Events

Hailed for his "stunning, chilled lyricism and compositional acuity" by Downbeat Magazine, Chicago-based trumpeter/composer Chad McCullough is active throughout the world. Dan McClenaghan writes, “He is a rare instrumentalist who makes each note sound as if it were imbued with a deeper meaning. Certainly a player with great chops, his approach is one that is measured and deliberate, often introspective, sometimes gorgeously melancholic, and one that employs a continuity of mood and atmosphere …”

https://chadmccullough.com

Jay Thomas, a native of Seattle, is a versatile multi-instrumentalist (trumpet, flugelhorn, alto, tenor, soprano, and flutes). He is a consummate craftsman and an emotionally charged improviser. Anyone who has encountered Jay's music during his 50-odd-year career will testify to numerous qualities synonymous with the heart of jazz.

https://www.jaythomasjazz.com/bio

$5

Family Junket is one of the most exciting young collectives in the city and have been tearing up stages without even an album out. Every time they play, you experience something new and are inspired to go all in, whatever you're doing. Each month they bring not only music, but games, food, art, and protest.

https://www.familyjunket.com

Free

no jodas loco este viernes vamos al bacanal suave returns to @californiaclipper for volume ii w/ @they.partyproviding some serious ass-shaking tunes booty music all night so come correct 🍑 xoxo ~ noel Alejandro @alejandro_mrnco 

Saturday Luv returns for their monthly party. Throwbacks and classics meet forgotten favorites and curious dance sounds you may never have heard before! with @Ryantheperson_ and SURPRISE GUEST! 

Lunt and Oglesby craft a perfect day party to enjoy with DJ sets and visuals. 

Led by hameedullah, fundamental! brings sets from Mrs. Hands & Nunya + Live Visuals from Ruben J Davila

https://luntandoglesby.bandcamp.com

Free

Unsocial Aesthetics was born from the ashes of The Lyrical Lab, an entity attached to True Star Magazine over ten years ago. The goal then was to uplift the creative community of Chicago showcasing innovators that don’t always get the reception they need. The goal now has not changed as we are focusing on shedding light on stories that truly explain the origins of Blk Chicago.

https://www.unsocialaes.com

Free

Bitney and Bach have a long-standing collaboration.   With drums, electronics, guitar and clarinet, they perform rockin, swingin, hypnotic sprawling landscapes, backed up with plentiful improvisations.   Dan Bitney is an experimental musician and composer based in Chicago. He works within avant-garde electronic, rock and improvisational groups, most notably Tortoise,  Isotope 217 and Spectralina.  

https://www.discogs.com/artist/46779-Dan-Bitney

LeRoy Bach is a Grammy-winning artist, having worked many years with Wilco, and many years with Theaster Gates and the Black Monks.   More recently Bach has been collaborating with Yaw Agyeman, Official Claire, and Marvin Tate.  

https://www.ragdale.org/residents/leroybach

Free

WHPK invites underground favorites Josh Tong and barbuhh to the California Clipper for a night of hard-hitting techno. Known for his high energy DJ sets, Josh Tong has established himself as a fixture in the Midwest techno scene. Catch him at Smartbar for his monthly Entropic residency. Up and comer barbuhh takes closing duties. With a deep knowledge of techno and a wide range of styles under his command, he continues to demonstrate why he is one of the most exciting up-and-coming DJs in Chicago. WHPK DJs Twelve Gage (Mario Gage) and AI Dan (Aidan Grogan) round out the lineup, warming up the dancefloor with groovy house and techno.

https://whpk.org

Free

Holy Joke burst onto the Chicago scene in 2023 with a dynamic live show that toggles between moments of twangy bombast and gentle whispers of pedal steel. Inspired by the alt-country greats of the 90s and 00s and modern indie artists, their songs are both thematically introspective and infectiously energetic. The band's second EP is set for release this summer.

https://holyjoke.bandcamp.com

Marvin Stumbles is a Chicago based songwriter & musician who specializes in expanding the space between time, employing a catalog of carefully crafted caricatures woven into cosmic cadences that contain themes of longing, dismay, & epic peril… as well as adventure, intense hope, & irrational faith in humanity itself. 

He may stumble, he may trip… but he never falls. 

https://marvinstumbles.bandcamp.com

$5

Stephie James overturns Nashville’s hat and boot culture with her own Iggy Pop-meets-Judy Garland panache. Born and raised in Detroit, she borrows a storytelling songwriting tradition, but fuses it with 60's girl group sounds, echoing The Shirelles and The Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman.” Her sound is subtly subversive—at one turn familiar and nostalgic, while simultaneously evoking the dawn of something new. Now based in Nashville with a rock n roll backing band, Stephie brings her debut album, As Night Fades, on the road.

James has been a steadfast musical powerhouse since her teens. She’s toured with Anita Baker and Nikki Lane, worked production for Buddy Miller and Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, has written with John Bettis (songwriter for Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, The Carpenters and more) and even shared the stage with Michael Bolton. For her debut album, As Night Fades, she teamed up with producer Andrija Tokic, who also produced the platinum, Grammy-nominated Alabama Shakes’ album Boys & Girls. John Baldwin (The Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, Nancy Sinatra, The White Stripes) mastered the album.

Through music, Stephie James takes us on a cinematic tour through her world of late night soirees, loves lost and loves found, all the while unafraid to embrace the uncertainty of the world. Her lyrics are charming, tender, vulnerable and incredibly vivid. It feels like black and white, 35mm celluloid, shot by Jim Jarmusch and dreamt by David Lynch.

$5

Joe Boleski is an Americana rock artist from Chicago. His debut album, New Spring, tells stories of love, loss, fear, and victory. He performs both solo and with his band, The Vices, drawing from a love for punk, indie, heartland, and folk influences that helped shape their sound.

Zack Fedor And The Long Goodbyes takes listeners on a musical journey through the backroads and bars of small town USA. Hardship, love, drinking, loss, partying, relationships, and being born in an area often forgotten about. No dress up or play pretend. Just three chords and the truth. Central Illinois Grown. Chicago, Illinois based.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_VRXgbZQG8

$5

The glitterati are defined as people who are famous, wealthy, attractive: “The BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE”; an exclusive class of humans that we are supposedly clamoring to become.

By contrast, The Clitterati are our fellows, friends, and folks who are unique, who redefine beauty, who attract through curiosity. We don’t have unimaginable wealth, but we influence with our compassion and humanity. We tell our stories through performance, through song and dance. We subvert, invert, and pervert expectations.

This show will be a practice of sharing the stage with up-and-coming queer, trans, POC, Disabled and Sex Working performers. Every other month, a different co-host will join me to help curate the concept, line-up, and creative vision of the show.

Produced by: Ms. Micha Anne and Clitora Leigh !

Featuring : Chr'ree Jewelz, Harlem Nyte, Hora Babylon, Kerosene, Dinah, and True Romance

$20

Pleasant Mob are a new Chicago project from the mind of Raidy Hodges (Spread Joy) backed by members of Tobacco City, Glyders, and Fran. 

https://pleasantmob.bandcamp.com

Fina is proud to debut their new name at the California Clipper. Formerly known as Sophie Rae, Fina's music elaborates on their lyrical songwriting with a synthesis of rhythms and styles from across the Americas to create a dynamic and textured sound.

Free