Every now and then it’s nice to put on a show for the whole damn family! Especially one where the family next store is dishing out tequila shots like gossip and you still end up chasing a random escaped chicken up their stairs and into their house even though you don’t entirely remember their names. I feel like the Block Party, bookended by early juke sets from Traxman and Molly Bass and closing juke sets by Gant-Man and Starfoxxx, was that perfect mix of hood shit and neighborhood shit, and all the credit is due to one man….

I hope I’m not speaking out of turn when I say that DJ Demchuk smokes about the same amount of weed annually as Cypress Hill’s extended family plus TWO Sublime cover bands, and for someone with his particular tastes, dude gets shit done. Every year, no matter where he’s living he gets all the permits and signatures he needs to throw a legitimate, city-sanctioned block party with no less than two stages of DJs and bands. Last year’s featured performances from the Jesse White Tumblers, and this year’s featured a moon bounce for the kids (unfortunately, the city only lets you get a free moon bounce for a short window so it really was just for the kids and not for the drunkos).

Dan didn’t work alone. British Knights and Mr. Bobby helped gather sponsors and booking; Adam Black set up a watergun flashmob; our own Eric lab Rat put together vendors from the Underground Dollar Store; and Pabst Chicago’s Anthony Spina did little things to make every aspect of the day better. Music was provided by No Girl, So[Oh]Six, Pranas, Walter J. Liveharder, Malafacha, Perfect Kiss, Knife Fight, and more. Vendors included Moneyworth, Willow Naeco, Lipstick Dinosaur, Grr…, Conclusionary Practices, Jenny Vance, Steven Luros Holiday, Birthday Boy Comics and more, and for the first time, food vendors including Porkchop Express, Carnal Swine, Tony Martin, and the Tamale Spaceship.

Outside of the runaway fowl, my favorite moment of the day was when DJ Huggies Supreme played Laugh Factory ‘s insanely catchy remix of Raffi’s “Bananaphone” while a group of little kids tried their damnedest to breakdance. I’ve seen some little kids who could throw down on the dance floor but these weren’t them, and they reminded me fondly of the very shitty headspin flares I attempted to do once at a kindergarten show-and-tell. Just some of the shit you can’t get at a 21+ show in the middle of the night.

Scroll down to see the full set of images from the night. Open any image into a new page to download in full size.

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