Mike Bloomfield

You know, I like sweet blues... I want to be singing. I want to be sweet," said music legend Mike Bloomfield of his searing, lyrical guitar playing. His awesome instrumental prowess is on full display in this raucous documentary celebrating the legacy of a hard-living, finger-fretting renegade. Described by fellow icon Al Kooper as "not just another white boy [but] someone who truly knew what the blues were about," Bloomfield drew on African American tradition while burnishing his licks with a radical compositional approach reflecting the social and cultural upheaval of the 1960s.

"Born In Chicago" is a soulful documentary film that chronicles a uniquely musical passing of the torch. It’s the story of first generation blues performers who had made their way to Chicago from the Mississippi Delta and their ardent and unexpected followers – young white, middle class kids who followed this evocative music to smoky clubs deep in Chicago’s ghettos. There, against all odds, they were encouraged by the greats who had became their musical mentors and learned the art of the blues at the feet the masters, going on to make the music their own.

Hazel runs a beauty salon out of her house, but makes extra money by providing ruthless women the oppurtunity to perform hit jobs. L.T. is a parasite, and contacts Hazel looking for work after he runs out of money. She is reluctant to use him for a hit, since she prefers using women, but decides to try him on a trial basis. Meanwhile, the cop she pays off wants an arrest to make it look like he's doing his job, but Hazel doesn't want to sacrifice any of her "associates". The sleazy side of life is explored in this delightfully dark and deadpan film.

After returning from Egypt, Abraham and his nephew Lot separate and Lot settles outside of Sodom with his wife and two daughters. Lot's eldest daughter Leah captures the eye of the city's king, Bera, but due to his impotency there is a ban on lovemaking. Meanwhile two astronauts, assigned to Earth to observe Sodom and to cure the people of a gonorrhea epidemic, institute a circumcision program with the aid of Abraham.

After returning from Egypt, Abraham and his nephew Lot separate and Lot settles outside of Sodom with his wife and two daughters. Lot's eldest daughter Leah captures the eye of the city's king, Bera, but due to his impotency there is a ban on lovemaking. Meanwhile two astronauts, assigned to Earth to observe Sodom and to cure the people of a gonorrhea epidemic, institute a circumcision program with the aid of Abraham.

In July 1974, a group of Chicago based blues artists who had already achieved legendary status gathered together with some of their younger "blues brethren" from all over the country to pay tribute to the man most responsible for bringing blues from the Mississippi Delta upriver to Chicago, Muddy Waters. Appearing with Muddy that night were his contemporaries Willie Dixon, Koko Taylor, Junior Wells and Pinetop Perkins, and from the next generation of blues lovers and performers, Mike Bloomfield, Buddy Miles, Johnny Winter, Dr. John, and Nick Gravenites -- all artists who were on their way to becoming legends themselves. What resulted from that joyous teaming was a truly historic session that not only presented some of the greatest blues classics ever written, but a never-to-be-forgotten hour that truly demonstrates the love of music by one generation for another.

John Cassellis is the toughest TV news reporter around. After extensively reporting about violence and racial tensions in poor communities, he discovers that his network is helping the FBI by granting them access to his footage to find suspects.

Black and white footage of performances, interviews, and conversations at the Newport Folk Festival, from 1963 to 1966. The headliners are Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan, who's acoustic and electric. Son House and Mike Bloomfield talk about the blues; John Hurt, Howlin' Wolf, and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee show its range. The Osborne Brothers perform bluegrass. Donovan, Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Mimi and Dick Farina, and others less well known also perform. Several talk musical philosophy, and there's a running commentary about the nature and appeal of folk music. The crowd looks clean cut.