June 09, 2018

Emilie Junge

Network 49 Community Safety Task Force

The Network 49 Safe Communities Task Force takes a holistic view towards what makes our community safe. Safety to go about one's business freely. Safety from illegal harassment over one's race or ethnic identity. Safety to enforce the city's laws without infringing on someone's rights, or being subject to unnecessary risks or hostility, simply because of the job you do. Safety is something means different things to different people, so our work is grounded in dialogue, discussion, and deliberate action. In 2016, our city was rocked by the release of the Department of Justice report on conditions at the Chicago Police Department. 

JOHN RUSSICK

Chicago History Museum

John Russick speaks about their new exhibit, Amplified Chicago Blues! About the exhibition: Southern black migrants brought the blues to Chicago, where the music helped them forge connections and transform an unfamiliar, often inhospitable city into a new home. The music was also transformed—electrified and amplified to compete with urban noise. The photography of Raeburn Flerlage captures the streets, clubs, homes, and studios where a community of musicians defined the Chicago blues sound.  Immerse yourself in the Chicago scene of the 1960s through Flerlage’s images, and experience the blues by playing guitar, designing an album cover, writing lyrics, and singing karaoke.

Rob Stone

Blues Harmonica Player

Deeply rooted in traditional blues, yet delivering high-energy performances with a thoroughly contemporary impact, harp-playing vocalist Rob Stone is one of the busiest bandleaders on the blues scene today. His skin-tight band is comprised of blues blues veterans of the highest caliber. His wide-bodied harmonica attack (his primary influences are Little Walter, Big Walter Horton, Junior Wells, James Cotton, and Sonny Boy Williamson I and II) and cool, streetwise vocals display an unshakable foundation in Chicago blues tradition, and his penchant for high-energy house rocking tempos makes his concerts an exhilarating experience.