November 24, 1997
In Chicago to perform at a benefit concert for the Chicago Coalition
for the Homeless, rock legend Bo Diddley spoke out on the need to preserve
what remains of Chicago's historic Maxwell Street, where he and other major
artists began their careers. "Cats like me, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker,
Memphis Minnie, Jimmy Reed, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter Jacobs, all of
us came to Maxwell Street," said Bo. "This is the backbone and the roots
of what everyone is listening to today. It started right here."
Bo Diddley was born Ellas McDaniels in Mississippi in 1928. He came
to Chicago during the Great Migration and played on Maxwell Street as a
teenager, in 1943-44, with legendary blues guitarist Earl Hooker, a school
chum. "[We] went to school in that area: Foster Vocational School, 720
O'Brien Street," recalled Bo in an interview before his November 13 concert
at the Park West. "I lived at 47th and Langley. We went down there [to
Maxwell Street] on Sunday mornings and picked us a place and played."
Bo hopes that the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), which plans
to expand into the area, and the city of Chicago will take steps to preserve
the unique heritage of Maxwell Street. "I say to Mayor Daley, and whoever
else is making decisions here, please look and think about what you are
doing," said Bo. "It's ridiculous. They want to destroy one of Chicago's
masterpieces." UIC has already converted much of the area into sports fields
and plans a mixed-use development for what remains of the old Maxwell Street
neighborhood, renamed as Campus Town.
Maxwell Street is credited as the birthplace of the urban blues sound
that Bo Diddley and other artists transformed into rock and roll. "I don't
know any city that has anything like Maxwell Street," said Bo. "People
come from all over the world to see Maxwell Street. When I am overseas,
people ask me about Maxwell Street. What do I tell them now?" The major
retail street of Chicago's poor beginning in the mid-19th century, Maxwell
Street is important to the history of Chicago's Jews, African-Americans,
Mexican-Americans and many other groups. In the middle of the 20th century,
Maxwell Street became a giant, outdoor audition stage for blues musicians
who were newly arrived from the South. Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, John Lee
Hooker, Memphis Minnie, Jimmy Reed, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter Jacobs,
Robert Nighthawk, Arthur Crudup and many others played on street corners
around Maxwell for nickels and dimes, as they had in Memphis and in the
small Delta towns where they were raised.
A victim of both progress and neglect, part of Maxwell Street was razed
in the construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway in the 1960s. More of the
area was destroyed with the expansion of UIC. In 1994, the Maxwell Street
Outdoor Market was moved and everything west of Newberry Street was bulldozed
into sports fields. Much has been destroyed but much remains: eight blocks
and 50 old buildings (about half still doing business), including a block
and half of Maxwell Street itself (from Union to Newberry).
In preliminary plans unveiled last month, developers hired by UIC announced
that the area will remain commercial, but did not say how many existing
buildings will be restored and rehabilitated, or if the neighborhood's
historic character will be preserved. So far, UIC has refused to apply
for historic district status, as urged by the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation
Coalition, a group fighting to save the Maxwell Street area from final
annihilation.
Bo Diddley, one of the breakthrough artists of the early rock and roll
era, had major hits in the 1950s with "Bo Diddley," "I'm a Man," and "Who
Do You Love," all released on Chicago's Chess Records. His unique sound,
a blend of Chicago electric blues and other styles, was a major influence
on early English bands like the Animals, Yardbirds, Beatles and Rolling
Stones. Today he lives in Florida, but returns to Chicago every Fall to
appear at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless benefit. He was interviewed
on November 13, 1997 by Coalition member Geof Rogers of Blues Chat, an
internet blues site, at the Hotel Intercontinental in Chicago.
Return to the Maxwell St. News Update page.
Return to Chuck Cowdery's Maxwell St. page.
Return to Chuck Cowdery's home page.
Go to the Maxwell Street Foundation home page.