Jim DeRogatis: PopNStuff

Mayor Emanuel on the Uptown Music District: All talk, no action

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:22:00 -0500

In a must-see two-part report for WGN-TV on Tuesday and Wednesday plus a live call-in segment for CLTV, Randi Belisomo, one of the best broadcast reporters in town, dug deep into Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plans to create an Uptown Music District.

The mayor’s been talking about his vision for the area and for Chicago music since shortly after his election two years ago. But just as people having been boasting that “Uptown is coming up” for 25 years or more, nothing really has happened yet.

The lynchpin of any arts-based revitalization of Uptown is the restoration of the Uptown Theater, which is owned by Chicago-based concert promoters Jam Productions. They also own the neighboring Riviera Theater and do most of the major concert business at the nearby Aragon Ballroom. But restoring the Uptown is a $70 to $80 million job, far beyond Jam’s or any other Chicago concert business’s fiscal resources.

While Emanuel talks about the benefits that a renovated theater would bring in terms of attracting other businesses, and he suddenly turns into Richard M. Daley while waxing rhapsodic about planting flowers and creating pedestrian plazas to make the musical triangle of the Uptown/Riviera/Aragon a lot prettier, more inviting, and presumably free of homeless people, prostitutes, and drug dealers, he doesn’t say a word about exactly where the funds for any of these improvements will come from in a time of budgetary crisis.

Hence the skepticism of the comments from me included by Belisomo in her report. Yet just as revealing as the mayor’s lack of specifics for turning Uptown around—or the fact that there were no concrete plans for fostering music in this city in his much-ballyhooed Cultural Plan—is Emanuel’s response to the question of why Chicago does not have a music office like those in other musical hotspots such as Seattle, Portland, Nashville, Memphis, and Austin. (Belisomo’s full interview with the mayor on music is online.)

Yes, Emanuel says, those cities have music offices. But:

They have offices; we have the largest music event, Lollapalooza, in the world. Number two, we have Pitchfork. Number three, we have Blues Fest. Number four, we have the Gospel Festival. They have offices, we have events, and I will take events over an office.
Number two, I did just create, Michelle Boone and I, two positions totally dedicated at the cultural office towards music. So nobody doubts Chicago’s commitment towards music. We are the city of festivals and a very vibrant music city. We have Common and Kanye West and Jennifer Hudson. Yes, other cities have offices. I’m not interested in having an office to have an office; I want to have these kinds of events.
We took the Gospel Festival and put it in Bronzeville, so that it’s part of the Bronzeville neighborhood. We have a mayor that really enjoys it and promotes it. We have Buddy Guy; we did a kickoff, a sendoff for him when he went to the Kennedy Center for an award, and we have the largest musical festival in the country with Lollapalooza. And we’re going to continue to do those things to promote our local artists, the festival scene, and other things that will keep Chicago as the premiere destination in the music world. But just saying I have an office…
We also are holding in the fall a music seminar in the city of Chicago. Austin does it [a music office]; it works for Austin. We do what we need to do in Chicago that’s the right thing for Chicago.

There are many problems with those comments, not the least of which is the visual image of Emanuel getting jiggy while listening to Kanye, Common, and Jennifer Hudson. But the key is that he sees Chicago as “the city of festivals,” and that he cites Lollapalooza and Pitchfork as the two things the music scene should be most proud of.

This blogger and other music critics and journalists have written often about how the 365-days-a-year small-business heart and soul of the Chicago music scene—the small clubs and independent concert promoters—have been hurt for almost half the year by these major festivals encroaching upon them by signing hundreds of acts to exclusive contracts that put them onstage at the festivals but nowhere else in town. If Chicago has festivals but fewer clubs, Chicago eventually will no longer have that vibrant music scene the mayor mentioned in passing.

What’s more, Lollapalooza is owned half by a company based in Austin, Texas, and half by a talent agency based in Hollywood, California—the one run by the mayor’s brother and major fundraiser Ari. And last year was the first year it paid the entertainment taxes that every other major musical event in this city always has paid by law.

For its part, the Pitchfork Music Festival is half owned by and named for a company that left Chicago for New York several years ago. And one of this year’s headliners is R. Kelly, another of those acts Chicago can brag about… or maybe not, given that whole child pornography mess. The mayor might have been smart not to mention him.

Chicago doesn’t need to have a Music Office just to have a Music Office. It needs to have a Music Office to work as the liaison between the real local music businesses—record stores and recording studios as well as clubs and promoters—and city government, to look out for their interests not only in the bureaucracy, but in the brutal competition with those giant out-of-town festivals and mega-corporate promoters that Emanuel favors but which are squeezing the little guy out of business.

Oh, we also should mention that the Park District just gave Live Nation, the company that counts brother Ari Emanuel on its board of directors, a long-term deal for a 30,000-seat concert venue on Northerly Island.

In any event, the mayor seems of two minds about the music office idea, saying both that we don’t need one, and also that he just created one. That office, if it exists, has yet to do anything beyond granting a short interview to the Chicago Tribune. And this is a situation not unlike the fabled Uptown Music District: Nothing is going on, there’s no real progress, but our mayor is happy to talk about and take credit for it anyway.

Chance the Rapper paints a giddy yet profound picture of South Side life

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:25:00 -0500

Even in the midst of an epidemic of violence that’s earned Our Town the nickname of Chiraq, life on the South Side is anything but one-dimensional. Gangs, drugs, poverty, a fundamentally flawed school system, and the despair that comes from knowing that so many people in a position to help just don’t give a crap are inescapable facts. But so are love, hope, community, and reveling in a thousand humble joys—from grilled cheese sandwiches to birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese, and from smoking weed to dissing Kobe Bryant—all of which combine to make life worth living.

Alternately giddy and profound, veering from braggadocious to comically self-deprecating, and equal parts slacker pothead and street philosopher, on his second mixtape Acid Rap, Chance the Rapper paints the most complete portrait of young male African-American life on the South Side of Chicago since Kanye West gave us The College Dropout in 2004. And he shows every indication that he’ll prove to be just as a formidable and necessary a voice in hip-hop.

The national spotlight on the artist born Chancelor Bennett has been so intense that his story already is well known: Barely out of his teens now, this resident of West Chatham was punished with a two-week suspension from Jones College Prep in Spring 2011, and he dropped his first mixtape 10 Day to prove the teachers who said he had no talent, the younger brother who competed with him, the classmates who wouldn’t sleep with him, and anyone else who doubted him wrong.

That motivational tale is, of course, as old as rock ’n’ roll itself, and musical history is one of the many things Chance knows a little something about. “I got the Chicago blues,” he raps on “Everybody’s Something” from his new set. “We invented rock before the Stones got through.”

In a nod both to Acid Rap bettering its predecessor and these 13 tracks being best appreciated on “repeat” in a steady loop of insinuating grooves and elastic rhymes, singer Lili K. opens and closes the set by cooing, “Even better than I was the last time.” Indeed Chance is, though at other points, he questions whether he’s got the goods (“And I’m hungry, I’m just not that thirsty/As of late, my verses seem not so verse-y”) or paints a most unflattering portrait of himself as a chain-smoker who stinks so bad of cigarettes that his mother and grandmother won’t hug him. (And remember, tobacco still is a bigger addiction, in the hood and everywhere else, than any illegal drug.)

These and other expressions of self-doubt or self-loathing really are deflections, however. Rhyming over melodic and often very Kanye-like backing tracks (the two share a fondness for building on sampled dusties), Chance’s way of viewing the world and his skill at delivering those observations in a deceptively laidback but consistently gripping style are uniquely engaging and thoroughly undeniable. And he knows it.

This is as true of those moments when the artist is just goofing around or riffing off the top of his head—waxing nostalgic about hours whiled away with The Rugrats “back when Mike Jackson was still Jesus,” say—as it is of much deeper fare, including his crises of faith (“I still be asking God to show his face”; “Why’s God’s phone die every time that I call on Him?”) and the conflict between the enduring allure of the mythical gangsta lifestyle and the harsh and painful truth of the reality.

