PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Contact:  Crystal Overton, 312-678-3370 or Bonni McKeown 773-209-4712

Fundraiser Apr. 3: Chicago blues movie, The Rhythm and the Blues

Chicago, IL, March 26, 2016—   Congressman Danny K. Davis, Illinois 7th District, invites everyone to celebrate our city's historic legacy of blues and soul music by supporting the Chicago independent movie The Rhythm and the Blues.  Davis and other officials are hosting a fundraiser April 3^rd to help producers finish the film, which is two thirds complete and stars the actor Leon as the frustrated blues guitarist Eddie Taylor.

"When they hear about the West or South Side of Chicago, too often people think 'Guns and Drugs'," Davis said. "What might help us in solving our problems is to see the positive forces in our community. One of these cultural assets is our amazing music. My generation brought these blues from the South during the Great Migration, and the blues are still with us today.  Music helps us keep on keeping on. So not only during Black History month, but all year, let's be thinking "Blues and Soul" instead of 'Guns and Drugs."

Shot last summer in Chicago with local supporting actors and professional crew, The Rhythm and the Blues is a 20 minute urban drama about a family of blues musicians trying to make it in the Windy City in the 1960's. Producers are seeking around $30,000 to finish two to three more days of filming.  Guy Davis, an acoustic blues musician and actor, the son of the late Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, plays the great Jimmy Reed, Eddie Taylor's music partner on the road.  Local actors Dasaun Sanford and Melanie Loren play the roles of teenaged Larry and his mother Vera.

Joining Rep. Davis in hosting the fundraiser Sunday April 3, 2016, 4:30 pm until 9:00 pm at Ashunti Resource Center, 4350 W. 16th St., Chicago, will be The Rhythm and the Blues producer Bonni McKeown; State Reps. LaShawn Ford and Arthur Turner Jr.; County Court Clerk Dorothy Brown; former alderman Wallace Davis; present aldermen Michael Scott Jr., Jason Ervin, Chris Taliaferro and alderwoman, Emma Mitts, Cmsr. Richard Boykin, Water Rec. Cmsr. Barbara McGowan, State Sen. Patricia Van Pelt, former Ald. Ed Smith, plus Loretta Kidd, Larry Howard, Don Patterson, Lester Barclay, Urban Technicians, Mary Gardner, and a host of others.

Larry Taylor, on whose life story The Rhythm and the Blues is based, is one of current Chicago's talented blues musicians—a West Side singer and drummer.  He'll bring his Larry Taylor Blues and Soul Band to play at the fundraiser April 3^rd.  Soul singer Cicero Blake will be a special guest singer. Former Ald. Isaac "Ike" Carothers will bring his saxophone.  Refreshments and a lucky drawing are offered. It will be a house-rocking great time. 

Those not able to attend the party April 3^rd can still donate on line at the film's website:  www.therhythmandtheblues.com

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