Hearing that Mayor Daley has decided not to seek re-election was a moment of shocking surreality on par with finding out that Marilyn Manson is obsessed with Eastbound and Down to the point of impersonating Kenny Powers in public. As much as I respect Daley’s megalomaniacal hustle, when it comes to the music in Chicago he’s been an absolute fucker apparently concerned only with profit margins (as applied to people with close enough ties to the mayor’s office) and avoiding another E2 incident. The extent to which Chicago’s music industry has sustained itself and even grown under Daley’s watch has been more a matter of doing so in spite of his various efforts than because of them. Jim DeRogatis lists a few of da Mare’s more significant antimusic efforts on his Vocalo blog. Kinda makes you a little excited for the next election, huh?
