The musicians of Maxwell Street have called for a 48 hour Blues vigil to stop the wrecking ball from any further destruction in the old Maxwell Street neighborhood. The Blues Vigil starts on Friday, August 25 at 6PM and goes continuously to Sunday August 27 ending at 6PM. This event takes place outside at the Juketown Community Bandstand at the northeast corner of Halsted and Maxwell Street, across from Original Jim's Hotdog Stand. It is free.

There will be live blues and people coming buy to give speeches, read poetry, and display folk art and photography. In between, Frank 'Little Sonny' Scott Jr. will be doing some Blues DJ-ing and showing some of his Maxwell Street art signs and collage ID badges.

Two bands will be anchoring this: Joe Patterson and the Cut Rates Blues Band, and Motivation. Maxwell Street Blues legend Jimmie Lee Robinson, who is on a Save Maxwell Street hunger fast, will be stopping by to sing his Maxwell Street Tear Down Blues and to receive prayers of support to protect his health during his fast. Country blues acoustic solo guitarist Lajune, from Macon Georgia, will be playing guitar and harmonica.

Ruby Harris, an orthodox Jew and an electric Blues and Klezmer violinist also will be playing but not on Saturday. He will be performing/jamming both styles: Klezmer from the 1920s and Chicago Blues from the 1950s.

Other musicians expected are Kid Dynamite, Clarence 'Lill Scotty' Scott, Al Harris, Toronzo Cannon, Wayne Hatch, the Isit Brothers, Little Sambo, Six Pack R and B Band, Blues ventriloquist L.T. McGee, Johnny Fortune, Bobby Davis, Harmonica Reni, James Washington, Bobby Too Tough, Iceman Robinson, and surprise guests.

Blues bands and musicians from all over are invited to come and play at what may be the last jam session on the street.

Bubba, a Maxwell Street vendor and resident who has appeared in numerous American and foreign Blues videos, will be doing some of his unique style Blues dancing. If the UIC's cultural destruction plan continues, Bubba will soon become homeless.

Says 74 year old Maxwell Street veteran Bluesman Frank Little Sonny Scott Jr. "This neighborhood is very important to me. In the 1940s and on, anyone who was about blues came to this street. It was great meeting place and shopping area. I met my wife here. Something this sacred you honor and respect. The people, rich and poor, and black and white still need this place. It's where we can meet. You don't kick out the people and replace the history with a parking lot."

A co-organizer of this event is Mr. H, a Maxwell Street Blues singer and harmonica player who learned to play Blues from hanging out on Maxwell Street in the 1960s and has played there continuously from the 1960s on, except for a break of several years while off in Viet Nam in the Navy. He is co-creator of the Max-Halsted Blueskeepers. Mr. H says, "We want to send a message to the world to stop this insane destruction. You don't bulldoze away the blues. I want this to keep this music rolling."

For more information visit the website of the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition <http://www.openair.org/maxwell/preserve.html>

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