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Renee Rosen: Windy City Blues

  • Bookends and Beginnings Bookstore 1712 Sherman Avenue, Alley #1 Evanston, IL, 60201 United States (map)

Leeba Groski doesn’t exactly fit in, but her love of music is not lost on her childhood friend and neighbor, Leonard Chess, who offers her a job at his new record company in Chicago. What starts as answering phones and filing becomes more than Leeba ever dreamed of, as she comes into her own as a songwriter and crosses paths with legendary performers like Chuck Berry and Etta James. But it’s Red Dupree, a black blues guitarist from Louisiana, who captures her heart and changes her life. Their relationship is unwelcome in segregated Chicago and they are shunned by Leeba’s Orthodox Jewish family. Yet in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, Leeba and Red discover that, in times of struggle, music can bring people together. Join Renee Rosen—bestselling author of White Collar Girl and What the Lady Wants—for a discussion of her new novel, Windy City Blues, and a look back at the history of Maxwell Street, Chess Records, Chicago blues and the Civil Rights Movement.