The catchiest bits in the multi-part suite “Pusha Man” are the hook-filled refrains: “I’m you pusha man/Pimp slapping, toe taggin’/I’m just trying to fight the man” and “I’ve been riding around with my blunt on my lips/With the sun in my eyes, and my gun on my hip,” which are both as insidious and as insinuating as anything Dre and Snoop delivered back in the day. But Chance, who lost his best friend to street violence, is setting up the cliché only to tear it down: “They murder kids here/Why you think they don’t talk about it? They deserted us here.” And then he drops the 10-ton truth as casually as if it’s another toss-off about weed: “I heard everybody’s dying in the summer, so pray to God for a little more spring/I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared, too/If you was there, then we just knew you’d care, too.”

I do believe Chicago’s crisis of the streets just got its “Ohio,” right down to the way those lines echo Neil Young’s “What if you knew her/And found her dead on the ground/How can you run when you know?”

To be sure, this is not to say that Chance is p.c., and despite his admitted fondness for LSD, he sure ain’t no hippie backpacker. He’s just a young and very talented guy who’s trying to make sense of a crazy world and have some fun while doing it, and he doesn’t give a damn about fronting as a badass. Like Kanye, Lupe, Common, and Rhymefest from the pre-Sosa pantheon of Chicago hip-hop greats, he’s fearless in showing that he has a conscience and real emotions. Though we know he loves his grandma, it’s impossible to imagine Chief Keef rapping, as Chance does, “What’s better than tripping is falling in love/What’s better than Letterman, Leno, Fallon, and all of the above… What’s better than yelling is hollering love/What’s better than rhymes, nickles, dollars, and dubs/There ain’t nothing better than falling in love.”

For his talent, for his courage, for the breadth of his vision, and for a worldview that refuses to be bludgeoned into nihilism, Chance is a thousand times the artist Keef is… though venturing to say so will no doubt stir up this critic’s critics, the wisenheimers who maintain that I don’t know sh*t about hip-hop because I prefer mine free of hate and clichéd posing. Witness this recent Tweet:

Everyone, enjoy listening to this Chance the Rapper tape, now, while you can, before @jimderogatis's cosign makes liking it impossible
— Chris LG (@chrislagreca) May 5, 2013

Gee, it sure would have been nice to pan this disc, if only to prove my friend above wrong. But I can’t do it. Acid Rap is a masterpiece, and it’s your loss if you let me keep you from allowing it to enrich your life.

Chance the Rapper, Acid Rap (self-released)

Rating on the four-star scale: Four stars.

Follow me on Twitter @JimDeRogatis or join me on Facebook.

Congress Theater gets another pass from the city

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:10:00 -0500

In his third appearance in Cook County Circuit Court Thursday facing a long list of building, health, and fire code violations at the 87-year-old Congress Theater, controversial venue owner Erineo “Eddie” Carranza once again was given the “all’s clear” to continue operating.

During the court appearance, which lasted less than five minutes, attorneys for the city and Carranza updated Judge James McGing on building renovations, including the removal of obstructions from passageways in the corridors and installation of back-up lighting on the upper floors. Another inspection was scheduled for May 22, with another court date the following day.

Judy Frydland, the deputy corporation counsel who is the city’s top building code enforcement official and the attorney prosecuting the case, said that there is a “small show” tomorrow night (the Electric Circus DJ event), but nothing else is scheduled past that date. This, however, contradicts the theater’s list of upcoming concerts advertised on its own website.

Carranza’s lawyer said he wants a “short court date” for May 23, because they only have a few “minor” repairs to go and then they’ll be “ready to rock and roll,” reopening the upper floors and restoring the capacity to one of the largest music venues in the city.

Thursday’s quick hearing comes as no surprise, since after filing a lawsuit on April 12 seeking the immediate closure of the Congress based on a harrowing, 26-item, literally A-to-Z list of “dangerous and hazardous” building, health, and fire code violations, the city flip-flopped a mere 10 days later and declared that the main floor of the venue could remain open, though the second and third floors have been shut since January, and capacity is reduced from over 5,000 to 3,000.

Frydland told this blog on May 1 that the city “tries to work with” venues like the Congress because, “Theaters are like churches… They’re also older buildings with large assemblies.” Of course, crowds dense with 18-year-olds—some of them over-served with alcohol or high on drugs, according to testimony before the Liquor Commission—generally do not dance the night away in most churches.

As Chuck Sudo wrote on Chicagoist on April 23, “Carranza has nine lives, a genie who granted him three wishes, a lucky rabbit’s foot, a backyard full of four-leaf clovers, and a horseshoe planted firmly up his ass.” Well, we now can assume that there also is a rainbow hovering over his Logan Square theater, as well as a stash of wishbones in its basement.

Carranza may not be so lucky on other fronts, however. While the latest Deleterious Impact/Public Nuisance hearing Tuesday found the Department of Business Affairs cautiously optimistic about progress, the owner is awaiting a ruling about whether the Congress can keep its liquor license, following three hearings before the Liquor Commission that included testimony about fights, drug activity, and security’s mistreatment of concertgoers.

The venue owner also may be stymied in his plans to bring more music to another vintage theater at Six Corners on the Northwest Side, the Portage, which he purchased last September, two months before his bank filed a $4 million foreclosure suit (since settled) against the Congress.

On Wednesday, the City Council granted the Portage Theater landmark status, which could frustrate Carranza’s plans for the venue to host live music as well as movies. Ald. John Arena (45^th) has expressed extreme skepticism about Carranza and live music at the venue, and he praised the landmark designation on his Facebook page.

“May the light from the projection booth shine long and bright for generations to come,” Arena wrote.

Earlier reports about Carranza, the Congress and the Portage theaters:

May 7: Congress Theater’s neighbor: ‘Sometimes I feel like I’m monitoring a fifth-grader running the venue’ (By Leah Pickett and Jim DeRogatis)

May 1: Is the Congress Theater safe or not?

April 30: Congress Theater defends itself before the Liquor Commission (By Leah Pickett and Jim DeRogatis)

April 23: Congress Theater allowed to remain open, next inspection scheduled (Alison Cuddy reporting)

April 17: City wants the Congress shut down immediately

March 27: Chicago police official: Congress Theater ‘untruthful’ on night of underage drinking (Leah Pickett reporting)

March 8: The fate of the Portage remains a messy mystery

March 6: Congress Theater hearing rescheduled (Robin Amer reporting)

Feb. 22: Congress Theater restoration underway, but it’s got a long way to go

Jan. 16: Congress Theater liquor hearings begin with undercover cop’s testimony

Dec. 3, 2012: A rally to save the Portage Theater ‘as we know it’

Nov. 29, 2012: Congress Theater defaults on $4 million loan

Nov. 28, 2012: The Portage Theater uses Graham Elliot’s name in vain

Nov. 2, 2012: Congress Theater’s new security chief: An ex-cop with a troubled past

Oct. 31, 2012: Congress Theater police calls rank with Soldier Field, United Center

Sept. 23, 2012: How did things turn so bad so fast at the Portage Theater?

Sept. 22, 2012: New Owner of the Portage Theater moves to evict current operators

Sept. 16, 2012: Congress Theater splits with development partner

Sept. 11, 2012: The Portage Theater: What’s Eddie up to?

July 26, 2012: Congress Theater partners up… and looks to expand

April 18, 2012: Chicago officials scrutinize public safety, other neighborhood concerns at Congress Theater (Robin Amer reporting)

April 14, 2012: More trouble at the Congress Theater

March 28, 2012: Critical of Congress security, headliner brings his own

March 25, 2012: Congress Theater responds to complaints

March 22, 2012: City to Congress Theater: Clean up your act!

