August 16 - 22

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Arts & Entertainment

Event highlights of the week!

SportsWise

The SportsWise team discusses the trade of Chicago White Sox pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez for catcher Edgar Quero and left-hander Ky Bush from the LA Angels.

Cover Story: State of sound exhibit

"The State of Sound: A World of Music from Illinois" exhibit at Navy Pier through September 24 shows the diversity of culture here in 13 different genres. Exhibit writer Dave Hoekstra tells StreetWise Editor Suzanne Hanney that, in these fragmented times, it is important to understand what various communities have to offer in terms of culture.

From the Streets

The Illinois Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the Pretrial Fairness Act, which outlaws money bond, beginning September 18.

The Playground

ON THE COVER: "State of Sound: A World of Music from Illinois" exhibit promotional artwork featuring (clockwise from left) Buddy Guy, Chaka Khan, Mahalia Jackson, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, Miles Davis, Chance the Rapper, Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon, Al Jourgensen of Ministry, Frankie Knuckles, Juan Dies of Sones de Mexico, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, and Allison Krauss. THIS PAGE: Jeff Tweedy's hat, featured in the "State of Sound: A World of Music from Illinois" exhibit at Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave. (Suzanne Hanney photo). DISCLAIMER: The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or positions of StreetWise.

Dave Hamilton, Creative Director/Publisher dhamilton@streetwise.org

Suzanne Hanney, Editor-In-Chief suzannestreetwise@yahoo.com

Amanda Jones, Director of programs ajones@streetwise.org

Julie

Chicago, IL, 60616

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT RECOMMENDATIONS

Compiled by Kyra Walker

Up Up & Away!

Air & Water Show

The Air & Water Show is the largest FREE show of its kind in the U.S. The show can be viewed August 19 & 20 starting at 10 a.m. along the lakefront from Fullerton to Oak Street, with North Avenue Beach as the focal point. The show includes the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, who are performing for the first time since 2018, and celebrating their 70th year flying since 1953, and the U.S. Army Parachute Team Golden Knights. Civilian performers include Susan Dacy, Bill Stein, Kevin Coleman and others. More information on choosechicago.com

Feeling a Little Crabby!

The Great American Lobster Fest

On August 19 and 20, enjoy live lobster flown in fresh from the waters off of the East Coast, with live performances, craft shopping, and cold beverages at Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave. Non-seafood options and dessert items will also be available. Tickets include your choice of one full lobster or lobster roll, served with corn, potatoes, and a dinner roll. One drink ticket can be redeemed for one alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage. Pre-ordering your meal is strongly encouraged, as ticket prices will be higher, and limited, during the event. A la carte options will be available for purchase. Tickets $65+ at navypier.org

Bites & Crafts!

Evanston Art & Big Fork Festival

Join 130+ juried artists from across the U.S., August 18-20 at 800 Church St. (at Sherman St.), Evanston, offering traditional painting, sculpture, photography, and mixed media. Enjoy live music, kids’ activities, booth chats and demos. Attendees are encouraged to bring gently used wall art to donate to the Chicago Furniture Bank. FREE admission. The festival will be open Aug 18 from noon-5 p.m., and August 19 & 20 from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. More information at cityofevanston.org

Right Off the Bone!

Ribfest Chicago

Continuing its 20-year tradition, Ribfest invites all Chicagoland BBQ masters to compete for the title of “Best Ribs” August 18, 5-10 p.m., and August 19 & 20 noon-10 p.m. In addition to ribs, enjoy original music from top local and national acts on two stages and a Kid’s Square. Dig into over 50,000 pounds of ribs on Lincoln Avenue between Irving Park and Berteau. $10 suggested donation for individuals; $20 for families. Proceeds from the gate are invested in the Northcenter community, and help support local schools and non-profit organizations, economic development and greening efforts. More information on ribfest-chicago.com

A North Side Tradition!

Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest

Buy handmade artwork directly from 100+ artists August 18-20 at Glenwood and Morse Avenue next to the CTA Red Line. Visit open studios and enjoy live entertainment on outdoor stages, street food and craft beer from local merchants on the streets of the Glenwood Avenue Arts District. The festival will be open Fri 6-10 p.m., Sat 11 a.m.9 p.m., and Sun 11 a.m.-7 p.m. glenwoodave.org

Dance with the Fishies!

Ritmo Del Mar

Enjoy a night of music, food, culture, and mesmerizing animals with an aquatic backdrop like nowhere else in Chicago, August 19 from 7-11 p.m. at the Shedd Aquarium, 1200 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive. Dance to salsa, cumbia, merengue, and Latin Jazz. Admission includes all aquarium exhibits and entertainment. Food and drinks will be available for purchase. Tickets $14.95+, must be 21+ to enter. More information on www.sheddaquarium.org/programs-and-events/ritmo-del-mar

Life is a Cabaret, Old Chum!

The Sarah Siddons Society “Swell Soiree”

An evening of remarkable cabaret performances celebrates The Great American Songbook August 16 from 6-7 p.m. at the Piano Forte, 1335 S. Michigan Ave. Some of Chicago’s most talented cabaret performers are joined by musical theatre students and graduates from universities supported by the Sarah Siddons scholarship. Performance lineup includes Cynthia Clarey, Joan Curto, Carla Gordon, and more. Join the artists for an optional dinner at Victory Tap, 1416 S. Michigan Ave. Tickets $15+ on sarahsiddonsociety.org

We Will, We Will, Rock You!

Rock of Ages

This show takes you back to the time of big bands with big egos playing guitar solos and rocking even bigger hair. This Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical features the hits of big bands including Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, and more. The show is playing until September 10 at the Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Ave. More information on www.mercurytheaterchicago.com/rock-of-ages

Time For the Percolator!

WNDR After Dark: Celebration of House Music

Join WNDR Museum for its August After Dark session August 18, 6:30-10 p.m. at WNDR Chicago, 1130 W. Monroe St. Enjoy music from DJ Selah Say as you make your way through an immersive interactive art experience during extended hours. All ages are welcome. Doors lock at 9:45 p.m. Tickets $28+ on wndrmuseum.com

"Prepare for the Fight Scene!"

'Robin Hood: Men in Tights'

Part of the Music Box Garden Movies series, August 16 & 17 the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave. presents "Robin Hood: Men in Tights." Crusading nobleman Robin of Loxley escapes from prison in Jerusalem. W hen he returns home, he finds that the evil Prince John has confiscated his estate and is abusing the citizenry. He enlists a small group of people to regain his home, and also hopes to win over the beautiful Maid Marian. Show begins at 8:15 p.m.; tickets $6+ on musicboxtheatre.com

The White Sox trade with the Angels

John: Welcome to another edition of Sports Wise. Today we are talking about the latest trade with the Chicago White Sox: pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez for catcher Edgar Quero and left-hander Ky Bush from the Los Angeles Angels.

Donald: This trade feels like it was done in a hurry. The Sox want some replacement players for these two good players.

John: Okay, What are the White Sox gaining?

Donald: The Angels will give you all of their newcomers or they'll give you any of their seasoned players who are really close to retirement anyway. So they’re only going to give the White Sox two, three years?

John: How is that going to impact both the Angels and White Sox moving forward?

Donald: Moving forward has

yet to be determined. You have to really inspect what's going on with the White Sox as opposed to wins and losses. So far, LA has Giolito and López, as well as a few other good players. The Angels are going to fare better than the White Sox. I'm sorry. This trade is going to be, like, uneven.

Russell: First of all, I was kind of shocked when the Sox traded my man Giolito. I thought maybe he might go to the Dodgers or somebody like that. But the Angels need pitchers and they have a better chance of getting to the playoffs than the Sox. So I was upset. So, the Sox are not going anywhere.

John: So, moving forward, Russell, how is this going to affect both teams?

Russell: I think it's kind of hard for them, but the Angels are only like three games behind the wild card spot.

The White Sox have me concerned. I think they messed up bad. I mean, this year was a promising year, man. I mean, on paper you got the team, but in reality, you can't do it.

