{"id":9541,"date":"2024-11-27T16:46:10","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T21:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=9541"},"modified":"2024-11-27T16:46:12","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T21:46:12","slug":"chicago-street-named-for-music-legend-steve-albini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=9541","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Street Named For Music Legend Steve Albini"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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SOURCE: BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AVONDALE \u2014 A stretch of Belmont Avenue in Avondale has been named after Steve Albini, the late Chicago rock icon and famed audio engineer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friends, family, neighbors and musicians from across the country gathered Monday afternoon at the corner of Belmont Avenue and Rockwell Street, steps away from Albini\u2019s recording studio Electrical Audio, to commemorate him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albini, known for producing some of rock\u2019s most iconic records and starting bands like Big Black and Shellac, died of a heart attack in May.<\/a> He was 61.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), who proposed the 2600-2700 block of West Belmont Avenue be named after Albini over the summer<\/a>, spoke at the unveiling Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my 10 years as alderperson, this is the honorary street designation that has received the most attendance,\u201d Ramirez-Rosa said. \u201cAnd that is a testament to Steve\u2019s legacy and all the people who he impacted in a positive way during his time here on this planet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albini moved to Chicago in 1980 to attend Northwestern University, and \u201calthough he was not born in Chicago, he was truly a Chicagoan, helping to put this city on the map in the music scene, in the artistic world, like so many before him,\u201d Ramirez-Rosa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albini\u2019s legacy should continue to be honored not only with the street naming, but also with programs and funding from the city\u2019s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and in public schools, the alderman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe should remember Steve, we should remember his legacy, we should remember his contributions. Because music and art is so critical to our experience as human beings,\u201d Ramirez-Rosa said. \u201cI\u2019m proud that our city is recognizing Steve in this way and I hope that it is something that we continue to do for many, many years and for many generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramirez-Rosa worked alongside Albini\u2019s wife, filmmaker Heather Whinna, who also spoke at the unveiling, to make the honorary street designation a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whinna hopes to create an organization called The Steve Albini Way, which would be an umbrella for both the recording studio and the couple\u2019s nonprofit, Letters to Santa<\/a>, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is pretty amazing,\u201d Whinna said Monday. \u201cSteve would find this like, a joke or something. He would have been quite impressed with himself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim Deal, of the Breeders, the Pixies and Albini\u2019s longtime best friend, was on hand to honor him. As was Greg Norman, Albini\u2019s fellow engineer at Electrical Audio for nearly three decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After wrapping a press tour for her first solo album<\/a> in Europe, Deal said people from countries like France, Germany and Ireland all shared stories about how much Albini meant to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just listened, a lot,\u201d Deal said. \u201cEverybody wanted to tell me about Steve. And they smiled the whole time they were talking to him, every journalist I talked to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deal said she realized she\u2019s \u201cnot the main character\u201d in her life \u2014 Steve is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI figured it out \u2026 before the memorial,\u201d Deal said. \u201cI said, \u2018Oh, look at this. All my friends.\u2019 \u2026 All these people that I know, and I know all of them because of Steve. He\u2019s enriched my life not only musically, but also by bringing all of us dear, dear people together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norman, who started as an intern at Electrical Audio, remembered when the stretch of Belmont was surrounded by \u201ca sea of warehouses.\u201d During that time, he discovered the power of the Chicago independent music community, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was a young 19-year-old, 20-year-old kid, who [Albini] offered a little bit of work. It was like a punk-rock barn raising. Everybody was a part of it and everybody felt a piece of it,\u201d Norman said. \u201cI was proud to be a part of that moment. I think that spoke volumes just to see all those people come out and help him build this studio [and] support this ecosystem that he helped build.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norman remembers Albini as \u201calways a band\u2019s greatest ally,\u201d someone who would stand up and support his peers however he could, whether that was offering touring musicians a place to stay or loaning them equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His generosity went beyond music, Norman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albini, his wife and friends \u201cworked tirelessly every holiday season on the Letters to Santa charity, fundraising and wrapping thousands of gifts after late sessions, delivered along with much-needed cash to families on Christmas morning,\u201d Norman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSteve fits perfectly in this city\u2019s wild history,\u201d Norman said. \u201cHow crazy this city is and how it sort of built itself up from ashes, I\u2019m glad he\u2019s getting some recognition for the mountains he moved here. Honestly, this is really weird and crazy. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SOURCE: BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO AVONDALE \u2014 A stretch of Belmont Avenue in Avondale has been named after Steve Albini, the late Chicago rock icon and famed audio engineer. Friends, family, neighbors and musicians from across the country gathered Monday afternoon at the corner of Belmont Avenue and Rockwell Street, steps away from Albini\u2019s recording studio… Read More »Chicago Street Named For Music Legend Steve Albini<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9544,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9541\/revisions\/9544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}