The Hyde Park Jazz Festival defied the pandemic with ingenious safety accommodations in 2020, presenting 18 brief pop-up concerts in parks, pedways, and sidewalks between 40th and 61st Streets, all announced at the last minute to minimize crowding. Last year the festival strived for a return to normalcy and almost got there, booking a slightly […]
Tag: Midway Plaisance
Posted inMusic
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival connects the south side to the wider world of jazz
Hard times will bring out anyone’s true colors, and the Hyde Park Jazz Festival certainly showed what it was made of when COVID-19 brought live music to a halt in 2020. Its organizers emulated the music that the festival supports, improvising ways to support local jazz. First, they arranged the Jazz Postcards series, small-scale outdoor […]
Posted inMusic
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival takes a step back toward normalcy
The 15th Hyde Park Jazz Festival, which took place last Saturday and Sunday, may have been the best ever. That’s a tall statement, given how many great ones there have been—but it’s less about ranking favorites and more about how good it felt to see such a beloved event getting back to its old self. […]
Posted inMusic
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival takes it to the streets
With short sets from small groups in unexpected spots, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival creates a communal experience that’s pandemic safe.
Posted inMusic
Chicago’s September jazz festivals cope with COVID
The city is replacing the Chicago Jazz Festival with a slimmed-down online event, while the smaller, nimbler Hyde Park Jazz Festival plans to try pop-up in-person shows.
Posted inArts & Culture
Chicago’s seven “most endangered” buildings
Preservation Chicago releases its 2020 list.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
The Obama Foundation’s surprising challenge: Community organizers
The Presidential Center’s latest plans have kicked off a surge of serious protest.
Posted inBlogs
Report: Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda may not perform as Alexander Hamilton in Chicago, and other news
Also, parolees can no longer be arrested for being spotted with a gang member in Illinois.
Posted inMusic
An oral history of the Chosen Few Picnic, the ‘Woodstock of house music’
How a family Fourth of July party grew into an annual event that attracts more than 40,000 fans
Posted inNews & Politics
Hyde Park & Kenwood Issue: Expelled From the Garden
The U. of C. wants to park bulldozers on a Woodlawn community garden, and it won’t take “let’s talk about this” for an answer.
Posted inNews & Politics
Hyde Park & Kenwood Issue: The 800-Pound Gargoyle
The University of Chicago may not be the only force that shaped Hyde Park and Kenwood, but it’s the biggest.