Dispatch from Chicago

This article is interesting.

It’s about how some organizations in Chicago are studying the economic impact of local music on their city, basically. One of the groups involved is with the University of Chicago, which is a pretty fancypants school if you didn’t already know, and the other, the one leading the research, is the Chicago Music Commission, “a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting Chicago-area music worldwide.”

Wow, if only we had this kind of thing going on here. Not only could we use a commission like that, I’d be curious to know what kind of impact homegrown music has on our economy. Kansas Citians sure do like to drink — I know that. And with the notable exception of the Hurricane, local venues don’t like to make that activity cheap (unless you’re content with PBR and its equivalents).

When I was talking to the guys from Anti-Crew, Jeffrey and Matt, for my latest column, they mentioned how it’s a popular sentiment among Chicagoans to crave more recognition for their city as a music capital. That’s echoed in what the guy from Alligator says in the article.

Good luck to our neighbors up north.