Don't Take Away The Music

Just heard some terrible news about new legislation set for a vote by the Chicago city council regarding music venue regulation. Jim Derogatis has the full story here. Get the word out to try and stop this from passing.

Vertikal - Red Hot Music

The other night I went see the band Vertikal at Morseland. They blew me away. The band consists of lead vocals by Stacy Rene, rapper/vocalist Ben "Butta" Jones, guitar, bass, drums, 3 piece horn section and at times keyboard and turntablist. They do all original music that will make you dance your ass off or sit back and enjoy the soulful funky jazzy vibe. The energy level of this band is contagious. They remind me a lot of the funk era bands I grew up on but with a modern sound. One song they did somehow combined a jazz swing feel with hip hop that I never heard done quite this way. All in all it was a great show. I recommend that you see them ASAP. They perform the last Wednesday of every month at Morseland as well as other gigs around the Chicago area.

The Legacy of Chicago Music

I'm gonna take a crack at defining the amazing legacy of Chicago Music.
Here it goes ...............
Gospel Music, Thomas A. Dorsey, Jazz, Chicago Blues, House Music, Chess Records, Louie Armstrong, Quincy Jones. The Jacksons, Michael Jackson, Chicago(the band), Chaka Kahn, Frankie Knuckles, Steppers Music, Soul/R&B, Curtis Mayfield, Leroy Hutson, Tyrone Davis, ChiLites, Chicago Symphony, Fred Anderson, AACM, Earth Wind and Fire, Styx, Cheap Trick, Kanye West, Common, Chicago Trax, R. Kelly, Folk Music, Old Town School, Midnight Special on WFMT, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Brunswick Records, Marshall Thompson, Gus Redmond, Galib Gallab, Johnny Taylor, Lou Rawls, The Warehouse, Kinetic Playground, The Flock, Illinois Speed Press, CRC, Butterfield Blues Band, Sam Lay, Little Walter, Smashing Pumpkins, Delfonics, Howard Levy, Willie Dixon, Universal Recording, Bruce Swedien, Von Freeman, Eddie Vedder, The Dells, The Impressions, Jerry Butler, Nat King Cole, Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Hancock, Ted Nugent, Minnie Ripperton, Fall Out Boy, Buddy Guy, KoKo Taylor, Bo Diddley, Twista, Wilco, Kurt Elling, Steve Goodman, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Steve "Silk" Hurley, Marshall Jefferson, Farley, Candy J, The New Colony Six, The Cryan Shames, The Buckinghams, Survivor, Ides of March, REO Speedwagon, Junior Wells, Ministry, Tom Morello, Walter Jackson, Pete Cosey, Steve Miller, Peter Brown, The Emotions, Deniece Williams, Staple Singers, VeeJay Records, C.O.D's, Hot Mix 5, Julian Jumpin Perez, WBMX, WLS, WCFL, WGCI, WVON, Dick Biondi, The Original Soul Train, Big Bill Bronzy, The Green Mill, Velvet Lounge, Regal Theater, Checkerboard Lounge, Theresa's, Kingston Mines, B.L.U.E.S, Mark Skyer ... These are just the names and places that come to mind. Who am I leaving out? It's amazing how many major music genres, artists and scenes originated in or have deep roots in Chicago.

Song Of The Week

Where U Go Now - D. Miner -Joelee

Song of Last Week

Introducing "Song of Last Week
Brown Eyed Lover by Joelee with Paul Nebenzahl

I've Returned To My Chicago Music Adventures Blog

It's been over a year since I last posted. A lot has happened. So I am going to summarize some of the highlights. I am now the proud owner of a Pro Tools home based studio. It's really nice not having to pay for all that studio time. Me and D. Miner have written a bunch of new songs. which I am excited about. I got an IPod for my B-Day and am now officially part of the IPod generation. My production company Joke Productions has morphed into a live performance band name Uncut. We've done a few gigs at Bill's Blues and at BooCoo Community Center in Evanston. More gigs to come. My daugter is lead vocalist in a great hip-hop jazz band named Vertikal. They are appearing at Metro in Chicago on Friday 1/25/2008. Finally, I am working on a new community web site called at StepNorth Check it out and join!

Download Music Mart - Comments Wanted

Well folks since I launched Download Music Mart in January of 2004 I have received thousands and thousands of visitors. I want to thank all who have visited so far. There is definitely something that is attracting people to the site... having traffic is a good thing but my original intent was to sell downloads and that is another story. I am convinced that if the price is right people will pay for legal downloads. Unfortunately the cost of each transaction is too high to allow for the price I would like to charge. I think that for unknown independent artists a download should only cost about 5 cents at most. So what I am doing is opening up a blog entry here, where I would love to have your comments about this issue and how to have a viable independent download site that makes everyone involved happy. I look forward to your comments.

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