathered together six generations of blues musicians said, “This is a once in a lifetime experience of America’s Treasures all together on one stage on one night telling rich stories of their journey from Mississippi to Chicago…The concert will take you from the deep south, the Mississippi Delta sounds of
David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards to the rockin’ electric blues of
Big Jack Johnson.”
John Primer, David "Honeyboy" Edwards and Aron Burton
The triple-deep standing room only crowd was not disappointed. We were up close and personal with
93-year-old Grammy Award Winner, guitarist
David “Honeyboy” Edwards;
John Primer, the last lead guitarist in the
Muddy Waters Blues Band;
Dennis Binder, a classic keyboardist who recorded in the early 1950’s, at the cusp of the blues melding r&b and country;
Big Jack Johnson and the Oilers
represent the quintessential electric Delta Blues.
The Blue Four
Not surprisingly, there was a Chicago connections, too,
The Blue Four. The band includes two generations of
Kenny Smith on drums, hard-driving
Chris James on guitar, rock-steady
Patrick Rynn on bass and the utterly amazing harmonica wizard,
Bob Corritore with
Allen Batts on keyboard.
Johnny Drummer and the Starlites
A multi-media event, our host for the evening,
Bill Wax, program director and host of
BB King’s Bluesville on Sirius/XM satellite radio, will also conduct intimate interviews to be aired on the show in June as a tribute to
Black Music Month. The concert with interviews in Chicago and Mississippi will air on
MHz Networks Worldview, here in Chicago on their affiliate,
WYCC in
January in
celebration of President Obama’s one year anniversary.
A portion of the proceeds from this year’s event will benefits
A SAFE HAVEN FOUNDATION,
www.asafehaven.com, providing housing, rehabilitation and other services for people in recovery from alcohol and substance abuse. “
A SAFE HAVEN is proud to be a resource for musicians in their times of crisis, helping them address their diseases of substance abuse and alcoholism,” said
Neli Vazquez Rowland, founder of A SAFE HAVEN.
Taped for
MHZ Networks National Channel, MHZ Worldview (Chicago’s WYCC digital Channel 20.3 is an affiliate), will be broadcast in 2010 on
www.MHznetworks.org and streamed on
FrontRowMusic.tv, internet television channel and produced by
Grammy Award Winning producer, Scott Shuman.
Earwig Music logo
Hear the blues at the
Taste of Chicago on
Tuesday, June 30, Earwig Music Day. Look for
Rob Stone and the C-notes, Dave Weld and the Imperial Flames, Honeyboy Edwards with Aron Burton and Two for the Blues, Johnny Drummer and the Starlites, Liz Mandeville and the Blue Points.
For additional coming events visit
www.earwigmusic.com .
