Blues Out of the Basement

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 7, 2006 4:30PM

If it’s the beginning of June, it’s time for the annual Chicago Blues Festival. Now in its 23rd year, the blues fest seems to be on its way to becoming an actual celebration of the city’s blues heritage, and not just a cheap and fast way to make money off of tourists.

Each year, the city presents local and national blues acts that are hit or miss. Some deliver the type of transcendent performances you’d expect from this soulful art form. Other times, you get way too many half-baked performances of “Sweet Home Chicago” and “Got My Mojo Workin’”. ChicagoFests.com reprints recommendations from Chicago Magazine for acts that it hopes will deliver those particular goods this year (we’d also recommend you see Ronnie Baker Brooks and Artie “Blues Boy” White). The full schedule is available on the city's website as is a PDF map of the stages.

Whether or not the performances always inspire, the fest works best as a way to introduce the blues to a potential new audience that might be intimidated by the club atmosphere or too young to get past the bouncer. This year, the city’s taking that introduction a couple steps further with a series of discussions about the blues at the Route 66 Roadhouse stage (at the intersection of Columbus and Jackson). Did you know the city sponsors a program that educates kids about the blues? It’s only in two schools right now, but the city wants to expand it. Educators can learn more about the program tomorrow during the Blues in The Schools Roundup from 12-1:30 p.m. Other discussion topics include songwriting, blues preservation and the role of biography in blues legend.

People with more degrees than us have explored the “problem” of the Chicago blues scene. We see expansion as one of the solutions. The blues may be an institution, but it’s a living, breathing one. Or should be. But the increasingly restrictive regulations put in place by the city of Chicago make it difficult for new clubs to be built or even old ones to be re-opened (the difficulties experienced by the Velvet Lounge and the New Checkerboard are two high-profile examples). Creating more opportunities for performers is key here. If the city put more of its muscle behind collaborations like this one with the Old Town School then the problem would solve itself.

In other worse, don’t demonize, revitalize.

The Chicago Blues Festival starts tomorrow and runs through Sunday. The fest grounds are bordered by Monroe on the north, Congress on the south, Lake Shore Drive on the east and Columbus on the west. Admission is free (no "suggested" donation either). Also, look for an interview on Chicagoist next week with local author Karen Hanson, who is publishing a guidebook on the Chicago blues scene.