A couple of photos of me at work, taken by Taras Tymchuk (a visitor in town from the Ukraine). You should visit, too.
Tag Archives: Ayana Contreras
Brown Sugar Soul! cupcakes + old school soul = BLISS
Brown Sugar Soul is a monthly after-work set where I spin a natural sugar high of old school funk and soul with no filler every 1st Thursday at the renowned Brown Sugar Bakery (which is, in fact a bakery… not a club with a clever title). Tip: they are famous for their caramel cake.
Join me and get down!
Brown Sugar Soul, spun by DJ Ayana (and graciously hosted by Stephanie Hart)
1st Thursdays at Brown Sugar Bakery
328 East 75th Street
6pm – 8pm
The Get Down: keep on singing
The Get Down is back! This Thursday, February 11, let’s celebrate what we love: feel good music! Soul, Funk, Disco, and Bluesy Groovers spun with love by yours truly (DJ Ayana). Expect a healthy helping of both rare and classic homegrown monsters, plus all the darkjive featured music you’ve come to love.
Thursday, February 11 @ the Morseland (don’t forget to check out their revamped menu… their kitchen is open late!)
1218 West Morse Avenue / 9:00pm-1:00am
No Cover!
Sneak Peak music:
Chicago’s own Keni Burke (of Five Stairsteps ["Oooh Ooh Child"] fame) released his self titled debut on George Harrison’s Dark Horse Records in 1976. “Keep on Singing” keeps me high to this day. Enjoy and see you soon!
Get Down With Us. Try it, You’ll like it…
It’s about to go down. Old Soul 45′s spun with love at the Morseland. Selections by me (DJ Ayana) and Gaucho. Join us this Thursday November 12 starting at 9:30pm. No Cover. The Morseland is located at 1218 West Morse in Chicago (just blocks from Sheridan). Here’s a sample of some of the proudly local grooves we’ll feature….
45 or Die: Move. Groove. Jive on.
Catch Gaucho, Harlow, and myself spinning classics and rarities at 45 revolutions per minute. Thursday, October 8th at the Morseland, 1218 West Morse, Chicago. Starts at 9pm.
The Empowerment Experiment: Buying Black Exclusively for an Entire Year
I interviewed John and Maggie Anderson (an Oak Park, Illinois couple with two small children), who are conducting a social experiment: The Empowerment Experiment. They are buying black, or patronizing Black-owned businesses exclusively, for one year.
In my interview with them (below), I talk to the Andersons about their “pledge” to buy black, the dark side of integration’s legacy, what it means to keep money in a community, whether buying black is racist, and what’s more important: buying black or buying green….
the above interview was originally broadcast on Vocalo.org 89.5fm.
Sonari is Mixed
This is an interview I conducted for Vocalo.org some time ago, in which a Black man (NPR’s Sonari Rhodes Glinton) concedes he is “mixed”: Half African and Half African-American. At first listen, the categorization sounds almost comical, but consider his viewpoint: one major factor in Ethnicity is culture… and no one can argue that Africans and African-Americans aren’t culturally distinct. Above is a picture of dear Sonari (many moons ago):
Listen to a few minutes of his story below:
On a similar topic, the culture clash (and level of misunderstanding) between Africans and African-Americans has always tripped me out (i.e. Fela Kuti was not swinging on vines).
I discovered a blog recently that a very gracious African set up to address pervasive, negative stereotypes (plus, it’s really funny):
http://stuffafricanpeoplehate.com/
here’s a taste:
from “The Name Debacle”
Posted July 2, 2008 by stuffafricanshate
“Damn,” one of them said after hearing one of the names.
Behind me was a family dressed in traditional Nigerian garb that were hissing their teeth at what was becoming quite an uncomfortable and condescending situation.
“If that were a white person down there saying Juanita or DaShauna or Fredricka and laughing, black people would walk out in offense,” said one Nigerian woman behind me.
“Well, maybe he should have used an American name,” said another.
Pause.
