The Sounds and Songs of Chicago, Illinois
Pre-Walk Purpose: Today, I will focus on the sounds of Chicago. My focus is not as much on the sounds I hear on my walk, but on keeping my mind open for visual connections to music or sounds I have heard before. It will be these songs and sounds of Chicago in which my map will be constructed from. I plan to take photos and videos on my walk today to create a portrayal of this vision for my final project.
As I walk Chicago, the sensory observations I most often make are sounds that I hear. There are lots of different noises; beautiful noises, voices, consistent noises, annoying noises and on the rare occasion, silence. In the article “Handheld Time Machines”, Giles Turnbull states that “cities are full of noise and scuffle, and they don’t always reveal their history”. Although these types of noises make up Chicago when walking the city, it is the sounds that are constantly representing Chicago that reveal Chicago’s history. The sounds of Chicago that I am referring to is music.
While many songs were written and/or composed to represent Chicago, there are many songs that Chicago unintentionally connects to. In such a diverse city with so many landmarks and people, it is impossible to go on a walk, and not have a sensory observation that connects to an existing song or sound in some way. Chicago has been the birthplace to influential blues, jazz, hip hop, and rock music particularly. The music, heard by people all over the nation, have in a way served as advertisements for this city. From the perspective of a Chicago artist, the city is not a thought in mind, but an inspiration. Even artists that aren’t from Chicago, but come to visit and write music, are inspired by the amazing city and all that it has to offer. It is more than just the music, however, that spreads the Chicago song topic. The inspiration comes from engagement with the city. Artists get out in the streets, and they walk around and take it all in. Walking Chicago triggers inspiration and creativity, which creates a passion for the city. Then, the art becomes a connection for other people (like myself) who walk Chicago.
The music is only the beginning. For example, Chance the Rapper, well known Chicago native and hip hop artist, wrote about growing up in the South Side long before he blew up and became famous. Years ago, when he first started creating music, the only way he could represent his city was to write about it. Now, with the ability to do so, he does much for Chicago. He has raised over $2 million for CPS, launched a program to give winter jackets to homeless people, started the trend #SaveChicago to prevent gun violence, and much more. The love for Chicago among music artists is strong and authentic. Although it may seem like songs about Chicago are simply made up of references and topic fillers, there is often a much deeper passion and story from the artist.
Music also brings the walker to endless discoveries within the city. Whether a reference in lyrics, or something an artist is a part of within the city, I have and continue to find these places during my walks. There is a place for every genre. The Green Mill represents jazz, Buddy Guy’s Legends is a place for blues, The nightclubs such as Studio Paris, SHAY and PRYSM are places for Dance and Hip Hop. There are also artists who are striving to make themselves known in the streets of Chicago, that don’t yet have the ability to share their music at venues. Every time I get on a train at Jackson station, there is a street performer on the platform sharing their own sound with Chicago. I have seen guitar players, rappers, flute players, and dancers all in this one place. Dance also plays a big role in the idea of music enhancing one’s Chicago experience. “The way we move our bodies further changes the nature of our thoughts, and vice versa” (Jabr). They exist all over Chicago, creating a sound that you can’t find in many other cities. In order to discover them, “you’ve got to get out and walk” (Tseng).
The people of Chicago are constantly making an effort to allow everyone to hear music. Besides the clubs, venues and bars that are always making this effort, events are held in Chicago all the time to spread these sounds. A nationally known concert series, Lollapalooza, spends 4 days every summer providing people the opportunity to hear artists of all genres share their sound with the city. A connection to Chicago is then created for all attendees of the concert whenever they hear the same sounds again. Music truly enhances the Chicago experience, and I can only imagine the lack of connection I’d have with the city if it didn’t exist.
To represent the artists that have contributed to the city’s sound, I have created this map, “The Sounds and Songs of Chicago, Illinoise”. I have labeled different areas and neighborhoods of Chicago with the album covers of music either representing that area, or is connected to the area. For instance, I have placed the album cover for the band Allister’s “Last Stop Suburbia” where Fullerton Station is located, because their song “Somewhere On Fullerton” is about the bands experience with Lincoln Park street, Fullerton Ave. Their music video for the song also had shots filmed at the station. Another example the map reader will notice is that river north is labeled with Frank Sinatra’s “Nothing But the Best” album cover. Not only was Chicago the inspiration for Sinatra in writing this song, but he directly references landmarks such as the Wrigley building. The connections are endless, and plenty examples can be found on my map.
My purpose in creating this map is to take the reader on a journey through musical history and experience. It also sparks curiosity to discover more about a certain album or band, and how they became associated with a certain part of Chicago. It shares hints of how an artist represents the city, but really encourages the map reader to explore more on their own, and discover their own connections with sounds of Chicago. The map is formatted similar to an accurate city map. North, South, East and West are all standard, and the territory of Chicago has not been tampered with in any way. The main difference is that I have included less street names, and focus more on the area in which certain music is associated within the city. The streets I included were the main ones, to provide an idea of where a certain album is located geographically. These areas are not exactly to scale, as they serve as more of a representation than a guide. The map does, however, guide the map reader in the right direction to make their own discoveries of connections to these sounds.
Not only does my map encourage walking, but attentive walking. The reason my map is different than others is because someone following it has to keep their mind and ears open to connect with my representation of music in the city. Along the way, their are constant new discoveries, even in locations that one has been to before. On my walk to create this map, I discovered multiple places I have never seen before right in areas that I have been two numerous times. For example, on my walk I stumbled upon DePaul’s Merle Reskin Theatre, which I didn’t even know existed. I also came across Plymouth Restaurant & Bar one block over from the DePaul Center in the loop. Thanks to my curiosity and attentiveness, I discovered these places. This is the experience I hope my map readers have as well.
Ultimately, a map is a map and I have no control over how it is interpreted by a reader. I would hope my intention is delivered, but if it isn’t, that is okay. There are other ways my map could be interpreted too. One may look at my map and fail to connect it with Chicago geographically at all. To some readers, it may just simply look like a list of great albums they should listen to. Even so, this is not the worst thing in the the world because I am still spreading the sounds and songs of Chicago, which is basically my goal. By sharing the music, I am also spreading history because every song has a story or connection to Chicago. Even if the connection was unintended by the artist, there is still a story and still history to be learned. Fascination should be sparked in the readers mind and they should have the desire to discover Chicago as I have. My map should serve as a motivator for people to go out and find their own inspiration, similar to the way the music artists have on my map.
