the Freshness
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Dance Chicago Dance.
Back in 1980, Chicago was still a national hub for music (like LA, Nashville, and New York are today). During that time, Producer/Promoter/Entrepreneur Eddie Thomas ran the influential Dogs of War DJ record association. Based out of Chicago, they were a record pool famous for breaking a number of seminal disco recordings. Essentially, a record pool…
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Stretching out the Boundaries of Jazz: 10 years of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival.
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival celebrates its 10th Anniversary with three dozen performances and programs on 11 stages across the neighborhood this weekend. Many of the performances, to their credit, lack easy categorization, and truly exemplify the spirit of Jazz from the South Side of Chicago (multi-layered, collaborative, and connected to the community).
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Reclaimed Soul Live!
This Thursday is Reclaimed Soul Live! Come to the historic Promontory Point Fieldhouse Thursday night at 7pm for live music, DJ sets, and special guests. https://www.facebook.com/events/1103794106380248/
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Darkjive Throwback: La Cade Records.
Back in February of 2012, I posted this story about La Cade Records, a short lived label with a deep backstory. Dig in… La Cade Products was another of many Chicago-based black hair care firms (that I detail here) during the late 60s through the 1970s. Though not as well-known as Supreme Products (who created…
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This is Our (Chicago) Love Story.
Darkjive, dear readers, is strictly a labor of love: simply put, if I love a song from Chicago (or am enamored by a story) I’ll share it. This is no different. “This is Our Love Story” (by the Harvey Allison Experience featuring The Whole Truth) is a luscious soul record that lacks a lot of…
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Three the Hard Way: Breaking the feedback loop of time.
Friday July 10th marks the opening of a culminating group exhibition, part of my artist residency at the University of Chicago. from the show’s description: “Three the Hard Way” is an exhibition takes its title from a 1974 blaxploitation classic in which three action heroes, Fred Williamson, Jim Kelly, and Jim Brown must save the…
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Windy City Breakdown: The intersection of black power, culture, & entrepreneurship 60s/70s Chicago.
The end of May 2015 marked the end of my first Art Exhibition: Windy City Breakdown. The solo exhibition illustrated my process and research. The work also explored locally-sourced vintage vinyl records and paper ephemera from my personal collection to reveal aspects of Black Chicago during times of collision among the arts, entrepreneurship, and Black Power.…
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Reclaimed Soul: A Thin Line Between Chicago Soul and Gospel.
Reclaimed Soul Host Ayana Contreras explores the thin line between the Gospel and Soul scenes in Chicago during the 1960s and 1970s, and plays cuts that dip into each genre.
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100 Saxophones for Sun Ra
Chicago Free Jazz composer and saxophonist David Boykin invites you to participate in 100 Saxophones for Sun Ra. David is currently a Resident Artist at the University of Chicago’s Arts + Public Life/Center for the Study of Race Politics and Culture. David has put out an open call for 100 saxophonists to participate in a…
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In Rotation: Ayana Contreras of Vocalo’s Reclaimed Soul on a softly stratospheric Andrew Hill LP
The music that is currently in rotation (in my head), as excerpted from Leor Galil’s article for the Chicago Reader. Ayana Contreras, DJ and host of Vocalo’s Reclaimed Soul, blogger at darkjive.com The Natural Four, Natural Four This was released here in Chicago on Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom label in 1974. The Natural Four was a…
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