Bluesman Mugs
Description: Bluesman Robert Pete Williams was born in Zachary, Louisiana, the son of sharecropping parents. He never attended school, instead working the fields with his family. He began playing blues in his late teens after making himself a guitar out of a cigar box. Williams only came to prominence during the late '50s, when he was recorded for posterity by the musicologist Harry Oster at Angola prison in Louisiana, where Williams was serving a life sentence for murder. Williams became one of the great blues discoveries during the folk boom of the early '60s, though his disregard for conventional patterns, tunings, and structures kept him from a wider audience, but his music remains one of the great, intense treats for blues aficionados.
Description: This poster features a colorful pop art portrait of Buddy Guy. The portrait is done in a wpap style, and it captures Guy's bluesy and energetic personality. The tagline "The Bluesman" is written in bright yellow letters across the top of the poster. The poster is vibrant and eye-catching, and it is a tribute to one of the greatest blues guitarists of all time.
Description: Ray's Music Exchange is a fictional Chicago pawn shop that specialized in musical instruments in the 1980 film, The Blues Brothers. It's where the guys go to procure new instruments and equipment as they get the band back together, and end up in a performance of “Shake A Tail Feather” that spills into the streets filled with dancers. The actual location of the store was a pawn shop located in the Bronzeville neighborhood at 300 E. 47th St., though the interior shots were all done on a soundstage. The mural on the side of Ray's celebrating black musicians remained for 40 years until vandals set fire to the building in 2020.
Description: Located in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood, the Walrus Tavern was a legendary live music venue that hosted countless blues and rock 'n roll shows over the years. When it wasn't playing host to local bands and all-time great blues singers, the tavern was a true neighborhood watering hole, providing frosty libations and reliable tavern food. Unlike most places, the Walrus didn't close up shop for lack of customers or ever-increasing rents, rather it burned to the ground in 1984. The concrete pad it sat on remained vacant for decades until another bar opened up next door and annexed the Walrus pad as a beer garden, aptly named 'The Walrus Beer Garden.'
Description: ChicagoFest was a Chicago music festival established in 1978 by Mayor Michael Bilandic. It was a two-week event held annually at Navy Pier that featured sixteen separate stages, each with a national retail brand and local media sponsor that broadcast live from the event. Stages included: Rock, Classic Rock, Country, Blues, Comedy, Roller Disco, Pin Ball Arcade, Jazz, Children's, Variety, Ethnic, as well as a Main stage seating 30,000. There were 600 performances by headline artists produced each year during the event. During the event's six-year run, Olympia sponsored the blues stage, which was extremely popular in the city that gave us the 'Chicago Blues' style that was greatly responsible for the future creation of rock and roll.
