And This is Free: The Life and Times of Chicago's Legendary Maxwell Street," A Film to Check Out

“You used to get out on Maxwell Street on a Sunday Morning and pick you out a good spot, babe. Dammit, we’d make more money than I ever looked at. Put you out a tub, you know, and put a pasteboard in there, like a newspaper. I’m telling you, Jewtown was Jumpin’ like a champ, jumpin’ like mad on Sunday morning.”
-- Hound Dog Taylor, slide guitarist and former regular player on Maxwell Street.

This evening, the daddy is feeling a film called "And This is Free: The Life and Times of Chicago's Legendary Maxwell Street." Maxwell Street was a place my father and countless other black musicians went to pick up some extra cash by playing the blues.

Called "Jewtown" by many (because most of the immigrants in the neighborhood were Jewish), it was also a place to get a bargain on clothes or just about anything else. My father
was one of the many blues guitarists who made a little extra chump change by playing there. So Maxwell Street has a special place for me; and hearing "I Held My Baby" by Hound DogTaylor reminded me of Maxwell Street and the passionate blues played there.

Here's some info about the film:

"After languishing out of print for many years, Mike Shea’s legendary film on Chicago’s Maxwell Street Market, And This Is Free, has finally been reissued by Shanachie and I imagine news of this will stir up quite a bit of excitement in blues circles. Shanachie has done an exemplary job with the packaging; housed in a soft covered fold out set is a two disc set containing the 50 minute documentary And This Is Free, the 30 minute documentary Maxwell Street: A Living Memory, some fascinating archival footage, an interview with sound man Gordon Quinn, a separate CD of performances by artists associated with Maxwell Street plus an illustrated 36 page booklet."

To read more about the film, see Big Road Blues. To see photos of Maxwell Street, check out Maxwell Blues photos.