Originally Appeared on TheseDays.News (August 2016)It’s a scene that’s becoming all too familiar in these turbulent times: a large group of protesters clogging downtown streets, disrupting corporate commerce and planting themselves on the ground with their hands up. Once again our city’s voice stand up for a fallen friend, brother, son as thousands poured onto Michigan Ave this past Sunday to stand up against the latest brutal police shooting, this one that left 18-year-old Paul O’Neil dead. Once again the Chicago Police Department trotted out a list of reasons to try and explain. Once again Rahm Emanuel pursed his lips, gripped the podium and dipped his head to the floor in a gesture that has come to embody the greater mentality on the subject. And once again, another young man didn’t come home because of the itchy trigger finger of one of those lives in blue. With hearts heavy and spirits waning, the pain is once again palpable.
Tag Archives: lollapalooza
My Lolla: Jake Krzeczowski
Ah, Lollapalooza! Like an old friend you’ve grown apart from, the Lolla of today hardly resembles the festival I spent all my summer cash on as a teenager, to drink cheap vodka out of a water bottle and watch Kid Cudi. The Lollapalooza of 2015 is an aggressive beast that appears poised to burst its Grant Park confines and spill into the city at large—as indeed it does every night at 10pm during its three-day stretch. Continue reading My Lolla: Jake Krzeczowski
2014 Music Festival One-Stop-Shop
Photo by Rasha Mosa
Music festivals in America and abroad are beginning to hit critical mass. It’s our generation’s sign of approval to any artist if they find themselves on a bevy of festival lineups come summer, they’re doing something right. Perhaps the most prevalent “music for the people” approach in the industry, festivals allow acts both large and small great opportunities for exposure and listeners the chance to attempt to take it all in. The spring/summer of 2014 is shaping up to be one of the largest festival seasons in recent memory and event organizers have wasted no time announcing jam-packed lineups that look more like an iTunes playlist than a real concert experience. We gathered together lineups from festivals from coast to coast and even beyond to give you the most full, in-depth guide to diving into festival season, check them all out on the following page.
The Day I Overdosed on Acid Rap
Photo by Roger Tino MoralesSince dropping Acid Rap in late April as the follow up to 2012′s 10 Day, Chance The Rapper has quickly turned much of the city’s youth into unapologetic junkies.
The squirrely nanas and schizophrenic flow have taken the city and the national underground hip-hop scene by storm over the past year, and Friday at Lollapalooza set the perfect stage for Chance’s tie-dyed Acid raps to shine. First off, I’ll admit I’m an avid user. Having followed Chance for most of the past year and for days at a time at SXSW in Austin, I felt more than prepared as I rode in the car to a noon rehearsal at The Music Garage on the near West Side with “Good Ass Intro” producer Peter CottonTale. Continue reading The Day I Overdosed on Acid Rap