Tagged: chicago
Be Kind Rewind: The Cassette Tape Strikes Back
This article was originally published by LoudLoopPress.com on March 25, 2011.
By Audrey Leon
In the age of the incredibly shrinking, high-capacity mp3 player and numerous online music stores, independent artists are flocking to an unthinkable medium to get their music to the masses: the cassette tape.
Chicago is at the forefront of a subculture that is hitting the mainstream after an explosion of local cassette labels in town.
These labels serve as curators by catering to audiences and artists alike with eye-catching visuals and high production values that can only be rivaled by the original preferred format, vinyl, but at a fraction of the cost.
When it came to releasing its first EP “Sarcastic Summer,” the Chicago post-punk trio Rodeo turned to cassettes as an alternative option to digital downloads.
“While it is easy to throw some mp3′s on our [Bandcamp.com page], it doesn’t feel real unless we have something tangible to give,” said Rodeo’s vocalist Jordan Sirven. “Releasing a cassette allows us to create a unique product for our fans that hopefully will be played more than once.”
Rabble Rabble frontman Ralph Darski agreed stating that the cassette’s second-coming is tied to its tangibility as well its ease of use.
“It’s easy to lose that fulfilling connection to the music you love,” Darski said. “So people start reaching for something tangible and collectible to fill that void of connection, especially for local or indie music.
“A lot of people I’ve sold tapes to have said, ‘awesome I have a tape deck in my car. Now I can jam to you guys when I drive,’” Darski said.
Hollows lead singer Maria Jenkins echoed similar sentiments concerning why people racing back to cassettes.
“Tapes had never officially disappeared in my book,” Jenkins said. “They’re more fun to collect than CD-Rs.
“We grew up with cassette albums and cassingles, and even got a few love mix tapes from admirers in our day,” she said. “So it also seemed classic and somewhat nostalgic to release our first recordings this way.”
Rabble Rabble and Hollows are two of several bands to release its music via the cassette-only label Plustapes.
Dustin Drase, the label’s co-founder, said that originally he wanted to start an all-vinyl label with friends but they initially lacked the funds to do it properly.
“Cassette tapes were the easiest option since neither of us liked CDs,” Drase said. “CDs are bullshit,” he said of why the label concentrated on tapes only.
Sharing a similar distaste for the medium is Columbia College graduate Brett Naucke, founder of the Pilsen-based Catholic Tapes.
“I always disliked CDs,” he said. “I grew up with tapes and I always respected the aesthetic.
“I’ve always owned vinyl, but you can do more with the [tape’s] packaging.”
Naucke said that while he isn’t fond of cassettes as a fad, he isn’t entirely bothered by it.
“Four or five years ago there weren’t half as many tape labels – good or bad,” he said. “And now there’s tons of stuff coming out on cassette and I’m down with that.”
Memories of growing up with cassettes and the mixtapes friends would make for Drase emboldened him and Plustapes to turn audiences onto the bands they saw and enjoyed all over Chicago.
“We’re finding bands in their raw state,” Drase said. “For them, a tape is a low-risk way to give people a view of what you’re doing right now.”
Drase said he has seen orders drop over time, but he insists Plustapes is still steadily selling through runs as the label offers companion digital downloads with certain artist’s tapes.
“I’m not saying tapes are over,” Drase said. “But maybe they’re going back underground where they came from.”
Ambient pop artist Lindsay Powell, who also performs under the name Fielded, has had several releases with Naucke’s Catholic Tapes, including a recent full-length vinyl album “Terrageist.” Powell, 23, said she believes the cassette has staying power.
“As long as people want to make and buy them, they will be around,” Powell said. “It’s a beautiful thing.”
48 (Not So) Angry Minutes with Scott Lucas
Originally posted at LoudLoopPress.com on October 19, 2010
I’ve never had the pleasure of visiting the Flat Iron while it’s busy, but Scott Lucas — frontman for Local H and Scott Lucas & The Married Men — assures me the place is packed after 2 a.m.
