Jill Hopkins is a Chicago broadcaster, DJ, writer, musician, and storyteller. After an eight-year stint at Vocalo Radio, Hopkins kicked off 2022 by joining the Metro family of venues (which also includes Smart Bar and GMan) as their new media and civic events producer. As told to Jamie Ludwig I was always a big radio […]
Category: Chicagoans of Note
Posted inMusic
Elton ‘L10MixedIt’ Chueng, recording engineer
Elton Chueng, 33, began his career as a professional recording engineer with an internship at Classick Studios in 2011. He’s since worked with some of the brightest stars to emerge from Chicago’s hip-hop scene in the past decade, including Saba, Noname, Smino, and Chance the Rapper. In November his contributions to Yebba’s 2021 debut, Dawn, […]
Posted inMusic
Karen Valencia, aka Karennoid of reggaeton DJ collective Agua de Rosas
DJ collective Agua de Rosas spread the gospel of reggaeton, and though they’re based in Milwaukee, they have an evangelist in Chicago too: Karen Valencia, better known as Karennoid. In November, the trio (Valencia, Julio Cordova, and Gabriela “Chanchita” Riveros) played their first Chicago gig at emerging underground dance haunt Podlasie Club. They opened for […]
Posted inMusic
Van Paugam, City Pop evangelist and DJ
Van Paugam, 36, is a DJ who specializes in the 70s and 80s Japanese jazz, disco, funk, and fusion records collectively known as City Pop. In 2015, he started a YouTube channel that helped renew popular interest in the genre, which in turn allowed him to move his musical activities into the offline world when […]
Posted inMusic
Aline Kaze, aka DJ Bonita Appleblunt
Aline Kaze is a freelance audio engineer and DJ affiliated with multidisciplinary arts platform AMFM. Kaze, who performs as DJ Bonita Appleblunt, has spun records around the city with the likes of EvieTheCool, DJ Skoli, Ron Trent, Duane Powell, and Ryan, the Person. Earlier this year Ace Hotel Chicago booked Kaze for a monthly residency; […]
Posted inMusic
David Weathersby, documentary filmmaker
David Weathersby is a filmmaker and founder of video production company City Vanguard, which focuses on documentaries about underrepresented communities of color. In 2018, he received a Black Excellence Award for The Color of Art from the African American Arts Alliance of Chicago, and in 2019, his documentary Thee Debauchery Ball won the audience award […]
Posted inMusic
Making music immortal
“There’s a satisfaction in knowing that our work will survive us by generations. That’s something that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.” Pipe organ conservator Jeff Weiler, 62, founded what became JL Weiler, Inc. in 1983. The company’s workshop near 18th and Canal employs ten people, who work to restore, […]
Posted inMusic
Jessie Montgomery, CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence
In April, violinist and composer Jessie Montgomery was named the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s new Mead Composer-in-Residence. Montgomery will split her time between New York and Chicago throughout her residency, which started July 1 and runs through June 30, 2024. She gave this interview while in town to prepare for the first concert of the CSO’s […]
Posted inMusic
Julia Dratel, music curator and visual artist
Julia Dratel, 30, is an events producer, curator, radio DJ, activist, and visual artist. She’s taken photos for album artwork by Circuit des Yeux and Devouring the Guilt and created music videos for Health & Beauty, Mind Over Mirrors, and Spirits Having Fun. She’s also curated night two of the Elastro A/V Fall Festival at […]
Posted inMusic
Dana Hall, jazz drummer and educator
“Being in the room and feeling the heartbeat of the people that you’re with, that’s really a large part of what makes the music what it is.”
Posted inMusic
Sasha Daltonn, jazz singer and founder of the Chicago Gospel Music Festival
“We weren’t only honoring Professor Dorsey—this was a major event introduced by the first Black mayor of the city, and it needed to be outstanding.”
Posted inMusic
Justice Hill, producer, keyboardist, and songwriter
“Once I started playing piano . . . I felt like I had complete control over something for once, and it allowed me to be a more confident version of myself.”
Posted inMusic
Sacha Mullin, singer-songwriter and backup vocalist extraordinaire
“I want to assemble things as if I’m storyboarding in my head. In a way, I feel like a casting director for sound.”
Posted inMusic
Hali Palombo, composer and shortwave radio enthusiast
“A lot of the most fascinating audio that I’ve found has been things that most people would just skip over.”
Posted inMusic
Alison Chesley, cellist and composer, aka Helen Money
“A year without music venues, without audiences, without seeing other people play has really made me realize how important that is for me.”