Labels: music
Santi White performs rock music!
Really!
Yes she is a young black female! No, she is not performing hip-hop!
It's possible! The world is a diverse place.
At least for the time being.
I think they may try to sneak this through, so I'm keeping an eye out. I really think it was Jim Derogatis' reporting that really turned the tide with this. I may disagree with his music criticism 90% of the time, but he is a true music journalist.
Labels: chicago, politics, promoters ordinance
Check out Alderman Gene Schulter on WBEZ's Eight Forty-Eight this morning babbling on in defense of the promoter ordinance.
Not to speak for the dude, but from what I hear, essentially he's saying this:
- The ordinance is set up for the city to know what events in the city are going on so they can send enough police in to shut those events down.
- The ordinance is meant to distinguish "good" promoters from "bad" promoters, and by his definition, "good" promoters are the ones with a lot of money.
Guess there's gonna be something on Channel 11's Chicago Tonight about the ordinance. I'm glad it's getting a lot of press. Hope it's not too late.
Here's how. Labels: chicago, music, politics, promoters ordinance
From the CHIRP website:If you value live music in Chicago (and the work of the Chicago Indie Radio Project), it’s important that you make your voice heard. Call your alderman and ask him or her to oppose the Promoter Ordinance. Be polite. Tell him or her you support live music in Chicago, and feel this ordinance would kill many great events. Say you want venues to be safe, but this ordinance goes too far.
Your voice makes a difference. Place a call to your alderman’s office today.
This page will help you find your alderman and give you his or her phone number — quick and easy! It only takes a couple of minutes.
http://www.chicityclerk.com/citycouncil/alderman/find.html
And if you’re able, come to the city council meeting on Wednesday, May 14 at 10AM in City Council chambers, and speak out against the measure.
The folks at SaveChicagoCulture have started an online petition as well. Add your name to the thousands of others that oppose this ordinance
I really, really wish I could make it to the city council meeting. Instead, I am going to keep blogging about this till there's a resolution.
Sign the petition here.
Something scary is about to go down with Chicago's music scene this coming Wednesday, May 15, if local music fans don't speak out now:
On that date the council will vote to approve an ordinance that has the power to stifle creativity in Chicago’s musical, theatrical, and general cultural scenes. With no public discourse or commentary, this proposal has been approved by the City Council Committee and is on the fast track to be pushed into law. It is up to us to let our elected officials know that Chicago’s creative scene is too rich, too varied, and too vital to be regulated in such a blanket fashion.
The details:
The “Event Promoters” ordinance requires any event promoter to have a license from the city of Chicago and liability insurance of $300,000, but that’s just the start:
* The definition of “event promoter” is so loosely defined it could apply to a band that books its own shows or a theater company that’s in town for a one-week run.
* “Event Promoter” must be licensed and will pay $500 - $2000 depending on expected audience size.
* To get the license, applicant must be over 21, get fingerprinted, submit to a background check, and jump over several other hurdles.
* This ordinance seems targeted towards smaller venues, since those with 500+ permanent seats are exempt.
* Police must be notified at least 7 days in advance of event.
This is a pretty big deal for anyone who cares about independent music, art and cultural events in the city. I go to a lot of them and this freaks me out. There's a lot of crooked and dangerous promoters in the city, but many, many more grassroots creative groups and individuals who will be very much burdened, if not shut down by these fees. The great independent art/music/culture scene in this city may stop dead in its tracks, and frankly, if that scene dies, then shit, one of the city's saving graces will be gone. Well, at least we will still have that expensive-ass park downtown. We can all just go to that.
Jim Derogatis, bless him, wrote a great article on his blog about what it means for the city.
Anyway, please, call your alderman or city official and tell them to vote no on this ordinance. I swear, Daley's trying to turn this city back in time.
Go to http://savechicagoculture.org/ to find out more.
So this is not a food and drink blog, but I have been doing some pretty good eating and drinking in the past few weeks. Last week I went to Shochu, the new Japanese izakaya-style eatery on Clark St. in Lakeview. One of the things I regret not doing in Japan was checking out an izakaya, but as American chicks, I wonder if the experience would have been less than authentic; tourists hanging out among all of the businesspeople. I actually like going to Oysy for my izakaya-like experience: the octopus in hot sauce is really good.