Savages drop a startlingly powerful debut

Tue, 07 May 2013 17:22:00 -0500

Unapologetically announcing that I was going out on a limb with a chainsaw, in our post-South by Southwest episode of Sound Opinions, I expanded on this blog’s earlier hyper-enthusiastic gush about the young London-based quartet Savages (I saw god and/or Savages) by declaring, “I have not seen a more galvanizing or gripping rock ’n’ roll front person since Kurt Cobain two decades ago.”

I’d amend that now, but only because I was slighting the band as a whole by singling out singer Jehnny Beth, who really does have Kurt-level charisma.

So, what did I mean by that comparison? First, much like Nirvana, Savages emerges in the world fully-formed, with an amazing confidence in its abilities and an all-encompassing breadth in its artistic vision—two things that are all the more impressive for the fact that they’ve been a band for a mere 16 months.

Second, and more important, while all of the sonic touchstones may be familiar—I’ll emphasize the Wire via a minimalist compositional process that is more about subtraction than addition; you laud the similarities to Siouxsie Sioux and early Cure, if you’d like—the band attacks and reconfigures ’80s post-punk tropes with such intensity and perverse glee that you feel as if you’ve never heard this sound before… just like Nirvana made you feel with its particular brand o’ punk (bubblegum meets Black Flag meets Black Sabbath).

“Nothing this band is doing is new,” says the advance guard of the already building backlash. Yeah, well, nothing under the sun is new, every first-year art student knows that. The accomplishment is in the way you put the familiar together in a way that feels fresh, bolstered by your own unique force of personality (and personality Savages has in spades).

Well, that may be, the naysayers continue. “But they take themselves so seriously with all this raging about the obnoxious spew of empty solipsism in our age of digital logorrhea!” Hey, you’re delusional if you don’t think these are serious times that deserve serious art, amigo, plus, the band absolutely is justified in declaring, “You are not nearly as interesting as you think you are, and we have something to say, so shut the hell up and listen!”

So, let’s say we do that, shall we? What we hear on the 11 tracks of Silence Yourself is a band that has taken full advantage of the recording studio, working with relatively unknown producer-pal Johnny Hostile to give us a much richer and more varied palette than it favors onstage, where the presentation is all about stripped-down, no-distractions, shear-the-top-of-your-head-off intensity, right down to the black uniforms and stark white light.

Some tracks arrive much as they do live, including ferocious barn-burners such as “Husbands,” “City’s Full,” “Hit Me,” “She Will,” and the opening “Shut Up.” But on album, there is much more breathing room, color, and sonic diversity, and the balance of the disc is moodier and more expansive, insinuating instead of asserting. Heck, “Dead Nature” is a short interlude that could pass for Cage or Stockhausen, while the closing “Marshal Dear” even has tinkling piano and an atonal clarinet solo resonant of Patti Smith in her free-jazz period, circa Radio Ethiopia.

Throughout, Gemma Thompson alternates moody washes of creepy ambience with pure six-string slash-and-burn. Drummer Fay Milton switches between tribal pounding and much more angular punk propulsion, always locking in with machine-like precision to the loping bass lines of Ayse Hassan. And then we have Jehnny, or Camille Berthomier, if you prefer (and here I ought note in the interest of disclosure that her sister back in Paris, Maud, is a scholar of rock criticism who became a friend while working on her doctoral dissertation).

Microscopic analysis of “singer stuff” such as, say, Jehnny’s tonal range or peculiarities of phrasing misses the point, much like trying to analyze what exactly is the appeal of laying prone on a runaway while the massive engines lift the jet off the ground at your feet. Nor does a strict lyrical examination shed much light: “And the soul of the pure/And the eyes of the lover/And the one who truly saw your soul…. And if you tell me to shut up… I’ll shut it now!” she rails in “Shut Up.” What exactly is she talking about? Damned if I know, but emotionally she’s speaking volumes, just as she is with the even more cryptic and telegraphic, “My house, my bed, my husbands/Husbands, husbands, husbands, husbands!”

What I hear is anger, disgust, and contempt for much of the modern condition, and here, I have my specific gripes, you have yours, and Savages have theirs (including that stuff about cell phones). But I also hear optimism—in the form of the power of uncompromising sounds to make a world of crap more bearable, and via the belief that refusing to treat people as idiots will be rewarded, at least via a connection with those people who are not idiots.

Which is to say, if you listen to this music and don’t feel something, I doubt that you’re really alive. And I don’t think I care to know you.

Savages perform at the Pitchfork Music Festival on Saturday, July 20.

Savages, Silence Yourself (Matador)

Rating on the four-star scale: 4 stars.

Follow me on Twitter @JimDeRogatis or join me on Facebook.

Congress Theater’s neighbor: ‘Sometimes I feel like I’m monitoring a fifth-grader running the venue’

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:14:00 -0500

Though the Deleterious Impact/Public Nuisance hearings can be credited—or blamed, depending on your perspective—with increased scrutiny of the Congress Theater over the last 15 months, signs that the Department of Building Affairs would let embattled owner Erineo “Eddie” Carranza continue operating as he has for the last seven years already were there at the last hearing on Oct. 31.

While some damning testimony once again was heard from police and some neighbors of the Logan Square theater at the latest hearing on Tuesday, mediator and assistant DBA commissioner Barbara Gressel seemed pleased with the owner’s progress—“Your reports show that you have spent lots of time and effort resolving these issues… I’d like to see these positive changes continue”—she scheduled one more hearing to update the situation on Nov. 12.

The nuisance hearings, however, have taken a back seat to two more pressing threats to Carranza’s future at the Congress: a lawsuit for an A-to-Z list of building, health, and fire code violations (the next court date for that is Thursday) and proceedings before the Liquor Commission (with a decision forthcoming). The first could close the building for “dangerous and hazardous conditions,” though there, too, the city seems to be pleased with progress. The second could cost the venue its liquor license, which effectively would stop it from doing business.

Testimony on Tuesday included the fact that the Congress has generated 38 police calls since Jan. 1, according to Sgt. Joe Giambrone, including six for battery (with one fight coming a day after the last hearing) and one for possession of PCP. Giambrone added that theater security continues to fail to cooperate with police by not calling 911 to report incidents, instead “waving down gang enforcement officers on the street.”

Another problem: The lack of licensing for $20 self-park lots owned by the Congress. When police asked lot operators for their license, they ran into the Congress. The same happened with security as police investigated a battery charge by a concertgoer who said he’d been involved in an altercation with venue staff (they also ran into the theater). “This seems to be a common theme,” Giambrone said.

Ald. Proco Joe Moreno did not attend the hearing—he is on his honeymoon—but Jerry Gabrielatos from the 1^st Ward office said, “There has been mediocre improvement, but we’d like to see more.”

The handful of residents in attendance seemed to agree. One woman complained about drinking by patrons in the residential neighborhoods surrounding the theater, while another resident said, “Some things are better, but we’re a year into this, and we’re still having these issues.”

Turning to Carranza, the young neighbor added, “I want you to succeed, but it’s about respect and responsibility for the neighborhood. Sometimes I feel like I’m monitoring a fifth-grader running the venue!”

Carranza’s attorney Harlan C. Powell said the licensing issues for the parking lots could be resolved today; that Carranza’s architect and construction firm continue to make improvements on the 87-year-old venue, investing $2 million in construction and renovation to date, and, turning to police, that Eddie will have better representatives of the Congress to interact with police.

However, “The building renovation is not really part of these hearings,” Gressel said. “What’s more important to me is the plan of operating this business.” She added that many of the problems would go away if Carranza made the Congress Theater a 21-and-over venue. “There need to be tweaks to this business model in order to make the Congress safe and secure for employees, residents and concertgoers.”

The most lucrative part of Carranza’s business to date has been electronic dance music and hip-hop shows, which tend to draw a younger crowd. Changing the venue to 21-and-over admission would mean a radical change in its bookings, but the idea also has been mentioned by Judy Frydland, the deputy corporation counsel prosecuting the code violations lawsuit.

