Bye, Richie: You Were No Friend To Chicago Music
by Jim DeRogatis
Pop N Stuff
September 8, 2010
http://blogs.vocalo.org/jderogatis/2010/09/bye-richie-you-were-no-friend-to-chicago-music/36463

My "Sound Opinions" colleague Greg Kot was quick out of
the chute yesterday following the news that Mayor
Richard M. Daley will not run for re-election with a
damning story recounting the many ways that the like-
father, like-son machine politician, so quick to trumpet
this extraordinary city's other accomplishments,
routinely displayed a tin ear to its unparalleled music
scenes-that is, when his minions weren't actively
setting out to destroy them.

I have long speculated that Daley, who was 26 at the
time of the Democratic National Convention in 1968, had
no more love for rock 'n' roll, the soundtrack favored
by all those heads the police force were cracking open,
than did his infamous "preserve disorder" dad. And maybe
he even cheered when the cops beat the MC5, the only
band to show up to play that event, and trashed their
equipment.

In any event, reiterating Kot's roster of musical wrongs
and preparing for an appearance to discuss the same this
morning on WBEZ's "848," here is my short list of the
ways Daley has actively hurt the music community,
despite the mind-blowing benefits outlined in a 2007
study by the University of Chicago commissioned by the
Chicago Music Commission, which called this "a music
city in hiding" despite the facts that it generates $1
billion a year and employs 53,000 people
(accomplishments a lot more real than the dubious ones
the Olympics might have brought).

The anti-rave ordinance, restrictive legislation written
to curb a scene and a culture that city officials never
spent a minute trying to understand.

The heavy-handed post-E2 crackdown on live music venues,
ignoring the obvious differences between a licensed club
or theater and a dangerous dance club that should have
been shut down for dozens of violations that were
ignored until tragedy struck.

The attempts to pass a promoter's ordinance that would
have made it nearly impossible for small, independent
music boosters to sponsor shows by forcing them to pay
steep licensing fees and obtain tens of thousands of
dollars in redundant insurance, even when they were
working at licensed, insured, and regulated venues.

Blocking the Smashing Pumpkins and the survivors of the
Grateful Dead from playing in Grant Park (and Radiohead
and Kanye West from playing in Millennium Park) and
generally closing the city's marquee outdoor venues to
any concert that wasn't proposed by an out-of-town big
business, like.

Lollapalooza, and this blog has extensively reported on
the long-term sweetheart deal that the city cut for
Walmart on the Lake, which is represented by Daley's
attorney nephew, whose friend has the beer concession.

Similarly, after the dictator-like move of tearing up
Meigs Field in the middle of the night, the Daley
administration awarded a contract for a low-quality,
high-priced concert venue on Northerly Island to the
giant, monopolistic national concert promoter Live
Nation. 

Daley's cronies also did their best to steer the
Uptown Theatre into Live Nation's hands. Yet while the
local Jam Productions prevailed in its claims to
ownership of that venue, no TIF funds have been
forthcoming for renovations.

The destruction of Maxwell Street, a key location in the
development of the blues, and a general disregard for
this city's rich musical history and landmark sites in
genres ranging from jazz to house music.

_____________________________________________

Portside aims to provide material of interest
to people on the left that will help them to
interpret the world and to change it.

Submit via email: [log in to unmask]
Submit via the Web: portside.org/submit
Frequently asked questions: portside.org/faq
Subscribe: portside.org/subscribe
Unsubscribe: portside.org/unsubscribe
Account assistance: portside.org/contact
Search the archives: portside.org/archive