In my last post, I didn’t want to overwhelm with my saturated experience, but there was one more thing that I felt I needed to share. In the final days of my time in Chicago, I found the opportunity to stay a little bit outside of downtown in a neighborhood called Logan Square. I was searching Air BnB for something cheap and I was really just looking for fun. I had always planned on staying with family and friends and commute into the city to save money, and that’s what I did for the majority of my time. I soon came across the most magical listing that Air BnB probably has to offer: a Chicago music and art themed hostel that was $15 a night. Talk about perfect. I contacted the hosts and told them of my intentions for the trip and about the research I had been doing over these past couple of weeks and they said that the hostel would be a great fit for me. Come Thursday of last week, I took the Blue Line train from Downtown to Logan Square and found myself in a neighborhood torn between gentrification and local striving businesses. I took the bus to the house and thankfully the stop was two feet from the house. I was greeted by Aksel, a Parisian woman who was also staying at the hostel. She told me that the hosts were not there but to make myself comfortable. I felt immersed in an energy rich home, where there was clear evidence of great memories made. The walls were strewn with photographs and thank you notes from past visitors. There were instruments everywhere you looked and lots of posters from local events as well. I could tell right away that this was not a typical hostel whatsoever. I was immediately treated like a friend and not so much like a guest or a stranger.

Hours later, there was a potluck that started. The host, Rae, had told me that there was a monthly potluck jam held at the house where friends of the hosts would come over and cook and then play music together. I am a major fan of potlucks and playing music with pals, so this sounded like heaven on Earth to me. I was expected a potluck similar to ones that I have been to. Some people bring food, a lot of people don’t bring food and hover around the plates hoping some kind cook will have mercy on them. This was quite a different style than I was used to. Everyone contributed and shared everything, from food to music to words. Nearly 30 people came to the house in the evening hours and produced such incredible, improvised sounds. After weeks of learning the history of Chicago music and listening to recordings from before this century, it was absolutely refreshing to be faced with contemporary artists and music. Since it was a close group of friends, I was pretty easily recognized as a guest and nearly everyone I talked to was incredibly fascinated by my research and was able and willing to tell me about what they think of Chicago music and their personal experience in the scene. It appears that it is similar to Olympia in that it is somewhat clique-y and there are a lot of the same bands at a lot of the same venues.  What is great though, is that the people I was talking to were really referring to the scene just in Logan Square, not just in the whole entire city. That’s when it dawned on me that while there may be some internalized drama  in the neighborhood scenes, the whole city itself provides such a rich, and diverse scene that I don’t think anyone could truly get bored with the music. If someone doesn’t want to see their roommate’s band play for the fourth time this month, then they can hop on the efficient and reliable Chicago public transportation and quickly get to another neighborhood and be exposed to a whole new sound and group of people.  I feel like that concept is the exact opposite of Olympia in a way. There is no escaping whatever the music scene is here. There is some variation, but the groups getting house shows are all white dudes with guitars and drums. There are always outliers, but they are not getting the proper attention they deserve in this small and somewhat exclusive musical city.

My first full week in Chicago and I feel different, indeed. I have been thinking endlessly about my day. Every where I look I am impressed and amazed. I am feeling slightly lonely, but seeing so many faces in the city is helping me out. Most people are very friendly and warm, that niceness of strangers will have to suffice for now.

