What’s New

It’s been four months since we’ve had a Bandcamp Friday. In case you’ve somehow forgotten, Bandcamp introduced them shortly after COVID-19 eliminated stateside touring in March 2020, and they’ve since become something of a tradition, helping countless musicians make ends meet without their usual road money. For the 24 hours of each Bandcamp Friday, the digital music retailer passes along its customary share of revenue to the independent artists and labels who sell through it. 

The pandemic hasn’t ended, despite the messages constantly telegraphed by our capitalist infrastructure, by our governments’ tepid response to the evolving nature of COVID-19, and even by our fellow citizens’ widespread hostility toward basic safety precautions. But plenty of efforts intended to blunt the harms of the pandemic have been scaled back or eliminated. In May, when Bandcamp let the last scheduled Bandcamp Friday pass without announcing more, I didn’t want to assume that they were gone for good. But I wouldn’t have been surprised if they just quietly stopped. 

Thankfully, a couple weeks ago Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond announced more Bandcamp Fridays through the end of the year. The 23rd Bandcamp Friday is September 2. 

As usual, I’m using the occasion to highlight the Reader’s music coverage. We expend a lot of our resources writing about independent and underground artists, many of whom sell their music on Bandcamp. I’ve compiled a list of the 130 Bandcamp releases we’ve mentioned since May, which doubles as a snapshot of our coverage (though it’s missing the stories from our first-ever Sound Issue, which we published after the most recent Bandcamp Friday). If 130 recommended releases somehow isn’t enough for you, my May 2022 post has a link at the bottom of the intro that’ll lead you back through all the previous lists—and through a lot of excellent writing about all that music. Clicking on any title will take you to our coverage of it.

8-Bit Creeps, Dress for the Future

Adult., Becoming Undone

Elizabeth A. Baker, Quadrivium

Bev Rage & the Drinks, Exes & Hexes

Jeb Bishop, Jaap Blonk, Weasel Walter, and Damon Smith, Pioneer Works Vol. 2

Bitchin Bajas, Switched on Ra

Black Magnet, Body Prophecy

Black Seinfeld, Season 1

Namir Blade, Metropolis

Blinker, Adult Hits

Boulevards, Electric Cowboy: Born in Carolina Mud

Boybrain, In the Company of Worms

Jaimie Branch’s Fly or Die, Fly or Die, Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise, Fly or Die Live

Bridey, “Better Luck Next Time”

Arthur Brown, Long Long Road

Cave In, Heavy Pendulum

Cellular Chaos, Diamond Teeth Clenched

Chicago Soul Jazz Collective with Dee Alexander, On the Way to Be Free

Clamm, Care

Claude, A Lot’s Gonna Change

Conjunto Primitivo, Morir y Renacer

Jeremy Cunningham, Dustin Laurenzi, and Paul Bryan, A Better Ghost

The Curls, Smothered & Covered

Daddy’s Boy, Great News!

DakhaBrakha, Alambari

Dehd, Blue Skies

Jorrit Dijkstra, Jeb Bishop, Pandelis Karayorgis, Nate McBride, and Luther Gray, Cutout

Dissonant Dessert, Absurd, Obscene!

Djunah, Ex Voto

Doctor Nativo, Guatemaya

Drasii, “Memory”

Dwaal Troupe, Lucky Dog

Em Spel, The Carillon Towers

Evicshen, Hair Birth

F.A.B.L.E., Green Room

Famous Laughs, Total Icon

Flamingo Rodeo, Pontoon

The Flying Luttenbachers, Terror Iridescence

Friko, Whenever Forever

Fury, “I Won’t,”“Taking It Back,”“Revolution”

Diamanda Galás, Broken Gargoyles

Gentle Heat, Sheer

Gilt Drip, Earthly Concepts

Heet Deth & Zeetus Lapetus, “We Should Have a Party”

Horsegirl, Versions of Modern Performance

Hulder, The Eternal Fanfare

I AM, Beyond

Susie Ibarra & Tashi Dorji, Master of Time

Glenn Jones, Vade Mecum

Rich Jones & Iceberg Theory, Smoke Detector

Simon Joyner, Songs From a Stolen Guitar

’Kechi, ’Kechi Tunez

Kikagaku Moyo, Kumoyo Island

Kill Scenes, “Acid Black Window”

Lifeguard, Crowd Can Talk, “Pinkwater,”“Taking Radar” b/w “Loose Cricket”

Lilac, Lilac

Liquids, Life Is Pain Idiot

Lucy Liyou, Welfare/Practice

Locrian, New Catastrophism

Lollygagger, Total Party Kill

Long Odds, Fine Thread

Los Bitchos,Let the Festivities Begin!

