An Alternative Summer Breeze
This past Saturday, wedged in between the mechanical bull, the moon bounce, and shirtless Frisbee tossers, five bands took the stage as part of WHPK 88.5 FM’s annual Summer Breeze concert. The show was...
View ArticleMonk and Mingus
Copacetic composers Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus were brought back to life this past weekend. No, it wasn’t the work of new science or an ancient spell; rather, this was the University of...
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Best of the South Side 2012
Jane Fentress Chicago is a city that boasts, and this is our contribution. Our half of the city—the South Side—is many things, and in our annual Best Of issue, we haven’t tried to solve the riddle of...
View ArticleAnnual jazz
It began with a rumble, and then a screech, and then a bang. A thumping baseline saddled up beside vocals preaching the gospel of love, while drums echoed against gothic stonework. At Union Church on...
View ArticleRemembering Von
If not for the Chicago Clean Indoor Air Ordinance, the Jazz Showcase would have been dark and smoky. Even so, it was dim enough inside for a memorial service— more specifically, a memorial show...
View ArticleA personal history
“Buzzing! This place was buzzing!” Mr. Young, the tour guide, shouted as our bus plowed north on Cottage Grove from 43rd Street. “And I mean buzzing, like people everywhere, twenty-four-seven.” Within...
View Article“Keep ‘em Coming, P.J., Keep ‘em Coming”
The crowd hadn’t had enough; at this rate, Hyde Park Records wasn’t going to close on time. Gathered last Saturday at a quarterly “Soul Reunion” hosted by P.J. Willis, a WHPK DJ and member of the...
View ArticleA Night at the Orphanage
I thought it would be spooky. I thought it would be scary. Most of all, as I crossed the tire-shaped craters of fallen leaves along 31st Street, I thought I knew what to expect from Chicago DIY venue...
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Resurrection Box
Ken Shipley is a hard man to shake. “I’ll call somebody a hundred times in a week if I think it’s the right person, if they don’t pick up,” he says matter-of-factly. “I’ll call somebody on...
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Route 666
FOUR MEN, ONE WOMAN; SHE’S BLONDE, while the guys sport variations of an unkempt jet-black mop. She, Lariyah Daniels, traverses the stage in a leather corset, while her band-...
View ArticleSolo Stuff
It’s a strange thing to stand in a room full of instruments without music. Thankfully, near closing time at 312 Vintage Guitars in Bridgeport, two inquisitive girls stroll in, shuddering from the cold,...
View ArticleFresh, hot jazz
Everything about the Washington Park Arts Incubator is new. It’s got that smell of fresh white paint and unfinished floors. The stark white walls are clearly meant for exhibition. The space is so new...
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Fake Shore Drive
photo by Dan Reis Andrew Barber and Tyrine Howard are Fake Shore Drive, Chicago’s premier rap-blog-turned-Midwest-hip-hop-empire. A transplant from Indianapolis, Barber launched the site in 2007. Since...
View ArticleThe Pullman punk ethic
Amongst the terraced houses of Pullman, sits the home of the Cooperation Operation, or, more colloquially, the “Co-op Op,” a fledgling urban farm and activist group currently in the process of becoming...
View ArticleJava jams
This wasn’t the night for “cool” café jazz. The wind was pushing sharp; the sidewalks down into University Village were variably shoveled. I gratefully ducked into the storefront and remained a little...
View ArticleSome Blue Notes, but in Harmony
For those who seek the Brown Derby Jazz Revue, it’s kind of hard to find. Playing on Prairie Avenue just south of 51st Street, the series is nestled inside the King Tut Room of the Great Lakes Elks...
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Feel Like Going Home
photo by Taro Matsuno “Hello, hello, hello!” Chris Toepfer calls into the dusty dark from atop his ladder, but nothing stirs. Broken glass lies at the top of the stoop, before the painted wood panels...
View ArticleLet It Shine
Chicago-based party collaborative Dale Shine knows there’s no better way to bring people together than a cozy space and good music.Read more →
View ArticleFirst Movement
Inside the United Church of Hyde Park, sloping arabesque pillars frame the altar where Cincinnati chamber folk outfit The Happy Maladies are preparing for soundcheck. Read more →
View ArticleArgentina Lives - Jazz-tango and Argentine opera at the Logan Center
Contempo, the UofC's contemporary chamber music collective, tackled history and reinvention in an ambitious performance at the Logan Center on Saturday night.Read more →
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