My first major live encounter with Chicago music was at the Chicago Cultural Center. There, I was welcomed with a free entrance and an abundance of walls and angles to admire. The architecture of the interior was splendid, incredibly reminiscent of the 1920s. This space has clearly been kept up and loved by the community for decades. I came to a hallway of photographs. Featuring an assorted quality and composition style, these photographs depicted the glamorous and not so glamorous sides of the city of Chicago. Mostly, black and white, these photos captured the unseen street corners, and faces of Chicago. It was refreshing to see someone else’s concrete perspective. I knew the music was starting at noon and I needed to get a seat. I wandered around the corner to find a medium sized open air room, with about ten rows of folded chairs. Excitement and anticipation was in the air as the seats slowly filled about quarter to twelve, with a small, but substantial amount of the seats being taken by a rambunctious high school aged German tour group. I grabbed a seat in the first row, I came all the way here and I figured I might as well the best view I can. I did not have any expectations, and if I had any subconscious ones, they were not high at all. This was a free blues event during lunch time on a Tuesday. But to my surprise, the club went up on a Tuesday after all. The event boasted a performance from semi famed blues and soul singer, Chick Rodgers, originally from Tennessee, but made a name for herself in the windy city. She was backed by a four piece band, with all members originating from Chicago. They started without Chick, playing with the traditional blues riff that Chicago native Muddy Waters so famously used. They four piece band played out a cover of “Hoochie Coochie Man” that was so immediately captivating that my face was struck with emotion of pure joy and enjoyment. I normally have a large smile plastered on my face when I hear live music that I love, but I truly had never been so thrilled to hear live music. Do you know that woman who can pop her eyes out of her head for a spectacle? I thought a similar occurrence was about to happen to me, but with my teeth. I was in such pure bliss that two full rows of my teeth were exposed for almost an hour in a jubilant smile. After the first song was over, Ms. Chick Rodgers was introduced to audience, and a petite, stylish, sleek woman in her sixties mosied to the stage with a delicate lace handkerchief clutched in her right hand. No one needed a keen eye to know that there was a goddess among us commoners. She was a blues/soul diva and she was going to give us a show. The first instruments started to play and she shifted from side to side to the beat, with a smug look on her face as if she was going to reveal something to us soon. Finally, the sweet sound of heaven escaped from her full lips. Her voice filled the room with warmth and energy. People started dancing in their seats, nodding their heads, or even jumping up to wiggle. She had a unique quality to her voice, but it also sounded amazingly like Aretha Franklin, someone who you could easily compare to Chick. By the third song, mist was in my eyes, and even escaped from my tear ducts onto my cheeks. I had never witnessed something so profound. Her voice combined with the masterful instrumentation in the background struck me, and awoke me from within. That, and having my moon sign in Cancer which causes me to cry at anything I feel emotionally connected to. By the end of the magical hour, almost nearly every member of the audience was dancing in their seats, had red, raw hands from clapping along to the beat. For the first time in my life, I was not once distracted during a musical performance. I didn’t think about the summer, what food I ate, I didn’t question if I remembered to clean my ears after my shower last night. My mind, body and soul was 100% in the music.

My next endeavor in the large Chicago Cultural Center structure was to the Archibald J. Motley painting exhibit about Chicago’s Jazz Age in the 1930s. I walked up a few flights of stairs to enter another large room. There were dozens of paintings depicting Bronzeville in it’s heyday. The subjects ranged from single portraits of loved ones to Motley, to backstage perspectives of scantily clad dancers preparing for their showcase. One of Motley’s goals was to capture all sides of the African American life, not just the stereotypical one often portrayed in society. There was a true undertone of pushing people to expand their view of Bronzeville in the time. Not only was it filled with talented musicians and dancers, but teachers, mothers, community workers, a whole range of occupations.

From the Cultural Center, I pondered to Millennium Park about two blocks away. I ate some food that I packed in my backpack early that morning, and just observed. I sat in various places where there were lots of people passing by including walkways and at a picnic bench by the Cloud Gate or known to locals as “the bean”. I saw people touring with their friends and family and me seeing those people made me truly realize that I am not lonely. I simply have not been paying attention to the sweet strangers that have surrounded me on the sidewalks and in parks. A certain part of me has come to complete contentment with traveling alone. I am grateful that I am able to experience this, and overcome this lonely tendency.

