[Slowhand] Buddy Guy - No EC Content

[Dale.Kalina at rrd.com]

Multimedia Chicago Blues Tour by Buddy Guy
For more information, contact: 
Christine Carrino, 312-744-2392
christine.carrino at cityofchicago.org
Joyce Rowe, 312-747-2036
joyce.rowe at cityofchicago.org
BLUES LEGEND BUDDY GUY GIVES TOUR OF CHICAGO MUSIC HISTORY
Multimedia audio tour exploring Chicago’s musical roots has been 
downloaded by nearly 100,000 listeners within the first six months
 
CHICAGO – Exploring the "Home of the Blues," the Chicago Blues Audio Tour 
narrated by Chicago-local Buddy Guy has found an astonishing audience in 
just six months.  The podcast has been downloaded more than 97,000 times 
and is currently averaging over 1,000 downloads per day.  The free, 
50-minute tour combines an interactive map, tour stop directions, archival 
photos, video, music clips, and interviews – a true multimedia experience 
unlike anything else available.
 
Listeners are able to follow the tour either by downloading to a portable 
media player or by virtually experiencing Chicago on a home computer. 
Available in Mandarin Chinese, English, German, Japanese, and Spanish, the 
tour is able to reach international visitors and devotees of Chicago blues 
wherever they are. 
 
In September, the podcast was featured on the front page of iTunes, the 
most popular repository for podcasts in the world.  The tour was also 
awarded a 2007 MUSE Award from the American Association of Museums 
recognizing outstanding achievement in museum media.  According to the 
judges, "while [the tour] would offer an evocative introduction to a 
visitor on the streets of Chicago, it is strong enough to be educational 
and engaging no matter where the listener may be."
 
As Buddy Guy explains about Chicago, "This is the place where people just 
like myself came from the South to create new lives and a new kind of 
music.  The generation just before mine came up here playing folk music. 
But soon they traded in their acoustic guitars for electric instruments. 
And when they plugged them in, they created a new, urban sound, that we 
call Chicago blues."
 
Through Buddy Guy’s insider perspective and interviews with blues 
musicians and historians, visitors experience the Chicago blues historic 
and societal relevance, the worldwide impact on music and culture, and the 
city’s contemporary scene.  Incorporating archival photos, music clips, 
and video, the tour highlights ten historic locations including Maxwell 
Street, Chess Records, and Muddy Water’s former home.  Listeners, from 
blues club aficionados to those less familiar with the Chicago blues 
sound, will discover something new from the explanation of Chicago blues 
and profiles of five Chicago blues innovators: Jimmy Yancey, Tampa Red, 
Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, and Koko Taylor.
 
In addition, the tour illustrates how Chicago continues to influence the 
international blues sound.    Visitors can experience "Sweet Home Chicago" 
at the city’s many music clubs, including Buddy Guy’s Legends. Celebrating 
its 25th anniversary this June 5-8, 2008, the annual Chicago Blues 
Festival is the largest free blues festival in the world and draws over 
800,000 visitors.  Also, the Chicago Blues Archives at the city’s Harold 
Washington Library preserves archival recordings of performances 
unavailable anywhere else.
 
The Chicago Office of Tourism produced the audio tour with the 
award-winning Acoustiguide, Inc.  "We are pleased to have had the 
opportunity to work with the Chicago Office of Tourism on this project and 
are extremely happy with the results," said Kathryn Glass, Acoustiguide 
vice president.  "By the end of the first year, more than 150,000 people 
will have had the pleasure of hearing Buddy Guy talk about Chicago’s place 
in the history of the Blues, and that is something we are all very proud 
of."
 
The Chicago Blues Tour is free and can be downloaded at 
www.downloadchicagotours.com or Apple’s iTunes.  Media can find an 
electronic press kit for the tour at 
http://www.downloadchicagotours.com/bluesmedia/.

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