We’re sitting in the heart of Wicker Park not far from the hustle and bustle of six corners. The area is not only Lucas’ home base in the city, but where he works; Lucas played a headlining show a few feet down the street at North Milwaukee and Honore during Wicker Park Fest and across the street at the Double Door this past New Year’s Eve, both with Local H. Lucas also played an in-store with his solo project the Married Men at Reckless Records back in February.
However, we find ourselves sitting at a tiny table in the darkened bowels of the Flat Iron because Lucas has, not one, but two EPs releasing on Tuesday, October 19. The first being Local H’s Awesome Mix Tape #1 with his hard rock band of over 15 years Local H and the second being Absolute Beginners with his romantic folk-rock solo project Scott Lucas and the Married Men.
“I’m psyched because I can see everything coming into focus for both bands,” Lucas said. “It’s sort of stunty but it means more to me to put them out on the same day rather than one EP.”
The EPs do share one common thread, the songs could all be viewed as covers. While Local H’s samples the wares of other musicians, The Married Men (with the exception of “Absolute Beginners,” originally by David Bowie) sample Lucas’ catalog: two re-worked versions of Married Men songs from their debut George Lassos the Moon and a cover of Local H’s “Hey Rita.”
“These (Local H’s Awesome Mix Tape #1) are just songs that we’ve been playing live for the last decade,” Lucas said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of thought behind it.”
Lucas said that Local H’s Awesome Mix Tape #1 (the title a reference to the film Boogie Nights) was an idea that had been batted around for years. Releasing covers isn’t a strange move for Local H. On its 2003 No Fun EP Local H recorded versions of The Ramones “I Just Want Something to Do” and The Godfathers’ “Birth, School, Work, Death.”
“We didn’t think about the songs (structure) too much,” he said. “That’s the spirit of the EP.”
The one exception to this would be the EPs bonus track, an acoustic version of the Misfits‘ “Last Caress.” Lucas took a different approach to the song because Metallica’s cover was so well-known.
“U2 said, ‘Charles Manson stole ‘Helter Skelter’ from the Beatles – and we’re stealing it back.’ We had the same attitude,” Lucas said. “If you do a cover of a cover, it’s like putting instant coffee in the microwave. You might go back in time and nobody wants that to happen.”
Local H’s Awesome Mix Tape #1 includes a number of songs from TV on the Radio’s “Wolf Like Me” to the Jesus Lizard’s “Puss.” However, Lucas said that there’s one track Local H won’t play live: “Spider Bite” by the UK band Winnebago Deal.
“I think it’s too hard,” Lucas said. “The riff, I don’t have the technique to play it. That’s why we played it on a keyboard.”
Lucas said that he believes just because you can’t pull a song off live doesn’t mean it should stop you from getting creative in the studio. “You don’t want to think like that,” Lucas said. “I don’t like when people think, ‘Oh, I’m not going to make this song so hard because then it won’t be so hard to play live.’”
Lucas cited “24 Hour Break Up Session” from Local H’s 2008 album 12 Angry Months as an example. “It’s really hard to sing,” Lucas said. “It’s tough, but you don’t think about how you’re going to do it (live).”
While Local H’s EP had no thought behind it, The Married Men’s Absolute Beginners EP grew out of a need to measure the band’s growth as performers.
“It was important because we had rushed into the studio (for George Lassos the Moon,” Lucas said. “The band barely knew the songs and if they fucked up, that was the take.
“I wanted to see if we sounded different and capture the energy coming straight off the road,” he said.
Everything appears to be aligning for both of Lucas’ projects. He is currently working on new Local H and new Married Men material simultaneously.
The two bands are mirror opposites, even Lucas testifies to that fact. Where Local H may take the angrier and harder rock route, the Married Men aren’t afraid to slow things down and add a couple of strings and accordion into the mix.
For Lucas, the creative process for both bands comes down to one thing: lyrics.
“When I’m writing a song and the riff comes out, if I can picture it with Local H it goes that way,” Lucas said. “The most obvious is if it’s soft it goes with Married Men, but that’s a boring way to work.”
