Before she goes on stage at B.L.U.E.S., Big Time Sarah sits at the end of the long bar and has a drink or two. As the BTS Express pumps, she knocks ’em back, drags long and hard on a cigarette and surveys the room. Her eyes are hooded; her expression is serious, a bit aloof.
B.L.U.E.S., on Halsted Street, is what could rightfully be called a room for blues lovers. Seven nights a week, it books the best of the local acts, such as Big Time Sarah, and frequently brings in star out-of-towners.
It’s a relatively small place: long and narrow, well-lit, with stools along the bar and the back wall and tiny but tall tables in the middle. The walls feature T-shirts and photographs, all with blues themes. No matter who’s playing, no matter how many people are actually in attendance, B.L.U.E.S. never feels empty.
Up on the stage, the BTS Express keeps churning as the room fills up. The band is African-American, mostly guys who are middle-aged, not unlike Big Time Sarah herself. They dress down, in jeans and Bulls T-shirts, in sneakers and baseball caps.
The audience is about the same age, sometimes a little younger, and white, with just a sprinkling of black folks. Tonight, there’s a group of black people sitting at the bar.
Eventually, Sarah climbs up on the stage and greets the crowd, which roars back its approval.
A plump, hourglass-shaped woman, Big Time Sarah’s got a gritty, often raw voice that’s never overwhelmed or overpowered by her sidemen. Sometimes, they struggle to catch up: She’s fast and playful but always haughty, always keeping to her tough-mama persona. If a song’s story ends badly — if the protagonist is left by her cheating man, for example — Sarah adds her own coda in smart, usually profane language that turns it around.
Which is why it’s a bit shocking later, as the first set winds down, when Sarah, now playing a game of grope and grind with herself, invites a young white man from the audience to play along — indeed, to play her: The game requires that he stand on the floor just below her on the stage, his head just about nipple-level, wrap his arms around her waist, then touch her breasts with his hands.
Tonight, the guy’s a Belgian tourist and he’s a bit drunk. He makes eyes at his friends, rubs his hands together as if he’s really going to dig in.
But when the moment of truth comes around — the BTS Express in full gear, the audience pumped, the black patrons at the bar looking down and away from each other as if everybody had lost a contact lens at the same time — the fellow falters: His hands barely alight on Sarah’s generous bosom.
No matter, she grabs him — in a gesture perhaps more familiar to men than women — and for an instant buries his head on her chest. He leaps back as if for air, a ridiculously nervous grin on his face, and quickly starts guzzling a beer and making conquering displays with the bottle and his fists.
As Big Time Sarah exits the stage, her lids drop again, this time quite regally, and she quite literally looks down at him.
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MOB Fest strikes this weekend and The Twigs will be at Uncommon Ground doing an acoustic set of originals, including new material from the upcoming EP. Later this month the sister singer-songwriting duo will be playing a showcase at New York’s CBGB.
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Two very hot dance shows at the House of Blues this week: On Wednesday, Los Van Van, arguably Cuba’s most innovative ensemble, and Thursday, Little Louie Vega, who’s worked with a bunch of hot Latin hip hoppers, including ex-wife La India when she was pre-salsa.
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Alexandra Billings, one of this column’s faves, has taken on her share of roles over the years: vampire and prostitute, murdered artist and Gertrude Stein. Thursday, she’ll playfully impersonate Carly Simon in the Chicago Cultural Center’s continuing birthday celebrations. Simon, of “You’re So Vain” fame, turns 53. She and Billings definitely have them cheekbones in common.
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the facts
Every day, 7 p.m. until 2 a.m., B.L.U.E.S., 2519 N. Halsted St. Call 773-528-1012 for more information. B.L.U.E.S. is wheelchair accessible.
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Friday, 9:30 p.m., The Twigs, MOB FEST at Uncommon Ground, 1214 W. Grace St. Call 773-388-1979.
Wednesday, 9 p.m., Los Van Van, Thursday, 11 p.m., Little Louie Vega, House of Blues, 329 N. Dearborn St. Call 312-923-2023.
Thursday, 1 p.m., Alexandra Billings celebrates Carly Simon, Randolph Cafe, Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St. Call 312-744-1426. The Cultural Center is wheelchair accessible.