Then, it is no surprise that the label took to its blog and twitter on Tuesday afternoon to accuse hip hop giants Kanye West and Jay-Z, as well as West’s sampling house, of illegally using a sample from Chicago soul singer Syl Johnson’s “Different Strokes” on West’s track “The Joy,” which appears on the deluxe edition of his Watch the Throne collaboration with Jay-Z.
What’s cooler than one indie rock icon joining forces with an iconic indie rock outfit? While the snarky answer would be Chicago in December, the correct answer is nothing. Yo La Tengo are currently in the midset of their annual eight-night Hanukkah residency at Maxwell’s in in Hoboken, New Jersey. While the series of shows has already seen quite a few special guest, including Chicago’s Syl Johnson, M. Ward and even comedian Jim Gaffigan, last Friday’s show brought out Wilco main man Jeff Tweedy for a solo set and a couple of songs with Yo La Tengo. Here’s a great video of Yo La Tweedy (Can I copyright that?) performing “Jesus, Etc”:
Monday Afternoon Quick Fix runs every Monday afternoon to showcase the best of Chicago music news, views and stories from around the interwebs and blogosphere that we might have missed.
Over the course of the legendary Syl Johnson’s over 50 year career, the Chicago soul singer has amassed a voluminous catalog of some of the soulfulest tunes around.
That catalog is getting the Numero Group treatment in the form of the box set, Syl Johnson: Complete Mythology, a four CD, six LP collection that spans the entirety of Johnson’s storied career.
To celebrate this release Johnson will take the stage at the Old Town School of Folk Music on November 27 and for the first time ever he’ll be performing songs from throughout his 50 year career, many of which have never been played outside the walls of the studio.
For producer Michael Slaboch, seeing this labor of love come to fruition has been a long time coming and so far has garnered two sold out screenings at the 92Y Tribeca in Manhattan.
“The project took four years from first thought to the screening in New York City last weekend,” said Slaboch. “The first two and a half years it sat on the dry erase board.”
Coming off the heels of their successful and sold-out performance at the Park West last April, the local independent label Numero Group will be taking it’s Eccentric Soul Revue on the road, starting with a show at Lincoln Hall this Saturday.
The tour is being co-sponsored by Shlitz and will include many special guests at stops along the way.
