Soul Forreal…

Dave Leonard, NBC5 Street Team, (Video)
If you missed last week’s Foreign Exchange show at the Double Door, get familiar! The Hip-Hop Soul collective performed to a packed house for the first time ever in Chicago. Foreign Exchange is comprised of rapper Phonte (of the critically-acclaimed rap group Little

Photo by Stacy Patrice

Brother), vocalists Darien Brockington and Yahzarah, Dutch producer Nicolay, and various band members including Detroit’s own Zo!. As a group they have released two incredible albums, 2004’s “Connected” and the more recent 2008 release, “Leave It All Behind”. They kept the sardine packed Double Door moving and grooving to tracks from both albums while Phonte kept the comedic banter going in between songs. Each artist showcased their signature songs, Phonte skillfully going back and forth from rhyming to singing, on tracks like “Sincere” (featuring Yahzarah), the soulful “baby-maker” ‘Come Around’ (featuring Darien Brockington), and Nicolay’s “Nic’s Groove”. If the Foreign Exchange didn’t provide enough entertainment, the crowd definitely got it’s $27.00’s worth by the warm-up DJ, DJ Kwest_On? of Swank Society Radio. Kwest had the crowd exhausted after taking us on a musical odyssey of hip-hop and old school classics that drew cheer after cheer. There was a great word of mouth campaign on this one and FE’s true fans were definitely in the house!

Looking for some fun events THIS weekend??? Check out 4 time Grammy nominated, remixer/producer Steve “Silk” Hurley spinning at the “Purple Party” this Saturday night (February 7^th) at the Omni Hotel (located at 676 North Michigan Avenue).  This will definitely be one for the “grown and sexy” backed by soulful House music.  The party is presented by S&S Records

and Real Men Love.

 

Last but not least, set the Tivo for the Grammy’s and the Pro Bowl this Sunday, February 8th and come and check out R&B’s Best Kept secret, Syleena Johnson as she performs and meets and greets for her “Chapter 4: Labor Pains” Album Release party at RedNoFive (located at 440 N. Halsted).  The doors open at 7pm and showtime is at 9pm.  The host for the evening is comedian Lil Rel.   If you haven’t already, pick up Syleena’s new album in stores or on iTunes and be sure to check her out in a special performance on the Maury Povich show Thursday, February 12^th (check your local listings).

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Rock with me at the Double Door!

Cara “Cara’s Basement” Carriveau, NBC5 Street Team

I blogged about this event a few days ago, but just wanted to remind you about the Shannon Sperando Cancer Benefit Concert at The Double Door tomorrow (Saturday, July 5). Live music from Munroe, Dave Costa, The Chemist vs. The Computer, Facing Winter and Mer. Only $8 for five bands and you’ll be helping out a young lady with cancer.

I had the pleasure of appearing on NBC 5 Today this morning with Rob Elgas and Zoraida Sambolin to chat about this event. Well, it wasn’t exactly a pleasure arriving at 5:30am but it was pretty cool being inside the NBC studio’s. Now that I’ve seen the video, though, I realize that I probably should have packed a brush in my purse and applied more blush for the bright lights – but that’s the kind of thing that happens when you stick a radio person on TV!!

Please click here to read my original blog (it includes more details) about this benefit concert.

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Shannon Sperando Cancer Benefit Show

Cara “Cara’s Basement” Carriveau, NBC5 Street Team

So much to do in Chicago the weekend of the Fourth Of July. Here’s one more thing to add to that massive list.

There’s a rockin’ benefit at The Double Door this Saturday, July 5. Five bands for only $8 – such a deal! It’s actually a pretty cool mix of bands covering several different music genre’s…melodic, folk, metal…quite the variety. Munroe, David Costa Is Dead, The Chemist vs. The Computer, Facing Winter and Mer will rock all night and there will be a raffle for lots of prizes including many autographed items (STP, Filter, etc) and other great prizes.

I spoke with TK from Munroe about this event for the Chicago Music Guide – get the inside scoop here:

Proceeds from this concert benefit the Shannon Sperando Cancer Fund and the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Please click on the link for Shannon and read her story. Imagine everything is fine in your life then suddenly you have a seizure and discover you have a brain tumor. I’ve never met her but can empathize with such a shocking, serious medical situation happening to a young vibrant woman. No one deserves to go through such an experience and the financial hardship that goes along with it makes it suck that much more. Helping her by going to a fun concert isn’t such a difficult thing to do – it’s an easy & fun way to help.

Doors open at 8pm, show starts at 9pm. CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS. A special thanks to photographer Amy Aeillo for kindly putting together this event. See you Saturday!

Type my name in the search bar or click HERE to see/hear more of my posts including interviews with The Bravery, Alanis Morissette, Joe Taylor, Triumph’s Rik Emmett, Shooting Star, Lovehammers, Mike Tafoya comedian Lee Camp & more.

 

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