A uniquely Chicago New Year’s Eve

A uniquely Chicago New Year’s Eve
A uniquely Chicago New Year’s Eve

A uniquely Chicago New Year’s Eve

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There are lots of lists that indicate the things that make Chicago a special city out there. Hot dogs. Deep dish pizza. Our sports teams. The architecture.  Frank Lloyd Wright. The University of Chicago.

My own list includes:

Jazz.

Hip Hop.

The Biograph Theater.

Storytellers (we are the home of Studs Terkel, This American Life, and The Uptown Poetry Slam).

and WBEZ.

Sure, I’m leaving out a host of things that make us unique but, as I said, there are plenty of lists out there. Chicago is a town I’ve lived in for just over 25 years. A transplant from both the South and the Midwest, I made Chicago my home in pursuit of a jazz career. I’ve played at the Green Mill, the Get Me High Lounge, The Underground Wonder Bar (the old one). Chicago jazz is in my blood.

I saw Pulp Fiction in the Biograph long before I knew its history as the last place John Dillinger was spotted before Melvin Purvis and the Chicago FBI gunned him down. My theater company performed in Victory Gardens long before the company bought the Biograph and made it their home.

My introduction to Chicago’s hip hop scene came late - I produced the first Winter Block Party for Chicago’s Hip Hop Arts (coincidentally at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater) in 2008 and Kevin Coval gave me an in depth schooling on the pervasiveness of this very Chicago art form.

Three years ago, I was made one of the hosts of the Chicago MOTH StorySLAM and stories have been a non-stop train I have no desire to exit.

So, when Tyler Greene and I decided to host a Chicago New Year’s Eve Party, open to the public with discounts for WBEZ membership, all of these uniquely Chicago items came suddenly into conjunction.

I hope you join us on December 31 for jazz (by the Doug Peck Trio), Hip Hop (from DJ Ayana Contreras of Vocalo), and stories (told by Chicago notables, MOTH StorySLAM winners and WBEZ personalities) all in the many rooms of the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater.

I cannot wait.

Live from the Sunset Cafe || A WBEZ New Year’s Eve Party

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

9 p.m. - 2 a.m.

Victory Gardens BIOGRAPH Theater

Get your tickets now!

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