<Henry Ayrton, Northern Blues, BBC North, 9, Chapel Street, Hull. Humberside, HU1 3NU>
Special thanks to Paul Baldwin <info@nowmedia.co.uk>, our UK representative, for sending us a taped copy of the Northern Blues radio show with Henry Ayrton which was broadcast on Sunday, December 7, 1997 between 9 and 10 PM on most of the BBC local radio stations across the North of England. A plea for saving Maxwell Street was made on the air, interspersed with music from famous Maxwell Street musicians, Bo Diddley Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis, Little Walter, Robert Nighthawk, and Johnny Young. .
Excerpts
Bo Diddley. What influenced him?. …The environment in which he grew up. …The place that they went to play, their nurturing ground was an open air market on Sunday morning; where you found a spot, and did what you did best to collect a crowd. It started right here. …This place was called Maxwell Street. Just about every Chicago Blues musician of consequence started out here at one time.
He was using his given name Charles Thomas but quickly changed his name to Jimmy Davis and then added the Maxwell Street tag. …He prospered well enough to start a café there and used to busk outside of it. …This period, in the mid 1960s, continued to fill a vital role, providing a safety net for musicians and as an incubator.
Maxwell Street has never been a what you might call a beautiful place. …More was destroyed as the University expanded. But some of the original fabric does remain. …And its hoped to convert it into a heritage site. But there is a major threat to flatten the area very soon . The villain of the piece, that wants to demolish this important focus of cultural history, is the U. of Illinois at Chicago. You can pledge your support by contacting Paul Baldwin.
An article on Henry Ayrton is in the January 1997 issue (page 130) of the British blues magazine, MOJO.
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