Royal Architect kicked 2018 off honoring the Queens at his open mic with the theme ” A Woman’s Worth.” There was an all female line up! The event was hosted by E.B.O , DJ Dani was on the 1’s and 2’s and the evening’s features were Blaque ButterFli and Complicated Simplicity. It was a great way to kick off the new year. The hosting was energetic, the features were dope and of course there was room for open mic participants to do their thing. The Venue was The Smoke Filled Room at 3359 West 79th Street. The location was very nice and owners and service was great. Royal Architect A.K.A Ron West is a true lyricist, at any given time you can see dropping bars on his live feed or supporting various artist on the Chicago poetry scene. Make sure that you follow his work on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/wowopenmic/ The next open mic will be held at the same location on February 8th at 7pm As always make sure that you follow openyonated.com on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Openyonated/ and @MrOpenyonated on all social media.
“Pour One Out “I Jump Off the Cliff to…
“Pour One Out” returned with a new set of storytellers sharing their stories of jumping off the cliff (Metaphorically speaking) The event was once again held at the Volumes Book Store located on 1474 North Milwaukee. There was a diverse set of storytellers all sharing their experiences of how they jumped off cliffs and took chances in various ways. It was a great topic to start the new year ! Everyone came in their own way, some stories made you laugh some made you cry and others made you simply reflect on life. Kudos to all that attended and participated!
At Ease Sunday New Vibes
At Ease Sunday kicked of the 2018 season with a packed house of Chicago’s finest! January’s open mic was featured by OP SAV and Jessie 5000 Check out some of the stills and video from the event! More images and video can be found on the Openyonated.com Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/Openyonated/
Love Relationships God Presents “Loved By You”
THE SHOW MUST GO ON! That is a famous saying in show business, when unplanned things start to happen the train cannot stop. This is the exact mindset that Chicago Stellar nominated poet, educator, recording artist, activist, etc etc had. His resume would take up the majority of this review if I listed it. One thing that does stand out is his diligence in the face of challenge. Marco hosted the 2nd installment of Loved by You in the midst of challenge. It was a cold Chicago day and on days like this tons of things can happen but on this day LOVE would prevail and allow Marco to deliver a well packaged event. First I must admit that I am not a fan of Winter and initially I had no plans to go anywhere after attending a funeral earlier in the morning. However, it is a new year and one of my goals is to attend a variety of events. First off the panel that was selected was fantastic, a better panel could not have been chosen for this event. The panelist were: Rasheeda & Donald Alford II, Silvia & David Dickerson, Quincee & Ryan Booker and Mai & Mark James Heath. The group consisted of young progressive people ranging from 3 to 17 years of marriage. They offered wonderful advice, were very transparent and handled the questions that Marco had for them like winners. It was obvious that this was a quality panel that was not holding back. On top of the panel you had immense talent ranging from spoken word, wonderful melodies and acoustic guitar. Enlisted to compliment the discussion was DJ Reese, world renowned guitarist Law Jones, recording artist Corey Barksdale, Tamika Renell, and D’Juan James. When the event began the purpose stated was to create a safe space where people could talk about love, share and talk. I would say that the goal was accomplished. To sum it all up, it was a fantastic early afternoon event that poured love and positive vibes into those that attended. If you are looking to follow Marco’s work you can do so on Instagram at @Marcothepoet Those are my 2 cents you can follow openyonated.com on all social media at @Mropenyonated and be sure you like our Facebook page ! https://www.facebook.com/Openyonated/ Below is a snippet of video from the event. I forget my SD card so pardon the cell phone footage.
The Artist Lounge
The Artist Lounge is a dope traveling open mic hosted by Awthentik Poetry ad Domenti. Their latest set was held at the 345 Art Gallery in West Garfield Park Chgo, IL. The location was dope and featured outstanding art and of the open mic featured some of Chicago’s best. Check out some of the stills and video. You can follow the Artist Lounge on Instagram at @theartistloungechi
Next Showcase Chicago
Next Showcase Chicago brought a ton of talent together under one roof to compete for some great prizes! The contestants consisted of singers, rappers and spoken word artists from the Chicagoland entertainment scene. All of them were talented and had the privilege of putting on their best efforts for a panel of experienced record executives and artists. Check out some of Chicago’s talent from the Next Showcase Chicago!
Epic Night Open Mic “Strength In Numbers”
EPIC Night Open Mic returns for their last show of the 2017 and it was packed with talent! Take a look at the nights performances
“Am I Man Enough”
The 2nd installment of “Am I Man Enough produced by Ada Cheng delivered another collection of great stories! I had the privilege to appear in the first event and it was an extraordinary experience. The 2nd installment was a continuation of stories around the topic of Toxic Masculinity. The contributors all come from different walks of life yet their stories have much in common. What does being a man mean? What happens when you don’t fit in? What are some of the results of living inside of the box? Take a peak at some footage from the 2nd show.
“Urban Bougie” Collection by Mizz Wallace
Openyonated.com had the opportunity to talk to the enormously talented Mizz Wallace A.K.A “The Blue Lady”. The topic of discussion was her “Urban Boujie” collection. It’s a wonderful collection of mixed media and it’s simply beautiful. If you’ve never viewed any of The Blue lady’s art you are definitely missing out on a treat! Take a look at the interview and get your hands on a piece of that cultural capital! Make sure you follow us on all social media at @MrOpenyonated
2017 Super UJAAMA Market
What is the best way to handle Black Friday? Some shoppers have their Thanksgiving dinner in lines, some wake up in the early hours of the morning to venture out and battle crowds for deals but there are other ways to buy fantastic gifts and make your shopping purposeful. Buy Black Friday in Chicago was one of those instances where shoppers not only were able to make unique purchases but they were able to recycle capital with members of the Black community. Big Box stores often receive the lions share of profits after Thanksgiving leaving smaller business owners with the leftovers. The Black Mall, BRIJ Embassy for Black America , Justice or Else, Black Chicago Eats, CWEG brought 50 vendors together to create a great kick off to the biggest shopping season of the year. There was food, raffles. artists and business people from all walks of life offering great products and services. It was full of love and energy!