Soulobit: Billy Butler

Billy Butler - the Chicago soul singer rather than the Liverpudlian DJ - has died.

Inspired, and mentored by, Curtis Mayfield, Cabrini Green born Butler first hit with the Chanters; a solo hit, The Right Track, gave him an international breakthrough:

As the hits started to slow up, Butler turned his attention to gospel, songwriting, and playing in his brother's band.

Billy Butler died of cancer in Chicago on March 31st. He was 69.

Houseobit: Frankie Knuckles

It's hard to believe that Frankie Knuckles - who has died at the age of 59 - not only didn't need to create a stage name, but actually toned down his birth name of Frank Warren Knuckles Junior before finding fame.

It's perhaps more surprising than it should be that one of the best appreciations of Knuckles' life comes from The Economist's Propsero column:

If there was a year in which house music might be said to have climbed out of its subterranean bunker and into the mass market, it was 1989. That was when Mr Knuckles's “Your Love” filled every dancefloor. Today, it is better known in its later incarnation as Candi Staton’s evergreen hit “You’ve Got The Love”. But ravers of a certain generation will tell you that it still brings to mind a time when the sweat dripped off nighclub walls, the ecstasy tablets were pure and only those in the clan attended.

By the time of his death, Mr Knuckles, like the music he nurtured, had long since become part of the mainstream. In 2004 Barack Obama, another man who made his way to Chicago before taking on the world, declared August 24th "Frankie Knuckles Day" in the city. A year later he was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame. The Windy City named a street after him.

It's perhaps underestimating his value to read the collection of honours collected by The Independent:

Knuckles, who won a Grammy in 1998, had a street in Chicago named after him in 2004. In 2005, he was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame.

It's dispiriting that the most interesting thing HuffPo can do is copy someone's tweet:

Fellow DJ David Morales has shared his condolences on Twitter, writing: “I am devastated to write that my dear friend Frankie Knuckles has passed away today. Can't write anymore than this at the moment. I'm sorry.”

It's the Los Angeles Times that explains what he did:

My favorite of [his remixes] is Knuckles' remix of Hercules and Love Affair's "Blind," a glorious 2008 post-disco New York jam that in the Chicago godfather's hands becomes something majestic. An eight-minute slow build that adds layers every 16 bars until this beast of a groove rises, the song features vocalist Antony Hegarty in perfect form. Knuckles understood this, and like much of his work, crafted his music as a pedestal for his singer, giving space to shine by surrounding voice with groove.

My favorite of them is Knuckles' remix of Hercules and Love Affair's "Blind," a glorious 2008 post-disco New York jam that in the Chicago godfather's hands becomes something majestic. An eight-minute slow build that adds layers every 16 bars until this beast of a groove rises, the song features vocalist Antony Hegarty in perfect form. Knuckles understood this, and like much of his work, crafted his music as a pedestal for his singer, giving space to shine by surrounding voice with groove.

It's appropriate to end on something from Knuckles' home town - A Chicago Reader piece which quotes Matt Warren talking about the man at work:

I went to the Power Plant one night because I had heard this guy Frankie Knuckles, who I didn't even know at the time, was a hot DJ. This was an after-hours place where they played the house stuff. We all went down there one night after our nightclub closed, and I remember just walking in and seeing this scene that I'd never witnessed before. He was playing these old disco tracks and he a had a 909 going live and he would blend that in, and just people were going nuts. And he was doing this thing where he'd just drop out all the bass in the system, and their system was so big that after a couple songs you wouldn't really notice it anymore. Then all of a sudden the crowd'd start screaming up to Frankie, saying "Bang the box, Frankie! Bang the box, Frankie!" And out of nowhere he'd just take the bass and go "Ka-boom! Ka-boom! Ka-boom!" and they'd just lose their frickin' minds.

Warpaint weekend: Elephant live

Recorded - let's say verité style - at Chicago's Do Division Festival:



[Part of Warpaint weekend]

Rush fans seek refunds

Last Wednesday, Rush cancelled a gig in Chicago because of heavy rain. A shame, perhaps, but there you are.

Oh... unless you're Christopher Langone. He's annoyed that the band didn't adopt a show-must-go-on approach, and has launched a lawsuit:

The lawsuit states: "After the announcement of cancellation, rain was not significant in Chicago. For example, the Chicago White Sox completed a game in the weather in Chicago on the evening of July 7, 2010."

Langone tells the Chicago Sun-Times, "I travelled here to Chicago to see the show with old friends. I've been a lifelong fan of Rush and we were very disappointed they cancelled the show...especially when (the rain) stopped."

'I'm such a lifelong fan of the band, they decided to not play in the pouring rain once, and I slap them with a lawsuit. That's the extent of my fandom.'