I am going to be focusing on Blues, While the genre is famous for having it’s start in Mississippi, , the city of Chicago and the Blues have been tremendously influenced by each other. To prepare for my studies this week, I have started reading a book about Chicago blues and watching lots and lots of Youtube videos and listening to clips of very early Blues recordings. I also picked up a Chicago Blues CD from the Evergreen Library.

I came across an article that yielded many comments with people describing their experience with Chicago Blues and what it means to them. One user really caught my attention with their response. They said

“to me, blues is a lifestyle. Simple as that. It follows us home after the music stops”

Although the words are not anything profound, I can understand the point they were trying to get across. So far, I can tell that Blues is rooted from emotions, as most music is, but the Chicago Blues were much more than that. It’s as if the notes were telling a story of how far each artist had traveled in life. You could hear the interactions they are describing in the bass line. Blues is visceral and because of that, it effects some listeners more than other music.

As I described in my presentation at the end of Winter Quarter, I am extremely interested in the circumstances involved for some of these Chicago-centric genres to become popular in the place and time that they did. In my Chicago Blues: The City & The Music book, there is a reasonable explanation as to why Chicago was so opportune for the Blues to become extremely popular there. Logistically speaking, the trains that provided transportation for people looking to move cross country had somewhat specific routes.If someone from North Carolina wanted to move, the train that was associated with their state would stop in Ohio, on the Louisville and then to Nashville. So, there was not much leeway as to where you could go, as there were only a few options per route. As one can probably infer now, Chicago and Mississippi were on the same route and so the Blues musicians of Mississippi were attracted to the work potential of Chicago due to its already existing stockyards and steel mills and settled in Chicago. Over in Chicago, the city was accidentally preparing for a music scene to settle in. In the 20s and 30s, there were clubs built and abandoned by prohibition and then depression. When the forties came around and society had somewhat recovered, there was an influx of musicians emerging in Chicago and coming from the South. Conveniently, there were clubs and halls waiting to be played in, and an audience looking for something to hold onto after The Great Depression.

I hope to find out more of the personal circumstances of the artists as well as the record label executives who helped and hindered careers during my reading/watching. There have been hints in my reading that a lot of the record deals were done in a terribly poor business manner and a plethora of artists were ripped off behind the scenes.

I often question why I am trying to take such a logical route to understand  such a visceral subject such as the Blues. I originally was not even going to focus on the Blues because I didn’t grow up listening to it and I had never even heard of Muddy Waters before 2015. I say that with minimal shame because I believe I am well versed in music enough to admit that I don’t know everything about music (who the heck does?) and I am more than willing to jump into something I have no personal history with. I am going to push myself to write poetry about this music. Dance to this music and hopefully even sing along soon enough. I am intimidated by Blues in a way because it is this enormous enigma that people seem to connect with so deeply and I am treading on the Blues surface.

I am searching for that A-Ha moment where some guitar picking strikes a chord in my heart, when I feel so connected that I understand what that comment meant about the Blues lifestyle that carries you home after the music is over.

I am anxious, I am ready and most of all, I am excited. On Thursday of this week, I will be flying to O’Hare Airport in Chicago to start my ten day endeavor. I have finally established a good weekly work schedule in Olympia and now I have to leave and go start a whole new one with limited wifi and an  unpredictable screen. I am sitting in the library and I am seeing my regular library faces that I have been recognizing over the past four weeks. I am feeling slightly nervous about what is ahead of me. I am going to enter a city that I have been to at least ten times, but only to the tourist spots and with my questionably fun extended family. I just hope that I can feel somewhat at home and assimilate myself into the city and the public transportation  sooner rather than later.

