Reviews
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Light: On the South Side…Grit and Gold Lamé
I, for one, have stared for more than a moment at the forgotten, peeled paint on the side of the 408 Club building over on 79th Street (just East of King Drive). In mid-seventies hipster font, the ad reads “Sheba Disco”, apparently some sort of disco club. I’ve wondered what manner of elephant bells and Quiana was to be found…
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Sweet Flypaper of Life: 1950s Harlem in Black & White
Picture it. It’s the mid 1990s, I’m in high school, late for the morning bus, desperate for something to read during my lengthy commute. On my Grandmother’s disheveled porch, I find a slightly sunfaded paperback. The book is Sweet Flypaper of Life, with text by Langston Hughes and photography by Roy DeCarava (originally published in…
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Nothing wrong with a little Sweat….
I’ve been grooving to this in the whip for a while now, but I haven’t posted it….. for shame. Hope you like it. A bit about Peter Hadar: “With just the right amount of heart, soul and edge, Peter Hadar IS the Coolest Weirdo” – Rahsaan Patterson Born Peter Winstead, Jr. in New Jersey, Peter…
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Blackness…Finally Forgivable?
from the Stop Smiling Blog…. A Pugilist’s Pardon, Once Unforgivable Posted on: April 1, 2009 at 1:48 pm // MARGINALIA It’s Jack Johnson, 1 — Scooter Libby, zero. Senator John McCain delivers some straight talk we can believe in with the announcement this week that he is seeking a presidential pardon for the late Jack…
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the Twinight Revue is Coming
The Chicago-based record label Numero Group has brought together several veteran local soul acts from the short-lived (local) Twinight Record label (circa late 60s- early 70s). Among them will be: Renaldo Domino, Syl Johnson, and the Notations. They’ll perform Saturday at the Park West on Armitage Avenue in Chicago. Tomorrow on Chicago Public Radio’s morning…
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friday night lights: J*Davey at the Vic
Coming Friday… J*Davey Live in Chicago at the Victor Hotel Tickets available at: http://www.jdavey.eventbrite.com or Dr Wax Records 5226 S Harper Ave 773-493-8696 Silver Room 1442 N Milwaukee 773-278-7130 Who?? J*Davey called their double album “The Beauty in Distortion/The Land of the Lost”. I call that fitting. The sound is sort of Mad Max Electric…
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Achy Obejas presents her “Ruins”
“Achy Obejas writes like an angel: flush with power, vision and hope … one of the Caribbean’s most important writers.” Junot Diaz, author of Drown, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Achy Obejas, author of “We Came All the Way From Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?” and “Memory Mambo” (stories of…
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chickpea means love
I love Chickpea, or حمّص, a new Middle Eastern Restaurant on Chicago Avenue (just West of Damen). Fly ambiance, great lunch prices, fresh food, A Die Hard movie poster in Arabic, and a Genie pinball game. The owner, Jerry Suqi, told Time Out Chicago in November, “I came from Palestine when I was two and…
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Coffee and Cigarettes
I’ve never smoked, but that song made me believe in the common luxury of both. Remember when, if visiting someone’s house, the cupboards may have been bare…but they’d still offer you some coffee (even instant).
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I am Not Sidney Poitier
“Not Sidney Poitier is an amiable young man in an absurd country. The sudden death of his mother orphans him at age eleven, leaving him with an unfortunate name, an uncanny resemblance to the famous actor, and, perhaps more fortunate, a staggering number of shares in the Turner Broadcasting Corporation.
darkjive.com 