Lynyn, Lexicon

Erica Dawn Lyle & Vice Cooler, Land Trust: Benefit For NEFOC

Nick Macri & Mono No Aware, Amache

Makaya McCraven, Deciphering the Message

Mengers, Golly

Dave Miller, Daughter of Experience

Mister Goblin, Bunny

Mizmor & Thou, Myopia

!Mofaya!, Like One Long Dream

Moor Mother, Jazz Codes

Mystery Actions, “War Beat”

Marissa Nadler, The Path of the Clouds

Angel Olsen, Big Time

Oneida, Success

Organ Failure, Neurologic Determination of Death

Oui Ennui, Abyss, You Are My Mother

Paranoid London, Paranoid London

Pelt, Reticence/Resistance

Petrol Girls, Baby

Dougie Poole, The Freelancer’s Blues

Post Office Winter, Music Box, Songs for a Scientist

R.A.P. Ferreira, The Light Emitting Diamond Cutter Scriptures

Racetraitor, 2042

Rat Tally, In My Car

Rezn, Chaotic Divine

Jessica Risker, “The Waves”

Rlyr, Rlyr

Saint Icky & Please, Green New Deal

Klaus Schulze, Deus Arrakis

Aram Shelton, Everything for Somebody

Sidewalk Chalk, An Orchid Is Born

Snow Ellet, Glory Days

Sol Patches, Ordinary Circles

Stations, “Climate of Violence”

Charles Stepney, Step on Step

Stress Positions, Walang Hiya

Sumac, May You Be Held

Temple of Void, Summoning the Slayer

These Arms Are Snakes, Duct Tape & Shivering Crows

Ron Trent, What Do the Stars Say to You

Ufomammut, Fenice

Matt Ulery, Become Giant

Various artists, The Chicago Boogie, Vol. 3

Various artists, On Life: Vol. 3

Various artists, Porcelain Songs: A Weathercord Compilation

Daniel Villarreal, Panamá 77

Virgin Mother, Dialect

Steve Von Till, A Deep Voiceless Wilderness

Wailin Storms, The Silver Snake Unfolds

Weatherday, Come In

Dan Whitaker, One More Story Told

Wilco, Cruel Country

Eli Winter, Eli Winter

Wovenhand, Silver Sash

Zango the Third, Dog Tooth

Denny Zeitlin & George Marsh, Telepathy

Denny Zeitlin with George Marsh and Mel Graves, The Name of This Terrain

Read More

It’s been four months since we’ve had a Bandcamp Friday. In case you’ve somehow forgotten, Bandcamp introduced them shortly after COVID-19 eliminated stateside touring in March 2020, and they’ve since become something of a tradition, helping countless musicians make ends meet without their usual road money. For the 24 hours of each Bandcamp Friday, the digital music retailer passes along its customary share of revenue to the independent artists and labels who sell through it. 

The pandemic hasn’t ended, despite the messages constantly telegraphed by our capitalist infrastructure, by our governments’ tepid response to the evolving nature of COVID-19, and even by our fellow citizens’ widespread hostility toward basic safety precautions. But plenty of efforts intended to blunt the harms of the pandemic have been scaled back or eliminated. In May, when Bandcamp let the last scheduled Bandcamp Friday pass without announcing more, I didn’t want to assume that they were gone for good. But I wouldn’t have been surprised if they just quietly stopped. 

Thankfully, a couple weeks ago Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond announced more Bandcamp Fridays through the end of the year. The 23rd Bandcamp Friday is September 2. 