Harlan named other venues that are 18-and-over, including the House of Blues. “But we don’t have this many calls to police coming from those venues,” Gressel said.

“I don’t think that 38 calls for service—14 directly related to Congress—is a whole lot,” Harlan replied, causing some attendees to groan.

Circling back to the incident that prompted the hearings in 2012, Gressel said, “One of the things that disturbed me most was when a young person was turned away from the Congress and then sexually assaulted. I wonder if there can be an ongoing discussion about what you should do with 17-year-olds that you turn away?” she asked.

Harlan said that the ongoing plan is to put underage drinkers in a lounge-type area and call their parents to come pick them up.

Earlier reports about Carranza, the Congress and the Portage theaters:

May 1: Is the Congress Theater safe or not?

April 30: Congress Theater defends itself before the Liquor Commission (By Leah Pickett and Jim DeRogatis)

April 23: Congress Theater allowed to remain open, next inspection scheduled (Alison Cuddy reporting)

April 17: City wants the Congress shut down immediately

March 27: Chicago police official: Congress Theater ‘untruthful’ on night of underage drinking (Leah Pickett reporting)

March 8: The fate of the Portage remains a messy mystery

March 6: Congress Theater hearing rescheduled (Robin Amer reporting)

Feb. 22: Congress Theater restoration underway, but it’s got a long way to go

Jan. 16: Congress Theater liquor hearings begin with undercover cop’s testimony

Dec. 3, 2012: A rally to save the Portage Theater ‘as we know it’

Nov. 29, 2012: Congress Theater defaults on $4 million loan

Nov. 28, 2012: The Portage Theater uses Graham Elliot’s name in vain

Nov. 2, 2012: Congress Theater’s new security chief: An ex-cop with a troubled past

Oct. 31, 2012: Congress Theater police calls rank with Soldier Field, United Center

Sept. 23, 2012: How did things turn so bad so fast at the Portage Theater?

Sept. 22, 2012: New Owner of the Portage Theater moves to evict current operators

Sept. 16, 2012: Congress Theater splits with development partner

Sept. 11, 2012: The Portage Theater: What’s Eddie up to?

July 26, 2012: Congress Theater partners up… and looks to expand

April 18, 2012: Chicago officials scrutinize public safety, other neighborhood concerns at Congress Theater (Robin Amer reporting)

April 14, 2012: More trouble at the Congress Theater

March 28, 2012: Critical of Congress security, headliner brings his own

March 25, 2012: Congress Theater responds to complaints

March 22, 2012: City to Congress Theater: Clean up your act!

Wire: Rock’s greatest super geniuses (after Eno)

Thu, 02 May 2013 11:07:00 -0500

Asked to assess the most important part of the legacy of long-running English art-punks Wire, most fans will cite the quartet’s first three albums—Pink Flag (1977), Chairs Missing (1978), and 154 (1979)—which chart a startling arc of growth and creativity that echoes and inspires to this day.

If you value my opinion at all, and you do not own these recordings, you should download them immediately. Your life will be richer for it, and I’ll wait.

Done? Good. Because here I will venture that as extraordinary as that music is, a case can be made based on Read & Burn: A Book About Wire, an impressive 400-plus-page appreciation of the band by Wilson Neate newly published by Jawbone in the U.K. and distributed by Hal Leonard in the U.S., and Change Becomes Us, the group’s 13^th studio album recently released on its own Pink Flag label, that Wire may prove to be best celebrated for its endless flood of Big Ideas, forever challenging the way rock bands interact, create, and evolve, to the point even of denying that the group has anything to do with rock at all.

In terms of philosophizing about the business of making an awesome noise, the only thinker who’s done more is that Great Theorist himself, Brian Eno.

Over the course of an on-again, off-again, ever-evolving 37-year career, Wire has introduced each new musical “object” (read: album or EP) with a grand theory: sonic, rhythmic, structural, technological, or all of the above and more. Some have been solid, undeniable, and timeless, some crackpot, misguided, and quickly dated, but all were declared in the moment with an unwavering dedication and sense of purpose. Eno had his Oblique Strategies; Wire has its Concrete Tactics. Of course, not every Big Idea has been a fruitful one, and as a guide for sorting through and trying to make sense of them all, veteran fans and new initiates alike can’t do better than Read & Burn.

Neate, an ex-pat Brit who earlier wrote in-depth about the group’s first album for the Wire’s Pink Flag installment of Compendium’s 33 1/3 series, tackles with equal passion, depth, and insight each distinct era of this complicated career: the initial burst that brought us those three classic albums, which was followed by a break of about six years; the “dugga dugga” days that began with the Snakedrill EP in 1986; a misguided period in the early ’90s when the artists were consumed by their own computers and foolishly marginalized drummer Robert Grey; and, after another break of about a decade, the ferocious incarnation that started early in the new millennium and which continues today, albeit with the loss of guitarist Bruce Gilbert.

Though the book is rich in varied perspectives from all of the key players, Read & Burn is less a conventional biography than one critic’s opinionated and insightful illumination of a daunting body of work by four extremely different and willfully perverse individuals. Neate’s theories about these arch-theorists take precedence over their own, which only is fair: This is his account, and the fact that every member of Wire not only has a different vision of Wire but often rewrites earlier versions makes concepts such as “definitive” and “objective” impossible, if they ever were desirable at all.

Here, the author slightly undersells the brilliance of Pink Flag, though he admits that’s largely because he’d already done the effusive gush in his earlier book, and he wanted to take a different approach this time (positioning the album more as a product of the punk explosion than as a radical reinvention of it). But in a brief Beat foreword, Mike Watt more than makes up for this, offering his own take on why this album has been so formative for bands ranging from the Minutemen, Mission of Burma, R.E.M., and Minor Threat to Blur, Guided by Voices, My Bloody Valentine, and Savages, to name but a very few.

To be sure, if Wire has given us one Big Idea on which a lesser band could base an entire career, it’s given us 100. Neate’s personal take on any one Wire album, era, or idea only encourages discerning readers to go back into the stacks, listen anew, and judge or reconsider for themselves; I can’t remember the last music book that sent me scurrying to play so many sounds again with fresh and eager ears. In the end, maybe you’ll think more highly of, say, The Ideal Copy than Neate or some of the band members do; perhaps you’ll hate Manscape even more. It’s all part of the fun.

Neate’s own Big Idea may be a bit more problematic. Basically, he argues that vocalist-guitarist Colin Newman’s rather dictatorial “pop” perfectionism always has ideally been balanced by Gilbert’s love of noise and embrace of chaos and confusion. (“Any form of disinformation is useful,” the sinisterly impish Gilbert once told me.) I more or less agree, and Gilbert’s “spanner in the works” is missed to some extent on the new album. But nothing ever is simple and clear-cut in Wire-Land, and Neate’s construction of the four-legged table somewhat shorts the contributions of bassist-vocalist Graham Lewis, the most lustful, poetic, and dare I say fun member of this posse of sometimes dour intellectuals, as well as adding to the near-universal under-appreciation of Grey, who not only is that rare drummer whose style and sound (minimalist though they may be) mark him as a singular voice, but who is genuinely a very nice man with a calming presence that cannot be underestimated in balancing the difficult forces of nature of the other three founding bandmates.

In any event, the fact that no member of Wire will be entirely approving of Neate’s reading of the charms and methodologies of Wire is one of the book’s strengths: This is just one exceedingly well-written and very passionate take on the band’s story and output, and too bad if the band doesn’t like it. As Lewis sang on 154: “I should have known better/Than to become a target/Albeit a target which moves.”

Ah, yes: the moving target. If all of this talk of ideas and theories seems joyless and pretentious, that neglects the fact that in consistently moving forward, Wire often disavows much of what it’s done in the recent or distant past. No one can take the piss out of Wire better than Wire itself. But the rush toward whatever is coming next always is so enthusiastic in concept and eager in execution that it’s impossible not to be swept up, loving the journey if not the destination. Plus, there usually are laughs aplenty along the way.