John: The White Sox are getting a couple of prospects back, plus the Angels like getting Giolito. I think it might help him out because he was a candidate for Cy Young finalist a couple years ago, but he's regressed. The change of scenery might do him good. But don't forget, the Angels also won six of the previous seven games before the trade. So I think that factored in the decision, and they believe that they can make a serious run at the wild card.

Donald: Six or 7 wins made Angels buyers, not sellers. They are not selling you nothing. I'm sorry. The Sox are going to end up with players that probably won't produce for them. Why are they constantly picking up these players

that did 90% of their careers and are ready for retirement?

Russell: I want to say I thought there would be a better time to trade Giolito, but I guess that's out. So if [LA Angels center fielder] Mike Trout comes back from his slump, LA might have a chance now.

John: The Angels are going for it now. They want to be a team more like the Dodgers now. They are going for broke. And if they don't get it this year, they could cut loose [Shohei] Ohtani. He's definitely the favorite to win the American League MVP. And the White Sox? I think they're just going to say "See you next year."

Have an idea or suggestion for future SportsWise topics?

Contact Editor Suzanne Hanney at suzannestreetwise@yahoo.com

Rashanah Baldwin

Vendors (l-r) Russell Adams, John Hagan, and Donald Morris chat about the world of sports.

THE STATE OF SOUND: A WORLD OF MUSIC FROM ILLINOIS EXHIBIT AT NAVY PIER

"The State of Sound: A World of Music from Illinois” at Navy Pier is true to its title in that the exhibit shows the diversity of 13 genres of Illinois music – many of them intersecting. Its boldface names run the gamut from John Prine to Chance the Rapper, Naked Raygun, Chaka Khan, Miles Davis, and more.

“People have gotten so fragmented in the last eight years, it’s important to know what Eddie Blazonczyk did, [win a 1986 Grammy for best polka recording] what other communities living in Chicago have to offer in terms of art,” said exhibition writer Dave Hoekstra, who was a feature writer and columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times from 1985 to 2014, in an interview with StreetWise. The exhibit has been well-received, both at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, which produced it, and at Navy Pier, “so I hope we accomplished that.”

As Hoekstra writes in the exhibit, “The spirit of possibility moves us. Generations of musicians have come to Illinois by train, bus, airplane and automobile. Maybe some hitchhiked. The Land of Lincoln has offered the promise of jobs, housing, and a new way of looking at life….You can feel this powerful sense of adventure in ‘The State of Sound.’ There are no borders. Illinois music reflects America’s diversity: gospel and blues, country, soul and rock, international, and hip-house and house…Music tells us who we are and where we have been.”

Like Los Angeles and New York, Chicago’s music story is influenced by immigration and domestic relocation, such as the Great Migration of African Americans up from the rural South

between World War I and 1970. However, the distinguishing characteristic of Illinois music, Hoekstra says, is its purity.

“It’s more the heartbeat of America, more genuine influences. LA and New York are big industry places. Chicago has a lot of that. It’s not as commercial or polished. But there’s a greater chance to be yourself in the Midwest.”

The Springfield and Chicago venues for “The State of Sound” are the first occasions these artifacts – donated by the artists or their families – have been exhibited. Curator Lance Tawser is exhibits director at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Tawser played with power pop band Material Issue before entering the museum field, Hoekstra said. “He thinks outside the box, is very creative. That’s why the exhibit sings, because of his spirit. He went out and picked the items.”

Here are snippets about the exhibit’s 13 genres:

Spiritual and Empowerment

“Mahalia Jackson was gospel music’s first superstar,” according to the exhibit. Jackson moved to Chicago in 1927 at age 16 and recorded “God’s Gonna Separate the Wheat from the Tares,” “Keep Me Every Day” and two other sides at Decca Studios in the Furniture Mart, 680 N. Lake Shore Drive. In 1956, she bought a house at 8358 S. Indiana Ave. that became a gathering place for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., radio host Studs Terkel and Roebuck “Pops” Staples, of the Staple Singers. The next year, she was the first gospel artist to sign

by Suzanne Hanney

Mahalia Jackson

Sam Cooke

Louis Armstrong

Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin in "Respect"

(Jordan Esparza photo / instagram: @heavybutlite)

with Columbia Records. She is also known for her version of “How I Got Over” at Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the August 1963 March on Washington, and for “Precious Lord,” his favorite hymn, which she sang at his funeral.

