Pilsen Open Studios is happening from noon-8 PM today and tomorrow along 18th Street and elsewhere in the neighborhood from Halsted to Western. Galleries, artists, and vendors invite visitors and neighbors to experience the hyperlocal arts community. This 20-year-old event celebrates aesthetic traditions and innovations within hip-hop, muralism, screenprinting, self-publishing, graffiti, and more. Appreciators, admirers, […]
Tag: Jesse de la Peña
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Dance-music maverick James Marlon Magas drops an all-star album
Way back in 2013, Gossip Wolf mentioned that local electronic musician James Marlon Magas had gotten a shout-out on Twitter from actress and filmmaker Asia Argento, daughter of legendary Italian horror director Dario Argento. After that online meet-cute, they became friends and collaborators, and Magas created the music for her 2014 film Misunderstood. (Remember when […]
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Parker Lee Williams helped shape Chicago hip-hop—and he never stopped building
Parker Lee Williams grew up in the 1970s on New York City’s Lower East Side, while the city’s grassroots hip-hop movement sprang to life. When he moved to Chicago as a 15-year-old in 1983, he brought along firsthand knowledge of the culture’s foundational elements. His skills with spray cans and pens helped spread his tagger’s […]
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Building on the pillars of Blue Groove Lounge
An oral history of DJ Jesse de la Peña’s foundational Blue Groove Lounge hip-hop night, on the occasion of its belated 25th birthday parties
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Fighting for Chicago’s place in hip-hop history
Darrell “Artistic” Roberts of Chi-ROCK Nation has worked to document Chicago hip-hop culture for more than three decades—and now he’s finally publishing a book.
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The Blue Ribbon Glee Club turns ten with a reunion party for fans, friends, and alums
The Blue Ribbon Glee Club turns ten with a reunion party, old-school beat party Boombastic comes back to Wicker Park, and more.