Smokey Robinson

Saturday, November 20, 2010, 7 - 10pm

To-Do!: With Guest Host, Pam Grier, Featuring Avain Hightower & Full Circle Band, Reception: 5:30pm, Showtime: 7pm

Smokey Robinson, the "poet laureate of soul music," has been composing and singing rhythm and blues hits for more than three decades. As the lead singer of the Miracles, Robinson, helped to put Detroit and its Motown Records on the music map; his solo performances have netted Grammy Awards and praise from pundits who usually shun the pop genre. Robinson has written, produced, and performed "some of the most enduring rhythm and blues songs ever made. The church kept easy company with the street corner in his rich melodies, and his lyrics had a shimmering, reflective grace that, at his pleasure, could challenge or seduce. With the Miracles, Smokey helped make a kind of soul music that balanced ghetto pride and middle-class ambition. Some of the group's best tunes stayed true to the R & B roots even as they beckoned, and found, a larger pop audience. In Rolling Stone, Steve Pond concluded that Robinson has written "some 4000 songs and recorded hundreds that have made him a true poet of the soul and a voice of the soul, too."

Price: $75-95

More To-Do:

Commit: An Evening with the HistoryMakers

61st Street Farmers Market

A Civil War Christmas (Opening Night)

Festival of New Spanish Cinema: After

AACM 45th Anniversary Festival: Mike Reed's Loose Assembly

Festival of New Spanish Cinema: The Damned (Los Condenados) (aka The Condemned)

¡Revolución! Centennial Concert

A Raisin in the Sun

Holidays Around The World! Black Sales Professionals Party International Style!

Creative Music Summit: Asian-American Jazz Festival (AAJF)

Buddy Fambro Band

CRDT's Dance Chicago: Dance Carnival

3.5.7 Ensemble

Sunday, November 21, 2010

African Jubilee Film Festival: Moolaade

Sunday, November 21, 2010, 2 - 5pm

To-Do!: Moolaade, Director: Ousmane Sembene, Country: Senegal, This film addresses female genital mutilation ('circumcision') which is practiced by groups in some 28 African countries. The action is set in a small African village where four young girls facing ritual "purification" flee to the household of Collé Ardo Gallo Sy, a strong-willed woman who has managed to shield her own teenage daughter from mutilation. Collé invokes the time-honored custom of moolaadé (sanctuary) to protect the fugitives, and tensions mount as the ensuing stand-off pits Collé against village traditionalists.

Discussant: Lynette Jackson, University of Illinois-Chicago and Co-Curator of Festival.

Miscellaneous Info: African Jubilee Film Festival: Celebrating 50 Years of African Independence On Film, Fifty years ago, 17 African countries won their independence from European colonial rule. Ever since, 1960 has been known as the Year of African Independence. With political independence came new struggles, like the struggles for economic justice, gender justice, cultural renewal and peace. African filmmakers and the African film industry have played a key role in representing these struggles, as well as comedy, romance and Afro-futurism., The African Jubilee Film Festival, curated by Lynette Jackson and Floyd Webb, and co-sponsored by portoluz, The DuSable Museum, the African American Studies and Gender and Women's Studies departments at UIC and The Public Square, will mark this important milestone with films by African filmmakers, from founding fathers in African cinema like Ousmane Sembene and Djibril Mambety of Senegal, to rising young women filmmakers like Jihan El Tahri and Wanuri Kahiu of Egypt and Kenya respectively., The African Jubilee Film Festival film screenings and discussions occur on select Sundays.

Price: Free!
Other Times To-Do It: Select Sundays, June 27 - December 5, 2010.

More To-Do:

CRDT's Dance Chicago: Choreographers Showcase

Latino Music Festival: Avalon String Quartet

Chamber Series Concert I: Earth's Wilderness - The Final Frontier

Giving Thanks A Concert w/ Orbert Davis

A Civil War Christmas

Creative Music Summit: Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM)

Sunday Jazz, f/ Everett Greene

Jazz Jam w/ Isaiah Spencer

Monday, November 22, 2010

The Jazz Oasis After Work Jazz Concert

Monday, November 22, 2010, 5 - 11pm

To-Do!: The Jazz Oasis presents, Jazz After Work Networking Event at the Jazz Showcase. Featured Entertainment: Robert Irving III, Miles Davis' last pianist/ keyboardist and composer.  The Miles Davis Collaboration: A native of Chicago, Irving was one of a group of young Chicago musicians who in the late '70s and early '80s formed the nucleus of Miles' recording and touring bands. It was Irving's composition "Space" (performed by him and his talented Chicago-based group) that captured Davis' interest. That led to Miles inviting him and the Chicago musicians to perform at his last appearance in Chicago. Also introducing a Hot New Talent Moni Rashad. Moni will be performing live.

Soleil's Take: Phew! Some good music on a Tuesday night!!
Miscellaneous Info: The Jazz Oasis Documentary Film Shoot will continue on November 22, at the Jazz Showcase.
Price: $10

More To-Do:

Sapphire's Open MIC Mondays

Festival of New Spanish Cinema: After

Tuesday, November, 23, 2010

Nikki Giovanni Lecture and Book Signing

Tuesday, November 23, 2010, 6 - 8pm

To-Do!: World-renowned poet, writer, activist, and educator Nikki Giovanni returns to DuSable to discuss and sign copies of her latest book "The 100 Best African-American Poems." These amazing compilations of poems include works by such artists as Rita Dove, Sonia Sanchez, Tupac Shukar, and Richard Wright among others and prove to be an exciting mix of their most loved pieces.

Author/Artist/Performer Website: nikki-giovanni.com
Price: $10; Non-Members, $15

More To-Do:

Jazz, Blues & Beyond: Lorin Cohen Quartet

Dwayne Hirsch's Business Spotlight Networking at Red Kiva

Developing a Basic Website

Tecora Rogers

A Civil War Christmas

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

World Music Wednesdays: Hermán Olivera

Wednesday, November 24, 2010, 8:30 - 11pm

To-Do!: The Old Town School of Folk Music and Agúzate Productions are partnering once again to bring you the 7th Annual Tribute to the Improvisational Singer. This event is a celebration of the improviser or "sonero" in traditional Salsa. Herman, born in Newark New Jersey to Puerto Rican parents, is considered one of the finest soneros in the business performing and recording with Manny Oquendo, Johnny Pacheco, Ray Barretto, Eddie Palmieri and many others. He is accompanied by an all-star line up of Chicago's top salsa musicians under the direction of Edwin Sanchez.

Miscellaneous Info: World Music Wednesdays is a free community series that explores the rich diversity that exists in the Chicago community and runs year round (47 Wednesdays). World Music Wednesdays will present music, dance and culture of Africa, Europe, Asia, The Middle East and The Americas. Tickets are free, but reservations are strongly recommended. Call us at (773) 728-6000 to secure your seats!

Price: $5, Suggested Donation

More To-Do:

A Civil War Christmas

Amazing Jazz Duets: Bossa Tres Brazilian Music Band

Delivery Point

Jazz'n at The Regal f/ Greg Penn with Crosswind

Festival of New Spanish Cinema: The Damned (Los Condenados) (aka The Condemned)

Corey Wilkes & Abstrakt Pulse