Personally, I’m vastly amused by Wire’s current rejection of one Big Idea from the Snakedrill/Ideal Copy days: the complete refusal to indulge in soul-killing nostalgia by playing any of its old material during its first extensive tour of the U.S. in 1987. (But then I would chuckle about that, given my own history with the band.) This doesn’t make that idea any less valid or brave: How many other artists ever have resisted giving the people what they want because they’re more excited about being here now or going somewhere new in the immediate future? Nor is it hypocritical; consistency, after all, is the hobgoblin of small minds. Finally, it certainly doesn’t invalidate the Big Idea behind Change Becomes Us, which attempts a different way to embrace the past in the present with an eye toward the future (or something like that).

When Wire first went on hiatus in 1980, it left behind a considerable body of work-in-progress, some of it heard in various forms of development on the sketchy 1981 live album Document and Eyewitnesses, as well as on scattered solo offerings and various obscure releases in the years that followed. The Big Idea on album number 13 is to return to these 32-year-old pieces and complete or reimagine them now, with Mssrs. Newman, Lewis, and Grey older if not necessarily wiser, and considerably younger guitarist Matt Simms assuming the role of Gilbert (sonically, if not philosophically; on board now for three albums, he has yet to assert himself on that front).

Think of someone picking up an unfinished Shakespeare manuscript and rewriting and completing it in the current vernacular, then doing a Burroughs cut-and-paste. That’s Change Becomes Us.

Now, as often is the case, something is just a little off in the realization of this idea. The original material is obscure even for Wire super fans, so the reimaginings are not necessarily as revealing or as much fun as they might have been. The only song that really grabs me in its juxtaposition of past/present/future is “Ally in Exile,” which opens the album in its new rendition and under its new title of “Doubles & Trebles.” What might have come of Wire 2013 reworking any one of the three masterpieces that started its career? I’d have been much more interested in hearing that, but then the lack of Gilbert might have been much more telling, whereas his twisted presence at least hovers in the background here, since he was in the thick of the original creation.

But with any new Wire offering, the idea only is one aspect of things. For all of the band members’ disdain for some of the words I’ve used—“fun” and “rock” chief among them—let us not forget that another purpose of the newest objet d'art is for us to listen to and enjoy it, however “American” that concept may be. (For this band, “American” and “rock” are pejoratives so nuanced with multiple levels of snarky meaning that no one who isn’t a perverse, nearly 60-years-old legendary English art-punk ever will fully comprehend them, while “fun” no doubt is a word that would leave even these loquacious chaps shuddering in speechless revulsion.)

Nevertheless, a fun rock album is what Changes Becomes Us is, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that. The connections to one possible abandoned future post-154 can be heard in a sonic palette that is more lush, moody, and ambient than that of more Spartan recent offerings such as Send (2003), where the snarl took primacy. Yet the new one also is more playfully inventive and subtly skewed though no less tuneful than Red Barked Tree (2010), a “poppier” effort by Wire standards. With or without Gilbert, the quartet still gleefully brings the noise, and the now properly honored human element and relentless drive of Grey is central; he always will be the soul of this particular machine.

The dreamscape of “Keep Exhaling,” the ambient and lilting “Re-Invent Your Second Wheel,” the highly caffeinated “Stealth of A Stork” (with Newman’s frantic yelps of “Change!” every time the chords shift), the gonzo anthem “Eels Sang” (“Eels Sang Lino” in its earlier incarnation), and the absolutely lovely “& Much Besides” rank with some of the strongest and most memorable songs Wire ever has given us—though “song” may be another of those words that makes this band sneer, so conventional is the very notion.

Is Change Becomes Us the musical or conceptual equal of the three albums Wire gave us at the start of its history? No. But the band seems at long last to have accepted that matching or bettering those peaks isn’t possible, while moving forward to climb new if more modest ones is a worthy and possibly even enjoyable endeavor. As a whole, the four albums Wire has given us since 2003, with the latest being the most ambitious and the logical summation, certainly are more consistent and rewarding than any since the first three. So it’s fitting that all of this looking back and summing up is happening now, on record and in print.

Which is not to say that Wire isn’t about to blow it all up again with the next Big Idea any second, god love ’em.

(Wire performs at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park on Friday, July 19.)

Wire, Change Becomes Us (Pink Flag)

Rating on the four-star scale: 3.5 stars.

Follow me on Twitter @JimDeRogatis or join me on Facebook.

Is the Congress Theater safe or not?

Wed, 01 May 2013 13:07:00 -0500

Exactly how “hazardous and dangerous” are the many code violations at the 87-year-old Congress Theater in Logan Square, and do shows there pose an immediate risk to concertgoers?

The city took one position in its lawsuit seeking immediate closure of the venue last month, and another at court hearings that are allowing the theater to remain open while repairs are made.

Judy Frydland, the deputy corporation counsel who is the city’s top building code enforcement official, shed more light on the prosecution of controversial Congress Theater owner Erineo “Eddie” Carranza in an interview on Tuesday. (The code-violation lawsuit is one of three challenges facing Carranza, who also is battling Deleterious Impact/Public Nuisance proceedings and violations before the Liquor Commission.)

On April 12, the city filed a lawsuit seeking the immediate closure of the Congress, citing a harrowing and literally A-to-Z list of “hazardous and dangerous” code violations compiled by inspectors from the Health, Building and Fire Departments. The biggest threats to concertgoers cited in the lawsuit include:

“a. The electrical system is in a dangerous condition.
“b. Bare electrical cable wires throughout the basement areas lack ground continuity and therefore pose a dangerous hazard to occupants and emergency responders.
“c. There are defective lights throughout the theater area, second floor bathroom, and second floor projector rooms, which are a dangerous hazard.
“e. The ventilation system above the stage block specifically designed to vent flames and smoke in case of a fire is totally disabled. This condition poses an extremely dangerous hazard…
“h. Inspectors observed that the fire curtain has not been tested in numerous years, despite the annual testing requirement…
“j. Fire resistive separation between auditorium and stage block is in dangerous condition…
“p. Breaches in the fire rated ceiling are used for rigging concert equipment creating a dangerous condition.
“r. The catwalk for access above the ceiling in the auditorium, to rig shows and change lighting, is old and dilapidated posing risk of collapse. This condition poses a hazard to any unexpecting employee.
“v. The sprinkler heads in the VIP room and within the stage block are in dangerous condition…
“w. There is no railing system to prevent falling in either the balcony or the VIP room.
“x. There is water in the basement near an open live front electrical panel… The conditions pose an electrical fire hazard and possible electrocution to occupants.
“z. Ventilation system is inoperable; vents have been blocked and sealed. There is no fresh air supply to patrons, nor is there any exhaust of polluted air from the theater.”

Despite these hair-raising charges, at the first court hearing on April 18, Cook County Judge James McGing allowed the Congress to remain open and host two shows that weekend. (A third show was cancelled by the venue because of flooding from heavy rains.)

Another city inspection took place on April 22.

The next day, at the second court hearing on April 23, McGing ruled that the main floor of the Congress could remain open—though the second and third floors, which have been closed since early in the new year, will continue to be barred to the public, considerably reducing the capacity of the venue.

The city did not push for the venue’s closure or protest the judge’s decision in court.

“The majority of the most serious violations are complied,” Frydland said.

In not-for-attribution interviews with this reporter, several Chicago concert-industry insiders and venue owners expressed disbelief at the city’s stance, given how by-the-book and thorough scrutiny of concert venues in the city has been since the E2 disaster in 2003.

Said one: “I can’t understand how [Carranza] has stayed open as long as he has, or why the city lets him continue.”

Another asked why the city was “raising a red flag so late in the game. We all know Eddie is negligent, but what about the city?”

Even bigger questions:

How did the Congress repair the most dangerous violations on that lengthy list in a mere 10 days, between the time the city filed its lawsuit on April 12, and the next inspection on April 22?
Could a venue really improve that quickly after being so hazardous that the city wanted it closed immediately?
And, most importantly, is the Congress a safe place for thousands of music lovers, or is it another E2 waiting to happen?

