“Live at Mister Kelly’s" will air soon on WTTW-Ch. 11 and take some Chicagoans back to a forgotten Rush Street era, and introduce others to the empire of Chicago nightspots that launched many a famous career. Barbra Streisand included.
Open share drawer
Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible. Today we revisit the 1996 album from the hip-hop trio, a socially conscious blockbuster grounded by the realities of the immigrant experience.
In the summer of 1994, the Fugees were in danger of getting dropped. The New Jersey hip-hop trioâs debut LP
Blunted on Reality, produced by Kool and the Gangâs Khalis Bayyan, was a misguided effort to conform to the aggressive street sounds that, while popular at the time, failed to capture the multi-faceted perspectives of Prakazrel Samuel Michel, Wyclef Jean, and Lauryn Hill. After the first single âBoof Bafâ whiffed on commercial radio and record sales flagged, the Fugees appeared to have flopped. Were it not for remix guru Salaam Remi, they just might have.
Don Bronstein
I never stepped foot in Mister Kelly’s. But many a day, my parents, aunts and uncle took me there as they related dewy-eyed tales.
Dick Gregory cracked the place up, they said. Richard Pryor brought the house down. Ella Fitzgerald’s scats hit the ceiling. Sassy Sarah Vaughan’s succulent notes made you swoon.
Most if all, it was a place “we” could go. It was always happening at Mr. Kelly’s on North Rush Street, and at the London House, at North Michigan and East Wacker Drive.
Columnists
In-depth political coverage, sports analysis, entertainment reviews and cultural commentary.
Next to the sign announcing the folk section of a new exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) is a collection of trinkets
Black Music Month, Chicago-based television production company Central City Productions will present the
2021 Black Music Honors in commemoration of Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated holiday honoring the end of slavery in the United States, which is officially celebrated on June 19th. The evening of celebrations and special moments will be pre-taped at the City Winery in Nashville, Tennessee, and televised in national broadcast syndication starting
June 5 to
Saturday, June 19 at
Bounce TV.
Emmy® Award-winning talk show host, comedienne and author
Loni Love will host the star-studded two-hour special which will honor artists and musicians who have influenced and made significant contributions to American music.