This week I am focusing on House music. While House music is often misunderstood to be originated in Europe, it is a true product of Chicago. In doing quite a bit of article reading over the past four weeks, I have been able to conjure up a sort of timeline and lineup list of the important players in the Chicago House music scene that started in the late seventies and on. It is crucial to my personal understanding that I have a clear idea of al of the individuals involved. I often would pull up Google Maps and get an idea of the locations being mentioned so I can get a true visual without having to imagine it.  I have started to read my book for the week, an autobiography titled, House Music… The Real Story by Jesse Saunders, the semi self proclaimed “first house music DJ”.  So far, it is an easy read and Saunders proves himself to be an emotional, but humorous writer. Sometimes he just restates everything he is trying to say for paragraphs at a time, but I am taking it as a sign that he is simply very passionate about his craft, and not so great at being concise. I am glad really glad that I am able to read about House music from an insider’s perspective and not some journalist and professional enthusiast. Not to say that I don’t enjoy writings from those mentioned, but getting to hear about the relationships and internal happenings in the house music scene from someone who was in the center of it is really remarkable to me. I look forward to finding out the “real story” behind the some of the most amazing, innovative music on Earth.

Yesterday, I watched Pump Up The Volume which I believed to be a movie about Chicago House music, but really went over a range of cities and styles of dance music at the end of the documentary. It was all worth seeing though, because it gave sort of a world wide perspective of how Chicago House music transformed what a music community meant around the world. People all over were coming together to listen to House music and that tradition has continued today in much more commercial settings such as dance oriented music festivals and raves. Sadly, the way in which this community gets together is now changing, in my opinion, for the worst. There are countless reports of young adults and teens dying or having life threatening reactions to the types of drugs that are being taken at raves and dance clubs is unprecedented. When House music clubs first started, they usually served water and juice. People could drink alcohol if they choose, but it was never the center of the experience. Not to say that drugs weren’t present at the early House music clubs, they certainly were, but  again, not the center of the experience.

I finished my book from last week, Chicago Blues: The City & The Music and I must say that the Blues industry and community was just as exhilarating as the music. The relationships between the artists, and especially the artists’ relationships with the business people handling their careers interested me the most. Blues artists are notoriously known for being ripped off in multiple ways, despite their fame and following. One aspect that I was interested in was the record labels that were responsible for making Chicago Blues known to the public. One label that piqued my interest especially, was Chess Records started in the South Side of Chicago by brothers Leonard and Phil Chess. Artists like Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon were on the roster for quite a long time and other big name bands like The Rolling Stones have recorded there. At one point, there were over 100 names on the Chess Records artist roster, and nearly all of them were getting completely ripped off in their label deals, and paid nothing close to the amount that they deserved. I am on a mission to find out more about Chess Records and the story behind the label that supported but also betrayed it’s artists.

The past ten days or so have been some of the strangest, most eye opening  days of my life. To start, I went to Coachella quite last minute thanks to a gifted ticket. My time at the festival was mostly unrelated to this project, although I certainly applied an understanding of many of the performance and listening skills Andrea taught the program. Since there were artists from all over the world there, I wasn’t able to focus directly on Chicago music. I ended up meeting my family in California and because of our different locations and schedules, we all had to leave at different times and have different kind of tickets (standby and regular). Because I was on a little bit less hectic schedule as the rest of them, and I had some of my reading with me, I agreed to take a standby ticket and hopefully get on the first flight I could. I tried to get on the 6 am flight and saw each one of my family members leave to get on a flight home while I was trying to remain positive after being stuck in LAX all day. I wasn’t able to leave until that Tuesday (5/13) in the afternoon. After that painful 40 hours in Los Angeles, I don’t wish my worst enemy to get stuck in LAX and it’s surrounding areas. That whole fiasco certainly put a funky start to my independent research and set me back two days without access to the internet.

It’s as if the big D-O-G in the sky planned it out, because the book I selected for myself to read the first week of the research study was barely resourceful at best. It is titled, The Chicago Music Scene 1960s and 1970s. It was a large collection of photos with small to medium blurbs attached. The blurbs provide some basic history as well as the artists connections to other artists and venues. There was a lack of real insight or intelligent writing. I suppose I could have done a better job of determining that this book was more of an encyclopedia than a narrative book, but the amazon.com subscription definitely did not match what I understood this book was.

