Ethnic Arts Festival Partial Entertainment Lineup

Hello all on this beautiful Friday! Here at Noyes we are pleased to announce a partial entertainment lineup for the Ethnic Arts Festival, held July 19-20 in Dawes Park from 12:00pm to 7:00pm.

Saturday, July 19

Yoko Noge Japonesque -- Jazz with a Japanese twist
http://www.jazzmebluesmusic.com/

Tierra Colombiana - Columbian music & dance
http://www.ricodancestudio.com/

Boban I Marko Markovic Orkestar - Balkan Brass from Southern Serbia
http://www.myspace.com/bobanimarko
http://www.piranha.de/records/english/artists/art_boban.htm

Linda Gorham - African American folk tales
http://www.lindagorham.com/

Kalapriya - Classical Indian Dance
http://www.kalapriya.org/

Sunday, July 20

S.O.U.L Creations - African drumming and dance - performance & drum circle
http://www.soul-creations.org/

Feufollet - French Cajun
http://www.eyefortalent.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/artist.detail/artist_id/113

Polkaholics - Polka!
http://www.chicagopolkaholics.com/

Maxwell Street Klezmer Band - Jewish Klezmer
http://www.klezmerband.com/

Chévere de Chicago - Latin Jazz
http://www.cheveredechicago.com/

Deacon Ruben Burton & The Victory Travelers - African American Gospelno website, but here's a CD review:
http://www.glorylandgospel.com/victorytravelers.html

Coming soon! Brazilian Samba, Mexican Dance, Peruvian flutes, Native American drum & dance

Bob Stroger says, "Have Bass, Will Travel."

And this is just what he will be doing on Tuesday, June 17th at 7:30pm, choosing Evanston's own Harbert Park for his destination as part of the Starlight summer concert series. Bob Stroger is a Chicago blues legend who moved from Missouri to Chicago in 1955 to live in the back of a nightclub on the windy city's west side. He fell in love with the music-- like that of Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters-- and with its effect on the people. 39 years later his guitar hasn't left his hands.

In 2000, Stroger admitted, "My love is the blues. I play other music, but I FEEL blues. It's a spiritual thing. It's something you get into and you feel the movement." When first coming to Chi-town, this Missouri farmboy followed around his brother-in-law Johnny Ferguson who played in the blues group Twisters with legend J.B. Hutto. He soon became their driver, taking them frequently to a joint at 39th and State and at night performing his own gig at the back of the club-- teaching himself how to play the guitar. Soon after he joined with his brother, drummer John Stroger, and Ralph Ramey to form the "Red Tops" (after the red tam hats they painted red and wore as uniforms for their first show).

Innovation is the name... blues/ jazz/ R&B is the game. After quick popularity and a few years of hitting up various venues around town, the band appropriately changed their name to the "Blues Hustlers." Upon the band's breakup, Stroger continued to share his raging talent with those Chicagoans and fellow blues talents who could keep up. One such collaboration that lasted more than 15 years was with Eddie King, playing bass for Eddie King and the King's Men. It goes on; after he was enlisted by Morris Pejo to play backup to great guitarist Otis Rush and has done freelance work with pianist Sunnyland Slim and Mississippi Heat.

His recordings can compete with his gig history. Stroger's discography has been said to "resemble a stuffed New York deli sandwich," filled with compilations featuring the mind-blowing Eddie King, Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Eddie Clearwater, Louisiana Red, Buster Benton, Homesick james, and Snooky Pryor, among others.

However, among all of these BIG names Bob Stroger's shows reflect the reason why he took up plucking strings in the first place: "It looked like they were having a lot of fun and I made up my mind that what I wanted to do was play music."

Be at Harbert Park June 17th to witness Chicago's Bass Man move crowds, and listen to samples of his work here:

http://www.bobstroger.com/

More on Cordero!

This summer’s arts programming presented by the City of Evanston will kick off on Thursday, June 12, with a combination exhibition opening/concert performance by photographer Chris Verene, drummer for the Brooklyn band, Cordero (Bloodshot Records). The exhibit opens with a reception from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street, Evanston. Verene will then head over to James Park (Dodge Avenue at Mulford, one block south of Oakton in Evanston) to open this year’s Starlight Concert Series with a return engagement by Cordero at 7:30 p.m. Both events are free.

Verene has been making documentary photographs about his family's rural Illinois hometown of Galesburg for the past two decades. The simple color photographs are unstaged and reflect a plain yet beautiful side of American life that might otherwise pass by uncelebrated. The project has been exhibited throughout the world in galleries and museums, published as a major book, and profiled by many well-known art publications. The works are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Jewish Museum, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, the Walker Art Center, and many others. Verene is a professor of photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and divides his time between New York, Galesburg, and his career as a traveling musician.

Fronted by Verene’s wife Ani, Cordero is a leading light in the Rock en Espanol movement. The bilingual band melds Latin rhythms and melodies to angular indie rock, “mixing the open atmospherics of the Southwest with the gritty feel of the Brooklyn art scene,” says the New York Times. Cordero’s 2006 show in Evanston was a highlight of that year's Starlight series.

