Get ready to celebrate The Blues! From blues music came great artists such as Muddy Waters, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Buddy Guy and others. But the blues might never have been born if not for the influence of slave hollers and calls and the changes that occurred in the lives of black Americans.

"The Blues: Roots of American Music" has been designed to explore the rise and the influence of blues music on American cultural arts. This series combines live music, documentary film, poetry and play reading. Scholar George Bailey, PhD, Columbia College Chicago, will introduce each film and lead discussion afterwards.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information call 708-697-6915.

Sponsored by the Oak Park Public Library, Friends of the Oak Park Public Library, Columbia College Chicago, League of Women Voters of Oak Park/River Forest, and Unity Temple Restoration Foundation.

Sunday, February 17 Special Event
"Langston Hughes: A Blues Poet"
3 p.m. at AfriWare, 266 W. Lake Street, Oak Park, IL
www.afriware.net 708-524-8398
A celebration of Langston Hughes, the first American poet to use blues successfully in his poetry. Hosted by Nzingha Amma Nommo, owner of AfriWare. Participants are invited to bring a favorite Langston Hughes poem to read and share. Afri-Ware will have books and CD's available of Langston Hughes for purchase.

Wednesday, February 20 Special Event
"Any Woman's Blues: Women's Blues, Women's Lives"
7 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Suzanne Flandreau, curator of the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College, uses songs by some of the greatest of the blueswomen, and by some relative unknowns, to explore issues and attitudes important to African-American women in the early twentieth century. From the tent-show spectaculars of the "classic blues" to the homier recordings of "country blues" blues songs performed by women reflected everyday life.

Thursday, February 21 Special Event
Reading and Discussion of Chicago Blues
7 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Chicago Blues blends blues, crime, and Chicago. This collection of dark stories from 21 of today's best Chicago crime-fiction authors, captures the depths to which people sink when they run out of options; the emptiness and pain spawned by greed; the violence - or occasionally, the bittersweet redemption - that springs from a broken heart. Join editor Libby Hellmann and six of the authors for a reading and discussion of Chicago Blues. The program is free and open to the public. Centuries and Sleuths Book Store will have copies of Chicago Blues for sale.

Tuesday, February 26 Book Discussion
Book Discussion of Killing Floor, a mystery by Lee Child
7 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Come ready to listen to music mentioned in the book and discuss the story. Multiple copies of the book are available at the Fiction and Audiovisual Services Desk on the Second Floor of the Main Library.

Wednesday, February 27 Film Showing
"Blues Masters: The Essential History of the Blues" (Excerpt)
7 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Scholar George Bailey, PhD, Columbia College Chicago, will introduce the film and a lead discussion following the showing. Focus on the fading African cosmology, the role of the "ring shout" in the formation of blues and gospel. The African introduction to Christianity, the roles of field hollers, work song and Arhoolies in the formation of blues. How the African in the New World, without traditional musical instruments set about recreating themselves, create the foundation for popular American music for a generation to come: Tent Shows, Minstrel Shows, Ragtime. Focus on early blues players and performers.

Thursday, February 28 Concert
Eddie C. Campbell in Concert
7 p.m. at Unity Temple, 875 Lake Street, Oak Park, IL
Born to sharecroppers in Duncan, Mississippi, in 1939, Eddie C. Campbell was raised on Chicago's West Side. Shortly after moving to the Windy City, his mother brought him to the 1125 Club on Madison Avenue to meet legendary bluesman Muddy Waters. At 12 years old, Eddie returned to the club, played a scorching rendition of "Still A Fool," and earned a spot on the bandstand. He visited Europe in 1979 with the American Blues Legends Tour; audiences proved so receptive that he moved overseas in 1984, living first in England and Holland, then Germany. He returned to Chicago in 1992 with a style all his own: jaunty, irresistibly danceable rhythms overlaid with lithe guitar lines. Campbell, who now lives in Oak Park, has been called "one of the best bluesmen of the new generation."

