Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar

To celebrate the awesomeness of Chicago Craft Beer Week we are putting all of our large format bottles on a discount. Take $3 off of all our Big Bottles of Beer on the  menu.

We also will be presenting a  sneak preview release of the Mash Tun Journal. A limited number of copies will be available at the bar for you to purchase. It’s $8.

AND! We will be releasing the Mash Tun Craft Beer Map of Chicago. It’s our free guide to our favorite places to drink (and eat). Enjoy….

And of course we are the headquarters for Bridgeport, Pilsen and Hyde Park for CCBD Lanyards. Come and get em. Put our sticker on your passport map!

Featuring Global-trotting DJs Joe Bryl and Clark Quente

Every 3rd Wednesday beginning May 16 – 8PM-2AM – Free, No Cover

960 W. 31st Street, Chicago, Il. 60608 - 773.890.0588 - www.community-bar.com

As temperatures rise in Chicago; so does the dancefloor action heat up at Maria’s (960 W. 31st St.) with the start of its new monthly world beat residency “Jungle Boogie: Big Beats From The Tropics”. Kicking off on Wednesday, May 16 (and continuing every 3rd Wednesday of the month) “JungleBoogie” will focus on the funky, soulful and dynamic diaspora dance rhythms of the Caribbean, South America and Africa.

Headed by global soul specialists and world beat ambassadors DJs Joe Bryl and Clark Quente, “Jungle Boogie” will be a tropical and topical overview of the wide ranging jamming sounds that fill up the dancefloors and hot-spots of the tropics. We begin our excursion from the crescent-shaped Caribbean islands of Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and Trinidad to the lands of the subcontinent South America of Columbia, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina and cross the Atlantic touching down in its motherland of Africa in Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Angola and South Africa.

This polyrhythmic passport to adventure will feature the captivating and percolating rhythms from the soulful sounds of Rocksteady, Reggae, Dub, Calypso, Zouk, Soca, Steelband and Ska; the Latin-tinged tones of Rumba, Salsa, Son Cubano, Mambo, Cumbia and Reggaeton; the uniquely Brazilian styles of Samba, Bossa Nova, Axe, Choro and Funk Carioca to finally the street style grooves of Highlife, Afro-beat, Makossa, Township Jive and Afro-funk.

But the main purpose of the night is to elevate your feet while we educate your mind into the spirit of this tropical discotheque that we’re dubbing “Jungle Boogie”. As the Kool & the Gang song says, “Get down, get down, Jungle Boogie (Get it)”.

Each evening will feature a revolving series of select rare videos from our archives featuring live performances culled from various hotspots in the southern hemisphere. Maria’s expert mixologists will also concoct some tasty treats to put you in the right mood and groove to quench your thirst after putting on some sweaty south of the border dance moves.

Festivities begin at 8PM and continue until 2AM. There is no cover.

This week we will launch Mash Tun: A Craft Beer Journal, during our inaugural Mash Tun Craft Beer Festival on May 19, 2012.

Mash Tun is our paean to craft beer. It follows the pleasures and aesthetics of craft beer and how it intersects with food, culture, and society. The Mash Tun comes in the form of a Journal, a Website, a Festival, and a Guide. It features contributions by: Bryce Dwyer Jeriah Hildwine ,Frank Hays Jamie Trecker, Shanna van Volt, Sarah Morton,  Kyle Smith,  Matthew Mikkelsen, Andy Skelton, Jon Braun, Dan Morgridge, Paul Durica, Samuel and Jesse Edwin Evan, Plural, Erin Drain Mairead Case, Michael McAvena Dan O’Shea, Michael Kiser, and Ed Marszewski.

You will be able to purchase the Mash Tun Journal at Quimby’s and Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar. The Guide will be distributed at better beer bars in Chicago.

It’s going to be nice out. So please join us from 530-730pm for some complementary Korean BALKAN BBQ. We have a very special day of Cevapcici~ Ground beef, pork, and lamb rolled in minced garlic, salt, pepper, skinless in a sausage form served in olive oil toasted pita with Avjar (roasted eggplant and red pepper sauce), and diced white onions.$1 off all Craft Drafts! We are getting ready for Craft Beer Week! So look out!