Shochu is a bit more upscale (and pricier) than Oysy, it is after all, smack dab in the middle of Wrigleyville. Shochu the drink is pretty awesome, it's like a cross between Sake and Vodka, it's got about 40% less calories than vodka and supposedly does not cause hangovers. I now know why it is the drink of choice for Japanese alcoholics. However, paying, $8 for three tiny octopus on skewers is ridiculous when I can go to Oysy and have a whole plate of octopus for $6. So in that, you fail, Shochu.
The Wasabi Fries are good though, so is the duck sushi.
So in short, I dig it, and would go back.
Hope all the mothers and mother-type people had a Happy Mother's Day. I took my mom out for brunch and then we saw Iron Man, which we both enjoyed. Then we went back home and watched Law and Order and Star Wars for the 2 millionth time because that's just what we do when I stop by.
My mom: Obi-Wan Kenobi is a lying old bastard!
Me: I know! That's what I've been saying this entire time!
My mom: He's telling that child "your uncle ain't shit! He doesn't want you to be a Jedi! Here take this lightsaber, your father wanted you to have it!" Oh, was that before or after you cut off his legs!?
Me: Yeah, and he just pulls stuff out of his ass and says "well it's all in the interpretion! Darth Vader killed your dad, in a way."
My mom: Why do I keep watching this?
My mom also has the hots for Prince Caspian. Which I understand.
Every time I want to make a podcast of me and my mom watching TV she gets all shy. But it will happen.
Thanks to Viv for keeping the tradition alive. This month it's about dads in honor of Father's Day. Dads we love, dads we hate, bio-dads, baby daddies, father figures (Oh baby) and maybe even the dads we wish we had instead of the ones we got.
The rules are simple -- get a FineTune account, and create a 45 song playlist from the library that ties in with the theme somehow. On the first Friday of the month, you post your playlist on the blog (and hopefully a link to the other participants).
If you're interested, drop a comment here or when the list is completed and we'll link to each other's lists. I'm also expecting a frajillion versions of Father Figure for this month.
I'll take the month of July!
I had a weird dream the other night, where I found out I had a teenage son. He was a nice young man, headed to college (or possibly in his first year) so that at least turned out OK. I kind of freaked out, though. Mostly because I had no recollection of carrying and giving birth to said son; number two because my family seemed nonplussed by the discovery, too; number three - for it to have worked out, age-wise, I would have been a mite young. Labels: dreams, soap operas, weird
So I asked my mom "Why don't I remember giving birth to this kid?" She looked at me grimly and said "that was a hard year for you." Then (since by that time I thought it was not a dream) I really freaked out and woke myself up.
I think the dream was about to go into One Life to Live territory or something similar.
I am pleased to hear that on the heels of Iron Man's success we can expect an Avengers movie in a couple of years. My love for Batman aside, I am a Marvel girl at heart (Excelsior!) And after you royally fucked up the X-Men and the Fantastic Four you have a chance to redeem yourself with The Avengers. You can roll up the Hulk in that, throw some Iron Man in there, NICK FURY, BITCHES, maybe give Thor and Captain America some dignity, and introduce people to my girl, the batshit crazy Scarlet Witch (check out her occupation as listed on the Marvel.com website: "adventurer; formerly witchcraft tutor, housewife, terrorist" Heh.)
However, you really, really don't have to include Ant-Man in all of this. Seriously.
There's a reason you haven't seed a lot of fans clamoring for an Ant-Man movie: He's a scientist who can shrink to the size of an ant. And talk to ants. In other words, he's a second rate superhero and no one gives a shit. Seriously, I'd rather see a Dazzler movie.
Marvel has a really spotty track record with movies. And by spotty, I mean awful. An Ant-Man movie won't help your reputation.
So in short, please consider skipping over Ant-Man altogether.
This is a press photo from the new tour and its kinda badass, for them. They look like the Four Horsemen or something.
