Maxwell Street Blues

Friends, It is with utmost importance that I write to you. As an independent writer and reviewer of Blues music, I recently received a 3 CD set from 'Rooster Blues' titled “And This Is Maxwell Street." My review has been posted by two online Blues publications I write for, Dear Friends,

I am making a cry for help in an effort that needs support. I recently reviewed the 'Rooster Blues' 3 CD set and that review has been published in a couple of online Blues sites I write for, and has been accepted to 'Blues Access' magazine for a Winter issue release, and is also in a New England Blues journal.

Maxwell Street in Chicago was once a thriving open-air market which holds the honor of being one of the most historic and revered neighborhoods connected to Blues. What is happening to the area through the efforts of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Mayor Daley is nothing short of a tragedy. Efforts to save this once vibrant neighborhood are falling on deaf ears, and each month, a little more history falls into the abyss. Large tracts of land have been purchased by the University with help of Chicago's political machine and there seems to be no end in sight.

The Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition is doing everything in its power to try and save the small sliver of old Maxwell Street that still remains. The music that thrived there once upon a time is now all but holding on by a thread. Large and looming figures like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Robert Nighthawk, and Little Walter gravitated to Maxwell to play Blues on the streets for passers-by willing to throw their pocket change into an open guitar case. From Blues came jazz, rock, soul, country and western, hip-hop, rap and everything else we now recognize as American music. However, the historic area that once was home to the masters is being bulldozed and flattened through the opportunistic advances of a center for higher learning (rather ironic, don't you agree?) and a political machine with no care for preservation or reparation.

I am just one person. We are all just one person, but if we stand together, we are so much more. I implore you to please show some support to an historic landmark that is being swallowed on a consistent basis by those who care little and preserve less.

As an independent writer, I am not affiliated with the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition, but they saw my review of one of the most important musical documents in decades, and requested my permission to reprint that review. I am honored and proud to be a small part of an attempt to save an area that boasts more music, more history, more influence than anything else I can think of. I would hope you see the importance of what is happening and make a small amount of space in your magazine to let readers know of the disrespect that is the University of Illinois, and the politicians in its pocket!

Sincerely, Craig Ruskey