We're happy to be nominated in four categories for the Reader's 2024 Best of Chicago poll. Find them all here and cast your ballot by December 31!
We're happy to be nominated in four categories for the Reader's 2024 Best of Chicago poll. Find them all here and cast your ballot by December 31!
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by Kyle Sanders
During a segment of the 86th Academy Awards, host Ellen DeGeneres rallied a few A-list celebs (and Lupita Nyong'o's brother) to pose for an Oscars selfie that broke the internet with over 3.4 million retweets on what was then known as Twitter.
Would you believe that incident took place exactly ten years ago? Time certainly flies, but quite frankly, it hasn't been too kind to that selfie (remember "Brangelina?").
But what of that year's nominated films and winners? In the decade since, can you recall that 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture? Or that American Hustle--one of the most nominated films that year--went home empty handed?
Perhaps the only memorable takeaway was Frozen's Oscar-winning song "Let It Go," cementing its place high atop its mountainous pedestal as the go-to track for any musical theater major trying to prove their vocal chops on karaoke night.
But just like the words sung by Idina Menzel (or "Adele Dazeem" as John Travolta referred to her during that telecast), "the past is the past." It's 2024, and there's a new crop of films up for awards this year.
Some of us music lovers are old. Like, old enough to remember when the great James Brown went to prison. In late February 1991, the national news of his release was greeted by music lovers everywhere.
Despite what some Generation X members might tell you about our landmark record collections and our attendance at legendary small-club shows, none of us had seen James Brown perform. We only knew him as a mythical, god-like figure. Then, suddenly, one day in the early 1990s, James Brown records came out with fury.
Eight months after Brown’s parole, there was 20 All-Time Greatest Hits!—Polydor’s James Brown compilation album. The compilation went platinum and even graced the top 100 of Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in 1993. Everyone had it. (Really, everyone.)
Early promotional versions of the disc (plus other James Brown works) circulated the college radio circuit scene. And as a college DJ, I couldn’t resist playing his great songs—plus there were some fantastic extras, including Public Service Announcements Mr. Brown did, telling young people to keep away from crime.
Rumors circulated at the time that some of the PSAs were part of Soul Brother #1’s 1991 parole agreement, but in truth, some were recorded long before the time.
Anyhow, one of my favorites, the “Stay Away From Drugs" PSA, turned up not some years ago in video form. It’s worth a watch and is the perfect pick-me-up for a James Brown fan.