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Michael Abramson: Pulse of the Night.
What goes on at small clubs is ephemeral by nature: society created and dismantled night after night. A delicate hierarchy composed of drifters, dreamers, and those simply longing to escape. In the mid 1970s, a young white student, Michael Abramson, worked his way into the world of largely black South Side Chicago clubs. He brought…
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Mahogany (1975): Cult Movie of the Week
Sometimes a post idea for Darkjive happens organically: the intersection of various occurrences in my life make it clear that I MUST post about something in particular. In this case, “Mahogany” started out as a request from a reader who thought that, because it was primarily shot here in Chicago, the lack of a post…
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Gouster or Ivy Leaguer?
Today, it’s a question of whether your pants are sagging or not (as far as I’m concerned). In the Sixties, on the South and West Sides of Chicago, the male clothing signifier was whether you were a Gouster or an Ivy Leaguer. A former co-worker who I guess would be classified as a Gouster now, but was an…
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Bon Bon Vie: good good life…
The line is designed by Shari Neal, who explained to Afrobella: “I always wanted to design tee shirts, but I just never sat down to do it until fairly recently. In the past I had done tee shirt designs for other people and I finally decided to do something for myself. The name of the company comes…
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Don’t Care Bears. Hilarious.
You know you love it. Or else, you don’t care. This t-shirt, featuring a trio of apathetic bears modeled after the iconic Care Bears is available from Chicago’s own Threadless, by artist Alex Solis.
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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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Digital wolves in warm, fuzzy sheep’s clothing
I know a lot of the Darkjive faithful are also among the analog faithful (some, if only in spirit). The clicks and pops old records afford make our hearts skip a beat (even recreated on digitized copies). Well, get ready for a digital wolf in warm, somewhat fuzzy sheep’s clothing: 45iPodcases.com. Their tagline even heralds “Digital meets…
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Arise Up!
Picture world renowned photographers flown into Nigeria, photo shoots featuring African supermodels all over the world. I’m not talking about the now fabled All-Black Italian Vogue. “Arise” is that magazine: published in London by THISDAY, it’s a survey of Contemporary African Fashion & Pop Culture. A window into a world we don’t see in full color,…
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Jive on Icon: Naomi Sims
It was 1967. While “Black is Beautiful” sounded a vigorous call to confront and love our authentic African selves, Naomi became “the first black woman accepted as a beauty in her own right,” as she was later described. Her image of authoritative ebony inspired all women of color to pride. Never had a model so dark-skinned…
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WBEZ Creates Tee Envy
This weekend, there’s an interesting experiment in media consumption going on. Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ 91.5FM) is checking for their listeners who don’t touch their dials at all…but, rather, click their mouse. From the good Folks at Chicago Public Radio: Do you listen to public radio podcasts and streaming more than you listen on the…
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