The Starlight Concert Series features 16 free performances at four park sites throughout Evanston: James, Dawes, Twiggs, and Harbert Park. For a complete schedule of shows, visit www.cityofevanston.org/arts or www.evanstonartsbuzz.com, or call 847.448.8260.

Slideshow on the Right

Perhaps you may be wondering what the slideshow on the right is. Well, the answer right now is that it is of irrelevant internet clip art. I <3 clip art but expect that to change soon--i.e. Thursday--we will have shots of artwork from artist exhbibitors from both Ethnic and Lakeshore. upgrade!

Ethnic, Lakeshore Artists 08 Selected

After an image review by 4 established Evanston artists, the Ethnic artist exhibitors have been selected. Accepted artists for Lakeshore are in the process of finalizing booth reservations with us and after we get that info we will be posting lists of artists right here and at www.cityofevanston.org/arts. We'll be having some returning faves as well as some new artists coming into the fold this year. Congrats selected artists!

BOOCOO, community grown

"Is it possible for community-based organizations to be completely organic?" you ask, "Drawing almost completely from the talents, passions, and wealth of the surrounding population?" The 5th ward on the westside of Evanston just may be able to offer a "Yes" to your question. Navigate to the corner of Church and Dodge and you will find Boocoo, a multi-cultural center built by "Community Builders," a community-based construction company that hires and trains young men from the 5th ward. The center name is creole for "more."

"But naturally they increase Evanston's carbon footprint with their energy-use," you say. You will be even more pleased to know that the center, established in 2006, is one of Chicago-land's first buildings to have a geothermal heating and cooling system donated by the Evanston-employed company Indie Energy, resulting in 50% energy savings.

And this is just the infrastructure. It is what goes on INSIDE Boocoo's walls that is a wide-eye-opener. The center is buzzing with talented artists, musicians, and community organizers, attempting to create an Evanston-bred and raised space for everyone to enjoy. Located within its walls are a music school, offering private and group lessons, a professional recording studio, a movement school with dance, martial arts, yoga and fitness classes, workshops and discussions, a nutrition program, and a healthy cafe.

You have a space sculpted by Evanstonians, utilizing the energy right from beneath itself. You have a performance space, a digital lab, a video projector and screen, an outdoor patio. You have Hip-Hop and Soul Mondays from 8-11pm the first Monday of every month, Open Mic Poetry For the People Tuesdays from 9-11pm, and high-energy shows like Freedom Sounds live jazz concert every Wednesday. You can join in community dialogue on such issues as community gardening with the local "Talking Farm." If you have an idea for an event, a dialogue session, a workshop, Boocoo wants to know "more."

It is a non-profit; the programs, the food, the events must be a bit pricey so that the center can sustain itself. Truth? False. For dance classes like Afro-Caribbean, Urban Salsa, or Steppin', one can buy 5 classes for $12 each (and the rate for classes lessens the more you sign up for). The drop-in rate ups to $15, though free classes are sometimes available (and financial aid for those who qualify) like the Hip-Hop workshop lead by Evanston Township High School's dance team. Workshops and events are normally $5. Indulge in a Tahini Garden Salad for $3.75 and a cheese pita pizza for $1.50.

This blog does not do justice to everything Boocoo is up to. We suggest you check out their website here: http://www.boocoo.org/boocoo.php or hit up the center that is inevitably just blocks from where you are.

BABY it's ALRIGHT

It's a Monday. What better way to lighten your day than to go to Sonotheque at 1444 W. Chicago (in Chicago--not Evanston!) to see The Boogie Band, featuring BABY ALRIGHT-- an Evanston Starlight Concert Series performer.

You can count on these local Chicago talents to be there for you every Monday at 10 pm for $3, 21 and over. Performing mostly blues, soul and R&B covers, BABY ALRIGHT is comprised of some of Chicago's most renowned musicians. Marvin Tate (as band leader/lead vocalist Bobby Albright) has been a featured poet on NPR, produced his own TV show entitled "Talk-a-Rioty" and is an accomplished writer and snowglobe-maker(a Renaissance man!). He best known for Marvin Tate's D-Settlement, an explosive, stylistically diverse band that "paints life in immobilizing truths of joy and pain, challenging the conscious and subconscious, hovering between today's avante garde and yesterday's vaudevillian theatre -- eleven to thirteen musician's musicians with souls set to take you higher." -Jodi Behrens, sobs.org. Leroy Bach on guitar & vocals (formerly of Wilco & 5ive Style, now plays with Emmett Kelly in Cairo Gang), Dan Bitney (Tortoise & Isotope 217) on drums, Emmett Kelly (Cairo Gang, Prophet 5) on guitar and vocals, Matthew Lux (Isotope 217) on bass. WOW!!! (sincere).


Then on July 8th, go to your very own Twiggs Park at 7:30 pm to see BABY ALRIGHT rock out on an Evanston stage (for all ages) as a part of the Starlight Concert Series and enjoy this all-star band on a nice summer evening.