The newly produced video, Maxwell Street, Saving Chicago's Heritage, will be shown on Chicago's public television station, WTTW, Channel 11 on Friday, Novemeber 19, 1999 at 11PM. It will be part of a special one hour Image Union show with the theme "Life in Chicago." Image Union, an Emmy Award-winning series, is the longest-running independent film and video showcase in America.
Maxwell Street, Saving Chicago's Heritage is 9 minutes long and contains such scenes as:
**Legendary Maxwell Street Bluesman Jimmie Lee Robinson singing while a demolition is going on.
**Maxwell Street son, community activist Frank Williams, talking about Smokey Joes.
**Maxwell Street Blueswoman, Johnnie Mae Dunson, singing with Muddy Water's guitarist John Primer and Junior Wells protege, Jody Noa, backing her. Later, she sings a solo blues lament to UIC Chancellor Broski.
**Dapper Mr. Wanko talking while eating a Maxwell Street Polish sausage.
**Social Worker, neighborhood daughter, and UIC grad, Mignon Pruitt, talking about the street vendors.
**Joe Stefanovic, the son of Jim -- the inventor of the Maxwell Street Polish and original owner of Original Jims, talking about the importance of the area.
**Barkin Bill singing at the Maxwell Street Wall of Fame bandstand in his purple Zoot Suit, which was bought on Maxwell Street.
The video is the outcome of a collaborative effort by blues photographer James Fraher, sociologist/videographer Robert Wyrod, Blues writer Chuck Cowdery, historian/political scientist Elliot Zashin, and preservationist/economist Steve Balkin. All are available for interviews.
While the documentary contains some very old footage, the most of the video was shot live on Maxwell Street in 1998 and 1999.
James Fraher, author of the recent book The Blues is a Feeling, says, "I have a warm spot in my heart for all the music I've heard on the street here. My friendship with Jimmie Lee Robinson led me down there to pursue this project. Even today Maxwell Street is incredibly vibrant. The Blues gives this area the sprit to endure which is what is has always done for the people who created it. I hope this video will raise awareness to UIC and City people. What they, and all who collaborate with them, plan to do here is cultural felony, a crime against mankind."
Steve Balkin, a member of the Maxwell Street Coalition, comments, "This short video will help get the word out to Save Maxwell Street, a living American Treasure. The video has already inspired Now Media in England to produce a full-length video documentary version. The have, at present, produced a 58 minute radio documentary, The Struggle for Maxwell Street, which was aired in England and is playing on radio stations here in the U.S. and all over the world.
For more information about the Maxwell Street issue, visit the website of the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition <http://www.openair.org/maxwell/preserve.html>.
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