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What We're Reading: Buddy Guy Says DUI, No-Smoking Laws Squeezing Bars

By Andrew Herrmann | November 13, 2015 4:28pm
 Chicago bluesman Buddy Guy performs at the 2008 West Coast Blues and Roots Festival.
Chicago bluesman Buddy Guy performs at the 2008 West Coast Blues and Roots Festival.
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Getty Images/Paul Kane

Music and cars, that's what we're reading about today:

Blues Bar Blues: Bluesman Buddy Guy says there aren't more blues bars in Chicago now because of crackdowns on drunk driving and laws against smoking. Senior editor Andrew Herrmann is reading a Rolling Stone interview where Guy says, "Most clubs are not surviving because of DUI and non-smoking."

Guy's own Legends club, 700 S. Wabash Ave., still draws customers because people want to "come see me sitting at the bar and take pictures." Guy, who lives in south suburban Orland Park, says when he's at the club he passes on Legend's own "stronger" Buddy Brew on tap for Heineken on ice. "When I go home tonight I don't wanna be caught drunk," he says.

"I think if I closed my club, there might be two left" in the city, says Guy, who recalls that when he came to Chicago in 1957 there were so many blues bars a musician "could work seven days a week."

Ford Tough: The Tribune reports that more than $1 billion could be invested in the local Ford automobile plants if union workers OK a new labor deal. The plan would add 200 workers to the Torrence Avenue plant. The Torrence plant, which opened in 1924 and is the company's longest running facility, makes the Explorer and police cars. The proposed labor deal includes two 3-percent raises over four years and a profit-sharing plan. Torrence Avenue employs 4,100 people; Chicago Heights 1,125.