Episodes

  • The 2024 Democratic Convention in Chicago

    The 2024 Democratic Convention in Chicago
    Aug 30 2024
    In this special episode, Andrew Sola and his guests discuss the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Topics include the similarities and differences between the 1968 DNC and the 2024 DNC; the use of gender and race in the speeches; the main themes of the convention, including the reclamation of a Democratic concept of patriotism; the relative paucity of European and global themes; VP Kamala Harris’s speech; and memorable speeches by other speakers, including Michelle Obama, Adam Kinzinger, The Central Park 5, Oprah Winfrey, and Hillary Clinton. Lastly, we settle the dispute about how to create the possessive form of Harris. Is it Harris’ policies or Harris’s policies?
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    53 mins
  • Literature of Chicago #8: Nelson Algren's The Man with the Golden Arm (1949)

    Literature of Chicago #8: Nelson Algren's The Man with the Golden Arm (1949)
    Aug 23 2024
    In this episode, Dr. Douglas Cowie and his guest, documentary filmmaker Mark Blottner, discuss another great Chicago novel, The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren. Published in 1949, it tells the story of a World War II veteran's struggle with morphine addiction, and in so doing paints a portrait of a marginal neighborhood in Chicago and its people. Check out Mark Blottner's documentary, "Nelson Algren: The End is Nothing, The Road is All" (2015) at nelsonalgrentheroadisall.com.
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    47 mins
  • The Democratic National Convention: Chicago 1968

    The Democratic National Convention: Chicago 1968
    Aug 9 2024
    The Democratic National Convention in Chicago 1968 was one of the most important political events in the twentieth century. It was preceded by a number of earth-shaking crises, including the devastating Tet Offensive in Vietnam in January, President Lyndon B. Johnson's shocking announcement that he would not run for a second term in March, the assassination of beloved civil rights leader Martin Luther King in April, and then the assassination of popular presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in June. In the midst of this turmoil, all eyes turned to the DNC in Chicago in August. The cast of colorful characters includes the all-powerful Mayor of Chicago Richard J. Daley, Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy, segregationist candidate Governor George Wallace, journalists Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather, author Norman Mailer, activist leaders Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffmann, as well as hippies, yippies, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Mobe (the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam), the Poor People's Mule Train, and the Chicago Police. Our expert guests include Dr. Charlotte Lerg (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich) and Prof. emir. Gary Kissick, who attended the protests in Chicago in August of 1968.
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • The Sound of Chicago #3: Exploring the Legacy of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians

    The Sound of Chicago #3: Exploring the Legacy of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
    Jul 26 2024
    In the third and final episode of this mini-series celebrating the unique sound of avant-garde music in Chicago, our hosts turn to the still-living legacy and influence of the AACM on global music. Topics include the importance of the Chicago labels Delmark Records and International Anthem as well as the central themes of self-reliance, community, and artistic freedom for all artists associated with the AACM. The three albums discussed are Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble album Black Unstoppable (2007), Angel Bad Dawid's Requiem for Jazz (2023), and the album Spirit Gatherer: Tribute to Don Cherry (2023) by David Ornette Cherry, Dwight Trible, and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. The three books mentioned are Paul Steinbeck's Message to Our Folks: The Art Ensemble of Chicago (2017), George E. Lewis' A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music (2008), and Bruce Adams' You're with Stupid: kranky, Chicago, and the Reinvention of Indie Music (2022). The first audio clip at the beginning of the episode is Anthony Braxton's track 'Refuge' from the album Nine Compositions (2000). The full track at the end is 'Space of No Pain' from Kahil El'Zabar's Tri-Factor With Billy Bang & Hamiet Bluiett – The Power (2000). Both tracks courtesy of CIMP.
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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • The Sound of Chicago #2: Anthony Braxton and Kahil El'Zabar

    The Sound of Chicago #2: Anthony Braxton and Kahil El'Zabar
    Jul 19 2024
    In our second episode about the avant-garde music scene in Chicago, we turn to two legends-Anthony Braxton and Kahil El'Zabar. Hosts Douglas Cowie and Kara Rusch discuss the concept of Braxton's music trying to achieve "the greatest thought you can think" and El'Zabar's unique approach to percussion and performance as seen in his band The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. This episode features the full track of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble's 1998 performance of "Papa's Bounce" with kind permission from CIMP. Here is more information about the albums and books mentioned in this episode. Forces in Motion: The Music and Thoughts of Anthony Braxton (1989) by Graham Lock. Anthony Braxton, Dortmund (Quartet, 1976) Anthony Braxton, 7 Standards, volumes I and II (1985) Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Hang Tuff (1991) Kahil El'Zabar, America the Beautiful (2020) Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio – Alika Rising! (2015)
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    1 hr and 24 mins
  • The Sound of Chicago #1: Great Black Music

    The Sound of Chicago #1: Great Black Music
    Jul 12 2024
    In this first of three episodes about Chicago avant-garde music, Dr. Douglas Cowie and DJ Kara "Slim" Rusch introduce you to the two key organizations that shaped the scene: the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and the Art Ensemble of Chicago (AEC). They discuss the history of jazz in Chicago as well as the problem of using the word "jazz" to categorize this unique musical form. They also analyze the 9 purposes of the AACM and highlight the preferred term that the musicians themselves used to describe their music: Great Black Music. Check out the two albums discussed in this episode on YouTube here: Bap-Tizum (live at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, 1972) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CasRSGYX3ds&list=PLyHn3f7-9IUL3EXNjKRrnHsd_JXwnDxRD Fanfare for the Warriors (studio album, 1973) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaVAsP0DCzs The definitive book about the AACM and the AEC is by George E. Lewis, A Power Stronger than Itself (U. of Chicago Press, 2007). Thank you to CIMP for giving us permission to share Anthony Braxton's first track from 8 Compositions (2001).
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Organized Crime in Chicago: A Short History

    Organized Crime in Chicago: A Short History
    Jun 21 2024
    Chicago is always associated with the Mafia boss Al Capone. But what is the real history of organized crime in the city? When did it begin? What social and economic forces helped it grow? And how did machine politicians, in alliance with gangsters like Al Capone, shape the city? In this episode, we dissect the connections between vice and politics in the city from its origins to the present with two expert guests: retired Chicago Police Officer and Professor of Criminology Robert Lombardo (Loyola University) and author and expert on Jewish gangs in Chicago Professor Joe Kraus (University of Scranton). Topics include the origins of vice in the Levy District, the early connections between politicians and criminal activity, the Black Hand, Jewish gangs, Prohibition, and the evolution of the Italian Mafia from its early days as the Capone Syndicate through the emergence of the Outfit.
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Meatpacking in Chicago and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1906)

    Meatpacking in Chicago and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1906)
    Jun 14 2024
    No industry shaped Chicago more decisively than the meatpacking industry, and no book exposed the rapacious, exploitative and vicious character of the meatpacking industry more than Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1906). In this episode, we explore the origins and explosive growth of the meatpacking industry, the brutal working conditions on the bloody killing floors, the emergence of literature about Chicago in the early 1900s, the importance of Lithuanians in Chicago history, the life of Upton Sinclair, his urban realist and naturalist writing style, and his political ideas as seen in The Jungle. Our expert guests are historian Dr. Dominic Pacyga, co-founder of Chicago's Packingtown Museum, and novelist Dr. Douglas Cowie, creator of the Literature of Chicago Course at Royal Holloway, University of London. Visit the Packingtown Museum, voted the best small museum in Chicago. More information is available here: https://www.packingtownmuseum.org/
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    1 hr and 16 mins