Chicago Cultural History
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Ebony in the digital age
Chicago’s own Ebony Magazine has digitized its archives. Celebrate. Ebony was the premier photojournalism and news magazine of the Black Diaspora for decades. During its peak, Ebony featured groundbreaking work by photographers such as Gordon Parks (work seen below), as well as thought provoking articles that exposed sometimes obscure corners of the “black experience” (Mixed race children of WWII G.I.s…
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Eunice Johnson: Wrought a Roadshow of Dreams
Eunice Johnson (1916-2010), widow of Ebony/Jet Publisher John H. Johnson, was more than Black Media’s First Lady. As Creator and Director of the Ebony Fashion Fair (an all black roadshow of haute couture), she paved the way for generations of black models from Beverly Johnson and Naomi Sims to Naomi Campbell. In fact, Richard Roundtree (“Shaft”) was a…
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Linda Clifford dishes it.
Here in Chicago, music fans know Linda Clifford as a singer affiliated with Curtis Mayfield’s camp in the disco era. But Clifford, a native New Yorker, is also a former Miss New York State, and at one time worked as an actress who played minor roles in major films like The Boston Strangler with Tony…
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the heart of Funkadelic’s image, crafted in Chicago
This week the Sun-Times published an article talking about Pedro Bell, the man behind the iconic cover art, liner notes, and other print ephemera for Funkadelic from 1973 till about 1986. Pedro, a Chicago native who went by Sir Lleb, has hit hard times. Today he’s facing dire straits in Hyde Park, though his work was recently featured…
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Spanky & Our Gang, Harmony in the Breezy City
Chicago has a vast musical heritage. It is known for electrifying Delta Blues, known for creating House Music, renowned for its particular brands of Chicago Soul and Gospel, and also known as contributing its own twang to 60’s garage proto-punk, jazz, and just about every other genre out there. Why not loungy folk-pop goodness? Spanky and…
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Light on the South Side Book Release
In the mid-’70s, photographer Michael Abramson set his viewfinder on the South Side of Chicago, specifically the many clubs and lounges that served as Hothouses of street fashion (among them, the legendary High Chaparral and the Showcase Lounge). They reflected where blues, soul and disco collided: a dream of grit and gold lamé. The resulting photos have been compiled into…
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AREA/Chicago Release Party… inside and outside Chicago
(above, Pigasus [the pig candidate for President from the Yippie party] at a rally, Chicago 1968. classic Windy City protest) AREA/Chicago announces a publication release / art happening…. (AREA Chicago Art/Research/Education/Activism is a publication and event series dedicated to researching, supporting and networking local social, political and cultural movements.) AREA #9 Release Party marks the release of…
Art, Arts & Culture, Chicago Cultural History, Events, High Culture, Jive Culture, Magazines, Performance, Printed Matters, Visual ArtsAlex Yablon, anarchists in the suburbs, Andrew Greenlee, Anthony Rayson, art, Ashley Weger, Bert Stabler, Beth Gutelius, Brian Schultz, Carol Ng-He, Carrie Breitbach, Charlie Vinz, Chicago Arts, Chicago Otra, Claire Pentecost, Compass Group, Crandon mine campaign, CTA, Dale Asis, Dan Wang, Daniel Tucker, deindustrialization, demolition, Dinah Ramirez, disability activism, distribution, donation diasporas, Donna Kiser, ecology, Erin Moore, feminism, Forgotten Chicago, Gary, Gloria Ortiz, Great Lakes waterways, HIV in minority communities, Hobofest, Human Action Campaign Organization, immigration detention, Ishpeming, James Lane, Jayne Hileman, Joann Podkul, Joey Pizzolato, Larry Shure, Laurie Jo Reynolds, Laurie Palmer, Lorenza Perelli, Mairead Case, Mara Naselli, Mary Patten, MAS, Michelle Lugalia, Mike Wolf, Native American sites, Nazis in Skokie, neoliberal poetry, Nick Brown, Nicolas Lampert, Nicole Marroquin, No Se Vende, Notes for a People’s Atlas of Calumet, Paul Durica, Paul Sargent, Quincy Saul, Rebecca Zorach, regional energy, rural pilgrimage, Ryan Hollon, Sarah Kanouse, Sarah Kavage, Sean Noonan, slumming, Southeast Environmental Task Force, Southworks, sprawl, STAND, Steel Shavings, Stephanie Farmer, Steve Macek, suburban segregation, Sue Simensky Bietila, Tamms, teaching art on the south side, teaching urban studies in the suburbs, The Brownlands, the Burnham plan, used bookstores, Wade Tillett, world systems -
In My Body’s House – Gene Chandler (1969)
Here’s a tasty slice of funk from the Duke of Earl himself, Gene Chandler. Masterfully dapper, ever-so-smooth, Chandler gets funky on this Checker side from 1969. An early version of the Curtis Mayfield-penned track titled “Hard Times”, the record manifests a ‘creature feature’ vibe that’s fits this time of year like a rubber mask. An alumnus of…
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Dancing Girl – Terry Callier. Windy City Mellow.
I remember where I was when I first heard this: the local round-the-way record store. The carpet was checkered with the maytag logo in bittersweet on brown (harkening back to the store’s past life). There we stood in a communal experience that began with the shop owner saying, “You’ve got to hear this record”. We…
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Whatever it is I think I see, becomes a Tootsie Roll to me…
Now is the time of year that our minds drift towards fantastical costumes and sugary delights. Above, perhaps the sweetest costume I’ve ever seen. The Tootsie Roll Baby Bunting costume is made out of a soft brown felt and is available at Target.com. A bit about Tootsie Rolls (a Chicago based classic): Tootsie Rolls were first manufactured in…
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