I posed these questions to Frydland, starting with her comments in court about the quick compliance for the most dangerous conditions cited in the lawsuit.

Frydland: They’ve had architects and electricians working at the building for quite a few months now. Once we give them a list of “these are things we’re concerned about,” they’re already at the building, they’re already there, they already know. So it’s not like they have to go out and find people; they’ve been working on this place for a while. We wanted to put pressure on them to work more quickly.

The other thing you have to realize is that the building has an occupancy—I’m trying to remember now, but it’s over 5,000—and now it’s been reduced to 3,000. So they are working under a smaller number and fixing these violations. We’re on them about it.

You also have to remember the fire curtain and the ventilation had passed all of those inspections for those issues [before]. They would have had to have passed in 2010, and probably 2012 as well. But because of the issues there, the Fire Department wanted those issues tested again, and we were present for both of those tests. Usually those tests are done by independent contractors, and reports are sent in. But we wanted to be present. I was there for both tests, the Building Department was there for both tests, and so was the Fire Department.

J.D.: But one big question here is timing, Judy. Carranza has owned the venue for seven years, and concertgoers have complained about conditions there for even longer. The city began its Deleterious Impact/Public Nuisance Proceedings in March 2012. But the city only filed this lawsuit in mid-April this year.

[At this point, the city press spokesman who sat in on the interview interjected that Frydland has only been involved in the case since early in the new year, when the second and third floors of the theater were closed for the lack of a back-up lighting system.]

Frydland: After that, I got more and more involved in the case, because it is a theater. And since we had a giant-profile case, I wanted to personally go out there and see what’s going on.

J.D.: In more than 20 years on this beat, I’ve never seen a major Chicago concert venue where two floors are closed yet the venue remains open.

Frydland: They have to have a back-up system for lighting and they didn’t have it. My understanding is they’re getting it, but it’s a lot of work to get that done with back-up generators. It’s not a structural issue at all; the issue is they don’t have that back-up lighting if the power goes out, and they have to have that back-up lighting. It’s not like there’s a structural issue there. With E2, they had stuff hanging off the roof—there’s none of that here. Here, they’ve made the repairs that we asked them to make.

J.D. Your comments at the court hearings seemed to indicate that you’re happy the Congress is complying.

Frydland: [Laughs] Well, I don’t have emotions. They’re making efforts to comply. But sure, we wanted to apply pressure; we apply pressure to everybody who’s got code violations. It’s very difficult to make people spend money on things that you don’t see.

J.D. Getting back to the timing: This venue has been in the news since March 2012. Why was it more than a year before city inspectors found all of those “dangerous and hazardous” conditions listed A-to-Z in the lawsuit?

Frydland: But with that Deleterious Impact case, that doesn’t give them a hand-out of building code violations. That has to do with the impact of the music and the people in the neighborhood.

J.D.: I understand. But Carranza has owned this venue for seven years, and there has been intense scrutiny for the last year. After 13 months of Carranza’s operation being questioned and criticized, the city files a lawsuit to close the place immediately because of “dangerous and hazardous conditions.” Then, 10 days later, the judge rules it’s safe and you agree that it can remain open. Other venue owners who have to comply with the many city safety codes are mystified by all of this.

Frydland: If they came into court, these smaller venues, and they had issues that weren’t anything dangerous or hazardous, we would work with them, too.

Theaters are like churches. We get lots of churches in court, and we work with them. If they fail inspections, sometimes they have to reduce their occupancy the same way; sometimes they have to have partial closures, and sometimes they have to be closed completely. But they’re also older buildings with large assemblies.

J.D.: But people aren’t dancing in the dark in church at midnight while high on Ecstasy.

Frydland: Maybe some churches… [Laughs]

J.D.: I want to go to that church!

Frydland: For us to close a place or to vacate any type of building, there has to be dangerous and hazardous violations. We can’t just close you if you have violations. It has to be dangerous and hazardous. If you have a lot of violations that don’t impact the public safety—maybe you need to paint, maybe your floors are ugly, maybe you need to update your bathrooms—you can have a lot of those and be a grungy place. But if there’s not a health violation or a structural problem or your fire system’s not working, I can’t just close you because you’re slow [to make repairs].

J.D.: What about the inspectors’ findings of water by the electrical system?

Frydland: Well, that got cleaned up. They have a whole crew there. They have so many people working there, I don’t even know who all these people are. They have a lot of people on staff; they have an architect there; an electrical contractor; a very reputable fire company came out. This owner is this owner. If I was owning something, just like the other people that you talked to, I certainly would think differently. I can’t explain him.

J.D. I have a 16-year-old daughter. I wouldn’t want her to go to the Congress because I don’t think it’s safe. I don’t like to go the Congress myself because I don’t think it’s safe. But you are saying it is?

Frydland: We believe so. I hate to say that a place is safe or not safe because anything can happen anytime anywhere. You can be at a venue that’s brand new and well-done and something can go wrong. I don’t mean to say that it’s safe or not safe. What I mean to say is there are no building code violations that are dangerous at this time that would warrant the closure. The occupancy has been really reduced from over 5,000 to 3,000, so there are a lot less people there. The Fire Department will tell you that less people is less risk, and that’s why they’re OK to function at this level of 3,000. Would we at this time allow them to function at their full level? The answer is no, absolutely not. They have a laundry list of things that they need to do in order to open up fully, and unless they can prove that to us and the court, I’m not inclined to let that occupancy go over 3,000 any time soon.

J.D. Let’s put this in perspective: There are not many live music venues in Chicago with a capacity of 3,000 or more. The Congress is in a singular position in being that big and having a list of violations that long.

[Comparable music venues would include the Riviera Theatre (built in 1917 and with capacity of 2,500); the Aragon Ballroom (1926 and 4,500); the Chicago Theatre (1921 and 3,600), and the Auditorium Theater (1889 and 3,929). Owners of the Riviera and the Aragon will appear in court on May 22 to face building code violations in those venues, but they are far fewer in number and of much less pressing consequence than the violations at the Congress. Clarified: The Aragon Ballroom is in court on May 22 for ongoing oversight of repairs to its ceiling, a chunk of which collapsed in February. The Riv has several minor and routine code violations and is not in court proceedings.]

Frydland: Right now, it’s my understanding—and I have to double-check this—[the Congress] is not having anything that’s catering to teenagers.

J.D.: Actually, they just announced and put on sale a Marilyn Manson concert, though I suppose his audience is getting older… [See note below]

Frydland: Maybe for that concert we’ll have to do something. I’ve talked to them about that, about young people there. I’ve talked to them about all that they have to do to get fully reopened, and I don’t know if they’ll be able to do that any time soon. Maybe they can; maybe they’re working really hard.

I may have to go to a concert there myself. My daughter was there last year. I’m not into [music]. I think it was that—what’s it called?—dubstep. She’s into all that.

The case is up again May 9. There will be an inspection the week before and then we’ll be back in court to see how they are progressing.

J.D.: In case people forget the stakes here, this is the city where 21 people died in February 2003 at the E2 nightclub, in part because of hazardous conditions that went ignored and unrepaired. I know I never want to have to report another story like that.

Frydland: I was very involved with all that, and believe me, I get just as nervous as everybody else. But I have to have a reason to close a place down.

I’ve closed many places down. If it’s dangerous and hazardous, I’ve done it, and I’ve done it many times. We do it because, as hard as it is to close it down, it’s a lot worse if somebody gets hurt. And I have gone there myself [to the Congress], with the Fire Department and the Building Department there, and with the reduced occupancy, and no dangerous or hazardous violations, I don’t have a reason to reduce the occupancy further at this time. If this changes or it comes to my attention that there’s another reason to look at it...