The Staple Singers, also featured in the exhibit, provided the soundtrack for the Civil Rights Movement” with a blend of folk, gospel and soul. In 1961, the Staples had their last studio session at Chicago’s Vee-Jay records for “Sit Down Servant” with Pops on tremolo guitar, Mavis on lead vocals; and Cleotha, Pervis and Yvonne singing.

Curtis Mayfield is also highlighted in the R&B and Soul sections of the exhibit; his “It’s All Right” has been covered by Etta James, Phil Collins and Bruce Springsteen and been featured in the Disney/Pixar movie, “Soul.” The Soul Stirrers, a Chicago-based gospel quartet, launched the careers of Lou Rawls, Johnnie Taylor and Sam Cooke, who branched into a solo career in 1957 with hits such as “Twistin’ the Night Away,” and in 1964, “A Change is Gonna Come” for the Civil Rights Movement.

Chaka Khan is a hit-making lead singer of the band Rufus, who moved across the soul, funk, rock, and jazz worlds with great success: 22 Grammy nominations and 10 wins. She collaborated with Stevie Wonder on “Tell Me Something Good,” which won a 1975 Grammy for best R&B duo, group or chorus. Born as Yvette Stevens in Hyde Park, she gained the name Chaka (meaning fire, war and the color red) while working with the Black Panther Party, and Khan, from a brief marriage to Hassan Khan, bassist with the Staple Singers.

Jennifer Hudson, who won an Academy Award for her film debut in Dreamgirls (2006), plays the gospel-soul singer Aretha Franklin in the 2021 biographical drama, “Respect,” in which Franklin herself was involved until her death in 2018.

Soul and R&B

It was sometimes controversial when people who started in the church crossed over to secular, but the music “remained filled with clarity and dignity. It played well in the mists of the morning but just as well under the sheets of a candlelit bedtime.” Besides Curtis Mayfield (“People Get Ready,” “This is My Country” and “Keep on Pushing”) there was Donny Hathaway (“The Ghetto”), Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, Otis Clay, the Staple Singers, even Ike and Tina Turner from East St. Louis and St. Louis. “Rhythm and blues expanded on the faith of soul music by adding spectral group vocals, fiery horns, and a sense of artistic anarchy that was open to rock music, modern jazz, and later, hip-hop.”

Jazz

Louis Armstrong brought his cornet/trumpet up from New Orleans in 1922 and became the first jazz soloist, because of his improvisation and scat-vocals.

Born in 1926 in Alton, IL, and raised in East St. Louis, trumpeter/ composer Miles Davis made a name for himself as part of saxophonist Charlie Parker’s quartet in New York City, where he had moved to attend what is now The Juilliard School. Davis shifted

direction musically more than any other jazz musician of his time. He avoided using the word jazz to describe his music, but his involvement in the birth of bop, synthesized Latin rhythms and Afro soul, broadened the appeal of modern-day jazz.

Chicago-born keyboardist Herbie Hancock had a six-decade career in jazz: as a member of the second Miles Davis Quintet between 1963 and 1968; as one of the tracks on Stevie Wonder’s 1976 “Songs in the Key of Life” and in the 2010 “Imagine Project” with Jeff Beck, Chaka Khan, Los Lobos and others.

Blues

A native of Vicksburg, MS, Willie Dixon often said that “The blues are the roots, and the other music are the fruits. It’s better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on.” Led Zeppelin would never have had “Whole Lotta Love” without Dixon’s “You Need Love,” according to the 38-page exhibit catalog, available for free on a table in the seated listening area of the Navy Pier exhibit. His other songs that show a connection to rock ‘n’ roll range from “Hoochie Coochie Man,” covered by Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and John Mayer, to “Little Red Rooster” redone by Howlin’ Wolf, Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones to “My Babe” by Little Walter and Elvis Presley.

