While plenty of ink has been spilled lately over the mainstream music business’ woes, things on the fringe are looking up in Chicago.
During the same weekend last month, the city hosted two avant-garde musical events. The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians toasted bassist Malachi Favors, and Empty Bottle brought together local and international improvisers for its sixth annual Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music.
In the fall, Chicago will host traditional and modern musicians from around the globe for the fourth World Music Festival. But you can hear all of the above this weekend, when HotHouse celebrates its 15th birthday with a three-day party.
Since 1998 HotHouse has been at 31 E. Balbo Drive, in the South Loop. The spacious room has seats and a dance floor, with a vivid mural on one wall and beautiful views of downtown from another. Art by local and Third World artists hangs on the walls of an adjoining space. It’s a far cry from the club’s humble origins during the mid-’80s as a sporadic underground happening in a clothing store.
“I owned The Salon Of Modalisque, which sold handmade clothes by Chicago designers, in an 8,000-square-foot loft at 616 W. Adams,” recalls HotHouse’s founder, Marguerite Horberg. She held after-hours concerts until the space was raided. In 1989, HotHouse went legal. It moved into a Wicker Park storefront, where it quickly established a niche as a refuge for progressive music of all stripes.
There was “no consistent place to hear artists like the AACM, Cuban or improvised music,” she continues. “`World Music’ was not even a term then.”
HotHouse also became a haven for political activism. “It was a response to the need that political solidarity groups had for fundraisers,” says Horberg. “Union halls and church basements were not equipped with up-to-date audio-visual equipment. A large part of our constituency is political refugees and emigres who use HotHouse as a place to congregate.”
The club’s open booking policies have led to some unusual juxtapositions; African pop groups nestle in its calendar of events beside programs by the local avant-garde classical group Ensemble Noamnesia. The cultural clash of audiences can be equally marked. Michael Zerang, a drummer and composer of theater music, tended bar for a couple of years at a former HotHouse location in Wicker Park.
“I recall one political forum that was held at HotHouse,” he reminisces. “There were about 40 people in the main room listening to speaker after speaker, and drinking fruit juices and coffee and, of course, not tipping. At the bar sat Studs Terkel, Ald. Helen Shiller and painter Ed Pashke. The next night I came into work to find about 300 drag queens partying.”
After a falling-out with its landlord, HotHouse closed its doors in 1995. The nomadic venue sponsored events at various locations before obtaining non-profit status. HotHouse reopened at its current location in May 1998. Although it is no longer the only place in town for improvised and international music, by working in cooperation with organizations like the Chicago Cultural Center and the Mexican Fine Arts Museum, it has re-established itself as a warm home for arts from the fringe.
The artists scheduled to play at HotHouse this weekend run the gamut of music that the venue hosts. On Friday there’s 8 Bold Souls and local trumpeter David Young, and on Saturday Ricardo Lemvo’s salsa group Makina Loca plays. Sunday’s act, guitarist Bill Frisell’s Intercontinental Quartet, best exemplifies the club’s open-minded aesthetic. Its members include Brazilian singer-guitarist Vinicius Cantuaria, Greek oud player Christos Govetas and Malian percussionist Sidiki Camera.
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David Young, 8 Bold Souls
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: HotHouse, 31 E. Balbo Drive
Price: $30; 312-362-9707
