Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
“Mouse Trap is an independent, anti-gun violence poetry short film directed by Cliff Notez and written and performed by poet and performing artist Shane Romero,” Evelyn Wang reports for The Chicago Bureau.
“Inspired by the rhymes of a 14-year-old Chicago rapper named Li’l Mouse, the film focuses on the South Side of Chicago and Brooklyn and was released online [this week].”
Here it is:
Posted on April 30, 2014
‘Chicago’s Footworks Ambassador To The World’
“DJ Rashad, aka Rashad Harden, started out as a dancer in Chicago clubs and streetcorners, and turned into a pioneering producer. He helped usher in the next wave of dance music known as footwork,” Greg Kot writes for the Tribune.
“Harden, 34, of Calumet City, was found dead Saturday afternoon in an apartment on Chicago’s West Side and pronounced dead shortly after. Narcotics and drug paraphernalia were found near his body, police said.
“The DJ, who was scheduled to perform Saturday in Detroit, toured last year with rising Chicago hip-hop MC Chance the Rapper, who mourned Harden’s death on Twitter: ‘Music lost a legend today. And he was my friend. Love you DJ Rashad. RIP.'”
Posted on April 29, 2014
Curation By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. Horse Feathers at the Old Town School on Saturday night.
Posted on April 28, 2014
Curation By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. Neil Young at the Chicago Theatre on Tuesday night.
Posted on April 25, 2014
Plus: The CSO’s DJ & Northbrook’s Kaskade
“Chance the Rapper has been released from the hospital and is now in Los Angeles resting after an on-going illness forced the cancellation of his second Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival set last weekend. He has since cut remaining shows through Sunday,” BET reports.
“A now deleted statement tweeted out by his management team revealed the cause of the rapper’s illness.
“Upon rising on Sunday morning, Chance was running a 104 degree fever and could not speak due to the inflammation of his throat. He was rushed to Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital where he was put on an IV drip and medicines were introduced to help control his body temperature and pain caused by his illness,” the statement read.
“Chance has since returned to his home in Los Angeles and is recovering. His doctors have come to the conclusion that this illness was caused by a combination of the flu virus and tonsillitis. Chance is due to see a specialist this week to determine whether or not surgery is required.”
Hip-Hop Wired has a photo of Chance in his hospital bed.
Posted on April 24, 2014
By Perspectivas Latinas/CAN TV
“Founded in 1996, the Chicago Cuatro Orchestra has worked to create a cultural program to preserve Puerto Rico’s national instrument, the Cuatro.
“Founder and director Orlando Rivera talks about the orchestra’s history and importance and also about the Mother’s Day concert they will do in collaboration with the Ballet Folklórico Juvenil de Chicago.”
Posted on April 23, 2014
City Was Chiraq And The Band’s Home Base Was Mobbed Up
“The orchestra was established in 1920 by Edgar A. Benson, a cellist who had become an impresario responsible for managing many bands in Chicago,” according to Wikipedia.
“The band soon became one of the most popular dance bands of the early 1920s, and had its base at the Marigold Gardens, which had some notoriety as a gangster hang-out.”
Posted on April 22, 2014
Curation By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. Chuck Loeb at the Montrose Room in Rosemont on Saturday night.
Posted on April 21, 2014
Curation By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. The National at the Chicago Theatre on Tuesday night.
Posted on April 18, 2014
By Smokin’ Billy Slater via YouTube with links added
“The rich history of piano blues has been overshadowed by the story of boogie-woogie piano. This Chicago-centric tale not only places Albert Ammons and Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis at the pinnacle of the art form, but also, falsely, at the center the story.
“As it is now told, a crude and primitive style of blues piano is forged in the barrelhouse bars of Texas; the sound migrates north to Chicago, and is perfected into the virtuosic – ubiquitous – style we know today.
“What’s wrong with this story? Everything! But let’s just touch on two things:
“Firstly, it discounts 20+ years of incredible African-American folk-art as merely a developmental time for the music. (It’d be like saying Robert Johnson was a step on the way to Muddy Waters perfection of blues guitar!) Call it pre-war piano blues, barrelhouse blues, or boogie-woogie, this music, by at least the early 1920s, was a fully formed expression.
“Secondly, and more important for this video, the story leaves out St. Louis! This is a tremendous oversight, for St. Louis, in the 20s and 30s, was a Mecca for piano blues.
“Practitioners included The Sparks Brothers, Henry Brown, Roosevelt Sykes, Stump Johnson, just to name a few.
“This tune, by Aaron ‘Pinetop’ Sparks (his twin brother Marion ‘Lindberg’ Sparks sang vocals) is a great example of the St. Louis style.
“Like most of his fellow St. Louisians, he didn’t play with the flash of his Chicago contemporaries, but Pinetop Sparks was an incredibly inventive pianist with a uniquely melodic style and a free-and-easy groove.”
Posted on April 17, 2014