As usual, I’m using the occasion to highlight the Reader’s music coverage. We expend a lot of our resources writing about independent and underground artists, many of whom sell their music on Bandcamp. I’ve compiled a list of the 130 Bandcamp releases we’ve mentioned since May, which doubles as a snapshot of our coverage (though it’s missing the stories from our first-ever Sound Issue, which we published after the most recent Bandcamp Friday). If 130 recommended releases somehow isn’t enough for you, my May 2022 post has a link at the bottom of the intro that’ll lead you back through all the previous lists—and through a lot of excellent writing about all that music. Clicking on any title will take you to our coverage of it.

8-Bit Creeps, Dress for the Future

Adult., Becoming Undone

Elizabeth A. Baker, Quadrivium

Bev Rage & the Drinks, Exes & Hexes

Jeb Bishop, Jaap Blonk, Weasel Walter, and Damon Smith, Pioneer Works Vol. 2

Bitchin Bajas, Switched on Ra

Black Magnet, Body Prophecy

Black Seinfeld, Season 1

Namir Blade, Metropolis

Blinker, Adult Hits

Boulevards, Electric Cowboy: Born in Carolina Mud

Boybrain, In the Company of Worms

Jaimie Branch’s Fly or Die, Fly or Die, Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise, Fly or Die Live

Bridey, “Better Luck Next Time”

Arthur Brown, Long Long Road

Cave In, Heavy Pendulum

Cellular Chaos, Diamond Teeth Clenched

Chicago Soul Jazz Collective with Dee Alexander, On the Way to Be Free

Clamm, Care

Claude, A Lot’s Gonna Change

Conjunto Primitivo, Morir y Renacer

Jeremy Cunningham, Dustin Laurenzi, and Paul Bryan, A Better Ghost

The Curls, Smothered & Covered

Daddy’s Boy, Great News!

DakhaBrakha, Alambari

Dehd, Blue Skies

Jorrit Dijkstra, Jeb Bishop, Pandelis Karayorgis, Nate McBride, and Luther Gray, Cutout

Dissonant Dessert, Absurd, Obscene!

Djunah, Ex Voto

Doctor Nativo, Guatemaya

Drasii, “Memory”

Dwaal Troupe, Lucky Dog

Em Spel, The Carillon Towers

Evicshen, Hair Birth

F.A.B.L.E., Green Room

Famous Laughs, Total Icon

Flamingo Rodeo, Pontoon

The Flying Luttenbachers, Terror Iridescence

Friko, Whenever Forever

Fury, “I Won’t,”“Taking It Back,”“Revolution”

Diamanda Galás, Broken Gargoyles

Gentle Heat, Sheer

Gilt Drip, Earthly Concepts

Heet Deth & Zeetus Lapetus, “We Should Have a Party”

Horsegirl, Versions of Modern Performance

Hulder, The Eternal Fanfare

I AM, Beyond

Susie Ibarra & Tashi Dorji, Master of Time

Glenn Jones, Vade Mecum

Rich Jones & Iceberg Theory, Smoke Detector

Simon Joyner, Songs From a Stolen Guitar

’Kechi, ’Kechi Tunez

Kikagaku Moyo, Kumoyo Island

Kill Scenes, “Acid Black Window”

Lifeguard, Crowd Can Talk, “Pinkwater,”“Taking Radar” b/w “Loose Cricket”

Lilac, Lilac

Liquids, Life Is Pain Idiot

Lucy Liyou, Welfare/Practice

Locrian, New Catastrophism

Lollygagger, Total Party Kill

Long Odds, Fine Thread

Los Bitchos,Let the Festivities Begin!

Lynyn, Lexicon

Erica Dawn Lyle & Vice Cooler, Land Trust: Benefit For NEFOC

Nick Macri & Mono No Aware, Amache

Makaya McCraven, Deciphering the Message

Mengers, Golly

Dave Miller, Daughter of Experience

Mister Goblin, Bunny

Mizmor & Thou, Myopia

!Mofaya!, Like One Long Dream

Moor Mother, Jazz Codes

Mystery Actions, “War Beat”

Marissa Nadler, The Path of the Clouds

Angel Olsen, Big Time

Oneida, Success

Organ Failure, Neurologic Determination of Death

Oui Ennui, Abyss, You Are My Mother

Paranoid London, Paranoid London

Pelt, Reticence/Resistance

Petrol Girls, Baby

Dougie Poole, The Freelancer’s Blues

Post Office Winter, Music Box, Songs for a Scientist

R.A.P. Ferreira, The Light Emitting Diamond Cutter Scriptures

Racetraitor, 2042

Rat Tally, In My Car

Rezn, Chaotic Divine

Jessica Risker, “The Waves”

