Returning reborn, refreshed and reinvigorated after a two month sojourn under the sunny skies of Guanajuato, Mexico, DJ Joe Bryl comes back at long last to his hometown to reclaim his crown as “Chicago’s most interesting DJ” (Awdio blog) at Maria’s Package Goods & Community Bar (960 W. 31st Street) on Friday, March 23 with his aptly titled “Revenge of the Gringo!”
Joe Bryl began the pursuit of his long and meandering career and craft as a nightclub DJ, musical director and audio curator in the early eighties at the New Wave dance venue Club 950 (aka The Lucky Number, named so for the pop-styled Lene Lovich song) which previously had the peculiar distinction to be the home of both a rough ‘n tumble biker bar, most famously as a converted coffeehouse called Alice’s Revisited where a who’s who of blues luminaries such as Muddy Waters, Charlie Musselwhite, Otis Rush, Sunnyland Slim, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Howlin’ Wolf performed (not to mention a every Tuesday gig by the local rock act Styx) and the Otok Island Lounge, a Croatian expat hangout who’s bar was peculiarly decorated in pine cones and which the 950 proudly retained.
It was there as a patron of the 950 and follower of DJ Michael Rytie (who still currently has a weekly residency at Big Chicks, Uptown´s popular gay and lesbian bar) that Joe Bryl was approached by its then bar manager Mark Clifton (and future roommate) to take over the Wednesday night spot due to his often obscene record purchases at trend-setting Wax Trax Records. Influenced equally by his excursions at the now-legendary punk bastion Le Mere Vipere and the free-form format of underground radio station TRIAD, Joe Bryl honed his style toward an eclectic mixture of diverse musical offerings that would range from wherever his current whims or fascinations took him. On any given evening Joe Bryl would treat his audience, and ultimately indulge himself, with music from the likes of The Velvet Underground, Al Green, Orange Skin, The Kinks, Bauhaus, Throbbing Gristle, Dinah Washington, Funkadelic, The Teardrop Explodes, James Brown, Joy Division, King Sunny Ade, The Fall, Scott Walker, Echo & the Bunnymen and Frank Sinatra.
After a decade at DJing at the Club 950, where he also designed many of their weekly ads and posters, curated special events and became adjunct musical director after the sad passing away from AIDS of Noe Boudreau (famous for his yearly event “A Eon of Eno by Noe at Neo”), Bryl continued his peculiar musical inclinations and journey with gigs at a wide-ranging group of hotspots including The Artful Dodger, The Lizard Lounge, Lower Links, The Avalon, China Club, Limelight, Oh La La, The Funky Buddha (where he acted both as DJ and manager), The Green Mill and Sinibar until with noted restaurateurs and bar owners Donnie Madia and Terry Alexander (who’s culinary empires include such well respected dining destinations as Blackbird, Mia Francesca, avec, The Publican, and Big Star besides such watering holes as Danny’s and the prestigious The Violet Hour) joined forces to form the soon-to-be influential Sonotheque.
It was at stylishly minimal and acoustically designed Sonotheque that Joe Bryl was finally able to fully spread his musical wings of twenty years of risk taking programming in the nightclub business. After close to a decade of nightly changing events Sonotheque’s roster included such musicians and DJs as Diplo, Kyoto Jazz Massive, Phil Cohran, Lady Sovereign, DJ Spinna, Fourtet, Kahil El Zabar, DJ Premier, Quantic, Aesop Rock, Peanut Butter Wolf, Ellen Alien, Bonobo, The Hood Internet, Pete Rock, A-Trak, Zizek, James Pants, Tommie Sunshine, Turntables On The Hudson, Watcha Clan and Francois Kevokian. It was also through Sonotheque that Joe Bryl was able to collaborate with various local and national trend setting creative individuals and residencies like Bass By the Pound, Africa Hi-Fi with Ron Trent and Sonia Hassan, Bombay Beatbox, Afrodisiac, Dark Wave Disco, Anthony Nicholson, Rik Shaw, Deeper Soul Productions, the Chicago World Music Festival, Stones Throw Records, Flosstradamus, Scion, Kate Simko and Lumpen.
It was through a fruitful and long collaboration with Lumpen and particularly Ed Marszewski (the creative catalyst and cultural provocateur of Proximity magazine, Version festivals, MDW Fair and the Bridgeport International) that Joe Bryl has continued refining his DJ impulses and since the closing of Sonotheque over two years ago has programed weekly events at Maria’s including his revolving “Global Soul” and the Brazilian-based “Impacto!” residencies besides thematic events that have focused on the music legacy of Miles Davis, Fela Kuti and Serge Gainsbourg, songs from the Prohibition, world psychedelic sounds, 45 funk nights, Euro-Disco house and even thrift store music. With his residencies at Maria’s, Joe Bryl has been joined with Tony Sarabia, host of WBEZ’s Radio M, Peter Margasak of The Reader, Frank Orrall of Poi Dog Pondering and Aaron Cohen of Downbeat Magazine.
After a two month hiatus in colonial Mexico, DJ Joe Bryl is coming back fully recharged, re-energized and inspired to continue his personal pursuit in highlighting rarely heard music from the often overlooked past and the newly emerging present. The “Revenge of the Gringo” is inspired of course by his recent travels down south and will focus on the diversity of Latin-tinged rhythms including fifties mambo and cha-cha, sixties Mexican, Peruvian and Argentine rock, Cuban-styled jazz, Nuyorican funk and to more recent excursions into Salsa, Cumbia, Reggaeton and Latin Electronica.
As a visual backdrop for the evening, Joe Bryl will dig deep into his collection of strangely askew and weird Mexican horror, wrestling and sexploitation sinematic oddities to compliment the equally diverse musical offerings to make the evening muy sabroso!
The festivities kick off at 8PM and continue until 2AM. And as always, there’s no cover charge at Maria’s so you can better indulge yourself in its amazingly expansive and well-selected beer and specialty drink menu. So, fly down to Mexico via Bridgeport and transport yourself to one of Guanajuato’s overlooked seedy yet captivating cantinas, Bar El Incendio, for a night of rhythmic Latin explosive dance music and joyful camaraderie.
