Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar

Saturday May 18: Over The Influence: The Art of Craft Beer

ed — Sat, 18 May 2013 17:42:36 +0000

A Tom Marioni inspired bottle opener, a floating one-eyed monster Beholder beer bong, and tons of visual art and sculpture inspired by the aesthetics of craft beer are on display for one night only. Please visit Over The Influence: The Art of Craft Beer to get yers online right now. Online ticket sales end very soon. Tickets for our Art of Beer event will be available at the door of our gallery (3219 S Morgan Street) for a limited time. So get lucky..

Our after party for The art of Beer show takes place at Maria’s starting at 9pm with Synthetiq DJs and a tap takeover by Stone! See u guys!

Coming Soon: Marz Community Brewing

ed — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:42:44 +0000

Hi guys. Some of you might know that we have had liquid dreams about opening our own brewery here in Bridgeport. We are now on our way. Marz Community Brewing is a close–knit group of creatives, brewers, artists, doers, makers and friends. We all met at Maria’s and we’re launching this brewery to bring something new to Chicago and beer. We hope to blow yer minds.

Besides making amazing liquid, Marz Community Brewing will be brewing and selling beers ( Community Brews) to help fund artist organizations, non profit groups and community activists in Chicago. We are also starting a Brewers Exchange program, offering residencies and collaborations with brewers overseas. MCB will also be sending American brewers to our partner brewery in The Netherlands and they will be sending brewers here to collaborate with local brewers in Chicago. We have other plans and surprises in store. And we will unveil them when we open some time later this year.

We really have no idea when our final paperwork will be approved, but we are in R & D mode and wigging out. In the meantime do us a favor: be part of the tasting team!

If you have a minute please visit our website and sign up to our newsletter. Please “Like” us on Spacebook , too! And while yer at it become our twitter friend. You will be the first people invited to our private tastings and events before we open to the public.

Weekend Update!

ed — Thu, 16 May 2013 04:34:36 +0000

A long weekend of action has begun. We hope when you visit us here in the community of the future that you might consider checking out some good shows down the block at our gallery, The Co-Prosperity Sphere @ 3219 S Morgan Street, before you stop by and get yer drink on here at the family tavern.

Thursday: May 16: Le Communiqué – Reception 7-10pm
Co-Prosperity Sphere is hosting an international show with art, photography and film from artists spanning five continents. A collection of 30 pieces from yet-to-be-known names, Le Communiqué examines messages of complexity and isolation. Using predominantly digital techniques, the show is both poignant and forceful—each piece asks you not just take it in, but to take something from it.

At Maria’s that nite we are celebrating Two Years of Hooray For The Mixtape
We’re not sure where the time went, what mysterious black holed absorbed it. But come celebrate this brief moment in electronic music history as HFTM provides it’s 24th edition and goes Sci-Fi, complete with movies of a bizarre nature and sounds to go with it!
Friday: May 17: ARTCRANK: A Poster Show For Art People
So what’s ARTCRANK, anyway? Glad you asked. ARTCRANK is a show of bicycle-inspired poster artwork that introduces people to talented local artists and sends them home with affordable, original works of art. Since our 2007 debut in Minneapolis, we’ve held shows in bike-lovin’ cities like Portland, San Francisco, New York, Austin, Los Angeles and London. Our first-ever Chicago show will be held at the Co-Prosperity Sphere on Friday, May 17.

Join DJ King Scratch this Friday, May 17 @ Maria’s (960 W. 31st) for a special edition of AFRIKA FREAK OUT! – THE REMIX featuring electronic excursions and remixes of African rhythms that will surely give you reason to celebrate. Digging deep into his crates of African Makossa, Afro Beat, High Life, Soukous and other driving rhythms, DJ King Scratch will feature their modern re-interpretations in the creative hands of House heads, drum ‘n bass digital manipulators, down tempo dub producers, beat fanatics and tropical stylists from around the world.

So, join us for this dynamite Afro-discotheque of blistering beats and massive movers from the motherland. It all drops @ 8PM and as always, there’s no cover.

Saturday May 18: Over The Influence: The Art of Beer
Mash Tun Journal and Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar have teamed up with Chef Won Kim of Brew Ha Ha to bring you another counter-cultural visual and brewery arts exhibition and happening. This edition, called Over The Influence: The Art of Beer, takes place May 18, 2013, 5-9pm at the Co-Prosperity Sphere ( 3219 S Morgan Street) during Chicago Craft Beer Week. Visit http://www.undertheinfluenceartshow.org for ticket info

Join us for an evening of imbibery and art. Enjoy work from artists and designers inspired by the aesthetics of craft beer and how it intersects with food, culture, and society. Complementary beverages by Half Acre Beer Co., Solemn Oath Brewery, Spiteful Brewing , Journeyman Distillery, Maria’s Ginger Beer and outsider brewers. Flesh for Food will be vending vittles.

Admission is $30 and is by rsvp only. You must be 21yrs and older to attend. Proceeds of the event go to the Public Media Institute, a non profit grassroots arts organization based in Bridgeport, the Community of the Future.

After the Art of Beer Freak out please come to Maria’s from 9pm- 3am for the Art of Beer After Party with Stone Brewery featuring a tap take over with some of their most cracked out super wet hopped crystal imperial delicious brews. We will also feature a screening of the Iron Brew Documentary and some other fun shit.

And then on Saturday night is Synthetiq- the world’s greatest electronic music DJs will be playing the jams all Saturday nite long. Truly epic and wonderful for all of the geighties music fans out there.

ok good luck.