Rlyr, Rlyr

Saint Icky & Please, Green New Deal

Klaus Schulze, Deus Arrakis

Aram Shelton, Everything for Somebody

Sidewalk Chalk, An Orchid Is Born

Snow Ellet, Glory Days

Sol Patches, Ordinary Circles

Stations, “Climate of Violence”

Charles Stepney, Step on Step

Stress Positions, Walang Hiya

Sumac, May You Be Held

Temple of Void, Summoning the Slayer

These Arms Are Snakes, Duct Tape & Shivering Crows

Ron Trent, What Do the Stars Say to You

Ufomammut, Fenice

Matt Ulery, Become Giant

Various artists, The Chicago Boogie, Vol. 3

Various artists, On Life: Vol. 3

Various artists, Porcelain Songs: A Weathercord Compilation

Daniel Villarreal, Panamá 77

Virgin Mother, Dialect

Steve Von Till, A Deep Voiceless Wilderness

Wailin Storms, The Silver Snake Unfolds

Weatherday, Come In

Dan Whitaker, One More Story Told

Wilco, Cruel Country

Eli Winter, Eli Winter

Wovenhand, Silver Sash

Zango the Third, Dog Tooth

Denny Zeitlin & George Marsh, Telepathy

Denny Zeitlin with George Marsh and Mel Graves, The Name of This Terrain

Read More

James Sherman began his career as an actor; he joined the Second City in the 70s, while he was still a student at Illinois State, appearing in the shows Once More With Fooling and East of Edens with the likes of George Wendt, Tim Kazurinsky, and Miriam Flynn. But starting with his 1982 backstage play, Magic Time, which he began while getting his MFA in theater at Brandeis, Sherman shifted to playwriting. He has since written 16 plays and was a longtime member of the Victory Gardens playwrights ensemble, where much of his work was developed and performed. His latest play, Chagall in School, produced by Grippo Stage Company at Theater Wit, is a historical drama set in the early days of the Soviet Union. The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Jack Helbig: What was your initial inspiration for Chagall in School?

James Sherman: Well, I am going to put myself in the same company as another member of the original Victory Gardens playwrights ensemble, John Logan. John told the story that he saw an exhibit of Mark Rothko’s paintings at the Tate Modern in London, and that was what inspired him to write Red. I had the exact same experience, but I was in New York. There was an exhibit at the Jewish Museum called “Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevich: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk, 1918-1922.” Of course I knew who Chagall was, because in every Jewish home there’s a reprint of The Praying Jew. Malevich and Lissitzky I’d never heard of.

The story I discovered at the exhibit was that right after the Russian Revolution there was an interest in promoting culture. And there was a man named Anatoly Lunacharsky, who was People’s Commissar for Enlightenment for the Russian Federation. He asked Chagall to start an art school in Chagall’s hometown of Vitebsk. Lissitzky was one of the faculty members of the school, and Malevich showed up later. Malevich was promoting this new school called Suprematism.

I’m not sure how much I want to give you in the way of spoilers, but when Malevich shows up at Chagall’s school, he kind of takes over because he’s, like, the hot thing in town. At the same time, Chagall’s work was no longer fashionable.

Chagall in SchoolThrough 10/8: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 2 PM (also Tue 9/6, 8 PM), Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont, 773-975-8150, grippostagecompany.com, $38-$42

How close to historical events is the play?

I think I’m going to steal this epigram from William Goldman when he wrote the screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. At the top of the movie, he says, “Not that it matters, but most of what follows is true.”

This is not your first foray into historical drama. [Sherman’s 2016 one-man play, The Ben Hecht Show, explores the life and work of the Chicago journalist, playwright, and screenwriter.] But you are primarily known for comedies, not historical dramas. Why the interest in writing a historical drama now?

I’m not into science fiction. But the thing they always say about science fiction is that it’s a way to explore current themes without confronting them directly. And I think I’m finding a way to do that using historical material.

