Graham Sanford

Everything But The Burden?
It should have come as no surprise that the slings and arrows would be in action before Barack Obama even announced a possible Presidential bid, and the past month has borne that out. Perhaps the strangest and most muddled discussion has been the one about whether the Junior Senator is "black enough" for some folks. Sure, "identity politics" were bound to be an issue at some point. It's interesting to note, however, that some of the most thoughtful and level-headed punditry on the whole subject of Obama's cultural steet cred has come from music journalists. It seems that Touré anticipated the issue back in 2004 when he published his reflections on Obama and Colin Powell in the essay "Ships Passing In The Night." Some of the points Touré made were echoed last month by hip-hop critic Oliver Wang in his think piece over at the website Poplicks.
Friday March 2 2007Found on the Web 

Radio Rollover
Who says the days of frenzied media consolidation are on the wane? Clear Channel was recently sold to a consortium that has also been poised to purchase TribCo. While the deals and the numbers have yet to be finalized, it appears that 2006 was a record year for radio ownership shifts in Chicago.
Monday January 22 2007Radio/TV 

NPR spotlights Threadless
As their catalog and network of designers and friends increases, so too the public profile of Chicago-based Threadless. On today's "Morning Edition," NPR ran a business profile of the online company's success and popularity.
Monday December 11 2006Business/Shopping 

NEA to NPR: Don't Dump Music
Just in time for the impending format overhaul at WBEZ, the National Endowment of the Arts has issued a harsh rebuke of National Public Radio. With their growing tendency to sideline music programming, a report by the agency charges, NPR stations are effectively shrugging off their cultural mission.
Monday November 13 2006Radio/TV 

Going Negative 101
Regardless of who wins, tomorrow will bring some sense of relief when we finally see an end to the televised blitzkrieg of political attack ads. A couple of years ago, political science professor John G. Geer published a book in which he argued that such negative ads were actually good for the democratic process. Fair enough, as one of Geer's colleagues has recently demonstrated, provided you don't mind wearing the target.
Tuesday November 7 2006Found on the Web 

Inner City Pastoral
A recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship "genius grant," Kerry James Marshall is probably the most internationally esteemed of contemporary Chicago artists. The crew of Bad at Sports was able to sit down and talk to him in front of a studio audience, and the interview is now available via the latest edition of their podcast.
Monday October 30 2006Arts/Architecture 

Theft From Local Art Gallery
If you saw the "Wonder Twin Power, Activate!" group exhibition at Gescheidle a few months ago, you might recall a small but eye-popping collage by Rob Yamabushi. The artist is a designer and collagist who lives in North Carolina, and the show was apparently Yamabushi's first time publicly exhibiting in an art gallery. Reportedly, the work was stolen from the gallery earlier this month, and gallery director Susan Gescheidle is offering a reward for its recovery or return.
Friday October 27 2006Arts/Architecture