When I got to Chicago I had to find my way.

The blues is the foundation, and it's got to carry the top. The other part of the scene, the rock 'n' roll and the jazz, are the walls of the blues.

I've been waiting for that bright sunshine to show up and shine in my back door someday.

In the blues, it just takes so long for us to get recognized.

I don't want to be in some big beautiful place that nobody want me, because I play the blues.

But let's face it, I still have to look at my self and look at the things I've done down the stretch.

In the States, it takes you a lifetime just to get from Chicago's South Side to the West Side.

So I cut out all the drinkin' and hangin' out and stuff like that early on.

Before I left, I opened a lot of doors for a lot of people to play the blues.

And I can do the rock clubs if I have to.

But you know, I still had a dream of being able to go back home and tour.

I think I'm the most positive guy still going in my generation, and I'm out there to prove that.

But I did that, and I created another blues scene, another something I can sing about.

But there was not a job that could say that Luther Allison didn't do his job.

I mean, look how many musicians have come through and played beside me, and I'm workin' and they're not.

I focused on how these people became how they were.

We played the same thing in Europe we played in the States.

I have as much input to the blues; I just never got the chance, the opportunity or maybe the respect.

I look in music magazines now and see things on Luther Allison, and my name's getting out there more, thanks to all the good people at Alligator Records and at my management company.

When I got to Chicago I had to find my way.

I want people to recognize Luther Allison when I play.

But my big thing was always the blues.

Well, I've had to deal with everything in my life... leavin' the family, learnin' what not and what to do.

I want to play in a place people want to hear me.

What I want to do, is play music for somebody who believe in me.

Me being a skinny guy, I could crawl into the steel pit.

Well, I first started going to Europe in the late '70s.

Buddy Guy finally got a break and made it. And Buddy Guy deserves it.

But I never had that commercial opportunity to be played on the radio, so how could I be popular?

I had the qualifications, but I was not chosen.

The blues is the foundation and its got to carry the top. The other part of the scene the rock n roll and the jazz are the walls of the blues.

I think that unless you grew up in New York or Chicago or Los Angeles, you're sheltered.

Chicago kept industry, attracted new business, became the center for convention trade and transportation.

My dad was born in Chicago in 1908... his parents came from Russia. They settled in Chicago, where they lived in a little tiny grocery store with eight or nine children - in the backroom all together - and my grandmother got the idea to go into the movie business.

While Mayor Daley surprised me today with his decision to not run for reelection, I have never been surprised by his leadership, dedication and tireless work on behalf of the city and the people of Chicago.

My place in Chicago is a 105 year old house, but I really like contemporary spaces too, so it's refreshing and fun to be in a space where you can do contemporary things.

I'm always going to get more of a charge playing Chicago than I will Duluth or some place like that. Just because of the history and the people there are way more knowledgeable than a lot of other cities. It's an amazing music scene with some great bands and great musicians.

We are proud to have with us the poet lariat of Chicago.

We got into all the trouble you could ever imagine. We figured that if the Jones boys and all the gangsters ran Chicago, we had our own territory now. All the stores, all the crime, we were in charge of everything, my stepbrother and my brother.

I'd seen the current stage production and the 1975 production of Chicago. I liked them both very much, but I didn't use them necessarily as inspiration.

I joined the Army and was sent to the MIT radiation laboratory after a few months of introduction to electromagnetic wave theory in a special course, given for Army personnel at the University of Chicago.

Chicago is a city of contradictions, of private visions haphazardly overlaid and linked together.

My father actually moved out from Chicago just so he could play tennis 365 days a year, so it was - it was a place we played every day. We played before school. We played after school. We woke up. We played tennis. We brushed our teeth in that order.

However, I was a restaurant critic at Chicago magazine before I worked at Esquire, and I've been a really enthusiastic home cook for a long time. It's just something I'm passionate about.

I have a friend who lives in the South Side of Chicago. I helped out at a church charity there where they try to give a bit of cohesion to a desperate area. Everyone was very welcoming.

Hollywood is run by people who sit up in their executive office, who are not connected to Mississippi, Alabama, Chicago, South Carolina. They know nothing about that, they don't go to church, and they make their decisions about what they think is right.

Chicago is one city. We shall work as one people for our common good and our common goals.

In the States, it takes you a lifetime just to get from Chicago's South Side to the West Side.

This is not to be cocky, but, I go over real well at Comic-Con. I've done quite a few Comic-Cons, and I enjoy the hell out of them. They are so much fun, and so bizarre. I've done the FX Show in Florida, Wizard-World in Chicago, Comic-Con in San Diego, Wonder-Con in San Francisco, the Comic-Con in New York, and I've done them numerous times.