What I learned [doing research on the play] was that Chagall and these other artists were in a great artistic, philosophical debate at the time about the kind of art that they should be making. [Just like today], particularly in the theater, there’s a lot of discussion about the kind of art we should be making.

Well, I have to think that as someone who was connected to Victory Gardens, that you must be thinking a lot these days about the clash of artistic styles and who controls things.

To me, it very often comes down to the tension in the kind of art we’re creating. Are we doing it from a place of authenticity, or are we doing it because we think it’s what’s going to fit the marketplace?

Is the ensemble of playwrights created by Victory Gardens former artistic director Dennis Začek still associated in some way with Victory Gardens?

There was little reach out from Chay Yew to the original ensemble. There was definite active reach out to the original ensemble from Ken-Matt Martin.

Which must now feel like a loss since he’s no longer in power. [Martin was released by the Victory Gardens board earlier this summer. The current playwrights ensemble resigned in protest and the remaining staff members are moving to unionize].

Yes, well, there’s a lot of feelings of loss going on.

Moving back to your play, Jewish identity is one of the ongoing themes in your work. How much of this story about Chagall is tied in with Jewish identity?

After the Russian Revolution, Lenin opens up the society in a way that I’m calling a Camelot-like period of time for the Jews in Russia, and Jewish artists in particular. That is until Stalin shows up and changes that.

What accounts for the deep connection between Chagall and American Jewish identity?

Well, I’ll give you two reasons. One is, I think just because his work is very approachable. Everybody in Chicago knows Chagall, whether they know it or not, right? Just like everybody knows Picasso, because we have the sculpture. Well, everybody has probably walked by the Chagall mosaic [Chagall’s Four Seasons at the Chase Tower Plaza, 10 S. Dearborn].

And the other thing is, even though a lot of American theater was created by Jewish artists, representation of Jewish life on Broadway didn’t really happen until Fiddler on the Roof. I found out that Jerome Robbins actually approached Chagall to ask him about doing the set design. He turned the job down but the original set design of Fiddler on the Roof by Boris Aronson was heavily influenced by Chagall. So even people who don’t know the name Chagall recognize the world of his work because everybody has seen Fiddler on the Roof.

What have you learned about Chagall in the process of writing this play?

That all great art, if it’s done well, looks easy, and it surely is not. Chagall [at the time of this play] was no longer in fashion. But he stayed true to his own voice. And for me, this is a real exercise for me to stay true to my own voice. Every so often, somebody says, “Jim, are you ever going to write a serious play?” And I say, “Well, all my plays are serious.” It’s like two painters—if they stand in front of a bowl of fruit, the paintings are going to look different depending on who’s doing the painting. This play is not written as a comedy, but it’s a James Sherman play, so it’s going to be a comedy. Whether or not you laugh is up to you.

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James Sherman began his career as an actor; he joined the Second City in the 70s, while he was still a student at Illinois State, appearing in the shows Once More With Fooling and East of Edens with the likes of George Wendt, Tim Kazurinsky, and Miriam Flynn. But starting with his 1982 backstage play, Magic Time, which he began while getting his MFA in theater at Brandeis, Sherman shifted to playwriting. He has since written 16 plays and was a longtime member of the Victory Gardens playwrights ensemble, where much of his work was developed and performed. His latest play, Chagall in School, produced by Grippo Stage Company at Theater Wit, is a historical drama set in the early days of the Soviet Union. The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Jack Helbig: What was your initial inspiration for Chagall in School?

James Sherman: Well, I am going to put myself in the same company as another member of the original Victory Gardens playwrights ensemble, John Logan. John told the story that he saw an exhibit of Mark Rothko’s paintings at the Tate Modern in London, and that was what inspired him to write Red. I had the exact same experience, but I was in New York. There was an exhibit at the Jewish Museum called “Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevich: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk, 1918-1922.” Of course I knew who Chagall was, because in every Jewish home there’s a reprint of The Praying Jew. Malevich and Lissitzky I’d never heard of.

The story I discovered at the exhibit was that right after the Russian Revolution there was an interest in promoting culture. And there was a man named Anatoly Lunacharsky, who was People’s Commissar for Enlightenment for the Russian Federation. He asked Chagall to start an art school in Chagall’s hometown of Vitebsk. Lissitzky was one of the faculty members of the school, and Malevich showed up later. Malevich was promoting this new school called Suprematism.