It's not clear if the baseball match he cites in his lawsuit was being played with electric bats, or if Langone doesn't quite understand the difference between standing on a stage surrounded by electrical equipment and playing sports. Nor the difference between an open air gig, and a sporting event, the latter of which have most of the fans under cover. It's also not entirely obvious why Langone is especially pissed off that they cancelled and then it stopped raining, as if he'd rather they left it right to the last minute to pull the gig, thereby ensuring even local people would have set out on their journeys before it was called off.

Bookmarks: Some stuff to read on the internet - muslim punk

The Chicago Sun-Times meets Muslim punks. Once you're past the "hey - they're punks, but they're also Muslim" sitcom style pitchery, it's an interesting piece.

Reunited and united

CNN reports on how they've come up with a way to make creaky old bands reuniting even worse: you stick a couple on a package tour, and then make them record a new song. Together:

It started with classic rockers REO Speedwagon and Styx, with their "Can't Stop Rockin' " tour and single of the same name.

Now Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire are getting on the bandwagon.

Yes, Chicago, Earth, Wind And Fire are going to mark their combined tour with a combined single.

It is, though, in a good cause, as it's designed to encourage people to bring food to the gigs to help local food banks, in effect, turning the gigs into horn-heavy harvest festivals. Which makes it hard to be too grumpy about it - there's more than enough to cavil over in that it takes this sort of thing to block the holes in the American welfare state before making it down to wondering how the hell you merge Chicago with EWF.

Crush against the front

The Rage Against The Machine set at Lollapalooza almost turned into the wrong sort of historic last night: Despite the best efforts of security and band, the crush was out of control.

Matters weren't helped by a number of fence-jumpers:

There was also at least one reported security breach of the venue's perimeter fence, according to both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, resulting in an unknown number of fans without tickets rushing into the park and reportedly injuring some security personnel in the process. Spokespeople for the festival could not be reached for comment at press time, and a Chicago Police Department spokesperson said that officials had not received calls for help from the festival, despite multiple reports that police on horseback had responded to the fence breach.

Chicago Fire Department spokesperson Larry Langford said that as of 12:30 a.m. Sunday (August 3) his department had not received any calls for assistance from the private firm handling emergency services for the festival; MTV News is attempting to reach that firm. It was unknown at press time how many injuries occurred during the show, but an MTV reporter near the front of the stage witnessed at least a dozen dazed, limping and panicked fans being escorted to the medical tent, including one who was taken out on a backboard.

It seems a bit odd that the Police don't seem to have been called while police were responding - let's hope that's down to the fog of war rather than a sign of inadequate communication.

Back from the brink: Chicago abandons plans to destory live music

Chicago came within an ace of passing a new "promoter's ordinance" which, amongst other things, would have required promoters to have nearly a third of a million dollars' worth of insurance, have a licence which would require fingerprinting and a background check, and for the police to have seven days' notice of all events.

We figure the police were just trying to save on the cost of a copy of the local listings magazine, but even so - it was tantamount to telling people not to bother coming to play music in the city.

The good news is the outcry has had the proposal put on hold - but only for now. Alderman Eugene Schulter has withdrawn his plan for "fine-tuning", which suggests he sees it as slightly damaged, rather than fundamentally flawed.

Chicago papers seek unzipping of Kelly papers

With R Kelly's child-porn trial finally getting within spitting distance of a court, the Chciago papers have clubbed together to try and persuade the judge to let them run details from the sealed court papers. In, you know, the public interest and not simply to try and flog some papers with a bit a underage slap-and-tickle.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Going to court lands R Kelly in court

R Kelly must be thinking something along the lines of "I live a very model of a Kafkaesque existence" right now - okay, he's probably putting it more like "sucky sucks sucks suck" - as his enforced appearance in a Chicago courtroom last December has now landed him with fresh new legal proceedings from the promoter of the gig in Atlanta he missed as result.

It appears Mr. Kelly has forgotten to return the upfront fee he pocketed for the event he never paid; the promoter has decided, actually, he'd quite like it back, with expenses.

United ground CSS

CSS had been due to play Lollapalooza this weekend, but didn't. Their set fell foul of the airlines; habits of selling more seats than they actually have, in the hope that people won't turn up - something that in most industries would be fraudulent.

The band posted the story to MySpace, and was copied to Music Slut:

*Well, folks. Wanna read a story? This is how things happened: A couple of weeks ago we finished the first part of the crazy SUMMER FESTIVAL TOURS. So we were happy we were having some days off, yay! But we had to get our working visas for USA, so instead of going home, we went to Lisbon to get our visas issued. We statyed a couple of days in sunny Lisbon (yummy Lisbon), got the papers, rested for four days and came to US.

Yesterday we played our NYC gig, which by the way was very very very fun. The crew and a part of the band headed right after the show to Chicago with the bus (which didn't have enough room for everybody) and the rest of us went stayed one more night in NYC. We had a flight to Chicago eleven in the morning of the next day (aka today). So we woke up very early, got an expensive taxi to the LaGuardia airport, checked in almost three hours before the flight and GUESS WHAT?