I had to Zack Morris (step outside of) the situation and analyze what was happening.
Here on darkjive, there’s an earlier post in which Steve Walsh and I talk about the ad below, and why it “ruffles my feathers” (as opposed to “shakes my tailfeather” [okay. that was just silly]). Then, a Nigerian puts his two cents in.
Bridgeport WPA: Alphabet Soup for Modern Times
Version Fest 09 (which will feature “An art parade, temporary housing structures, independent contemporary art space networking, one day only exhibition formats, video sweat lodges, an artist run art fair, a reincarnation of the depression era Public Works of Art Project, a social networked free public school, impressive musical performances, boring theoretical nonsense, the revamping of a local community center, mapping projects, a design agency for social movements, and korean polish bar-b-queing….”) is the pride and joy of Bridgeport’s own Lumpen Magazine (an independent, locally-based, critical arts and culture publication, published six times a year). One of the phenomena they will attempt this year is the Bridgeport WPA (FDR-style Alphabet Soup for modern times), and its Public Works of Art Project.
Below is an audio interview with Emily Clayton from Version Fest on how art can heal our wounded economy…and feed our soul (and the lasting legacy of the Works Progress Administration of the Great Depression). Originally on Vocalo.org (interview conducted by Steve Walsh and myself).
the I-only-have-a-minute-or-so, but-this-interests-me version
the this-is-a-near-and-dear-topic-I’ll-make-fifteen-minutes-of-time-for version
NOTE: I love the WPA. The historical version built up our infrastructure and kept our painters, ethnographers, dancers, sculptors, and writers (like Zora Neale Hurston [below]) working and on government salary. Amazing.
To thumb through an online version of Lumpen, click
also, to hear a Slave Narrative (or first hand account of plantation days) recorded by John & Ruby T. Lomax as part of a WPA initiative during the Great Depression, click here.
if you are an artist, and/or would like to involve yourself with Version Fest ‘o9, click here.
Broadcasting Out of Africa
….Do Charities Hand Out Warped Perceptions?
In this Era of Service, dissing charities (especially those that aid Africa) is taboo. I will be taboo, then. In an audio clip calledOut of Africa,originally broadcast on Vocalo.org, Steve Walsh and I talk about why one particular ad for the One Laptop For Child Organization (below), in which a small African girl claims she’s from a place “you’ve never heard of”, “a continent You’d rather forget”….. ruffles my feathers. ¿Y tú?
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word on the street
Cathi . G. on The Mighty Mighty Dells: i mis… ayanacontreras on About Brett Crenshaw on About 21st Century: Tricks… on Eight Minutes: straight outta …
Dear Michael….
What bothers me are bandwagon tributes. An Icon, they say. A Genius. The same cackling media outlets that refused to play Michael Jackson’s music for years, and affixed an implicit punchline to his name. Whatever. Artists are not perfect people. We can choose to accept the art without embracing the artist. In the case of Michael Jackson, I embraced both[.
Born in Gary, Indiana (a fairy tale story in and of itself) the whole family accomplished amazing things. At one point, the Jackson 5 had the nickname of “Black Beatles” because of the Hysteria that ensued when they arrived on the scene. But Michael, dear Michael. He shook hands with the Queen. He changed pop culture forever. His music will live on forever. And there’s a generation of us that will idolize him as long as we breathe as untouchably “bad”. He gave us infinitely more than we ever gave him.
So here come the tributes, the tears. Celebrate genius in life. Not as it’s ripped away. Flowers for the dead pale in the glow of flowers for the living.
Steve Walsh and I interviewed his Brother, Tito, about the family’s story (including Michael’s) and about their Gary Roots. Listen here:
And, from the FIRST Michael Jackson album, I bring you my joint, “I Wanna Be Where You Are”….
Leave a comment | tags: Ayana Contreras, History, jackson 5, Michael Jackson, Steve Walsh, vocalo.org | posted in Arts & Culture, Chicago Cultural History, Commentary, High Culture, Jive Culture, Local Chicago Music, Music