We are ready to wig out for Craft Beer Week. Our big event this year is the release of our new craft beer publication called the Mash Tun during Mash Tun Fest, which is happening this Saturday May 19 from 1-5pm. You need to get your tickets soon! Check out the beers we will be pouring!
Tickets are $40. You must show an ID to gain entry to the festival. We will not mail you a ticket, and your name will be on the will call list.

If you can’t make it to the festival you should at least join us the official Mash Tun Fest Afterparty here at Maria’s where we will be pouring  14 amazing rare beers.

Bicycle-powered floats. Mobile sculptures. Origami architecture, marching bands, hot dogs, and dance performances. Everything is welcome but flame-throwers and ketchup.

Lion VS Gorilla (LVG), a curatorial collaboration that uses experiential art to build community, is partnering with Version12 to create the First Annual Bridgeport Day, on May 12, 2012! Bridgeport Day is a celebration of the diverse communities that make up the neighborhood, and will be a fun, relaxed day where neighbors can meet, talk, mingle, and celebrate the community.
Join us for the Bridgeport Day Community Parade, as it winds down Morgan Street from the Zhou B Arts Center (35th St.) to Benton House (31st St.), from 2:00 to 3:00. At 3:00, the Bridgeport Day Block Party begins, at Benton House. There will be everything from a kimchee deathmatch battle (aka kimchee cook-off) to 12 pop-up operas with artisanal ice cream pairings to Bridgeport history storytelling to musical performances to a three-legged race, because running is better when someone else is tied to your leg. There will even be a petting zoo!

Join us for a tasting with local distiller Few Spirits. Kenny will be making some nice experimental cocktails. $1 off all house cocktails.

Version Festival is in full wing tonight, Friday, May 4. Eight new pop up and remixed spaces will open their doors for an evening of action. This will be a good introduction of some of what we have planned for the month of May.  Here are some highlights:

SMALL Showroom Opening Party • 5-10 pm
3219 S. Morgan Street • free
Our big project for 2012 is the Small Manufacturing Alliance (SMALL). This is a showroom that will display over one hundred vendors’ wares. Stop in for some tastings and samplings. Featuring Half Acre, Virtue Cider, Koval Distillery and Few Distillery and many others

Bridgepop SpringPop • 6-9 pm
3143 S Morgan Street • free
BridgePop is a group of resident Bridgeport artists and entrepreneurs who have banded together in a collaborative Pop-up Shop on Morgan Street since November 2011. Their goal is to revitalize the community with exposition of new art, as well as reclaimed and reused articles, in a curated, performative, and  eclectic environment.

Ray Emerick Studios Opening • 6-10 pm
3149 S. Morgan Street, #1 • free
Artist Ray Emerick is a veteran Morgan Street artist.  He joins Version festival by reopening his studio to the public this Ma

Research House for Asian Art • 6-9 pm
3217 S Morgan Street • free
The Research House for Asian Art (RHAA) is a non-for profit organization whose goal is to promote art that is becoming more global and to provide a platform for the ongoing cultural exchange between East and West, in particular with China. This is their first ever show in their brand new gallery.

Dusty Groove Records Party • 7-9 pm
755 W 32nd Street • free
Chicago’s premier record store for all things groovy — making a pop-up weekend appearance in Bridgeport! They’re having a Preview Night on Friday, May 4th, from 7pm to 9pm — open to the public, and with refreshments and music too!

Maria’s Community Bar • 3pm -2 am
960 W 31st Street • free
Join us for our Version festival after party!!

Get on the goodfoot this week when Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar presents a heartfelt and funky musical tribute titled “Super Bad! The Soul Power & Genius of James Brown” on Thursday, May 3. Hosted by famed groove merchant and Soul Brother #57 Joe Bryl, “Super Bad!” will pay deep respect to the creative output and long-lasting legacy of showman supreme, badass bandleader, renown record producer, stellar songwriter, magnificent musician, dynamic dancer and social activist James Brown (aka Mr. Dynamite, The Godfather of Soul, Soul Brother Number One and The Hardest Working Man In Show Business). Whew!

READ MORE>>