Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Event Review: We Love Soul featuring Coultrain

After much anticipation for the future, the We Love Soul event is now in the present tense. Coultrain fresh in from 2 shows in Detroit was finally here in Chicago. Starting out the night musically were myself and Duane Powell on the 1's and 2's. Duane was playing a really dope Soul set as people began to filter in around 7:30pm. As a promoter I always never become comfortable until the masses begin to show up which I seem to always forget is generally 2 hours after an event starts. Once people began to filter in by the 2's like they were boarding Noah's ark I began to feel more at ease and could enjoy myself.

The show was very intimate as there were many couples looking fly as well as plenty of single good looking women and men.
As showtime approached the room became more warm and vibrant as people are grooving to the music, doing a little bit of innocent flirting and socializing amongst one another, and checking out the vendors.

The show starts and there was something I forgot again...
I forgot how bangin Coultrain's music sounds and how a good sound tech can make Darkroom sound really good. The backup band Verzatile was doing their thing with Coultrain as they were vibing really well together on stage. Combining jazz sounds, soulful grooves and baselines with his vocals was tha bizness. His sound was perfect for a show at an intimate venue. It was a great balance between, love, and sheer raw dopeness for music heads in the building. The show lasted around 1hour as he and the band received a great reception from the Darkroom crowd.
He rocked about 15 songs and gave the crowd more than their money's worth.

It was fun and interesting to witness a performance of an artist who had never been to Chicago solo and be able to help expose his music to fans that follow him and fans who were looking to for something new. We were also pleased and thankful that people trusted our taste as DJs and promoters to point them in the direction toward something different musically and not the same ole thing with the same ole artists. Not that there is anything wrong with those artists and those shows, but there is a whole other world out there if you dare to explore. We appreciate those who support the We Love Soul brand and trust us to introduce and expose more artists we believe in to you.

Thank you for your support and stay tuned for what's new with We Love Soul by visiting our website at
www.welovesoul.net

Peace and Blessings,
Sean

If you don't know you betta ask somebody...JLC

Food and Drink Review: Tiny Lounge 4352 N. Leavitt

Recently on a Sunday I had a chance to visit Tiny Lounge at the 3 way intersection of Lincoln, Leavitt, and Montrose. The reason for the visit was to play some tunes for DJ Leann's birthday party. After visiting Tiny a few weeks ago and sampling their cusine I was pretty geeked to be visiting again. This time instead of going with the outstanding truffle fries and pizzaetta with fontina chesse, shitake mushrooms and white truffle oil I decided to see what's next on the menu. Ahi tuna tacos with avacado, wasabi, shredded zucchini, and red pepper, and the grilled chicken empanadas with fresh oregano and chimicurri sauce. Both selections were mind blowing and the presentation was fly as well.

On this evening I started out drinking red wine but made an illegal switch to liquor when a quote from Fred Sanford popped into my head... "Wine is fine but liquor is quicker". Plus I changed up when I saw what the bartender was doing. There I saw her specially hand crafting one of the drinks from their fall drink menu. After perusing the drink menu and being indecisive on what I wanted she choose for me the "Root Down" fully equipted with gin, orange zest and few other interesting ingredients I couldn't remember. The aroma from the orange zest sold me as soon as it was put in front of me plus the presentation was solid. The special touch of the presentation and aroma made me realize this is not your typical bar and that they take food and drink very serious. Some of the other items on the on the drink menu were hot or cold cider with fresh apple cider and pumpkin pie with crushed gingerbread cookies.

If you plan to visit Tiny Lounge I would suggest going on Sundays for a great music selection of Soul and Rare Grooves courtesy of
DJ Leeann and friends.

To learn more and have your pallette pampered please visit
www.tinylounge.com
4352 N. Leavitt
(773) 463-0396

If you don't know you betta ask somebody...JLC