Buddy Guy is the last of the migration generation, in the mode of Muddy Waters and Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones, whom Guy emulates when he exits the stage to play in the street. When Guy left his native Louisiana in 1957, he promised his mother a polka dot Cadillac. She died before seeing him perform live, but he still plays a white-on-red Fender Stratocaster guitar and works a black-on-silver polka dot bejeweled “wah-wah” effects foot pedal, the latter featured in the exhibit.

Rock

“Illinois rock ‘n’ roll is a cacophony of true emotion...The sound of REO Speedwagon [formed in 1967 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign] is direct, while there’s vehicular Berwyn muscle in Ides of March.” The band "Chicago" became the first act to sell out a week-long engagement at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1971 and its 1984 album Chicago 17 won three Grammy Awards, charted the No. 3 single “You’re the Inspiration,” and has now hit six million in sales. Styx, formed in 1972 in Chicago, blended hard rock, soft ballads and heavy

synthesizers and found its first audience playing high school gymnasiums in the suburbs. Its breakout hit was the 1973 ballad “Lady” that co-founder and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung wrote for his wife. Also noted in the exhibit are The Buckinghams, “Chicago’s answer to The Beatles,” formed in 1967, with their No. 1 hit across the U.S., “Kind of a Drag,” recorded at Chess Records in Chicago; Dan Fogelberg, who meshed Southern California with his Peoria roots; and suburban Chicago’s Survivor, with their 1979 hit, “Eye of the Tiger,” from the movie Rocky III, which they wrote at the request of the film’s star, Sylvester Stallone.

Power Pop

Rockford’s Cheap Trick was formed in 1973 and is known for hits like “Surrender” and “I Want You to Want Me.” Lead guitarist Rick Nielsen still lives in his hometown and, with other members of the band (singer-songwriter Robin Zander, bassist Tom Petersson, drummer Bun E. Carlos), was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. Oak Park’s Pezband, formed in 1971 with a grittier sound, and The Kind, which began in 1977-78, are also featured.

House/Disco

Disco was an R&B-inspired dance music of the mid-1970s that appeared in clubs from Carbondale to Chicago – notably Faces on Rush Street. Its “gaudy outfits, orgasmic lyrics, layered synthesizers and blow-dried hair” defined it commercially and made it an easy target for satire – such as 1979’s “Disco Demolition” at Comiskey Park, hosted by Steve Dahl and Garry Meier of WLUP-FM. “It was the day commercial disco died,” according to the exhibit.

Frankie Knuckles, who was born in the Bronx in 1955, and who came to Chicago in the late 1970s, saw that record companies were no longer signing disco acts, so he created his own genre. He worked with multiple turntables to create a beat closer to the street at the Warehouse Nightclub in the West Loop, which opened in 1977.

“House music has emerged as one of Chicago’s most important cultural exports, along with the blues and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,” according to the exhibit. “There would be no EDM (Electronic Dance Music) and maybe even no Madonna without House.”

Herbie Hancock Buddy Guy

REO Speedwagon Cheap Trick

(Jordan Esparza photo / instagram: @heavybutlite)

The exhibit describes the cultural power of House as equal to blues and gospel. Played fast (120 beats per minute) by DJs, it uses drum machines and bass lines, while its turntables spin off into Latin, soul and rock landscapes. Derrick Carter, raised in the western suburbs, is also credited for taking house across the world. Earth, Wind & Fire, who spent their early years in the late 60s in the Henry Horner development near the Chicago Stadium, combined funk, soul, Latin music, pop and disco into a distinctly urban sound. Like the band "Chicago," they explored horn-driven rock 'n' roll and traveled from Chicago to California; the two bands have toured together.