Opting to shake things up for both bands, Lucas said he is working on a country song with Local H and a song that he describes as “an eight minute epic with a Black Sabbath middle section” with the Married Men.
“The new Local H is sort of snap-shotty, like a document or a state of the union,” Lucas said. “This is where we are and what’s going on around us. We’re trying to talk to people, but not in a cheese ball way.”
To say Scott Lucas is a busy man is an understatement. Before our meeting he told me that he was running late (about 10 minutes) because he came straight from the studio where he was working on new Local H material. It is easy to imagine that he enjoys the lifestyle. With just a mere mention of his electro-rock group Prairie Cartel, Lucas’ face lit up with the possibilities of getting that band back together.
“A couple of people were asking about Prairie Cartel, it kind of made me want to record a new single,” Lucas said. “I kind of got inspired, as if I needed something else to do.”
Lollapalooza Artist Discovery Series: Metric
Originally published by Lollapalooza.com on August 4, 2010.
Melodic dance-rockers Metric work hard and play hard.
Since self-releasing their acclaimed 2009 album Fantasies, the members of Metric (singer Emily Haines, guitarist James Shaw, bassist Josh Winstead, and drummer Joules Scott-Key) have been locked on a speeding train of touring and press junkets. Yet, somehow the band takes comfort in festival gigs and the hope of someday getting back into the studio.
With the digital age encouraging artists to shed record label dead weight and go their own way, Metric decided that the timing just made sense when it came to self-releasing Fantasies.
“It was just painfully apparent,” said James Shaw in a telephone interview. “It just seemed like we’d learned too much about the record industry and we knew what the risks were going to be and what the pay offs were going to be (of self-releasing).”
The road to Metric’s success was paved with building a more intimate relationship with its fans. That meant producing extras such as music and behind-the-scene videos as well as connecting with fans via social networks.
While music videos are not his preferred method of self-expression, Shaw said that an artist’s role is to create art.
“Your artistic output is the thing that keeps people interested and involved,” Shaw said. “It keeps a dialogue and it keeps your life interesting and the fans’ life interesting.”
Shaw said that Metric’s videos allow fans to get to know them by using an element of humor.
“It’s as entertaining to watch a band make a video as it is to watch the video itself,” Shaw said. “I like a little sense of humor and self-deprecation. Self-deprecation is probably the strongest influence that Canada could offer the rest of the world.”
While Shaw admits that touring can be an alienating experience, it is the festivals that give bands a chance to relax and hang out.
“The only real connection you have is via the stage,” Shaw said. “Festivals are fun because you get to hang out with like-minded people and everyone just has a good time.”
Shaw recounted an experience at this year’s Ottawa Blues Festival where Metric came back to its dressing room to find Wayne Coyne holding two shirts from Metric fans he had met on the festival grounds. Shaw was impressed with both Coyne’s lack of ego and his prowess as a live performer.
“What [Coyne] does as a reverend of love is completely out of control,” Shaw said. “There isn’t one out of 30,000 people that isn’t smiling beyond ear to ear.”
Lollapalooza 2010 will mark Metric’s fourth trip to Chicago since the release of “Fantasies” in 2009. While Metric returns frequently, Shaw said that Chicago remains a daunting city to play.
“There’s a lot of real music fans in that town (Chicago) and they’re really listening with all their ears and all their hearts,” Shaw said. “You can feel that as a musician and it’s a very different experience.”
This year’s Lollapalooza will be Shaw’s first since playing the festival in 2006 as a member of Broken Social Scene.
“That (Lollapalooza) was one of the – probably the pinnacle Broken Social Scene performance in the last seven or eight years,” Shaw said. “We were right before the (Red Hot) Chili Peppers and the crowd was not wanting to turn around and it was just one of those magical, magical shows.”
Shaw is excited to return to Lollapalooza not only to play onstage with Metric but to see The Strokes.
“The Strokes, to me, are absolutely seminal, a very important band in my own life as a musician,” Shaw said. “I think they are awesome; I’m really happy they’re playing.”
