Chicago Magazine - 09.2019

THE 312

26 CHICAGO | SEPTEMBER 2019

PHOTOGRAPHY: (MAYFIELD) AP PHOTO/

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

FILES; (MACK) COURTESY OF SHELLEY FISHER; (BARGE) COURTESY OF ANDREW DAVIS/

CHICAGO PACIFIC ENTERTAINMENT; (JOHNSON) AARON COHEN; (PITCH) COURTESY OF CHICAGO WHITE SOX

Fore!

When a ceremo-

nial first pitch by a

White Sox employee

beaned the team

photographer, the

video went viral.

Weeks later, an

underhand throw

by a White Sox

Volunteer Corps

member popped

straight up ... and

made a beeline for

the same photog-

rapher. Bullpen

coach Curt Hasler

breaks down where

things went wrong.

— PHOEBE MOGHAREI

THE EMPLOYEE

“First of all, it’s

not easy. You’re

standing in front of

everybody — the

players are watch-

ing, the coaches, the

fans — and you’ve

got no experience

with this at all. She

stepped a little

open. This is where

we start with kids:

Look where you’re

throwing, step

where you’re

throwing, and good

things happen.”

THE VOLUNTEER

“She probably did

what she’s done in

the backyard with

her kids. But it’s

60 feet 6 inches

to home plate.” To

avoid overcompen-

sating: “Just scoot

up a little to where

the mound meets

the grass. That’s

nearly 15 feet closer.

There’s no shame

in that.”

FOUR THINGS

Soul City, USA

Chicago’s role as a hub for innovative black musicians from the 1960s

to the ’80s has been underappreciated, according to a new book. Here’s

what we learned. By MARK GUARINO

1

Soul provided an avenue for black
entrepreneurship.
As the genre’s popularity grew, smaller
labels around Chicago flourished. Most famously,
singer Curtis Mayfield cofounded Curtom Records
with Impressions manager Eddie Thomas and
“became his own executive,” Aaron Cohen writes
in Move On Up (September 30, University of
Chicago Press). With everything from songwriting
to distribution handled in-house, artists had more
freedom to pursue their own sounds — and they
and their local backers saw more of the proceeds.

2

Earth, Wind & Fire can be traced to an
unsung hero of musical education.
James Mack, a classical composer and jazz
instructor at Crane Junior College (now Malcolm
X College), trained a generation of musicians
who later shaped the sound of modern R&B. His
most recognizable alumni are brothers Maurice
and Verdine White of EWF and saxophonist Don
Myrick, who was part of the group’s original horn
section and later performed with other noted acts
(see: his solo on Phil Collins’s “One More Night”).
“There is no other school in the city that teaches a
student to become a commercial musician,” Mack
told the Chicago Tribune in 1965.

3

Harold Washington’s 1983 mayoral

win had soul power.

Mayfield and other local musicians, like

Syl Johnson and saxophonist Gene “Daddy G”

Barge, helped energize voters with free

performances at campaign events. Washington’s

opponents noticed, and soon a racist flier

circulated around town warning that Chicago’s

first black mayor would rename the CTA

“the Soul Train.”

4

You can draw a straight line from

Disco Demolition to the development

of house music.

When white baseball fans blew up disco records

at Comiskey Park in 1979, labels took the cue

and slowed investment in the genre. House blos-

somed in Chicago “to fill the gap,” as Frankie

Knuckles once said. One future house artist,

Vince Lawrence, managed to directly translate the

traumatic event into a catalyst for his career: An

usher at Comiskey that night, he was beaten by

a white thug outside the park. He used his settle-

ment money to buy his first synthesizer. He went

on to cowrite Jesse Saunders’s 1984 hit “On and

On,” generally considered the first commercially

released house track.

VICTIM

WEAPON

PERPETRATOR

Clockwise from top

left: Curtis Mayfield,

James Mack, Syl

Johnson, Gene Barge