Published
Wed, Mar 22, 2023, 18:30
- The venue closed last Saturday night, about an hour before Theo Parrish was due to play.
A GoFundMe has been launched to save Chicago venue The Post after it was suddenly closed by the authorities last Saturday, March 18th.
The venue—which was shut about an hour before Theo Parrish was due to play—is "one of few Black-owned music venues in Chicago," campaigner and DJ Material (1) told Resident Advisor. "It's so sacred for a lot of people–everyone's really hurting right now." The Post will remain shut indefinitely.
At around 10.30 PM, the City's inspection team, multiple unmarked police vehicles and a task force of between ten and 20 officers arrived at the premises. They asked to speak with the owner Sheldon Randolph, a local legend who has been staging house and disco parties in Chicago since the '70s.
Randolph has been summoned to appear in court on May 8th on the grounds that he didn't have the right licenses in place. But he said he took over The Post in 2019 on the understanding that he did.
RA approached the City of Chicago for comment. "Only the first floor has a current business license," said Elisa Sledzinska, director of public affairs. She said the venue was issued violation notices for operating as an unlicensed "liquor bar," as a "public place of amusement" and for not displaying a license.
Sledeinska said that an "inspection" of the venue also revealed a list of health-and-safety violations, including blocked exits, missing fire extinguishers and smoke detectors, and "exceeding safe-capacity levels" with "approximately 60 patrons."
But Randolph disputes this. He said the venue is an estimated 2500 square feet, "which holds way more than 60 people, so it can't possibly exceed safe occupancy." He added that the information about violations "is false because it doesn't pertain to the second floor where all the safety precautions are in place, including exit signs, two ways egress, smoke detectors and fire extinguishers."
Randolph said he was under the impression that the license covered the whole building. "If I had known that, I wouldn't have been up there because I know how these people operate. However, I can admit I was misinformed in this particular sense and that I was wrong."
According to Randolph, it was obvious someone had tipped off the police because the situation was "too much of a perfect storm." This was confirmed by Sledinska, who said the taskforce had responded to a complaint about the venue.
"When you think about police going around violating rights–them coming to shut us down was disproportionate," Randolph said. "They could have just issued a warning."
Material agreed. "The City's paying for an entire task force to shut down music events where they should be doing a lot of other things," they said. "There's far too few trauma centres on the South Side, schools don't have enough resources, parks aren't safe to go to, half the South Side is a complete food desert. And then we're worrying about people enjoying music at midnight on a Saturday. It makes no sense to me."
According to the University of Illinois, the City of Chicago has paid $500 million over the past ten years to settle civil law suits for police misconduct, killings and civil rights violations.
"I know people killed by police or [who have had] their homes raided," Material added. "So why's this licensing issue priority for the City?"
Other DIY venues, including Latino-owned spots, were also hit by the task force. "It's crazy to see this happening at a time when people are also trying to save The Warehouse building," said Material.
Material and local artist ctrlzora are currently planning a network of benefit gigs—including one for The Warehouse—that are being organised with the help of an online form to collate support from artists, promoters, DJs, sound system owners, legal advisors and lawyers. At the time of publication, the form has had 156 responses in 24 hours.
"[The Post] is sacred and special," one person wrote in the form. "It's a place of peace and unity. House music unites our city like nothing else. When they came in and closed us down, it was like closing down church. It's not right."
A meeting for anyone interested in hosting benefit events will take place at a space on Chicago's South Side at a TBA time and date. Randolph will be present. "This will also help find legal support and get people to literally be there at court with him so the court can see the community supports him and lessen any charges," said Material.
Donate to the GoFundMe, which was set up yesterday, March 21st, by ctrlzora to help with Randolph's legal fees. The target is $30,000.
The Post sits above a members' club for army veterans on Chicago's South Side. Past guests include Gene Hunt, Glenn Underground and Osunlade.
Photo: Victor Price III
Update, March 23rd: This article was updated with the City of Chicago's response to a request for comment. Randolph's response to the comment has also been added.
Correction, March 23rd: A previous version of this article said that Material was organising the benefit events on their own. In fact, they're collaborating with ctrlzora.