I’m not sure how much I want to give you in the way of spoilers, but when Malevich shows up at Chagall’s school, he kind of takes over because he’s, like, the hot thing in town. At the same time, Chagall’s work was no longer fashionable.

Chagall in SchoolThrough 10/8: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 2 PM (also Tue 9/6, 8 PM), Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont, 773-975-8150, grippostagecompany.com, $38-$42

How close to historical events is the play?

I think I’m going to steal this epigram from William Goldman when he wrote the screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. At the top of the movie, he says, “Not that it matters, but most of what follows is true.”

This is not your first foray into historical drama. [Sherman’s 2016 one-man play, The Ben Hecht Show, explores the life and work of the Chicago journalist, playwright, and screenwriter.] But you are primarily known for comedies, not historical dramas. Why the interest in writing a historical drama now?

I’m not into science fiction. But the thing they always say about science fiction is that it’s a way to explore current themes without confronting them directly. And I think I’m finding a way to do that using historical material.

What I learned [doing research on the play] was that Chagall and these other artists were in a great artistic, philosophical debate at the time about the kind of art that they should be making. [Just like today], particularly in the theater, there’s a lot of discussion about the kind of art we should be making.

Well, I have to think that as someone who was connected to Victory Gardens, that you must be thinking a lot these days about the clash of artistic styles and who controls things.

To me, it very often comes down to the tension in the kind of art we’re creating. Are we doing it from a place of authenticity, or are we doing it because we think it’s what’s going to fit the marketplace?

Is the ensemble of playwrights created by Victory Gardens former artistic director Dennis Začek still associated in some way with Victory Gardens?

There was little reach out from Chay Yew to the original ensemble. There was definite active reach out to the original ensemble from Ken-Matt Martin.

Which must now feel like a loss since he’s no longer in power. [Martin was released by the Victory Gardens board earlier this summer. The current playwrights ensemble resigned in protest and the remaining staff members are moving to unionize].

Yes, well, there’s a lot of feelings of loss going on.

Moving back to your play, Jewish identity is one of the ongoing themes in your work. How much of this story about Chagall is tied in with Jewish identity?

After the Russian Revolution, Lenin opens up the society in a way that I’m calling a Camelot-like period of time for the Jews in Russia, and Jewish artists in particular. That is until Stalin shows up and changes that.

What accounts for the deep connection between Chagall and American Jewish identity?

Well, I’ll give you two reasons. One is, I think just because his work is very approachable. Everybody in Chicago knows Chagall, whether they know it or not, right? Just like everybody knows Picasso, because we have the sculpture. Well, everybody has probably walked by the Chagall mosaic [Chagall’s Four Seasons at the Chase Tower Plaza, 10 S. Dearborn].

And the other thing is, even though a lot of American theater was created by Jewish artists, representation of Jewish life on Broadway didn’t really happen until Fiddler on the Roof. I found out that Jerome Robbins actually approached Chagall to ask him about doing the set design. He turned the job down but the original set design of Fiddler on the Roof by Boris Aronson was heavily influenced by Chagall. So even people who don’t know the name Chagall recognize the world of his work because everybody has seen Fiddler on the Roof.

What have you learned about Chagall in the process of writing this play?

That all great art, if it’s done well, looks easy, and it surely is not. Chagall [at the time of this play] was no longer in fashion. But he stayed true to his own voice. And for me, this is a real exercise for me to stay true to my own voice. Every so often, somebody says, “Jim, are you ever going to write a serious play?” And I say, “Well, all my plays are serious.” It’s like two painters—if they stand in front of a bowl of fruit, the paintings are going to look different depending on who’s doing the painting. This play is not written as a comedy, but it’s a James Sherman play, so it’s going to be a comedy. Whether or not you laugh is up to you.

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Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls. Presented by the Chicago Reader, the show is available by 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at chicagoreader.com/joravsky—or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss Oh, What a Week!–the Friday feature in which Ben & producer Dennis (aka, Dr. D.) review the week’s top stories. Also, bonus interviews drop on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. 

