JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound Play Off The Record at saki

Way more fun pics at the full Flickr set:

JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound Play Off The Record at saki, a set on Flickr.

Owen to play July Off the Record. BrooklynVegan Chicago Let Cat Out of Record Bag.

Brookyln Vegan Chicago today announced a secret so closely guarded we doubt that even the NSA knew about it. We can't wait for Mike Kinsella to bring Owen to saki where we can fête L'Ami du Peuple (Polyvinyl) with a proper free listening party and help promote Owen's two Chicago shows at The Beat Kitchen on June 29. The first is an early (7PM), all-ages show, and the second is a 21+ late show. Advance tickets for both are available here NOW!

Photo by Shervin Lainez

We'll be posting more delicious details RSN, but in the meantime, preview the new album with Owen's Daytrotter performance of the entire record or stream "Blue to Black," an actual recording from the album, thanks to the kind folks at Rolling Stone.

saki and DCASE present Off the Record: JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound 'Howl'

saki and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events present the May installment of Off the Record with JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound on Tuesday, May 21st @ 6pm.

JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound will perform a short live set of new tunes from their new album Howl (Bloodshot Records), followed by a Q&A with Marty Lennartz that will air on WXRT, and a JC Brooks DJ set. Food provided by the great people at Wishbone.

Mayne Stage will also be here selling tickets ($10) to their record release show Friday, May 25th. 

This event is free and BYOB. 

Hope to see you there!

DCASE: Creative At Work Music Forums

Don't miss the last forum of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events's "Creatives At Work Music Forums" series. These are free and open to the public, and are great resources for the city and its musicians.

"Licensing Your Work" will take place Monday, May 13th at 6pm at the Old Town School of Folk Muisc (Maurer Hall, 4544 N. Lincoln). The forum will address the licensing process and available opportunities.

City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Cultural Grants Program

2013 Cultural Grants due APRIL 19TH! Opportunities for individual artists, creative professionals, and non-profit arts organizations.

The mission of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is to enrich Chicago’s artistic vitality and cultural vibrancy. To support this mission, DCASE provides more than $1 million a year in direct funding for Chicago’s Arts Community through its Cultural Grants Program. Designed to reach artists and creative professionals and not-for-profit organizations within every community of the city of Chicago, these grants provide operating funds, as well as support for professional development, the creation of new work, and instructional arts programs. Grants are awarded through a competitive panel review process.

Announcing the 2013 Cultural Grants Program

Individual Artists Program

The goal of the DCASE Individual Artists Grant Program is to discover, nurture, and expand Chicago’s individual artists and creative professionals. Through this program, DCASE will award $2,000-$4,000 grants to Chicago-based artists over 18 years of age, at all career levels and working across numerous disciplines. This program encompasses three different tracks:

• Category One:  Creative Projects
• Category Two:  Professional Development 
• Category Three:  Development of Arts Instruction Programs – supports artists to provide high-quality instructional arts projects to benefit youth, senior citizens, or people with disabilities in Chicago’s low-to-moderate income neighborhoods.

CityArts Program (for non-profit arts organizations)

CityArts is a program that encourages the attainment of artistic excellence and financial stability through general operating support for arts organizations. Arts organizations with annual budgets under $5M will be eligible to apply, and can request a one-year grant. Awards will range from $2,000 to $10,000, based on the organization’s annual operating budget.  To apply, organizations will be required to create and complete a 2012 Data Profile within the Cultural Data Project (CDP), and provide CDP with a 2012 DCASE Funder Report. CDP is an online system for collecting standardizing historical financial and organizational data. For organizations new to CDP, we will offer two training webinars on March 13 and 20 to familiarize applicants with the system. Visit our website for more information.

The application deadline for both programs is Friday, April 19th at 11:59 PM CST. 

Applications, guidelines, & further information are now available at www.ChicagoCulturalGrants.org.

www.ChicagoCulturalGrants.org

DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS & SPECIAL EVENTS
78 East Washington, Room 522

Chicago, Illinois 60602

Email:  CulturalGrantMaking@cityofchicago.org

Off the Record with Low and Jeff Tweedy

Photo by Patrick Monaghan

We are still psyched from the energy of last night's installment of Off the Record in celebration of Low's upcoming album The Invisible Way (March 19, Sub Pop). Some lovely documentation of the event has started surfacing. Don't forget to see Low at Metro on 3/22!