Tuesday May 14: Los Sunny Daze

ed — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:56:32 +0000

DJs Scrabblor & Dookie Blaster

ed — Sat, 11 May 2013 18:40:34 +0000

OddStyle from the Numbered Streets – DJs Scrabblor & Dookie Blaster

Starts and ends with R&B and travels the beats between from hiphop to rock to jazz to disco.

Friday May 10: Spins & Needles

ed — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:22:09 +0000

Join us this Friday, May 10 for Spins & Needles featuring groove merchant extraordinaire DJ Clark Quente. This monthly residency is dedicated to ‘the format of integrity’ – vinyl! Thats right kids; All vinyl. All night. From Mod rockers to psychedelic soul, from righteous jazz tracks to dub plates and Brazilian tropicalia to tripped-out dance beats.

The night is a journey, with twists and turns that should challenge and reward listeners & dancers. Think edu-tainment! Ultra-obscure, brand new, old favorites…. doesn’t matter, just great music. And always eclectic.

The platters that matter start dropping @ 9PM. And, as usual, there’s no cover for the aural journey.

Derby Day And The Future is Cancelled

ed — Sat, 04 May 2013 17:34:08 +0000

Maria’s Packaged Good & Community Bar is hosting an afternoon viewing of the 2013 Kentucky Derby otherwise known as “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” or the more poetic “The Run for the Roses” today. Inaugurated in 1875 in Louisville, Kentucky at the beautiful Churchill Downs racetrack. the Derby is the first leg of the US Triple Crown; followed by the Preakness Stakes and then the Belmont Stakes.

Keeping to long standing tradition, Maria’s expert mixologists will be serving their own take on the much-beloved mint julep, an iced drink consisting of bourbon, mint and a sugar syrup plus other specialty bourbon drinks including the “11th Ward Old Fashioned” (Jim Beam, organic sugar cubes, bitters, Luxardo cherries, orange peel), the “Jim Jam” ( Cabin Still bourbon, Averna Amano, raspberry jam) and our famous “Maria’s Manhattan” (Rittenhouse Rye 100, sweet vermouth, bitters, Luxardo cherries). You can also choose from our wide selection of bourbons, ryes and moonshine and of course, our huge selection of over 450 craft beers.

So, get a good seat at the bar rail to watch the afternoon’s pre-eminent stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds. Otherwise, all bets are off!

Also tonight its Mike Broers’s The Future is Cancelled, a night of advanced electronic music.

Friday: Shades of Brown

ed — Fri, 03 May 2013 22:23:48 +0000

There was a time (and it’s Friday night). Join Soul Brother From Another Mother, Joe Bryl, this Friday @ Maria’s (960 W. 31st) for his yearly tribute to Butane James Brown, the Godfather of Soul. Get it together when JB plays JB featuring the soul power of the hardest working man in show business. The night train leaves the station @ 8PM. We’ll also be screening rare live performances of the Minister of the New New Super Heavy Funk all night. As usual, there’s no cover.

And remember kids, stay in school and play better.

About the Video Above: James Brown’s Future Shock TV show:

Working with media mogul Ted Turner, James Brown produced and hosted a UHF TV variety show on station WTCG in the seventies. Shot at both Atlanta and Augusta (Brown’s home town), Future Shock appeared late on Friday night featuring local amateurs performing a variety of popular and emerging dance styles, including disco, locking and popping, and early breakdancing. It’s theme song ”Future Shock (Dance Your Pants Off)” was written by Brown and recorded by Maceo Parker with The J.B.’s.

The show was syndicated nationwide in the United States, but it failed to attract sponsors and ceased production within three years

This rare clip captures some of it’s simple DIY charm and some great street dance moves.

DERBY DAY – Saturday, May 4

ed — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:56:39 +0000

Maria’s Packaged Good & Community Bar (960 W. 31st. St.) will be hosting an afternoon viewing of the 2013 Kentucky Derby otherwise known as “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” or the more poetic “The Run for the Roses” on Saturday, May 4. Inaugurated in 1875 in Louisville, Kentucky at the beautiful Churchill Downs racetrack. the Derby is the first leg of the US Triple Crown; followed by the Preakness Stakes and then the Belmont Stakes.

So, get a good seat at the bar rail to watch the afternoon’s pre-eminent stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds. Otherwise, all bets are off!

What We Play at Maria’s #3483: Graham Bond’s Ajama

ed — Wed, 01 May 2013 19:45:09 +0000

The late great Graham Bond (October 28, 1937 – May 8, 1974) was one of the instrumental leaders of the British rhythm & blues revival in the early sixties along with Dick Heckstall-Smith, Alexis Korner. Jack Bruce, John McLaughlin and Ginger Baker. An early user of the Hammond organ/Leslie speaker combination, Graham Bond was the first British artist to record using a mellotron and was known particularly for his driving keyboard style mixing jazz elements with blues-based rhythms.

This recording of the tune “Ajama” is from his 1971 record Graham Bond with Magick “We Put Our Magick On You” is noteworthy for its African rhythmic patterns that drummer extraordinaire Ginger Baker would also explore in his travels to the Lagos and his fruitful collaboration with Fela Kuti, the father of Afro-Beat.

For those interested in this cross-pollination and synthesis that occurred in the seventies we’d recommend checking out “Moshi” by Barney Wilen, a dark, eccentric effort fusing avant jazz sensibilities with African rhythms, ambient sound effects, and melodies rooted in American blues traditions. And for those equally interested in the British blues movement the best study is Dick Heckstall-Smith’s “The Safest Place in the World: A personal history of British Rhythm and blues” (2004).