It was not all a waste, though. While there was no nitty gritty information contained in the pages, I was able to collect a list of names and venues that kept popping up in the blurbs. One trend that I noticed consistently was that a lot of the folk and acoustic artists of Chicago music scene emerged from universities and colleges above any other music. My immediate thoughts on why this is leads me to Bob Dylan. There were absolutely non-college aged folk and acoustic musicians, but this era of the 60s and 70s saw a population of young students be so influenced by Dylan and other folk masters and wanted to turn it into something of their own.

In addition to the lackluster reading, I have been having a somewhat difficult time getting in contact with DJs and other people in the Chicago music scene. I find it vital to this project that I speak and communicate with the people involved from the ground up, so that I can get the fullest understanding possible. I have gotten one response from Rachael Cain, a House music vocalist from the 1980s, who now runs Trax Records, which was arguably the most important House label in Chicago back in the 80s to now. I have been texting her, but unfortunately, she seems flaky and goes for days without emailing me back. I hopefully will get her on the phone or meet her in person when I get to Chicago. I have also contacted three DJs from Chicago who were heavily involved in the scene. One DJ, Derrick Carter told me that  he doesn’t do interviews but wished me luck. Thanks, Derrick. The luck is cool but your words would have been cooler. The other two DJs have not responded despite my email and Facebook messages. I know the other two have done interviews in the past and I can probably gain some understand from those.

This time period since my last post has been good for me to do a lot of taking care of business things for my upcoming trip. I have been solidifying my sleeping arrangements and planning my days ahead. I can work the best when I have all of my actives laid out in a concrete way, and so in doing that for my trip to Chicago, I hope that I can best utilize my time there.

Chicago is a city I’ve always known but never fully dove into. It’s safe to say that I have only stepped into what could be considered a few drops of water, and not nearly the whole body of metaphorical water that is the city of Chicago. I was born in Arlington Heights,  a little suburb outside of the Chicago zip code, and I lived in that area for the first two years of my new life. Fast forward roughly twenty years and I have visited Chicago over 25 times to see family, yet I have not been exposed to Chicago as a musical city other than by the bucket drummers who sit on State Street and provide a percussive soundtrack for the hurried shoppers and tourists.

Even though I have visited Chicago many times, my preconceptions are mostly based on media I have consumed. Through scattered but thoughtful music research over the past five years or so, Chicago has been brought to my attention many times due to the talented musicians and genres that have come and continue to come from the windy city. I feel slightly at a loss because I don’t have any social connections in Chicago. I have loads of family members in all parts of the state of Illinois, but none of them are going to provide me with much information or give me many anecdotes. That is fine though, although that added resource would be useful to have, my family members are helping me out tremendously by putting me up and likely feeding me copious amounts of food and I am super grateful for that, and my bank account is thankful as well.

Some expectations that I have of my time spent in Chicago are that I will talk to a lot of different people. I am making it a goal to challenge myself and talk to as many (willing) strangers as I can muster up the courage to approach. I expect to talk to people who have seen Chicago’s music scene grow as they have grown in their own lives. I expect to talk to tourists and visitors and find out what they think of Chicago as a musical city from an international perspective.

I also expect to feel overwhelmed, both positively and negatively. I anticipate that I will push myself to make the most of my time in Chicago. I do not want to waste a moment and I am going to have to be ambitious if I want to complete everything I yearn to do. Some preparations that I am making logistically for my trip are the seek out the Chicago music “experts” that live in Chicago, or can be contacted via email. Since a lot of the people that were major players in the Chicago house music scene are no longer as involved in the scene, or as famous, it will be a little bit easier for me to secure contact with them.

While I am reading articles and watching documentaries, I am writing down names of people that are being mentioned as pioneers in the scene. I also am extremely curious to contact record store owners as well as local show bookers. Folks of these occupations often get looked past as contributors to a music scene. I think these people will be able to give me  some behind the scenes insight on how the city has grown musically over time.

Sketch of my living room
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