Rap/Hip-hop

Rap is defined by strong beats and freestyling rhymes, while hip-hop is considered by many to also be a way of life. Chicago’s Common (Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr.) used a neo-soul groove to cross over into Hollywood with a 2015 Academy Award for Best Original Song from the 2014 film, “Selma,” in which he also appeared. Chance the Rapper (Chancelor

Jonathan Bennett) was born and raised in Chicago, where he began on mixtapes. His third release, “Coloring Book,” in 2018, won three Grammys. He has also branched into fashion, politics and media, and donated $1 million to Chicago Public Schools. Chicagoan Lupe Fiasco was inspired by both the African drums of his father and 20th century jazz clarinet player Benny Goodman, who was originally from Chicago. West Sider Da Brat became the first female solo act to go platinum (one million sales) with her 1994 debut “Funkdafied.”

Industrial/Metal

Industrial began in the mid-70s with bits of punk up against electronics and existing rock 'n' roll, one of the first music genres to explore technology. Metal, often characterized by loud drums and distorted guitars, emerged in the late 60s and early 70s through the commercial success of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Aurora gained fame as a metal nirvana through the 1992 comedy movie, “Wayne’s World.”

Frankie Knuckles Derrick Carter Common Lupe Fiasco

FROM THE STREETS

In 1981, as Chicago’s urban house music scene was moving to a higher level, Al Jourgensen launched his industrial metal band Ministry, which began with a synth-pop landscape. The band has been nominated for six Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance.

Chicago metal band Disturbed was started by lead guitaristkeyboardist Dan Donegan in 1994. The band has sold more than 17 million records worldwide, making them one of the most popular bands in the genre. Five of their seven studio albums consecutively debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Alternative/Punk

Loud guitars, scorching vocals and attitude “layered with a blitzkrieg of emotion” was a gritty, late 70s contrast to the commercial success of disco. Smashing Pumpkins, formed in 1988 in Chicago by lead vocalist-guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D’arcy Wretsky, guitarist James Iha and jazz-influenced drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, are “icons of the genre…The band’s exploration of metal, rock, and psychedelic pop helped put Chicago back on America’s musical map,” according to the exhibit catalog. The band, with varied members, has sold 35 million albums worldwide and won two Grammys for Best Hard Rock Performance: “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” (1996) and “The End is the Beginning is the End” (1997).

In 1980, Naked Raygun, founded by Jeff Pezzati and Santiago Durango, came out of the South Side Beverly neighborhood, and they evolved to include power pop and rock. When Durango left, John Haggerty defined the band’s unique sound with his guitar contributions. During their 11year career, they were famously credited for being the first live show that Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters (an American rock band) ever saw. Grohl invited Naked Raygun to open for Foo Fighters at several shows, including their 2015 performance at Wrigley Field.

Punk band Rise Against was formed in 1999 by Tim Mc Illrath, who had been studying at Northeastern Illinois University, and Joe Principe. The band has maintained a passion for political commitment: from Amnesty International to PETA, and the gay activist It Gets Better Project. Fall Out Boy, formed in Wilmette in 2001, went double platinum with

its “From Under the Cork Tree” album in 2005, and has been nominated nine times for best rock video at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Folk

Chicago is the nation’s biggest small town, and a fertile ground for singer-songwriters like John Prine, Steve Goodman (“The City of New Orleans”) and Andrew Bird. “It has been said that if it was never new and it never gets old, then it is a folk song.” The music is a hybrid of banjo, dulcimer, fiddle, guitar, harmonica, ukulele, and more.

Chicagoan James Roger McGuinn, a house musician at the Gate of Horn nightclub on the Near North Side, enrolled in the Old Town School of Folk Music in 1957; he later cofounded The Byrds and influenced R.E.M., Tom Petty and Wilco.

Americana/Country

Americana is progressive country that incorporates rock, folk and bluegrass. It also stretches into American roots music like gospel, blues, honky tonk and R&B. Alison Kraus, originally from Decatur, collaborated artistically with Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant. Chicago songwriter Shel Silverstein, a successful children’s author, wrote “A Boy Named Sue” for Johnny Cash.

Jeff Tweedy, originally from Belleville, has been writing songs since he was 14. He and Jay Farrar created their first successful band, Uncle Tupelo, in 1987; after it broke up, he formed Wilco in 1995. Mixing country, blues and rock, he has created 11 albums, including “A Ghost is Born,” which won the 2005 Best Alternative Album Grammy.

