Thickroutes Performance Collage excerpt from "HouseHedz"

Wonderful performance by Thickroutes Performance Collage during the Art & Profit Festival

William Kurk Enterprise performing Perfect Mutation

Like Will said, "it's not summer unless you have a gig at Double Door" Well here is the gig at Double Door. William Kurk performing "Perfect Mutation"...awesome performance as usual.

Luciano Antonio Project performing Aviao

This was a great shoot. I was at Old Town to shoot Brazilian jazz artist Luciano Antonio. Great set with some amazing music.

Ferron Malek I performing "No Woman No Cry"

Just recently had the pleasure of working with reggae artist Ferron Malek I. It was a great performance at the Wild Hare from a great artist. Look forward to working with him in the future.

Koku Gonza at Close Up2

Koku Gonza performing "Love of a Star" and "Malaika at Close Up2 in Chicago.

To Art & Profit trailer

Spread over three weekends from March through May 2011, To Art & Profit is an interdisciplinary performance series augmented with arts-focused dialogues and Carnival-inspired street theatre spectacle throughout the city of Chicago.

The festival pairs Chicago-based artists across discipline and genre, asking them to create performances around select themes and questions:

What is the value of creative labor?

How can we practice a more conscientious capitalism, one that allows art makers to make a living while still nourishing the human spirit?

How can we democratize art production, widening the scope of creative voices and expressions brought to public spaces and stages?

Each performance weekend will be linked to different Chicago neighborhoods (Logan Square, Pilsen, Bronzeville).

To Art and Profit aims to connect and engage different neighborhoods around Chicago around the value of art and artists to their immediate and global community.

Finding various ways to invite community participation, this series explores how art can be profitable, accountable and accessible. In addition to the Links performances, there will be street theater spectacles and public discussions on the following themes:

March 18-20: What Is It Good For? Defining Art’s Purpose Now
April 15-17: Quit Bullshittin’: Recognizing Division and Building Solidarity
in the Arts
May 20-22: Come As You Are: Re-Imagining Art with a Conscience

For more information, visit LinksHall.org.

BUY TICKETS!

Music Producer 14KT interview

A few weeks ago I ventured up to Michigan with Fredricka Holloway of nthebackground.com to interview music producer 14KT of Athletic Mic League. It was amazing to watch him great an new beat while waiting for me to set up the equipment (an awesome beat at that). Great guy and extremely talented, Everyone should get to know his name.

Vo Era performing "Night Alone" & "Oh My Goodness"

One of my favorite local artist, Vo Era is an amazing performer, and musician. Check out www.voera.com, you have to see him live.

Night Alone

Oh My Goodness

sub.verse.studios. on Chicago Soul

Honored that four projects from sub.verse.studios. are featured on Chicago Soul. Check out the link to see performances from Yaw, Maggie Brown, Tiaybe and The Chris Greene Quartet.

Chicago Soul

Being Me is the Sh**! By The Rockstar Poetry Project

An incredible song and an incredible group! The Rockstar Poetry Project is an amazing blend of poetry and music. This is the music video for their hit "Being Me is the Sh**! Check it out.

Tiaybe at Close Up2

Jazz and soul singer Tiaybe performing at Close Up2 nightclub in Chicago.She is a great talent and if you don't know her work please look her up.

Maggie sings Abbey

The incredible Maggie Brown singing the work of Abbey Lincoln, live at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival.

Maggie sings Abbey from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.

Chifidelity: An Evolutionary Experience Commercial

Chifidelity: An Evolutionary Experience Commercial. .Hosted by Drunken Monkeee featuring JMB with Phenom and Yaw, Khari lemuel, Sam Trump and Scarlet Monk. Music by Supertoy and Blackdaylight. Live art by Wisdom, Camoflaj Jones and Summer Coleman. The event is November 19th at Morsland. More information log on to morseland.com or call 773 764 8900.

Chifidelity: An Evolutionary Experience Commercial from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.

Hennessy Artistry concert promo

Promo for Hennessy Artistry Concert featuring Q-Tip, The Roots, Erykah Badu, Kid Sister, Curren$y. brought to you by nthebackground.com

Hennessy Artistry Concert Promo from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.

God's Work: Video Art Project. God's Work is a video art project inspired by Poet Harold Green Mixtape track of the same name. The Color Line Vol. 2 is a visual mixtape by spoken word artist Harold Green. He collaborate with twelve different directors (one for every track on the record) to come up with a compilation of shorts, narratives, and other forms of film based on each track of the mixtape. I was honored enough to be a part of this project and I’m sending this note out to share with all of you this amazing project. To hear the tracks and view the videos check out the link below.

God's Work: Video Art Project from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.

Trailer for "SweetGoddess" Disco Duet

This is a ongoing project I'm collaborating on with Meida Teresa McNeal. This video is a combination of dance, house music and video. I love projects like this because creativity is unbound and its fun to see whats around the corner.

Trailer for "SweetGoddess" Disco Duet from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.

Stone Crazy by Kafele Bandele

This week in the showcase is the music video for Kafele Bandele's new song "Stone Crazy." Its an amazing song and I started brainstorming the minute I heard it. The other great thing about this shoot was all the artist and friends who came out to be extras and supporters. Check out the clip below.

Stone Crazy by Kafele Bandele from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.

City Vanguard Documentary Series

Here is the latest project from sub.verse.studios. We are really excited about these film projects.

City Vanguard is a documentary series for the arts and culture communities of Chicago. The purpose of the series is to provide a portal to segments of the arts world that do not get the exposure they deserve. By providing consistent documentary style programs and original programs, City Vanguard brings a deeper understanding of Chicago artists as well as the fascinating cultures that may not have a voice. The target audiences for City Vanguard are those that understand, appreciate, support and participate in the Chicago arts community as a whole. Our audience is predominately African-Americans and people of color, between the age of 19-45, as well as fans and supporters of urban art forms.
We want to do more than document the cultures of the community; we want to cooperate with the community. To accomplish this, we have developed a video production apprentice program called Community Studio. Community Studio is an apprentice program for video production beginners which will give the participants a chance to be a part of a local video production as crew or cast members. Participants will experience the three main phases of video production: pre production, production and post production. Through hands on participation and professional instruction, people from the community will have the opportunity to complete a video project that will be screened to the public.

The City Vanguard Project from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.

Rockstar Poetry Project EPK

Its always exciting doing a project with Khari B and the Rockstar Poetry Project is no exception. This fusion of poetry, soul, rock and jazz makes for one of the most eclectic, and groundbreaking live experience. Check out the EPK for this amazing band.

Rockstar Poetry Project EPK from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.

Phenom performing "ashtray" at the Shrine.

This clip is from a while back. It is one of my favorite hip hop artist and a really talented musician by the name of Phenom. This is one of his original songs that is a crowd favorite where ever he performs it. Check out the clip.

Phenom at Shrine performing "Ashtray" from sub.verse.studios. on Vimeo.