Chicago Reader podcasts are recorded on Shure microphones. Learn more at Shure.com.

Chicago Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky discusses the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty on The Ben Joravsky Show.

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Becoming a new parent is an experience that can only be described as transformative. Especially for artists, parenthood can completely alter the trajectory of one’s career because it demands a reevaluation of priorities, goals, and even an entire artistic vision. 

Tiara Déshané’s parents sacrificed their aspirations as musicians in order to raise her, making a choice that any parent, especially those from marginalized backgrounds, can relate to. Now,  after becoming a mother in her own right two years ago, she intends to break that cycle by raising her daughter while blossoming more into herself as an artist.

“My transition into motherhood has been like dying and being reborn,” she says. “There’s a lot of fear that’s projected upon mothers, particularly about following your dream. Being a businesswoman and having children isn’t a role that we were always supposed to do, and I went through a dark time because I felt like no one’s listening to my music anymore because I’m a mom. And I’ve had to rewrite that internal dialogue.”

Déshané is a born-and-bred musician. Growing up, she was exposed to the worlds that music can create by her parents, aunts, uncles, and even next-door neighbors through regular jam sessions. She taught herself how to play guitar at 11 and was heavily involved in After School Matters’s Gallery 37 Program, which she describes as being the catalyst of her career.

Déshané started recording her music in 2015 and released the bulk of her projects prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specializing in neo-soul and R&B with subtle hip-hop influences, her music is warm and soothing as she gently guides the listener into a comfortable, relaxing state. She gained solid traction with her early releases, but after the George Floyd uprisings in the midst of a pandemic her priorities shifted. 

“There was a lot of Black businesses that were being trashed and as a result, a lot of our local grocery stores and pharmacies were being closed, and it was hard to get groceries. So I felt an internal need to try to do whatever I can, and one day I posted on Facebook my Cash App to help me get groceries to give out to the community,” she recalls. “What started out as this spur-of-the-moment decision ended up in a humongous turnout! I raised about $6,000 within like two weeks just to give away food. I wholeheartedly believe in fighting for justice for Black and Brown communities, period. Though I’m not necessarily trying to be the forefront, I will be a part of the gears to help.”

She named the project Feed The People 100. For the rest of that June, Feed the People 100 continued to hold grocery giveaways, highlighted by a massive Juneteenth celebration that more than 400 people attended. Shortly after that, she became pregnant with her daughter and had to pause her music career, and she says she struggled with feelings of inadequacy.

“I had all of these goals, all these aspirations as far as my music. I had to relearn what my purpose is, and it’s not a selfish purpose anymore, for lack of better words,” she says. “I used to look at my purpose and my passions as the same thing. I learned that, as a mom, I cannot be willing to sacrifice my livelihood because my livelihood affects my child. It’s been extremely humbling, transformative, painful, [and] beautiful.”

After rediscovering herself, she’s finally ready to unveil the music she’s been working on for the last few years. This time she’s not just doing it for herself, but for her daughter, and also to honor the legacy of loved ones who passed away in recent years.

She will be rereleasing her debut EP, -ISM, which was previously only available on SoundCloud, on all streaming platforms this upcoming month. She also intends to drop a two-part musical project before the year is over. The focus of the projects is centered around her transition into motherhood and becoming a full-time artist/parent. While the release dates haven’t yet been determined, the plan is to drop the first part in the fall and the latter closer toward the end of the year.

“I owe it to myself. I owe it to my daughter. I owe it to [Ridley] Victoria, I owe it to Squeak and John Walt,” she says, referencing Chicago artists who have died in recent years. “I owe it all to these young souls who are not here who couldn’t see those accolades. We can see that purpose being fulfilled, and I owe it to them to not give up on my dreams. So yes, this really is a big part of my transformative process.”

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Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls. Presented by the Chicago Reader, the show is available by 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at chicagoreader.com/joravsky—or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss Oh, What a Week!–the Friday feature in which Ben & producer Dennis (aka, Dr. D.) review the week’s top stories. Also, bonus interviews drop on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. 

Chicago Reader podcasts are recorded on Shure microphones. Learn more at Shure.com.

Chicago Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky discusses the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty on The Ben Joravsky Show.

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