Maxwell Street-Chicken Man

Chicken Man was a common sight at bus stops in Chicago during the 50's and 60's. Put down a dime watch the show.From the Mike Shea Films classic 'And This is Free'. The most complete account of a Sunday Morning on Chicago's Maxwell St. (A blues collectors must have).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• maxwell
• street
• chicago
• blues

[Corduroy66]

We called him Casey Jones on the far southside. In the 50's Casey would get on a streetcar with his chicken. We would feel honored to have seen this man and this dancing chicken b/c they were known throughout the southside.

[Danabl]

@Corduroy66 I used to see him a lot at a the Clark & North Ave. bus stop, Years ago they had a photo of him displayed at the Chicago Historical Society. I thought he was really cool. He would say, 'I'm a showman'!

[circusboy90210]

same old same old police stifling freedom of expression. ;-)

[fishtail1]

I use to see this man on Maxwell St. When I was 10 Years old.My Dad used to take me down there on Sun. Mornings I would always imitate him in the car on the way home to South Shore.Brings back fond memory's.

[stitsevol]

Fantastic!

[jcmangan]

Jesus Christ, we don`t even got chickens in Germany not to speak of the birds man. :-(

[bobbybluz1]

A friend of mine bought his first mojo form the Chicken Man in "Jew Town" (Maxwell Street) in the early 60's.

[bugsycline]

@Danabl I will be investigating this "Crack Down on street players" statement quite soon...

Please save me some time and tell me you are joking... as a good 35% of all American culture came from street performers. It seems highly unlikely that America that spent so much on the "Archives" to preserve American culture is now spending money to stamp it out.

But then again this is the work of fascism. And American government has been moving towards fascism since 1963

[arawdog1]

yes i remeber him very well during my child hood moment this is one of those jewtown moments

[valleart]

awesome clip!

[reckonman]

chickeman da man

[ZZLe4Ni]

Even though I hate the sound of an accordion, Chicken Man fucking rocks.