Monday, February 9, 2009

Buddy Guy's Legends Lives Up to it's Name

When you drive by Buddy Guy's blues mecca it's pretty unassuming. The building isn't in the best shape and it doesn't scream high profile. However, according to this article in the Lake County News-Sun, it has had it's fair share of high profile appearances and concerts:

June 1989:Buddy Guy headlines the Chicago Blues Festival; after his last song, he invites the crowd to his "new home of the blues," Buddy Guy's Legends.
July 1989: Guy celebrates his birthday at the club with guest Stevie Ray Vaughan.
1990:Willie Dixon plays a show at the club.
1992:First Bluesletter is published.
1992: "Damn Right, I've Got the Blues" wins Guy his first Grammy.
1993: First official January shows by Guy, who plays four shows in that residency.
1993: Van Morrison (left) stops in at Legends to jam with Junior Wells after a Civic Opera House gig.
1993:Derek Trucks, 13, plays a show at Legends. (In 2008, he and his wife, Susan Tedeschi, play on Guy's latest album, "Skin Deep.")
May 1994:Guy and G.E. Smith & the "Saturday Night Live" band record "Live: The Real Deal" at Legends.
November 1994: Eric Clapton plays three sold-out shows.
1996:Johnny "Guitar" Watson (right) plays his last Chicago show; just a few weeks later, Watson dies onstage in Japan.
1996: Legends is featured in the karaoke scene (above) in the Julia Roberts movie "My Best Friend's Wedding."
1996: Junior Wells' "Live at Buddy Guy's Legends" is released.
1998:Legends' Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya is one of the Top 10 foods featured at Taste of Chicago.
1999: News comes out that the club will be "closing" after the property is donated to Columbia College; the news resurfaces in 2007. The move is still pending.
2002:Mick Jagger and Ron Wood stop by after a concert to jam.
2003: Legends starts serving lunch during the week. There is live music Monday through Friday from noon until 2 a.m.
May 2003:The club throws a celebration for Delmark Records' 50th anniversary.
2004-08: Legends is the Citysearch audience winner for best blues club.
2005:Guy is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
July 2006:Guy turns 70 with a big party at the club.
January 2007: Vaclav Klaus (right), president of the Czech Republic, checks out a Guy show.
2007: Johnny Winter plays his first show at Legends.
June 2008: B.B. King visits the club for the first time after his Blues Fest gig; he dines on smothered catfish.
Pretty impressive...man I would have like to see Clapton at this venue in 1994.

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