After Lollapalooza Metric will join British alternative rockers Muse on tour in October and November. Shaw speculated that more tour dates may be on the horizon but his wish is to dive back into the recording studio as soon as possible.
“Records are made very meticulously by us and they take time,” Shaw said. “So I want to get back in and start working.”
Make sure to catch Metric at Lollapalooza before they speed off into the sunset with Muse. Metric will perform on the Playstation stage on Saturday, August 7.
Written by Audrey Leon
Chicago Organization Promotes Women’s Business Ownership
By Audrey Leon, Lauren B. Howard and Ambar Gilmore
Maribel Lopez Velazquez starts every day at 6 a.m. enthusiastically greeting busy parents and sleepy children from the top of her front porch at her Cicero home day care center.
Lopez Velazquez, 37, a single mother of four teenage children, lights up with joy whenever she talks about her students that range from infants to 12-years-old.
“Loving children is not the ingredient you need to open up your child care,” Lopez Velazquez said. “The ingredient you need is dedication, perseverance, you want to do something for yourself.”
Lopez Velazquez founded Bundle of Joy Group Child Care, 1626 S. 57th Ave., after attending the Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC) child care expo in 1998.
The center, at 8 S. Michigan Ave., provides assistance to those women who want to start a new business or those who already have.
Lopez Velazquez is one of 55,000 women that the center has helped in its 25 years in business. It has established 14 women’s assistance centers in six states including Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
In 1986, Hedy Ratner and Carol Dougal created the Women’s Business Development Center, a non-profit organization, to empower women by encouraging them to go into business for themselves.
“[The center] was really a critically interesting new way to economically empower women through business ownership,” said Ratner, co-president and founder of the center. “Because we felt that women needed to find their own way and their own power so they wouldn’t be dependent on others. Like white males.”
The Women’s Business Development Center holds an annual child care expo with workshops for Spanish- and English-speaking entrepreneurs looking to start their own day care business.
“I saw all these conferences coming up and all these workshops and I enrolled,” Lopez Velazquez said of the development center. “I took an active role to get more information.”
Ratner sees the expo as an important resource for those wanting to go into the child care field.
“The childcare expo was a way for us to bring together those who were thinking about going into the childcare business who were family providers of childcare or those who were establishing childcare centers or had childcare centers,” she said. “(We) provide them with information on trends; new resources they could use to be more successful.”
Maria Lopez, director of the Latina Business Program at the center for the last three years, points out that opening a daycare center is often overlooked.
“[The child care expo] is for the women who are already running a business and never really looked at it that way,” Maria Lopez said. “This was an opportunity for them to learn about the business aspect of taking care of children, teaching children, educating them.
“It came up because there was a need in the community, across communities,” she said.
With urging from her mother to start her own business, Lopez Velazquez began marketing her business idea to her community to drum up support.
“I started promoting in the neighborhood,” Lopez Velazquez said. “I started a child care waiting list. By the time I started my day care I had 25 kids enlist.”
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Contemporary Art Pops Up in Loop Storefronts
Originally published by the DePaulia student newspaper on March 8, 2010.
(Con)Temporary Art Space, 208 S. Wabash, is the latest project by Pop-Up Art Loop. The temporary gallery opened on Feb. 18 in the former South Loop home of Ritz Camera. (Photo by Audrey Leon)
By Audrey Leon
The economy may be rough for Chicago businesses but a new initiative by the Chicago Loop Alliance aims to transform empty storefronts into temporary art galleries one vacant property at a time.
Pop-Up Art Loop launched in 2009 opening three galleries around the Loop in late November. The organization uses donated properties, which would otherwise sit vacant until renters could be found, and places artists inside for free.
Ty Tabing, executive director of the Chicago Loop Alliance, said the group was inspired by similar programs in other cities called “phantom galleries.”
Pop-Up Art Loop’s (Con)Temporary Art Space , 208 S. Wabash, officially debuted on Feb. 18 in what once housed a Ritz Camera store. Blue camera-shaped neon signs, left from the previous renter, still adorn the walls in the gallery.
