5 Magazine Three Year Anniversary Party
by Terry Matthew | updated August 28, 2008
+ Essential Info: 5 Magazine - the nation's only magazine devoted exclusively to House Music - turns three years old! To celebrate, we're bringing in a special guest - Sandy Rivera of Kings of Tomorrow from the UK, in his first Chicago appearance in nearly a decade.
Our anniversary party will be held on Friday, September 5, 2008 at Zentra Nightclub (923 W. Weed, Chicago) from 11pm-4am. The party is FREE ALL NIGHT with RSVP to czarina@5chicago.com or by using the form to the left. RSVPS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 6PM ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5!
+ DJ Talent: SANDY RIVERA was featured on the cover of our August 2008 issue, which you can pick up on the streets of Chicago throughout the month of August (or read now in our online
members section). From his official bio:
Of Puerto Rican heritage and New York upbringing Sandy was exposed to a vibrant and colourful hybrid of sounds, sights and characters - all of which the young Mr Rivera soaked up and used to form his tapestry of musical preferences. He began playing records at just 13 years old and infused his Latino influence with tougher New York hip hop beats. Ever the entrepreneur, a 17 year old Sandy held parties in his house, DJ'ed himself all night and charged people for the pleasure to get in! Soon he found the desire to produce music. He felt he could do it on his own rather than go through a record label. So, armed with all the right intentions and not a lot else off he went and made some hip hop tracks. He produced for Big Pun as part of Full Eclipse - this ended up in the hands of chart legend Fat Joe. Soon after that Sandy decided to concentrate his efforts on house music.
In 1994, Sandy launched Blackwiz Records funded partly through a publishing deal with, bizarrely, Burt Bacharach and set up another imprint called Deep Vision. This helped confirm his burgeoning reputation as a sonic innovator. He spent time training as a pianist, so he could understand and control his music; today plays most of his own keys on his tracks. In 1997 he released his first long player 'The Calling' which featured Sandy's vocals. Something of a learning curve, Sandy used 'The Calling' as a playing field, honing his craft and learning his art. A second album followed 'It's in the Lifestyle' under the Kings of Tomorrow moniker. It features some of his most commercially successful tracks to date including the cross-over club stormer 'Finally' and 'Young Hearts', amongst others. After doing the rounds on the dance floor for a couple of years 'Finally' became an anthem of the early noughties. A gold-plated house music anthem which picked up a clutch of gongs, including a Pacha Award for Best Ibiza Tune and a Muzik magazine award for Tune of the Year. While 'Young hearts' featured on UK TV commercials.
His third artist album 'Trouble' came out in early 2005 and saw a deeper side to Sandy and by this point he had moved to London. This was a 100% original, sample free album and featured a mixture of styles including the r&B and soul infused 'Changes' all the way though to the dark, techy moodiness of 'London Fog' (inspired by a particularly memorable session at DC10.) The fusion of styles is not surprising when you consider the album was recorded in London, New York, California and Malaysia and Sandy himself admits to being a product of his environment. Of 'Trouble' Sandy says "I'm trying to be a house producer who makes people stop and listen, as well as dance."
REES URBAN (aka DJ Urban), owner of the Bunchlox, Public Housing and Jackin' The Box record labels, is a Chicago-based DJ and producer originally born in Detroit. From the mid-1990s to today, he's toured most of the world and recored for labels from Dance Mania to Moonshine, Primate, Pro-Jex and Tresor.
DAVID SABAT, founder of ChicagoSoundSource, has been a Househead since the early 1980s and DJs all over Chicago and beyond. He has played in cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Paris, and Amsterdam just to name a few. Most recently, he was invited to join the House Music band MADD SOUL as their resident DJ where he plays with live percussion, trumpet and sax.
+ Special 5 Magazine Radio Show Tribute to Sandy Rivera:
Check out this special episode of the 5 Magazine Radio Show, made up exclusively of tracks by Sandy Rivera under his various monikers and aliases. Not to be missed!
+ Driving Directions to Zentra: Zentra is located at 923 W. Weed Street, just off North Avenue between Clybourne and I-90/94. For directions from your location,
click here.
For public transit, Zentra is located just steps from the Clybourn Street Stop on the CTA Red Line. After exiting from the Clybourn Street Station, go west one block to Fremont, make a left turn on Fremont, then a right on Weed Street.
