This weekend the first Hawk Winter Music Festival presents 70-something acts at 11 venues. At first glance it’s hard to tell what separates the fest from any other three days of music in Chicago–the bulk of the shows were booked months ago and only corralled under the festival’s banner in the past few weeks. But the Hawk does have a theme: it’s a coming-out party for the League of Chicago Music Venues, an association of local club owners and operators that so far represents Buddy Guy’s Legends, the Double Door, the Empty Bottle, the Hideout, the HotHouse, House of Blues, Martyrs’, Metro, Park West, Schubas, and Uncommon Ground.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
The League of Chicago Music Venues owes its existence in part to the E2 nightclub disaster in February 2003 and the Great White club fire in Rhode Island later that month. City officials responded by toughening their enforcement of capacity regulations and licensing requirements, putting particular pressure on smaller venues. In May 2003 the city temporarily shut down the HotHouse because it didn’t have the proper license, and in February 2004 inspectors pulled the plug on a Martyrs’ show by Ojos de Brujo–sponsored by the city’s own Department of Cultural Affairs–because of overcrowding.
Last spring the CMC’s board met with Sheila O’Grady, Mayor Daley’s chief of staff–who suggested, among other things, that the group launch a music festival and form a subcommittee of venue owners and operators that would meet with her and various city commissioners. Hill undertook the task of assembling the subcommittee–but as it turned out, it wouldn’t be part of the CMC. “We basically stopped hearing from her,” says one high-ranking CMC member. “The venue committee decided to go out on their own, and that’s what became the League of Chicago Music Venues.” Hill resigned from the CMC board with a one-line e-mail.
Plus, as Natkin from the CMC points out, “Eleven venues is a pretty small number. We’ve identified 260 venues in Chicago . . . from United Center to the corner bar that does open mike on a Tuesday night.” The league’s membership lacks diversity–only the HotHouse, Buddy Guy’s Legends, and Uncommon Ground couldn’t qualify as rock venues, and places that do hip-hop and club music are particularly poorly represented.
