For immediate release, June 3, 1999
Contact: Professor Steve Balkin, 312-341-3696
Johnnie Mae Dunson, a 78 year old Blues singer who got her start on Maxwell Street in the 1940s, has been chosen by the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition to be Queen of Maxwell Street. "She is royal", says Coalition president and Blues historian Chuck Cowdery. Johnnie Mae started playing drums on Maxwell Street for tap dancer Eddie Porkchop Hines. There weren't and aren't a lot of women drummers in Blues. She was strong and courageous and had to push to get accepted. She played with, wrote songs, and knew the legends in Chicago; and nursed Jimmy Reed back to health. This is a way to honor her contributions. "
Coalition member Steve Balkin said he was not sure he was comfortable with the idea of royalty for Maxwell Street since "Maxwell Street was such an egalitarian place. Everyone was treated the same. People socialized across races and didn't care whether you were rich or poor or what you did for a living. But she created many prayers and the Blues laments to Mayor Daley and UIC Chancellor Broski to save Maxwell Street. That makes her very special. She certainly is divine and part of the soul of Maxwell Street."
Visiting film maker Paul Baldwin of Now Media in England said, "Our Queen Elizabeth is great but doesn't swing like Johnnie Mae. Johnnie sings for everybody, gives free advice, and always wants to feed people her great southern cooking. When Blues fans in England hear her they will certainly elevate her." Baldwin is in Chicago with film maker Yussef Nimmer to make a documentary video called The Struggle for Maxwell Street. Nimmer said, "I don't understand Chicago. We came hear from 4000 miles away but for people in Chicago it's only a bus ride away. Why is this city allowing this world Blues landmark to be destroyed?"
The Coronation is part of the big Maxwell Street Blues jam to be held this Sunday, June 6, 1999 on old Maxwell Street at Halsted and Maxwell Street across from Original Jim's Hot dog Stand, from 9:30AM to 1:00PM. The mains bands will be Dancin Perkins know as Mr. Pitiful and the Blues Busters; and Jumpin Willie Cobbs and the Fireballs. Lots of musicians will be sitting in from Chicago and from the Grant Park Blues Festival.
The Maxwell Street Blues jams may be the last time live blues is heard on Maxwell Street. The jams are being held to raise awareness of the importance for saving Maxwell Street as a historical district, and to be part of the National Blues Heritage Corridor, from New Orleans, through the Delta, to Memphis, and on into to Chicago.
Information about the Maxwell Street Coalition, Johnnie Mae Dunson <312- 397-1497> and Nowmedia are available by contacting Steve Balkin, 312-341-3696; <mar@interaccess.com>, and by visiting the Coalition website <http://www.openair.org/maxwell/preserve.html>.
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