Blues Music Tapestries
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: In this captivating graphic art design, a soulful blues musician is depicted on their journey home after another mesmerizing performance. Their only companions are the haunting notes of the blues and a guitar casually slung over the shoulder, with the poignant words "The Blues" elegantly inscribed on the instrument's back.
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.
