In the spirit of the old-time rent parties, Chicago blues musicians are throwing an Auto Pound Blues Bailout for singer and drummer Larry Hill Taylor – whose van is stuck in a city pound — at a South Side cafe on Thursday.

Barrelhouse Bonni McKeown is on piano, Joe Harrington on bass, Jerry-O on guitar and West Side Wes on drums, and lots of guests can be expected, Thursday, July 21, 6 to 9 p.m., at Favia Cafe, 1701 S. Hale, near the Beverly Hills Metra stop.

Favia’s is donating free sandwiches, coffee and soft drinks will be on sale, you can BYOB, and the donation is $10 (or more).  Taylor’s CD, They Were In This House, and his memoir, Stepson of the Blues, will also be available.

Larry Hill Taylor

Taylor is the son of blues singer Vera Taylor and the stepson of blues great Eddie Taylor. He grew up in North Lawndale surrounded by the many of the greatest blues musicians of all time, and he’s performed with Albert Collins, Otis Clay, Junior Wells, among many others,  and toured Europe with Willie Dixon.

He’s struggling to keep the music going.  “He’s part of a whole generation that isn’t getting the promotion,” said Barrelhouse Bonni.  “And if they don’t get promoted, the younger generation won’t be inspired to take it up.”

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Banks routinely violate state and federal laws protecting tenants in rental buildings in foreclosure, particularly in a “foreclosure belt” stretching across the South and West Sides, according to a new report.

Lenders and their agents “willfully ignore” laws that protect tenants in foreclosures and have “institutionalized in their practices the wholesale violation of tenants’ [legal] rights,” according to a report (pdf) from the Lawyers Committee for Better Housing.

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