Thursday, March 6 Film Showing
"Wild Women Don't Get the Blues"
7 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Scholar George Bailey, PhD, Columbia College Chicago, will introduce the film and a lead discussion following the showing. Focus on iconic blues women and their roles in establishing new representations and images of African American women in developing the music. Includes Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith, Lucille Bogan, Victoria Spivey, Ida Cox, Alberta Hunter, Bonnie Rait, KoKo Taylor, and others.

Wednesday, March 12 Film Showing
"The Howlin' Wolf Story" and "The Blues According to Lighnin' Hopkins"
7 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Scholar George Bailey, PhD, Columbia College Chicago, will introduce the film and a lead discussion following the showing. Blues and the rise of the recording industry. Chicago Blues-- The Chess story The growing popularity of blues and the formation of Jazz. A view of the Blues performer's individual story and the rise of the blues personality: Bukka White, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, Manse Lipscomb and others.

Thursday, March 13 Concert
Maggie Brown in Concert
7 p.m. at Unity Temple, 875 Lake Street, Oak Park, IL
Chicago-born Maggie Brown, daughter of Oscar Brown, made her professional acting and singing debut here at the Body Politic Theater. She studied music, theater and voice at Columbia College and has since taken her polished vocal style on the road. Since 1991, Maggie has toured Chicago-area schools and college campuses, performing her one-woman show, LEGACY: Our Wealth of Music. LEGACY is a musical demonstration/lecture about the history and evolution of African American music. With her knowledge of music history and entertainment, Maggie helped the Chicago House Of Blues, to develop their Blues Schoolhouse student outreach program. Maggie also tours in concert, promoting her self-produced debut solo recording, "From My Window," released on Browns' independent label: Mag Pie Records. In 1996, the album was nominated by the Chicago Music Awards for Best Jazz CD. Maggie was then nominated for Best Jazz Performer (1997).

Friday, March 14 Special Event
After-Hours Teen Coffeehouse
7 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Fire on the Mic with Marcelis Wyatt. An intersection of hip-hop and the blues.

Wednesday, March 19 Film Showing
"You See Me Laughin': The Last of the Hill County Blues Men"
7 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Scholar George Bailey, PhD, Columbia College Chicago, will introduce the film and a lead discussion following the showing. "Blues out in the world" Blues as a modernist impulse. We will discuss the creation of R&B, the influence of blues on Rock and Roll, and other forms of popular American music. We will also restate the role of blues as the core of an African American and an American musical and literary tradition.

Thursday, March 20 Concert
Bobbi Wilsyn in Concert
7 p.m. at Unity Temple, 875 Lake Street, Oak Park, IL
Wilsyn is an Artist-in-Residence at Columbia College Chicago teaching music and voice-related subjects, private lessons, and ensemble classes. Her performance career brought her from her hometown, Los Angeles, to Chicago after traveling with the Milt Trenier Show. She has gained international recognition as the featured jazz-blues vocalist with the Chicago Jazz Ensemble founded by the late William Russo, the Orbert Davis Quintet and the Thomas Gunther Sextet. Bobbi Wilsyn's all-female jazz group, She, plays their original compositions and jazz standards at Chicago area colleges and jazz-clubs. Wilsyn is in her seventh season with the multi-media performance ensemble, the Cerqua-Rivera Art Experience. Bobbi Wilsyn co-produced her debut CD, "It's About Time" with Joe Cerqua on her independent label. Wilsyn's latest project has teamed her once again with trumpeter, Orbert Davis, on his CD, "Priority." There Bobbi joins jazz singer, Kurt Elling, on the romantic ballad, "Midnight in Bahia."

More About the Blues
Thursday, May 22 - Saturday, May 24
Blues and the Spirit Symposium
Dominican University hosts the Blues and the Spirit Symposium, emphasizing the heritage of African-American Chicago and exploring
the shared roots of Blues and Gospel.