Of course, we’re very concerned about public safety. That’s why this case has been in court almost every other week. That’s why we’ve been out there; that’s why we’ve been on it. We’re there. We certainly care. We’re certainly concerned. But I have to function within the law, and that’s what we’re doing. But we are watching it very carefully, we’re very concerned, and our inspectors are very concerned and watching the situation very closely.

* * *

Note: While the Congress Theater is not completely avoiding bookings likely to draw a predominantly teenage audience, per Frydland’s comment, it has curtailed the number of shows at the venue, judging by the current on-sales listed on its website, and it is hosting more sedate fare—including a lot more country—than the dubstep and hip-hop bookings that have predominated in recent years.

A show on Friday co-presented by punk-rock promoters Riot Fest and dance-music promoters React Presents featuring All Time Low and Pierce the Veil recently was moved to the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates, which has a larger capacity of 11,218.

Shows still on sale and scheduled for the Congress include country acts Steve Holy and Jason Michael Carroll on Saturday; Electric Circus on May 10 (per the website: "The night of music and mayhem will include featured DJ's, 3D visuals, go-go dancers, magicians, laser show, [and] circus acts"); Montgomery Gentry on May 31; the Evolution Music Tour on June 8 ("showcasing hundreds of bands and artists spanning a wide variety of genres, ages, and experience levels across the nation"); Mexican alternative-rockers PXNDX on June 15; Marilyn Manson on July 5; Adam Ant on Aug. 1, and Big & Rich Party Like Cowboyz on Sept. 27.

Meanwhile, a Facebook page started in May 2011 urging people to “Boycott the Congress” because of its security guards ("Don’t patronize those whose business model involves assaulting their customers") has been garnering more media attention and more support, with a total of 1,584 "likes" for the page.

Finally, Chuck Sudo of Chicagoist should be recognized for the most colorful and possibly truest sentences yet written about the Congress and its owner:

Congress Theater owner Eddie Carranza has nine lives, a genie who granted him three wishes, a lucky rabbit’s foot, a backyard full of four-leaf clovers and a horseshoe planted firmly up his ass. That's what we're led to believe after a Cook County Circuit Court judge ruled the beleaguered Logan Square venue will remain open, but at a reduced capacity, while Carranza works to address a list of building code violations that threatened to shut down the theater last week.

Earlier reports about Carranza, the Congress and the Portage theaters:

April 30: Congress Theater defends itself before the Liquor Commission (By Leah Pickett and Jim DeRogatis)

April 23: Congress Theater allowed to remain open, next inspection scheduled (Alison Cuddy reporting)

April 17: City wants the Congress shut down immediately

March 27: Chicago police official: Congress Theater ‘untruthful’ on night of underage drinking (Leah Pickett reporting)

March 8: The fate of the Portage remains a messy mystery

March 6: Congress Theater hearing rescheduled (Robin Amer reporting)

Feb. 22: Congress Theater restoration underway, but it’s got a long way to go

Jan. 16: Congress Theater liquor hearings begin with undercover cop’s testimony

Dec. 3, 2012: A rally to save the Portage Theater ‘as we know it’

Nov. 29, 2012: Congress Theater defaults on $4 million loan

Nov. 28, 2012: The Portage Theater uses Graham Elliot’s name in vain

Nov. 2, 2012: Congress Theater’s new security chief: An ex-cop with a troubled past

Oct. 31, 2012: Congress Theater police calls rank with Soldier Field, United Center

Sept. 23, 2012: How did things turn so bad so fast at the Portage Theater?

Sept. 22, 2012: New Owner of the Portage Theater moves to evict current operators

Sept. 16, 2012: Congress Theater splits with development partner

Sept. 11, 2012: The Portage Theater: What’s Eddie up to?

July 26, 2012: Congress Theater partners up… and looks to expand

April 18, 2012: Chicago officials scrutinize public safety, other neighborhood concerns at Congress Theater (Robin Amer reporting)

April 14, 2012: More trouble at the Congress Theater

March 28, 2012: Critical of Congress security, headliner brings his own

March 25, 2012: Congress Theater responds to complaints

March 22, 2012: City to Congress Theater: Clean up your act!

Follow me on Twitter @JimDeRogatis or join me on Facebook.

Congress Theater defends itself before the Liquor Commission

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:59:00 -0500

After two sessions of damning testimony presented by the city which could result in the revocation of his liquor license, embattled Congress Theater owner Erineo “Eddie” Carranza had his turn to defend himself Tuesday in the third proceeding before Deputy Hearings Commissioner Robert Nolan.

Harlan Powell, Carranza’s fourth attorney in the last seven months, called three witnesses to refute the earlier evidence presented by the city.

The first hearing in mid-January included testimony from an undercover police officer with the Chicago vice squad who was investigating complaints that theater security guards seize drugs from concertgoers and resell them. Police also reported five incidents that “violated a state law regulating narcotics or controlled substances” at the venue between September 3, 2011, and April 15, 2012, and a patron testified that that he was beaten by venue security after a show on May 27.

At the second hearing in late March, a Chicago Police sergeant testified that Congress staffers lied about serving alcohol when his unit arrived to investigate suspicions of underage drinking during a DJ Rusko set in May 2012. Nolan also heard testimony that the emergency room of Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center in Wicker Park reported several concertgoers “of various ages” arriving from the Congress in a private ambulance with symptoms of extreme intoxication, many of them “barely breathing,” and that the staff had not reported to police a large fight during a Chief Keef show in April 2012.

On Tuesday, Ahmad Mahidi, manager of the Congress since 2004, testified that on the night of the DJ Rusko set last May, Chicago police officers arrived and asked Mahidi if staffers were serving alcohol inside. Mahidi said they were, then called his brother Atieh, speaking over a walkie-talkie in Arabic, and told him to turn off the 10 beer taps, even though police had not instructed the venue to do so.

The testimony conflicted with Sgt. Joseph Giambrone’s testimony in March, and Assistant Corporation Counsel Maggie Shiels challenged Mahidi in cross-examination. Giambrone said that when he asked Mahidi if they were serving alcohol at the venue, Mahidi said no, gave instructions in Arabic through the walkie-talkie, then ran ahead of the police officers into the venue. When the officers walked inside, they observed Mahidi and his brother turning off the taps, Giambrone said.

Also testifying for Carranza: Jonathan Errum, who has worked security at the Congress for two years. He testified that after the DJ Armin van Buuren show ended “before midnight” on May 26, 2012, he got a call on the walkie-talkie from Chris Willis, a security guard with electronic dance music concert promoters React Presents, who said that a patron spit on him outside the theater and he needed assistance.

Errum said he then went to the back alley with two other security guards and saw concertgoer Marco Garcia handcuffed and held by Willis and another React Presents security guard, Ramon Montenegro. Errum claims to have never touched Garcia, and he said that Mahidi was not present when he led them to the security office. He also said that he had never met Willis or Montenegro before this incident, and he never saw them again after.

Again, the city attorney challenged the witness, saying that he did in fact see Montenegro again on January 15, 2012, during the first Liquor Commission hearing. Garcia also identified them on that date in January, saying they were part of the group of six to eight security guards who attacked him in the alley. Garcia further testified that Mahidi was the one who released his handcuffs, and was present for much of the ordeal, which Errum denies.

Errum also was present on the night of the fight that undercover cop Officer Robert McCallum witnessed on April 13, 2012, during the Chief Keef concert. Errum testified that a heated exchange began in the lobby “between 9 and 10 p.m.” and got physical outside. He said they broke up the fight involving about 10 men in two to three minutes minutes, and then they dispersed.

McCallum told a much different story in January, testifying that the fight started inside just before 10:15 p.m., and a call for more police assistance was placed at 10:18. During a testy 10-minute back-and-forth, Commissioner Nolan said there either were two fights—one that only occurred outside, as Errum claims, and one that Officer McCallum witnessed inside the venue—or one of the witnesses is lying.

Finally, Carranza called Rizwan Hussain, project manager and soon-to-be-licensed architect working on improvements at the 87-year-old theater.

