After completing the "Windy-City-in-one-day" tour, we entered Buddy Guy's Legends on 754 South Wabash at around 8:00 p.m. The cover charge amounted to about $ 20 and as soon as our eyes got used to the dark we realized that all the seats were already taken. The bar to our left did not look very inviting so we moved on to another bar area in the background of the place where we could rest our tired bodies on a covered billiard table. From there we caught sight of a huge array of blues paraphernalia on the various walls (e.g. one of John Lee Hooker's guitars), which created an atmosphere full of genuine feeling. The view and distance to the stage was acceptable as well so we could hardly wait for the bands to start playing; we were glad that Mondo's Blues Angels soon started their gig. The old African American man singing the Blues was highly impressive and set our moods in the right direction. Sam Myers & Anson Funderburgh were next to perform and met our expectations, too. After all, we had visited the Delta Blues Museum only two weeks earlier and felt that we now knew a lot more about the Blues than we did before. It was a pity that we missed the third band because it was already getting past midnight and we had to catch the 'L' to get back to O'Hare, which took us more than an hour, plus the transfer to the motel. But we were satisfied not to have missed this unique opportunity as most of our group flew back to Austria that very Sunday.

I was lucky enough to stay for yet another two weeks and dive into the urban jungle where I had lived years ago. It was really tempting for me to go back to the old blues club I already knew from my earlier stay there.

On Saturday, August 11, Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band were scheduled to perform at Rosa's - and that experience simply is a must for everyone interested in the Blues. The owners of Rosa's view the club as 'Chicago's friendliest blues lounge', and I really felt more than welcome at this family owned and operated place on the city's near northwest side, on 3420 West Armitage Avenue to be exact. The cover charge seemed reasonable and there was no trace of that anonymous feeling that overcomes you when entering a big touristy locality. Tony Mangiullo's and his mother Rosa's humble little blues bar is really something special. After my accompanying friends had introduced me to mother and son who had immigrated from Italy about 20 years ago, I began to grasp the whole picture.

Tony had left Milan with a vision in mind: Having met Junior Wells, the famous harmonica player, in Italy, he wanted to play the Blues in Chicago ever since. Wells had given him his address and had told him to come and see him. Tony ended up following Junior Wells to Theresa's Lounge, a legendary blues joint on the south side that would serve as spiritual model for Rosa's. But even more than that, Wells adopted Tony as his 'godson' and introduced him to his friends in the Chicago blues scene. Soon, Tony was playing regularly with Jimmy Rogers and the Blues All-Stars. Nowadays, Tony does not perform as often as he used to but he still likes entering the stage for one or two pieces of music before the club closes its doors for the night, which is around 3 o'clock in the morning on weekends.

Melvin Taylor, who performed that night, would be worth much more than just the following few words. The problem is that I am not an expert in music and I can describe only very subjectively and emotionally what I saw and heard. As a matter of fact, I have hardly ever seen any musician treat the guitar like he did - with a few exceptions - and he strongly reminded me of Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana. It was a veritable experience watching Melvin Taylor's fingers running quickly up and down and bending over the frets and back again to create these incredibly versatile guitar riffs. After a while I realized that I was not the only one staring at the performing art of this wonderful guitar player. The audience seemed to be just as amazed as I was and granted him undivided attention as well as frenetic applauses. During their recreation, Melvin Taylor and his musicians stepped down into the crowd and talked to whoever wanted to know more about the band and their music. This is when I learned that the singer and guitarist, who performs all over the world, considers Rosa's as a home stage where he and his band play every Tuesday night. As for his style, he certainly is best known for feeding on the blues genre, but then he is just as likely to draw upon jazz, pop, or rhythm and blues sources.

Unfortunately I did not see Tony Mangiullo on stage that night as it was already 2 o'clock and my friends wanted to drive back home. But the people I met during those six hours at the club, as well as their stories and art, render the Chicago blues experience worthwile. Thank you, Uli and Rich, for making this wonderful evening possible!