I mentioned in last week’s post about Torchwood that I would miss the first episode because I would be at the Sundance Film Festival, and promised more information this week.<\/p>\n
I’m going out to the Festival to support a new client, Maxwell Street Documentary, at the premiere of the film, Electrified- The Story of the Maxwell Street Urban Blues<\/a>. <\/p>\n The film will be launched at a party at Harry O’s in\u00a0 Park City next Friday January 25th. In addition to the screening of the film, there will be a live performance by acclaimed blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd<\/a> and blues legend Hubert Sumlin<\/a>. Actor Chevy Chase<\/a> will be master of ceremonies. Fender<\/a> has also donated a limited edition \u201cElectrified\u201d guitar that film executive producer Les Walgreen will present\u00a0 to online auction house Charity Buzz for an auction<\/a>\u00a0 to benefit The Center for Environmental Education Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n I’m doing media\/blogger outreach and developing a blog for the film. If you are going to be at Sundance on the 25th and would like to come to the screening, email or Twitter me.<\/em><\/p>\n Electrified tells the definitive history of the Chicago blues.<\/a> Narrated by actor Joe Mantegna, the film chronicles how the urban neighborhood of Maxwell Street<\/a> created a unique environment of commerce and cooperation that led first to the hard-driving sound of the urban blues, and ultimately to rock and roll. Interviews with many of the legendary bluesmen who \u201cstudied at Chicago\u2019s Maxwell Street school of music,\u201d including Buddy Guy<\/a>, Junior Wells<\/a>, Charlie Musselwhite<\/a>, Jimmie Lee Robinson<\/a> and the \u201cfather of rock and roll\u201d Bo Diddley<\/a>, complement the film\u2019s historical narrative and create an exceptional history of this important era in American music.<\/p>\n A companion film, Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street<\/a>, documents the last days of the historic Maxwell Street market. It premiered<\/a> to critical acclaim at the Chicago International Documentary Film Festival in April 2007, and is scheduled to be shown at the Amnesty International venue at Sundance January 18-20 and the Gene Siskel Film Center<\/a> in Chicago on February 2.<\/p>\n Both Electrified and Cheat You Fair were written, directed and produced by longtime Chicago resident\u00a0 and Emmy nominated producer Phil Ranstrom who began the projects in 1994 shortly before the Maxwell Street market was demolished.<\/p>\n We’ve put some short clips from both films up on YouTube<\/a>. They are all great, but here are my two favorites:<\/p>\n "We come up the hard way…" Uncle Johnny Williams on how the blues were born<\/strong><\/p>\n