The Big Green House

Wednesday, February 26, 2003

 

Do me right

I have proof that there are still kind people in the world.

Since my friend Melissa had to spend a few days in Chicago recently, she thought she�d check out a few museums while she was in town. I�d asked her to keep an eye out for blues-related stuff, so she decided to go to the Chess recording studio. When she arrived at the building, she found that it was closed. Melissa spoke with the woman at the door for a bit, telling her that she�d come all the way from Seattle, to which the woman replied, �What the hell, I�ll give you a tour.� This nice person spent the next two hours showing my friend around the offices and studio, telling her all sorts of wonderful stories from back in the day. As it turns out, the woman was in fact Shirli Dixon-Nelson, the daughter of Willie Dixon and executive director of Willie Dixon�s Blues Heaven Foundation. So Melissa, who is not really a fan, got a hands-on tour that most blues freaks would give their eyeteeth for. (She was nice enough to bring me back this Willie Dixon tribute CD, which I�ve only had a chance to play at work, very quietly, over the shitty built-in speaker in my computer. So, no review as yet.)

bmarkey 2/26/2003 05:14:00 PM