Stunning black-and-white photographs capture the people and the vibrant atmosphere at the world famous blues venue, Theresa's lounge in the late 1960s. Marc Pokempner's shots are full of the very vigor that characterized the gritty, garish, good-time, working-class Chicago blues era when legends such as Muddy Waters, Buddy guy, Otis Spann, Jimmy Rogers, and Junior Wells performed down at Theresa's.

The booming industries of Chicago acted as a magnet for rural migrants from the Delta region of North Western Mississippi in the 1940's and 50's. The often painful adjustments made by these new arrivals in the "Windy City " led to the rise of a new musical form, an electrified urban version of the blues that was soon ringing out from the bars and clubs of the city's South Side.

The impact that this music was to have on the development of popular music in the 20th century is impossible to overstate--although its originators were often not the ones to pocket the profits. Blues lyrics--concise, earthy, humorous, or downright dirty--encapsulate the urban experience has no music had done before.

The Photographer Marc Pockempner is a photojournalist living in Chicago whose interest in the blues scene dates from the late 1960's. He was a frequent visitor to Theresa's Lounge, located at 48th St. and Indiana Ave. His work has been published in major magazines, such as Times and Newsweek, and is included in permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Author Wolfgang Schorlau spent some time with the photographer in Chicago--the blues metropolis-- and has written other articles on the blues scene.