International

“The sound of hope is all around us”: flutes brought by Irish immigrants, guittaron and marimba from Mexicans, accordions from Mexico, Poland and Czechoslovakia, the stringed zither from Germany and Ukraine.

Eddie Blazonczyk began in rock 'n' roll at 16, but worked

Ministry Naked Raygun

John Prine Jeff Tweedy

his entire life (1941-2012) to destigmatize polka’s novelty image. In 1998, he was named a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow. Walter (Lil’ Wally) Jagiello released more than 80 albums and co-wrote the 1959 Chicago White Sox fight song, “Go Go White Sox!” His primary instrument was a concertina, (similar to an accordion).

The genre also encompasses Native American dance like the Black Hawk Performance Company.

Played at weddings, funerals, and birthdays across Illinois, “the collective elements of this immigrant sound created a new dance card. It is the soundtrack of a land filled with possibility, power, and the promise of a better tomorrow.”

"The State of Sound: A World of Music from Illinois” continues through September 24 in Festival Hall A on the ground floor of Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave., 11 a.m.-9 p.m. M-Th and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri-Sat. Admission is FREE. On the closing weekend of the exhibit, Sat & Sun, September 23 and 24, Navy Pier will present "Chicago Live," with 80 artists and cultural organizations from all 77 Chicago neighborhoods, headlined by Mavis Staples. More information, including podcasts, at www. musicfromillinois.com

Artists' photo credits:

PAGE 8:

Mahalia Jackson (Michael Ochs Archives). Sam Cooke (ABKCO Music & Records Inc.). Louis Armstrong (Glenn Embree photo). Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin in "RESPECT" (Quantrell D. Colbert/MGM Pictures).

PAGE 10 & 11:

Herbie Hancock ca. 1976 (Sony Music Archives). Buddy Guy (RCA Records). REO Speedwagon (Twitter photo). Cheap Trick (Epic Records photo). Frankie Knuckles (Steve Black/ REX photo). Derrick Carter (courtesy photo). Common (Dorimel photo). Lupe Fiasco (Eric White photo).

PAGE 12 & 13:

Ministry (Derick Smith photo). Naked Raygun (courtesy photo). John Prine (John Chiasson photo). Jeff Tweedy (Tristan Looper photo). Eddie Blazonczyk ca. 1986 (AP photo). WCFL promotional photo of Dick Bondi given to listeners ca. 1967.

Pervis Spann (photo courtesy of the Radio Hall of Fame). Melody Spann-Cooper (Powell Photography, Inc. photo).

On the radio

It’s one thing to make music, and quite another to promote it and to make money on it.

That’s where Chicago radio came in. A clear channel with a frequency of 50,000 watts can be heard in nearly 40 states and southern Canada on a clear night.

Although an all-talk radio station since 1989, WLS-AM is best known for its rock years of the 1960s. Its disc jockeys – Dick Biondi, Larry Lujack, Clark Weber, John “Records” Landecker, Art Roberts, Bob Sirott and Yvonne Daniels – became Midwest celebrities as they promoted up-and-coming local bands, both on the air and in local appearances. “The State of Sound” exhibit writer Dave Hoekstra said he can recall being a teen with a transistor radio, listening during summers at a lake.

No station had more of a personal connection with listeners than WVON-AM. Founded in 1963 by Chess Records owners Leonard and Phil Chess to promote their Black talent, it was the only place where you could regularly hear artists like Muddy Waters.

“When Motown Records put a song out, the first place it came was Chicago,” said Melody Spann-Cooper, chairman and CEO of Midway Broadcasting Corp., the parent company of WVON, whose father was Pervis Spann, “the Blues Man.” The radio station was like social media ahead of its time, SpannCooper said in a podcast with Hoekstra. During the Civil Rights Movement, when Medgar Evers was killed, people called in to the station so much phone service was knocked out, and Illinois Bell was inspired to install the first radio hotline.

