things and time will tell.

Let’s see how this goes… We’ll kick it off with what must be one of the very first hip-hop tracks ever cut in Chicago. Artist: Carver Area High School Presents the Carver Seniors ‎– Class of ‘83 Get Live Eighty-Three, “83” Get Live (Senior Rap) and The Carver Senior Song Challenger Records ‎– CH-1000 Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, US, 1982 In the early 1980s, Challenger Records issued a small string of records featuring the students of Carver Area High School, now Carver Military Academy , on the far Southside of Chicago. Named for the school’s mascot and Challengers sports teams, the record label seems to have been driven by teacher and musician John Harris. They pressed up a handful of vinyl releases featuring the same logo that still shows up on the school’s jerseys . What’s the best you can really hope for from a senior class commemorative record? Well, when a high school band teacher sneaks a credit for his funk band, Motherfox, onto the back of a public school issued rec...

Everyone is cooped up, quarantined and dealing with the horrors of disease, poverty and endless video conferences. If I’m honest about it, I’m maybe a little more comfortable with “social distancing” than most. The upside of bring an uncomfortable introvert, I guess. This is a hard time for people and I know we're all struggling, individually and collectively, through the new challenges that capitalism and life are throwing at us. And since I can’t pick up my usual Monday half price box of donuts to share at the union office, I figure I'll at least try to send some music around for the people I care about every now and then. (Sorry, no online DJ sets. Can't compete with this guy.) I'll try to post music to download in two formats: high quality, lossless FLAC files and (perfectly-acceptable-for-most-normal-people quality) MP3. And if you don't know what I'm talking about... you're probably safe to go with the MP3s. I'm happy to try to explain mo...