Music
Velvet Bounce
Corey Wilkes and the Velvet Lounge All-Stars are standing in front of three tall mirrors in the South Loop Hotel’s L26 Restaurant and Lounge, getting ready to kick off the first show of the Velvet Birdhouse Concert Series. “We’re gonna fly on with some new music,” Wilkes says into the microphone. »
Winter lovin’
Maybe you can try to levitate, or something,”the guitarist for Magic Gloves joked to the straight-faced crowd. He was two songs into his band’s set in the basement of Roxaboxen art gallery, which last Friday hosted Contraphonic Record’s third annual “Winter of Love” party, the local label’s attempt to cure the winter blues. »
Off the Block
When considering the innumerable gems to be found on the airwaves of WBEZ 91.5, Chicago’s public radio station, hip-hop culture does not immediately jump to mind. »
The Gospel According to Barrett
The Life Center Church of God in Christ sits on the corner of Garfield and Indiana, just east of the honorary two-and-a-half block Rev. T.L. Barrett, Jr. Blvd. The boulevard’s namesake is sitting in a pew close to the pulpit. »
Grace Notes
It’s a Thursday night at First Presbyterian Church, and the Henry Hendricks Weddington (HHW) Alumni Choir is holding practice—or trying to, at least. This is only the second week of rehearsal, and the darkening autumn days bring with them work, school, and other obligations. Tonight’s choir is considerably sparse. Director Jean Hendricks sports braids... »
Vinyl Destination
A few days past the November 1 opening of the Groove Store in a small basement space at 55th and South Hyde Park, the record store is still being unpacked: a wet/dry vac sits next to a bucket of caulk and a pile of sheet rock, and stacked crates of vinyl stand waiting to... »
The Book of Jeremiah
Looking at Jeremiah Jae’s “studio,” a tiny room in his Bridgeport apartment, one is struck by the relative scarcity of recent technology on the room’s low coffee tables. There’s a small synth and a tape deck that looked like it might’ve been copped from Walgreen’s sometime in the mid-’90s. A guitar rests in the... »
College Boi
“Yeah, bro, Big Boi is sick.” Welcome to a rap concert at an elite university. As the doors to Mandel Hall opened on Friday night for the University of Chicago’s Major Activities Board fall show, the first wave of soon-to-be audience members flooded into the auditorium. “Dude, we’re going to be so close to... »