WVON’s “Good Guys” radio jockeys also put the “fun” in business, she said. When they sponsored a sock hop, 3,000 listeners showed up. A game between the Harlem Globetrotters and the Good Guys drew 20,000. Eventually, WVON’s DJ team included Spann, Herb Kent, Franklin McCarthy, E. Rodney Jones, Wesley South, Ric Ricardo, Bill "Butterball" Crane, Ed Cook, Joe Cobb, Roy Wood, Ed Maloney, Bill "Doc" Lee, Don Cornelius, Richard Pegue, Isabel Joseph Johnson, Cecil Hale, and McKey Fitzhugh.

There are multiple, “micro” platforms now for young people to promote their music, but WVON is still a single, big, hyperlocal vehicle to reach the masses, (although 2 out of 3 its listeners are digital), she said.

President Barack Obama filled in as an announcer at the station when he was a state senator in 2002, working to get young people to vote. “He was amazing,” Spann-Cooper said, to the point where she wanted to tell him, “If this politics thing doesn’t work out for you….”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson started out the same way, as a Sunday announcer working for the Chicago Teachers Union.

Eddie Blazonczyk

Dick Bondi

Pervis Spann Melody Spann-Cooper

Illinois Supreme Court upholds law that outlaws money bond

by Suzanne Hanney

People awaiting trial will no longer have to sit in jail if they cannot afford bail, since the Illinois Supreme Court decision July 18 to uphold the constitutionality of the Pretrial Fairness Act, which outlaws money bond. Illinois became the first state to take such action.

“This ushers in a fairer pretrial system that restores the presumption of innocence, that means there will be no disruptions to peoples’ jobs, or education or parenting,” said state Rep. Justin Slaughter, a sponsor of the legislation in the Illinois House, during a Zoom press conference. “It’s not about being soft on crime. It’s about being smart.” The press conference was hosted by the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice, which helped to write the legislation with the Coalition to End Money Bond.

Ending money bond is humane treatment of people accused of crimes, who are disproportionately Black and Brown, said state Sen. Elgie Sims, a sponsor in the Illinois House. “The phrase ‘equal justice under law’ should be more than aspirational. The State of Illinois continues to show the rest of the nation.”

The Pretrial Fairness Act was signed into law in February 2021 as part of the SAFE-T Act. However, a Kankakee County Court found it unconstitutional, so last December 31, the Illinois Supreme Court delayed implementation until it had a chance for review.

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said in a statement that 100 of 102 county state’s attorneys in Illinois disagreed with the Pretrial Fairness Act. He led the court challenge by 64 of them, but would abide by the law, “given the serious limitations placed on all our Agencies by the Act.”

In the Illinois Supreme Court’s 5-2 majority opinion, Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis wrote that the legislation still allows judges to detain defendants before trial or place them under electronic supervision if they are considered a flight risk or a danger to the public. "The Illinois Constitution does not mandate that monetary bail is the only means to ensure criminal defendants appear for trials or the only means to protect the public. Our constitution creates a balance between the individual rights of defendants and the individual rights of crime victims.”

“The Supreme Court focused equally on transparency and safety,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said at the press conference. “Judges will have to say why they are holding someone or releasing them. For too long, we have had two systems: one for those who are able to pay cash bail, one for those who could not.”

An April 2020 Illinois Supreme Court commission had advised that nonviolent offenders did not need to be detained if they were not a risk to the community, Rinehardt said. Judges “would absolutely have the right to incarcerate individuals accused of violent offenses.”

The decision means that Illinois is no longer criminalizing poverty, despite the political climate, said Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx. The state is “standing on the right side of history. I am significantly, significantly, proud.”

Both Rinehart and Foxx said they had prepared their respective counties over the two-year ramp-up period to implement the new practice, which will go into effect September 18. Cook County’s last two budgets planned for implementation by last January 1.

Every year, Illinois incarcerates roughly 250,000 people in its county jails, according to the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice and the Coalition to End Money bond. In 2020, the state collected $120 million in bond money. “Ending wealth-based jailing will ensure that families are no longer forced to forego paying rent or to pool funds together to free their loved ones from county jail and will keep desperately needed resources in our communities.”

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