All in Festivals

Chicago Blues Festival

Chicago Blues Festival

Jack Siegel
Chicago, Festivals, Musicians

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Many people expressed a lot of concern when the City decided to move the 2017 Chicago Bluesfest to Millennium Park rather than continuing to use the longstanding location at Petrillo Music Shell and the side stages in Grant Park.  People did not want to substitute concrete for grass.  Overall, I think the City did a great job in prepping Millennium Park for the onslaught of blues enthusiasts and casual passersby who heard the music wafting from the four stages as they enjoyed the Bean and the Crown Fountain.

Blues in the Schools

Blues in the Schools

Jack Siegel
Chicago, Festivals, Musicians, Performance

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Each year, a group of elementary school students shows attendees of the Chicago Blues Festival what they have learned.  Whether or not the next Muddy Waters, Lonnie Baker, or Guy Clark Jr. emerges from the program won't be known for at least a decade or two.  In the meantime, the kids are having a rollicking good time.  If nothing else, I suspect we will see many of these kinds in the audience in future years.

Sam Lay Tribute

Sam Lay Tribute

Jack Siegel
Chicago, Festivals, Musicians, Performance

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I spent two hours earlier in the evening at the Chicago Cultural Center enjoying Sam Lay stories, listening to Chicago blues harpist Corky Siegel and Lay perform two numbers together, and watching director John Anderson's terrific new documentary Sam Lay in Bluesland.  Those are the component parts of the evening, but so much more was going on.  

Precursor to the Bluesfest

Precursor to the Bluesfest

Jack Siegel
Chicago, Festivals, Performance, Musicians

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Surprise, Surprise!  At about noon, I was within a block of Daley Plaza (the location of the Picasso statue) when I heard the sweet sounds of some Chicago Blues reverberating off the buildings, sounding just like it did when Muddy Waters plugged his guitar into an amp.

Liccione

Liccione

Jack Siegel
Architecture, Festivals, Chicago, Urban Landscapes

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It's never to early to celebrate Christmas and the holidays, unless, of course, you are Victoria Boros Liccione, who becomes distressed when merchants begin to display their holiday wares in November before Thanksgiving.

 

 

108

108

Jack Siegel
Festivals, Performance, Chicago

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Pick your poison, so to speak.  I decided early on that I wanted the image depicted in the cover photograph, but that presents a problem.  A photographer's worst nightmare is being relegated to a fixed position.  I always say that when photographing in a club or concert hall.  By picking this location, I did not have the opportunity to photograph the rally in Grant Park, the parade stepping off at Wrigley Field, or the chaos at the AMTRAK station.  Only a media outlet like the Chicago Tribune has the number of photographers to cover all the bases, so to speak.

Indispensable

Indispensable

Jack Siegel
Festivals, Jazz, Musicians, Performance

One of the highlights of this year's Hyde Park Jazz Festival was the opportunity to see and hear the great jazz trumpeter, Tom Harrell, together with TRIP, which also features saxophonist Mark Turner.  A tight unit that plays gorgeous music.  Still lots of humidty in the air, but the darkness and dark greenish-yellow hues portend Fall.

Pride

Pride

Jack Siegel
Demonstrations, Festivals, Chicago

Today was the annual Gay Pride Day Parade in Chicago.  Attendance was down; it was an hour shorter by my estimate; the floats and groups never seemed to pause as they had in years past-- possibly reflecting security concerns; and the politicians flocked by even though they have nothing to be proud about.  As the Gay community has become more mainstream, the parade has become more corporate and much of the outlandishness has receded with the hairlines of parade participants.  Imagine seeing Boeing, Northrup Grumman, Aon, or KMPG at a Gay rights parade in 1969, but then, times have changed since Stonewall.

Lit

Lit

Jack Siegel
Festivals, Chicago

When I arrived, the light was spectacular, but there were no people.  When the people arrived, the sky was a washed out grey, with no shadows anywhere.  Some days you just can't win.  I walked over the Blues Festival, stopping on the way for a single Dunkin' Donut (230 calories).