Do they still play the blues in Chicago?
6/12/2008
I refer to Steve Goodman's immoral tune, "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request" (1983), which has this refrain:
Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League
At this writing, however, both Chicago baseball teams are in first place–the Cubs by 2-1/2 games and the Sox by 5-1/2. A subway series is in the offing. Too bad Steve won't be here to see it – may he rest in peace.
Still, I'm writing not about the baseball but about the music, and most specifically and joyfully about our recently completed Blues and the Spirit symposium. It was a thrilling combination of concerts, panel discussions, tours of the city including many historical landmarks of this quintessentially American and utterly seminal musical genre, including Bronzeville and the Blues Heaven Museum, housed in the former home of Chess Records.
Lou Novacheck wrote this about it in Blogcritics magazine:
I've been to a number of blues symposia and other blues-related events over the past several years, but let me say this unequivocally: The one I just returned from, Blues and the Spirit, sponsored by Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois, was the best. Subject matter of the various lectures and panels ran the gamut from "Elders Council: Chicago's Musical Legacy," through "From the Margins to the Mainstream: Issues of Identity, Aesthetics and Meaning in Black Popular Music," to "God Rode in the Wind Storm: Sanctified Music, Chicago to the South," "The Mississippi Blues Trail, "As Blues Tropes Transverse," "Roles and Responsibilities of Writers who Chronicle the Blues," "Preserving the Legacy," "From the Saturday Night Blues to the Sunday Morning Good News!", "The History of Gospel Music," "An Insider/Industry Perspective," "Perspectives on Blues Education," and "The Spoken Word in Black Music Cultures from Griots to MCs."
One blues website posted photos here and in another story published elsewhere, a writer states:
I had an opportunity to meet the authors, whose books I have been reading. I met the photographers who took many of the photos that inspire me. I met the journalists whose magazines I pore over like kid with a toy catalog. I met blues society people and blues broadcasters. For me the networking alone was worth the time. The days consisted of presentations and panels that were at times provocative, and at times enthralling as an iconic blues figures would relate a previously unheard story of the old days. The evenings were reserved for food and fun. There were several performances on campus, including a concert by our own Sharon Lewis and Otis Clay. Saturday evening featured a bus tour to three Chicago blues joints....
Jan Monti and her crew presented an experience that matters to a true blues fan. She also showcased Dominican University in a way I hope the University appreciates. I hope this event becomes an annual pilgrimage, because there is more to be studied, and more arguments to be had. This symposium was not about archeology studying the relics of a bygone art form, but rather a dynamic forum that should parallel the progress and passion of the blues. [ more pictures here]
"Jan the Blues Fan" is in fact Dr. Janice Monti, Professor and Chair of our Sociology Department, and an expert on the topic. One of the participants in the conference wrote to her after the symposium and said that the event "recognized and treated in such a profound manner the history of the African-American community as told through the music of the Blues. Very few, if any of the many attendees, had previously experienced a conference of this type, a comment that is all the more astounding since many of them were aficionados or scholars of the genre."
In fact, as I write this. Dr. Monti is in the midst of teaching this course:
At Dominican University, a commitment to "diversity" is an integrating and sustaining way of thinking, a way of living, in which multiple views and modes of living are welcomed and engaged, so that our mission of pursuing truth and working for justice can be more closely approximated. Speaking personally, "Blues and the Spirit" was one of the most joyous and exhilarating times this university has seen in quite a while. Next time we do it, make sure you're with us! Meanwhile, I'll see you at Rosa's. Or Lee's Unleaded. Or wherever that third one was–it was getting late.
I refer to Steve Goodman's immoral tune, "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request" (1983), which has this refrain:
Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League
At this writing, however, both Chicago baseball teams are in first place–the Cubs by 2-1/2 games and the Sox by 5-1/2. A subway series is in the offing. Too bad Steve won't be here to see it – may he rest in peace.
Still, I'm writing not about the baseball but about the music, and most specifically and joyfully about our recently completed Blues and the Spirit symposium. It was a thrilling combination of concerts, panel discussions, tours of the city including many historical landmarks of this quintessentially American and utterly seminal musical genre, including Bronzeville and the Blues Heaven Museum, housed in the former home of Chess Records.
Lou Novacheck wrote this about it in Blogcritics magazine:
I've been to a number of blues symposia and other blues-related events over the past several years, but let me say this unequivocally: The one I just returned from, Blues and the Spirit, sponsored by Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois, was the best. Subject matter of the various lectures and panels ran the gamut from "Elders Council: Chicago's Musical Legacy," through "From the Margins to the Mainstream: Issues of Identity, Aesthetics and Meaning in Black Popular Music," to "God Rode in the Wind Storm: Sanctified Music, Chicago to the South," "The Mississippi Blues Trail, "As Blues Tropes Transverse," "Roles and Responsibilities of Writers who Chronicle the Blues," "Preserving the Legacy," "From the Saturday Night Blues to the Sunday Morning Good News!", "The History of Gospel Music," "An Insider/Industry Perspective," "Perspectives on Blues Education," and "The Spoken Word in Black Music Cultures from Griots to MCs."
One blues website posted photos here and in another story published elsewhere, a writer states:
I had an opportunity to meet the authors, whose books I have been reading. I met the photographers who took many of the photos that inspire me. I met the journalists whose magazines I pore over like kid with a toy catalog. I met blues society people and blues broadcasters. For me the networking alone was worth the time. The days consisted of presentations and panels that were at times provocative, and at times enthralling as an iconic blues figures would relate a previously unheard story of the old days. The evenings were reserved for food and fun. There were several performances on campus, including a concert by our own Sharon Lewis and Otis Clay. Saturday evening featured a bus tour to three Chicago blues joints....
Jan Monti and her crew presented an experience that matters to a true blues fan. She also showcased Dominican University in a way I hope the University appreciates. I hope this event becomes an annual pilgrimage, because there is more to be studied, and more arguments to be had. This symposium was not about archeology studying the relics of a bygone art form, but rather a dynamic forum that should parallel the progress and passion of the blues. [ more pictures here]
"Jan the Blues Fan" is in fact Dr. Janice Monti, Professor and Chair of our Sociology Department, and an expert on the topic. One of the participants in the conference wrote to her after the symposium and said that the event "recognized and treated in such a profound manner the history of the African-American community as told through the music of the Blues. Very few, if any of the many attendees, had previously experienced a conference of this type, a comment that is all the more astounding since many of them were aficionados or scholars of the genre."
In fact, as I write this. Dr. Monti is in the midst of teaching this course:
THE RACIAL AND MUSICAL LEGACY OF MEMPHIS AND THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA: This 3-credit course will explore the Southern roots of American music and its relationship to the struggles over civil rights in the twentieth century, through a five-day excursion of Memphis and the Mississippi Delta. The experiential component of the course will be supplemented with readings, lectures and musical performance. Prior to the trip, students will meet for two workshops and an orientation, where the readings, the experiential component, and the culminating project will be discussed. This course will provide students with an introduction to the musical and racial legacy of this region, to the historical, social, economic and political conditions in the Delta, and the relationship among these influences and the Civil Rights Movement.
At Dominican University, a commitment to "diversity" is an integrating and sustaining way of thinking, a way of living, in which multiple views and modes of living are welcomed and engaged, so that our mission of pursuing truth and working for justice can be more closely approximated. Speaking personally, "Blues and the Spirit" was one of the most joyous and exhilarating times this university has seen in quite a while. Next time we do it, make sure you're with us! Meanwhile, I'll see you at Rosa's. Or Lee's Unleaded. Or wherever that third one was–it was getting late.
