Here’s a home-grown Chicago film that, once completed, will give fans a fresh new look at the blues. This music can no longer be viewed apart from from the families and the West and South Side neighborhoods that created it. And these neighborhoods need to be in the spotlight now for their positive contributions to American culture.
Yours truly, your Austin Weekly News West Side Blues blog author, is producing The Rhythm and the Blues: A Short Note. I invite you to support us during our current fund-raising drive.
TRTB is a music-filled short film, a drama based on the lives of Chicago blues guitar wizard Eddie Taylor and his family, trying to make it in the 1960s. Chicago’s greatest blues story that’s never been told. We filmed two thirds of the short movie last summer. Only two to three days of filming stand in the way of the finish line.
Watching this urban drama, you’ll feel the vibes in a house of real blues. The late Vera and Eddie Taylor Sr., having arrived from Mississippi, raised their own second generation of musicians. They perform in the Chicago area today, in real life: Larry Taylor, Tim Taylor, Eddie Taylor Jr. and Demetria Taylor. The story in the movie is seen through the eyes of Larry, the oldest, a singer and drummer, who got the brothers and sisters together to produce the movie’s live-recorded blues soundtrack.
Popular actor Leon (“Temptations,” “Little Richard,” ) plays the role of Eddie Taylor, and acoustic bluesman and actor Guy Davis, son of Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, plays Eddie’s road partner, the great VeeJay recording artist Jimmy Reed. Chicago filmmaker Darryl Pitts has produced, directed and helped to write this outstanding work. It’s based on Larry Taylor’s autobiography which I co-wrote, Stepson of the Blues.
My film production company, Stepson of the Blues LLC, is raising $15,000 on line via Indiegogo as a vital initial step to complete The Rhythm and the Blues. Your donations are tax deductible, handled by my 501c3 fiscal sponsor Fractured Atlas.
CLICK BELOW to see the Indiegogo campaign including the trailer, made from what we’ve filmed so far. Put in your $5 or $50 or $500, whatever you can afford, and help us get the movie on! Coming to a film festival or community group near you, later this year, Lord willing!
http://igg.me/at/TRTBMovieMoney
THANK YOU with all my heart. TRTB is my dream coming true!
I’m Bonni McKeown, producer and the author of this blog, West Side Blues.
http://www.therhythmandtheblues.com