Photo by Audrey Leon
(Con)Temporary Art Space is the brainchild of Ed Marszewski and his cohort from Co-prosperity Sphere, 3219 S. Morgan St., which includes artists Emily Clayton, Serena Himmelfarb, Chris Roberson and Marszewski’s wife, Rachael. Marszewski also runs “Lumpen” and “Proximity” magazines from his home base in Bridgeport.
While artists are now encouraged to submit proposals to the Pop-Up Art Loop Web site, Marszewski said he was approached by the Chicago Loop Alliance to formulate a project.
The (Con)Temporary Art Space also includes a reading room, featuring local publications, a gift shop, and gallery space on walls and in the room’s many display cases.
The space also features a unique interactive mapping project. “The mapping project allows people to come in and pin a location of something that they find culturally important about Chicago whether it’s a restaurant or public art display,” Rachael Marszewski said.
Photo by Audrey Leon
The benefits of having temporary art galleries in vacant storefronts are numerous. For Tabing and the Chicago Loop Alliance, the benefit is making empty buildings more attractive to new businesses. For the artists at (Con)Temporary Art Space, the benefit is simply exposure. “A downtown location gives us the change to reach people who wouldn’t experience this type of art,” Ed Marszewski said. “It’s more difficult for people to show their work in Chicago and [the Pop-Up Art Loop initiative] helps.”
Rachael Marszewski agrees. “Most of us are a group of artists that are used to working on the periphery of the city,” Rachael Marszewski said. “It’s a good opportunity for us and the artists we’re involved with to have a central location, which we could never really afford to be in or have would it not be for free.”
The local business community has been mostly receptive, Tabing said. “Some have and some have not,” Tabing said. “We’re finding that property owners in Chicago give a damn and those in other cities, like New York, don’t.”
Photo by Audrey Leon
DePaul University, which has an enormous presence in the South Loop, supports the initiative. “DePaul has been a big part of the cultural and economic revitalization of the South Loop and we welcome creative initiatives that further revitalize the Loop,” said John Holden, DePaul University spokesman, via email.
While the number of visitors has been sparse, this does not discourage the artists at (Con)Temporary Art Space. “[The gallery] is a great interactive project,” Ed Marszewski said. “I love seeing people who don’t know what’s going on.”
The (Con)Temporary Art Space will host a new exhibition on Thursday, Feb. 24, from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., featuring the paintings of Polish artist Anja Jamrozik as well as a diorama of lead Dungeons and Dragons figures made by the Marszewskis.
Pop-Up Art Loop currently features four galleries, including the (Con)Temporary Art Space. Tabing suggests checking the Web site (popupartloop.com) for news on the latest gallery openings.
Bailiwick Repertory Chicago Reopened and Reinvented
Originally published by the DePaulia on Feb. 1, 2010.
By Audrey Leon
After 25 years, Members of the now defunct Bailiwick Repertory Theater have reunited under a new brand for a new season of shows.
Dubbed Bailiwick Chicago, the new theater company’s first show of the 2010 season is the musical revue “Show Us Your Love,” which features songs from famed musicals such as “Hair,” “Pippin,” “Aida,” and “Closer than Ever.”
“Show Us Your Love” is one of three smaller revues that will serve as fundraisers for future Bailiwick shows including a stripped-down version of Elton John’s “Aida.” Bailiwick Chicago hosted an open mic night on Jan. 31, at Joey’s Brickhouse on 1258 W. Belmont Ave.
“Bailiwick Repertory had a reputation for bold works and we want to keep challenging ourselves,” said Julie Burt Nichols, Bailiwick grants and development officer.
Bailiwick Repertory was renowned for its quality productions of “Animal Farm,” “Jerry Springer: The Opera,” its yearly rendition of “The Christmas Schooner” and its premiere of Dennis DeYoung’s “The Hunchback of Norte Dame.” Bailiwick was one of the first Chicago theaters to embrace the gay and lesbian community by staging its summer Pride Series.
The view that Bailiwick Repertory was known for its exemplary work is not one-sided. “Bailiwick was extremely well regarded for its daring, exciting work,” said Alan Salzenstein, League of Chicago Theatres board member.