United Airlines oversold the flight and... and... they're very sorry cuz there's no other way for us to go to Chicago and play our gig! And they're also VERY SORRY cuz our luggages went to Chicago. And they're very sorry they ain't paying for our hotels here in NYC today, our cab, our fucking dignity. And by the way, they were the ASSHOLEST people I ever saw in my life. They treated us like shit. FUCK UNITED AIRLINES BIG TIME. BIG TIME. ASSHOLES. ARSE-HOLES.

NOW WHERE'S MY FUCKING CASE? SHIT.
We're so sorry. And pissed.
Love. And hate.
CSS.*

We've still yet to have it convincingly explained to us how airlines are able to sell something they've already sold to someone else - we have heard vague explanations that it's in someway important to maintain their ability to keep flying, but presumably they could use the same argument if they started pickpocketing customers queuing up to check in.

Torn off a Stripe

Chciago's Q101 treated its listeners to The White Stripes' Icky Thump, all the way through.

Jack White found out and was, apparently, livid. He took time out to place a call to the station from the Spanish leg of the Stripes tour to make his displeasure with the DJ, Electra, known.

It sounds like he might have gone a little far, to judge by Electra's blog:

At 4pm today, Jack White called Q101's main offices from Spain, where they're touring, looking specifically for me, to yell at me for leaking the album and, in part, being "messed up for the entire (music) business." (Edit - I listened to the call again today, and I apologize for initially misquoting Jack.) I felt like I was going to throw up. Weirdest, most surreal conversation of my life.

So Sherman and Tingle were on the air when Jack called. They took the call with me in the studio, off the air. Jack asked me to take responsibility for leaking the record, and asked if I was sorry for what I'd done. S&T both jumped into the call - I was clearly flustered - and backed me 100%. We tried to explain where we were coming from - someone gave us a copy of a record that we were really excited to play, and the whole experience was an hour-long lovefest for him and his band - but he wasn't having it. He hung up, very, very angry, and I thought I was going to cry.

It's hard to see exactly why White is so angry - it's not like the station stole the album, and it's not exactly embargoed; being played on a small, enthusiasts station in Chicago isn't going to harm the sales of the record and with the Stripes' quality variable at best, might actually help a little.

But even if he is upset, screeching at people so much they feel physically sick is hardly the best way to make your case.

Timberklake denies signing on for signing session

Here's a small curiosity from Chicago: Joe Piagentini, who runs a bar in the suburbs, Sharky's Billiards, believed he'd signed a deal to bring Justin Timberlake to do an autograph session to his place.

Piagentini reckons he handed a promoter $25,000 for the deal; Timberlake's lawyers say they know nothing of it.

Of course, it's possible they're both telling the truth. It's believed that Piagentini will sort this one out once he's found out why the bridge he bought from a guy on the Embankment in London last year hasn't shipped.

Maybe he was filled with the Holy Spirit? Or some sort of spirit?

Normally, we'd say that anyone daft enough to pay good money to see Jesus-suck-ups Creed live would deserve anything they got. But, by all accounts, the recent Chicago gig was a wonderful piece of work. Bishop Scott Strap was alleged by some to be "high out his mind", reports Billboard, falling down, forgetting songwords and leaving the stage for ten minutes.

Not surprisingly, even the devout amongst Creed's fans were a bit miffed and - after weeks of moans and grumbles - the band have apologised. Or rather, the management have stuck out a lame attempt to save face. Unfortunately, it comes across more like a slap in the face:

"The band has heard that you are unhappy with the quality of the recent Creed show in Chicago," reads the letter sent to fans from Jeff Hanson Management. "We apologize if you don't feel that the show was up to the very high standards set by our previous shows in Chicago."

So, the band has heard that their fans think they were rubbish, but have passed the apology to their managers to do?

"We also understand and appreciate the fact that there has been much concern about Scott's health and we want to assure everyone that he is doing very well and is taking a much needed break at home in Orlando after a very long and rigorous touring year."

We take this to be that Rock's Ned Flanders is sleeping it off.

"For now we hope that you can take some solace in the fact that you definitely experienced the most unique of all Creed shows and may have become part of the unusual world of rock'n'roll history!"

Oh, right - so the fact the show was pissed up against a wall shouldn't matter - hey, we did a shit show. We've never done that before. You're lucky we don't charge you more for having seen this one off event. Righto.

"Again, we apologize if you didn't enjoy the show but remember, 'It's only rock'n'roll but we like it!'"

"We really couldn't give a fuck. We've got your money, suckers."

What does saying 'It's only rock'n'roll but we like it' actually meant to mean? "It doesn't matter we put on a performance that even our biggest fans thinks was rubbish, because, it's hey - rock and roll." The band might know their bible, but they seem to have skipped all the bits about humility.