I'm supposed to be posting a mix right now, but I'm still reeling from this news.
Mark Caro, reporter for the Tribune, broke the story today that Sonar, the electronic music festival in Barcelona, Spain, will be "setting up shop in Chicago Sept 9 through 11":
Chicago Hates House Music. Also: Water is Wet.
Let's get to the real point here: bringing an event like Sonar to Chicago is like opening a Red Lobster in Cape Cod. It's a tacky and cheesy waste of city resources when there's a vibrant music scene right here suffering from complete and utter official neglect.
The powers that be in Chicago have never cared much for House Music. If you look at what they trumpet in glossy pamphlets about Chicago's musical legacy, they'll mention the Blues, Jazz, even folk, but never House Music. They didn't care when it was the biggest thing under the sun and they'd be floored if they realized the influence Chicago producers and DJs have on the world today.
There are a great number of outstanding summer festivals with House Music represented. Let's start with the biggest: The Chosen Few Picnic. This event is privately funded and existed for 19 years by passing the hat. If you're worried about credibility: the founder of the Chosen Few, Wayne Williams, is merely moonlighting from his day job as the Senior Vice President for A&R at Jive Records - a gig he's held for more than 20 years. Alan King is one of Barack Obama's basketball buddies. You can't get more plugged in than that.
Another example? The Silver Room Block Party. I'm not sure of the inspiration for the event but it is an undeniable fact that without Eric Williams, owner of the Silver Room, this thing would never happen.
Should the city get behind a music festival in Chicago - the birthplace of House - that's merely a franchise of a European festival that barely features House Music at all? Is this really what we're all about?
These events are already great: imagine what they could be if the City of Chicago would help out to make them even better. People already travel from around the country and around the world to attend the Picnic - yet the city seems completely oblivious to it. It's never listed in any of the city-promoted summer event guides and frankly the whole thing - thousands of folks listening to loud music on the Southside of Chicago - seems to scare them.
Events: Proper and Un-proper.
And now we get to the real meat. Here is the listing of DJs and live acts featured at Sonar. Do you notice anything about them? Is there anything in those wacky photos of artists that seems odd to you (aside from Ritchie Hawtin's famously dramatic hair)?
Sonar is overwhelmingly white. Chicago's House Music producers - newsflash - are not. The Picnic is an afterthought to the city because it's on the Southside of Chicago, and it's overwhelmingly black.
Herein lies is the key to understanding this, the whole thing - why the city would pour resources into a festival such as Sonar; why House Music has always been a red-headed stepchild; why all of the suggested venues for this are on the Northside - perhaps even why SummerDance, one of the most successful city music programs ever, was shuttled around and then shoved aside, despite incredible attendance.
In Chicago - one of the most segregated cities in the nation - it's always on the tip of your tongue. And I don't particularly care about offending anyone, because it's true. There's no other explanation as to why the city finds no "proper electronic music festival in Chicago". The Picnic, the Block Party, House of Sol - they're electronic enough, but they ain't "proper" enough because they're not white enough.
And remember: before House Music was "a black thing", it was a "gay thing". But hey, the city does all this nice pride stuff and acknowledges their right to exist. Why cater anything to them? Don't we already let them have a parade?
The Sound of Chicago is House Music. Period.
Before the backlash-to-the-backlash starts, let's address a few things right away.
It's Better Than Nothing: Any music festival is a fine thing. More music is a fine thing. But after 30 years of this, I'm gettin' pretty sick of being constantly shoved into the back room and told that maybe if we cater to what upper- and middle-class hetero whites want - in this case, maybe if we cater to what a few hundred tourists want - well, we can slip some House Music to them on the downlow.
It hasn't worked the first 50 times we tried it, it isn't going to work this time, either.
I understand that these are "different markets". I have no qualm - and even like - much of the music that makes up the Sonar experience. But it makes no sense to franchise the rights to a festival out to Europe when we've got all this happening right here - with no help from the city. And whether it's polite to say it or not, a lot of the reasons the city is coveting that "different market" and neglecting the one it already has comes down to the fact that one "market" looks different than the other.
But We'll All Get Rich When They Buy $7 Bottles of Water: The city of Chicago isn't some hick town that relies on tourist dollars to balance the books. Every weekend, every year, there's some sort of convention or event that people come here for. The effect on the economy of a few hundred people traveling to a city of 3 million people is negligible.
But Think of All Those Great Acts the City's Money Can Buy: This is the real point: Chicago is known around the world for a style of music, and it isn't avant-garde electronica. Nor is it the style of music popularized by the DJ Rikki von Douches of the world. From the Tribune:
The sound of Chicago is the sound of House. That doesn't mean that that's all that we do here, but it's a big part of it. It'd be nice if the City of Chicago would notice once in awhile.
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