When longtime artistic director David Zak left Bailiwick Repertory in September 2009- a year after the company lost its home of 15 years at 1229 W. Belmont Ave. due to financial troubles- Bailiwick’s board of directors dissolved the company, said Kevin Mayes, executive director of Bailiwick Chicago. Members had no choice but to start over.
“I saw it as an opportunity for folks who had worked at the Bailiwick in the past to create something they could really invest in,” Mayes said. “It was an opportunity to transfer brand recognition.”
However, Salzenstein believes there is a lot of baggage attached to the Bailiwick name. “Bailiwick has a founder’s perception,” Salzenstein said. “It was David Zak.”
The new Bailiwick Chicago is still homeless, but loving it.
“We’re happy to be transient,” said general manager Kate Garassino. “This way we can focus on our art and our audiences.”
Finding a permanent home is not out of the question. “Once we’ve searched out and figured out who we are and what kind of space we want to be in, that [finding housing] will definitely happen,” Mayes said.
Salzenstein believes Bailiwick Chicago’s story is just beginning.
“Chicago is very supportive of those who feel the entrepreneurial spirit in the arts,” Salzenstein said. “If they have creative people on every level, the sky’s the limit.”
Theatergoers can catch performances of “Show Us Your Love” at Hamburger Mary’s at 5400 N. Clark St. every Sunday night in February.
Chicago’s Frozen Yogurt Culture
Originally published in the DePaulia on Sept. 28, 2009.
By Audrey Leon
Yogen Fruz, 33 S. State Street
Customers create their own unique treat at Yogen Fruz. Customers choose between non-fat, low-fat and no-sugar – which contains Splenda – pre-packaged frozen mixtures and a flavor such as green tea, chocolate or strawberry, which are combined in a mixer.
Yogen Fruz offers toppings ranging from candy and nuts to fresh fruit and cereal. A small cup of Yogen Fruz’s signature yogurt starts at $2.95 and increases 50 cents for each additional topping.
According to store employee Diego Cruz the most popular way to consume Yogen Fruz is by blended drink. “Tropical Storm (a non-diary smoothie) is very popular,” Cruz said. Yogen Fruz’s creamy vanilla yogurt is quite tart and tends to dominate flavor combinations; the low-fat chocolate option is less extreme.
Berry Chill, 635 S. State Street
Berry Chill caters to busy young professionals with its modern green and white decor, self-service ordering kiosk, late store hours and recycling stations; they call it “Yogurt Culture.”
Customers can choose among original and three monthly flavors; September’s flavors are pina colada, chocolate-covered strawberry and passion fruit. A small Berry Chill original frozen yogurt begins at $2.99 and a flavored frozen yogurt at $3.99. Add up to three toppings, such as candy, nuts and fruit, to your mix for $1 extra.
Berry Chill bears a stamp of approval from the National Yogurt Association on its Web site and it received one from store employee Nicole Goodrich. “I don’t feel guilty about eating [Berry Chill],” she said. “It’s so refreshing and healthy.” In addition to being lactose-free, Berry Chill’s yogurt is sweet and tart but not entirely overpowering.
Starfruit, 2142 N. Halsted Street
Starfruit offers its patrons the most bang for their buck. Starfruit’s frozen yogurt is made with Kefir, a special yogurt loaded with 10 probiotic cultures while most only have three to five; Kefir is also higher in calcium, fiber and protein.
Starfruit’s frozen yogurt contains only a faint tart taste and is not overwhelmingly sweet. The flavor combinations are endless; patrons can swirl two flavors together such as strawberry and peach or original and blueberry. A small bowl, featuring a bigger portion than most stores, starts at $3. Add a topping for a $1 extra and 50 cents for each additional.
It is no coincidence that Starfruit’s Halsted location sits in between small clothing boutiques. General Manager Vince Bozman sees Starfruit as a boutique for frozen yogurt. “People come for the environment and to get something healthy,” Bozman said. Starfruit’s brightly-colored interior makes the shop friendly to all-ages.
// Audrey Leon // 