Labels: music
Russian Circles "Station" came out yesterday, the entire album is streaming here. Give me a week and I will have an opinion on this record. They are playing with Daughters everywhere but Chicago, which is interesting to me. I am looking forward to seeing Daughters live. They scare me a little, and that's always exciting.
I was hoping Tankboy could shed some light on Black Kids and why I should care in his recent Chicagoist post, but ... no. I think it's just a matter of taste, and I am so weary of that stripped-down,perky power pop that's all the rage these days. I want some BIG ROCK, but sadly, a lot of what's considered "hot" in that vein seems to be boring 70's throwbacks like The Sword and Wolfmother.(Sorry Wolfmother fans, the best I can say about them is they are OK.) Does it Offend you, Yeah? intrigues me. A lot. Aggressive dance music is always fun. But their name annoys me for some reason.
I dunno how I feel about Zechs Marquise as a band yet, on first listen they are like "Mars Volta for kids!" but I am loving them for being named after a Gundam character. Nerds!
I wrote a review of Santogold's CD for ALARM that was published this week. I resisted the blog buzz for awhile because everyone was going on about her being the next M.I.A. and I was still stuck on her days with Stiffed. But the album is very good, and she hasn't left her Black Rock Coalition influences/affiliations behind.
Sid and I went to the Violet Hour last night. I don't want to descend so quickly into Internet hyperbole, but it really does have the best cocktails in Chicago, IMO.
I am no expert on spirits, but I can pretty count the places I go for decent cocktails on one hand. Most bars idea of a cocktail taste like Kool-aid and Gordon's, and folks chug 'em down because frankly, they are not that good. Back in the day, Patrick and I would go to the Signature Room at the John Hancock building when we wanted to feel "classy" and drink classy grownup cocktails, but they were not so much good drinks as much as they were nine dollar drinks. Not so at Violet Hour, where you will savor and nurse that motherfucker for as long as you can because that drink is an event.
Violet Hour is pricy, but after one sip of my Sidecar I was all "holy shit! yeah!" in my head like someone had scored a touchdown. Sid wanted to marry her Manhattan. This is the kind of place you impress family/visiting friends/important clients with, or celebrate special events with close friends, or go out on dates where you mean it. After going here, I will no longer waste my tastebuds on sticky Wrigleyville cocktails ever again. Unless they're free.
And it's free! Labels: NIN
Oh TR, you love us so much.
Labels: chicago
Looptopia was pretty boring. I really don't know what audience this "all-night cultural celebration" is geared toward. Most people I know are annoyed by street performers and circus-y crap, and that's most of what Looptopia seemed to offer. There were a few musical performers worth checking out, but still not worth standing around in the cold, wet weather for. I would have stuck around to see Yakuza at Reckless at who knows what in the morning, but you know what? I'd rather just pay that $10 and see them in a warm, dry spacious venue like Subterranean with a refreshing alcoholic beverage in hand, like I did two weeks ago.
There were some fire dancers, and a human sized $20 bill that passed out pens and "fun size" Pay Day candy bars. I think the best part was seeing a 45-year-old hippie dude pour vodka into his Gatorade in the middle of the street. At 5:30pm.
But anyway, back to my rant. I would like to know who this event is geared toward, because in the future, should they attempt this again, they should survey said audience and plan accordingly. Is it for suburban commuters, fearful of after-hours activity in the "big city?" Is it for Chicago's art/culture lovers? If so, I can't imagine, wouldn't they just rather see a full performance of their favorite artist rather than a watered down version? Is it perhaps for the city's young urban population, to lure them away from the actual fun activities occurring in the city's neighborhoods? Let's hope not.
And why don't they have food? Chicagoans love to eat. A lot. Taste of Chicago, Hello!? We schedule hours, days of vacation time to come downtown and get down on a slab of ribs or fried ice cream or what not. You need to have some food up in this bitch, Looptopia organizers.
You know what? I think they should bring back ChicagoFest, they could make it like Intonation last year, or a Chicago-centric Lollapalooza, only with diversity, and there could be a jazz tent, and a blues tent, and a skinny pants emo tent, and a gospel tent, and a hip-hop tent, and a metal tent, and a Kanye West tent, and a washed up 70's band tent, for Styx. I would totally go.