The L.A. Derby Dolls and Chicago’s Windy City Rollers battled it out at the Red Bull Banked Jam event in Chicago, where the roller derby sport all began. Watch the two teams compete on a banked track, and find out who won the event.
For many young Chicagoans, Richard M. Daley is the only mayor they have ever known. In office since 1989, only his father, Richard J. Daley, has held the mayoral office in Chicago longer. And like his father, Daley has been best known for boisterous change, not waiting for mass approval of many of his controversial decisions. Who else but a Daley would secretly bulldoze the runways of an airport he wanted closed in the middle of the night? But while often brash, arguably, Richard M. Daley got things done in his city.
Rebecca Ninburg – better known as “Demolicious” – is the amazing co-founder of the Los Angeles Derby Dolls. She’s been a pioneer in the sport of roller derby since 2003, and today there are more than 400 women’s roller derby leagues across the country. On the eve of the Red Bull Banked Jam in Chicago against the Windy City Rollers, Ninburg (pictured above) sat down with us to share her thoughts on today’s derby and the upcoming game.
Prior to 2010, far too few were familiar with the talent of vocalist/MC/producer Aloe Blacc. This well-versed musician out of Orange County (now based in L.A.) has been releasing dynamic hip-hop with his longtime friend Exile as the group Emanon since the late-90s. Emanon’s last album, 2005’s The Waiting Room, was notably diverse drawing from reggae, folk, and much more. The LP was well received by those who heard it—just as Aloe’s solo debut Shine Through (released the following year) was. But Shine Through saw Aloe expand his vocal range from rapper to straight up singer who explored his Panamanian, Afro Latin roots with Cumbia-styled tracks while also tapping into his new soul sound.
Over the past six years, the formula behind the Red Bull Big Tune producer battle hasn’t been messed with much—two beat makers still face off in multiple rounds to see who has the more crowd-pleasing track. And judging by the 2010 Red Bull Big Tune Finals at Chicago’s Metro, hip-hop heads across the country are still dedicated to showing up and making noise for their favorite beat.
Let’s just get this out of the way: hip-hop shows, more than any other genre, regularly feature an absurd amount of waiting before the headliner you went to see finally hits the stage—often after midnight. Some of the opening acts or DJs you see beforehand might be good and you may even be hyped to have been introduced to them, but when it takes four hours before the main act steps on stage, shit can get old. With this in mind, Black Milk’s last minute, Red Bull Big Tune pre-show in Chicago at Reggie’s Rock Club was as close to ideal as you can get.
The amount of options on Halloween weekend this year for live music in Chicago was dumbfounding yet word of the Magical Properties Tour stopping by the Double Door was hard to pass up. While The Gaslamp Killer and Daedelus have both made repeat appearances individually in Chicago during 2010, seeing the two on the same bill outside of L.A. is a rarity—one only heightened by the addition of 12th Planet and Teebs to this ridiculous bill of beatsmiths.
Bands who bring their own light setup to a show in a modest-sized venue clearly have an appreciation for their audience. In a sense, it’s a statement that the live show experience is about more than the music—one that young Australian rock quartet The Temper Trap regularly makes on stage.
After being intrigued by the band’s highly visual set at their Hard Rock Lollapalooza after show, I made sure to catch their next Chicago appearance at Metro. This sold out performance featured lead vocalist/guitarist Dougy Mandagi and bandmates recreating their debut and only album, Conditions (along with a couple new, unreleased tracks), with each song enhanced by an all-out light spectacle—one that gave this photographer a welcome challenge to keep up with.
Riot Fest started the five-day celebration of punk music last night by hosting seven legendary Chicago punk bands at the infamous Double Door. The highlight of the evening was Naked Raygun’s performance. The most anticipated act of the night, the sold-out crowd went wild when Santiago Durango joined Raygun on stage. After 24 years without playing a Raygun song, he exploded onto the stage, his trademark booming guitar sounding the same as it did in 1986.
For most of us the awkward creations of our adolescence are safely tucked away in the back of a closet or in the deep reaches of the attic. We stumble upon these relics while packing or spring-cleaning, we laugh, cringe, reminisce and then tuck our creations back in the boxes where they live. Then there are the few among us who drag out old journals, letters, poems, lyrics, plays, home movies, and art and present them publicly. Welcome to the world of Mortified, a hybrid of stand up comedy, performance art and show and tell; a meeting of comedy and catharsis.