City Pays Tribute To Frankie Knuckles Tuesday

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 2, 2014 3:40PM

(Frankie Knuckles at The Powerplant via Frankie Knuckles Fan Page)

Frankie Knuckles, the "Godfather of House Music," died in April when Chicago's spring was fighting the final death throes of a winter that would not end. So the city wasn't able to put together a proper tribute involving dancing outdoors and some of the best DJs around. Now that the weather is cooperating, it's time to rectify that.

Starting 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 3 some of Knuckles' peers from the early days of House music in Chicago band together in the shadow of The Bean at Millennium Park to celebrate Knuckles' contributions to the genre and his life in a manner befitting the way he made asses shake over the decades.

The tribute begins with opening words by Robert Williams and Alan King. The music is set to start at 6:15 p.m. with a DJ set from Elbert Phillips, who had his musical awakening just as Knuckles was starting to earn his reputation at the Powerplant. Following Phillips is Craig Loftis, who helped design the Powerplant's sound system and later became Knuckles' opening DJ and personal sound engineer. Knuckles and Loftis were responsible for scores of remixes and helped develop the career of one of House music's early stars, Jamie Principle.

Greg Gray gets behind the wheels of steel at 7:35 p.m. Gray interned at the Powerplant. Closing the event is a DJ set from Mike Winston, Knuckles' original opening DJ at the Powerplant.

This should be a slamming event and you need to show up to dance the night away.