Powell called Hussain to the stand to refute the Public Nuisance/Deleterious Impact charge, since he claimed to have been involved in renovating the Congress Theater even before these charges were filed in March 2012. However, Shiels objected and Commissioner Nolan sustained on the grounds that the city is not prosecuting the physical condition of the building—at least in this case.

In separate legal proceedings initiated by the city, the Congress is being sued to correct a literally A-to-Z list of “hazardous, dangerous” conditions at the venue. The judge in that case is allowing the main floor of the theater to remain open pending the next city inspection, but the second and third floors have been closed to the public since January, and capacity has been reduced from 5,000 to 3,000.

The hearing ended with closing arguments as Shiels maintained that police officers Giambrone and McCallum and concertgoer Garcia are credible witnesses who have no reason to lie about what they saw, while people associated with the Congress have a lot to lose if the venue loses its liquor license.

Powell responded that the police reports for the Public Nuisance charge were “lazy legislation” and hearsay, while Garcia’s testimony was more confusing than compelling since he identified the security guards “by clothing” and not as “individual people.”

The attorney added that Carranza is in an impossible situation of “damned if you do, and damned if you don’t” because “none of these incidents would have come to the city’s attention without the licensee reporting them.” Carranza reported these incidents to the city as required, and now he’s being punished for it, Powell said, concluding that arrest reports aren’t enough evidence to declare the business a public nuisance.

Nolan closed the hearing by saying he will take the case under advisement and make a recommendation to the Liquor Commission at an unspecified time in the future. The next session of Deleterious Impact/Public Nuisance hearings against the theater takes place on Tuesday, May 7, while the next hearing on the physical violations at the building takes place on May 9.

Leah Pickett blogs for WBEZ. Follow her @leahkpickett.

Earlier reports about Carranza, the Congress and the Portage theaters:

April 23: Congress Theater allowed to remain open, next inspection scheduled (Alison Cuddy reporting)

April 17: City wants the Congress shut down immediately

March 27: Chicago police official: Congress Theater ‘untruthful’ on night of underage drinking (Leah Pickett reporting)

March 8: The fate of the Portage remains a messy mystery

March 6: Congress Theater hearing rescheduled

Feb. 22: Congress Theater restoration underway, but it’s got a long way to go

Jan. 16: Congress Theater liquor hearings begin with undercover cop’s testimony

Dec. 3, 2012: A rally to save the Portage Theater ‘as we know it’

Nov. 28, 2012: The Portage Theater uses Graham Elliot’s name in vain

Nov. 2, 2012: Congress Theater’s new security chief: An ex-cop with a troubled past

Oct. 31, 2012: Congress Theater police calls rank with Soldier Field, United Center

Sept. 23, 2012: How did things turn so bad so fast at the Portage Theater?

Sept. 22, 2012: New Owner of the Portage Theater moves to evict current operators

Sept. 16, 2012: Congress Theater splits with development partner

Sept. 11, 2012: The Portage Theater: What’s Eddie up to?

July 26, 2012: Congress Theater partners up… and looks to expand

April 14, 2012: More trouble at the Congress Theater

March 28, 2012: Critical of Congress security, headliner brings his own

March 25, 2012: Congress Theater responds to complaints

March 22, 2012: City to Congress Theater: Clean up your act!

City stays in the concert biz despite mounting losses

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:56:00 -0500

Though it isn’t particularly adept at it, at least when it comes to breaking even or turning a profit, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s reconfigured Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events is determined to stay in the concert business, regardless of mounting losses in difficult economic times.

The city this morning announced the remaining headliners for Taste of Chicago this July, with R&B singer Robin Thicke, Led Zeppelin veteran Robert Plant, neo-soul diva Jill Scott, and alternative rockers Neon Trees joining the previously announced “We Are Young” pop band fun.

“We are thrilled to announce the headlining talent,” Emanuel said in a statement. “The Taste draws hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors to downtown Chicago and we are excited to offer attendees such a variety of recognized, energized, and award-winning quality entertainers while enjoying a taste of Chicago’s culinary scene.”

Not mentioned in the city press release: The fact that the much-ballyhooed, significantly shorter, and substantially reconfigured Taste of Chicago 2012 lost $1.3 million, topping the previous year’s red ink. The city did not break down how those losses can be attributed, but sources say the cost of concerts played a significant role.

On the music end of things, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events doesn’t seem to have learned any lessons: The department is repeating the unsuccessful formula of selling tickets to pavilion seating for the concerts at $25 each while keeping admission to the lawn in front of the Petrillo Music Shell free.

Admission to the department’s Downtown Sound/New Music Monday concerts is entirely free. The bookings, handled by Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events staffer Jack McLarnan and Mike Reed of Pitchfork Music Festival promoters At Pluto, are considerably more niche and low-key. Yet costs are mounting here, too.

According to Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events spokeswoman Cindy Gatziolis, talent bookings for New Music Mondays cost $55,000 in 2011, $75,000 in 2012, and $100,000 in 2013. “As you can see our commitment to the program has grown,” she said.

As for production costs at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, “On average the concert nights cost an additional $11,200 which includes costs for Production and Sound, Security, Cleaning, Disposal, Electricians and Front of House,” Gatziolis said. “This figure has held steady.”

Here are the full music schedules for Taste of Chicago and New Music Mondays:

Taste of Chicago

Wednesday, July 10, 5:30 p.m.: Delta Spirit, fun.

Thursday, July 11, 5:30 p.m.: Estelle, Robin Thicke

Friday, July 12, 5:30 p.m.: The Lone Bellow, Robert Plant presents the Sensational Space Shifters

Saturday, July 13, 11 a.m.: Chloe and Hallie, IM5

Saturday, July 13, 5:30 p.m.: Maxi Priest, Jill Scott

Sunday, July 14, 4 p.m.: The Mowgli’s, Neon Trees

Downtown Sound/New Music Mondays

Monday, May 27, 6:30 p.m.: Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, Lee Ranaldo Band

Monday, June 3, 6:30 p.m.: Speck Mountain, Sharon Van Etten

Monday, June 10, 6:30 p.m.: An Evening with Glen Hansard featuring Lisa Hannigan and members of the Frames

Monday, June 17, 6:30 p.m.: Brokeback, Daniel Lanois

Monday, June 24, 6:30 p.m.: Angela James, Carolina Chocolate Drops

Monday, July 1, 6:30 p.m.: Theo Huff and the Platinum Band, Lee Fields & the Expressions

Monday, July 8, 6:30 p.m.: The Cairo Gang, Dawes

Monday, July 15, 6:30 p.m.: Alasdair Roberts and Friends, Fatoumata Diawara

Monday, July 22, 6:30 p.m.: AZITA, the Handsome Family

Monday, July 29, 6:30 p.m.: Psalm One, Dessa

Critics talk criticism while being critiqued

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:00:00 -0500

Starting at about 7:10 p.m. Watch streaming video from WBEZ’s event at Mayne Stage in Rogers Park on Tuesday evening. Join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #WBEZcritics. Entitled “We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Critics,” the discussion opens with Chicago actors doing some dramatic readings of celebrated or notorious critiques, followed by a panel discussion moderated by this blog and featuring:

Kris Vire, theater editor of TimeOut Chicago.

Book critic Donna Seaman, who writes for Booklist and other outlets.

Sarah Zupko, editor of Chicago-based culture zine Pop Matters.

Andrew Barber, editor of the hip-hop blog Fake Shore Drive.

LaShawn Williams, arts editor of Gapers Block.

Jim “Tankboy” Kopeny, ace music writer at Chicagoist.

Duncan MacKenzie and Richard Holland, co-founders and contributors to the Bad at Sports art blog.

Drew Hunt, editorial assistant and sometime film reviewer at the Reader.

Leah Pickett, WBEZ culture blogger and freelance contributor to the Chicago Tribune Dining section.

And, incognito, Reader restaurant critic Mike Sula.