Our (fairly) regular roundup of Music & Arts related news from Chicago-based web media, featuring thoughts and insight from some of the city’s most dedicated writers.
- Preview: Rockin’ Record Bazaar and Beer Blowout @ GMan Tavern 1/26
The Gingerman Tavern, a local favorite for those seeking asylum from the endless sea sports bars in Wrigleyville at 3740 N. Clark, will play host to Uncle Jasper’s Rockin’ Record Bazaar and Beer Blowout on Sunday, January 26. The event brings together a wealth of some of the city’s finest independent record labels to the GMan, including Hozac Records, Bloodshot Records, BLVD Records and more, to showcase their releases (on CD and vinyl) and generally mingle with Chicago’s ravenous record-buying public. Uncle Jasper, local dog and unofficial “mascot” of the bar, will reportedly make an appearance as well. We can only assume he’ll want to pick up the latest Pink Frost record from BLVD or a handful of local garage rock 7″s from Hozac’s racks because, why wouldn’t he?
Bazaar-goers are encouraged to arrive early to snag “rare and special surprises” from within the stacks, and are also invited to stay late and guzzle down the variety of beers the bar has on site. If there’s a better way to spend your Sunday afternoon, we’ve yet to find it.
Uncle Jasper’s Rockin’ Record Bazaar and Beer Blowout begins at 4pm and continues to 10pm. Admission is free for all 21+.
- Tuesday Afternoon Diversion: Martin Luther King Jr. In Chicago
Dr. King spoke to an audience of 70,000 people at Soldier Field on June 21, 1964. His speaking fee was $5,000. Today’s video from the Chicago History Museum shows the check written to Dr. King’s organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, by the Illinois Rally for Civil Rights, the group that organized the event. [ more › ]
- Common’s Not Smiling on New Album
Chicago-native rapper Common is currently hard at work on a call-to-action album dedicated to stopping violence in the city. The rapper stated in an interview with Revolt that the upcoming album, titled Nobody Smiling, aims to speak to the conditions of violence in Chicago and inner cities all over America.
“War” is the first track released as a teaser of the upcoming album. The song is an embittered attack on the complacency of the warfare environment plaguing the urban population, especially the youth of Chicago. His tone comes from a feeling of disappointment, from the perspective of a man who tours the world and returns to his home city only to find the conditions increasingly worse each time. It also includes a snippet of the rapper’s interview where he discussed his motives behind the indignant album.
The release will coincide with the 20th anniversary of the rapper’s sophomore album, Resurrection. The 1994 album cemented Common, then known as Common Sense, as one of hip-hop’s most acclaimed artists, as evidenced by its inclusion on The Source’s Best 100 Rap Albums in 1998.
Nobody Smiling has reunited Common with the producer No I.D., who worked in tandem with Common on Resurrection, setting the expectation that the release will meet the standard of their original work together. According to NPR, some criticized Resurrection for its nostalgic tone when, at the time, the rapper was not even 22-years-old.
The duo’s reunion 20 years later gives the rapper a chance to actually trek down memory lane as he attempts to speak louder than the violence of his hometown.
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