Underground Bee posted photos and a writeup

Brooklyn Vegan posted photos and a writeup

Photos posted by Adam Alexander Photography

Photos by Patrick Monaghan on our Facebook

If you're unaware, saki has partnered with the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) to present Off the Record, a free monthly listening party series. Off the Record offers the opportunity to hear a new record, often in advance of its release. There is also an Off the Record - South, who are hosting ONO tomorrow night 3/9 7-10pm at the Washington Park Arts Incubator!

BIG UPS to Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) and Goose Island! We are very privileged to be able to work with these folks on this series and love that the public is digging Off the Record, too! Thanks everyone.

Off the Record: Low "The Invisible Way" on March 7th

Off the Record: Low The Invisible Way

Followed by Q&A with Jeff Tweedy

Thursday, March 7th, 7pm. 

Beverages provided by 312 Urban Wheat Ale

saki has partnered with the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) to present Off the Record, a free monthly listening party series. Off the Record offers the opportunity to hear a new record, often in advance of its release. This event is free and all ages.

saki will be celebrating the release of Low’s new album The Invisible Way, out March 19th on Sub Pop. Low will be playing stripped down versions of new tracks at the listening party. The Invisible Way is the band’s 10th album in 20 years as a band. This new album highlights Mimi Parker singing lead on more tracks, lots of piano, and songs about intimacy, the drug war, the class war, plain old war war, archeology, and love.

Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) recorded and produced The Invisible Way in the Wilco Loft. He will be joining us for a live Q&A with the audience about the recording and production process of the album.

Sam Lewis, program director of the Elastic Arts Foundation, is curating an affiliated leg of the Off the Record series. Their March Off the Record - South installation takes place with ONO Saturday, March 9th at the Washington Park Arts Incubator.

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is dedicated to supporting Chicago’s arts and culture community. This includes fostering the development of Chicago’s nonprofit arts sector, independent working artists and for-profit arts organizations demonstrating the City of Chicago’s commitment to celebrating the arts.

saki, founded in 2010, is Logan Square’s premier boutique record store, art gallery, and performance space.

For more information on saki, please visit sakistore.net

***Event is free & all ages. Space is limited. We will begin distributing wristbands at 6pm.***

Chicago Magazine C Notes Blog Praises saki and CTR

First, a note from our founder:

Now, on to business.

To my, and our, great surprise, Chicago Magazine's C Notes blog posted The C Notes Power List: Music’s Hit Makers about six musical "cultural influencers" Wednesday evening. My name was included in a list of people who are doing cool things in Chicago. There's some awesome and inspired people on this list who've decided to take bold steps to help raise the musical awareness level here in the cultural capital of the middle two thirds of our nation. I was not aware that my name would be included on this list until Whet Moser @whet pointed it out on Twitter Wednesday night. Incredible company with whom to be named. Wow.

Obviously I'm very touched to be thought of in this regard and with these excellent people. Had I talked with the author of this post, I would have shared some things that got overlooked when crunching saki, CTR, and CTD down into 110 kind words. There's also a lot of hyperbole crammed into there.

Off the Record: A Trouble In Mind Brunchtime Listening Party Schedule

This Sunday, February 10 we've got our much-anticipated February installment of Off the Record, "A Trouble In Mind Brunchtime Listening Party." Just to be clear, here is the official schedule. We are starting right at 11am and opening the doors at 10:30am.

11am - Maston Shadows listening session, brunch beverages provided by 312 Urban Wheat Ale

11:30am - Mikal Cronin live set

12pm - Jacco Gardner Cabinet of Curiosities listening session, treats from Bang Bang! Pie Shop

This event is free and all ages. Sponsored by DCASE.

We strongly recommend you all come to hear Shadows in full at 11am, and stick around after Mikal's set to hear Cabinet of Curiosities in full, and nosh on some pie with us! 

2 Off The Record parties coming up!