It’s Tuesday night at Rosa’s, and strains of heavy bass and guitar playing are seeping out through the bar’s walls. Near the entrance, a giant-screen TV blares classic blues concerts. It overlooks a pool table, surrounded by players coolly draping their bodies into shooting position. The walls are covered with Rosa’s relics: pictures from the annual Blues Cruise, posters from past concerts, and a full-blown portrait of Mama Rosa herself.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Rosa’s, touted as “Chicago’s friendliest blues lounge,” is nestled in an iffy corner of Logan Square, literally and figuratively miles from the typical yuppie-filled Lincoln Park blues club. “I want this to be like home. We are all family,” explains Tony. “I’m not just here to make a dollar. I could ‘ave kept my ass home for that,” he says with a grin.
“Junior Wells is a famous harmonica player. I caught his act one day when he played in Italy. I share a bottle of JB with him and I tell him I want to play blues in Chicago. He gave me his address and told me to come see him in Chicago. So after a couple of years, I follow him.”
It was Mama Rosa who wanted to open a business. Tony was traveling with various blues bands and she wanted him to have a base. She located an Italian real estate company to find a building, a company that only handled property on the northwest side–that’s how Rosa’s wound up at the corner of Armitage and Kimball. It opened in February 1985 and soon developed a strong reputation for good music and homespun style, regularly featuring such legendary blues acts as James Cotton, Junior Wells, Billy Branch, and Homesick James.
