We’re glad to be able to premiere the new video for Kevin Coval’s poem “Ode to the Waitress.” The clip reflects the Chicago wordsmith’s tribute to the unheralded people who work hard to fuel all of our lives and are part of what makes the city great.
The poem itself comes from Coval and Langston Allston’s illustrated book of poems entitled Everything Must Go: The Life & Death of an American Neighborhood.
In the video, which was directed by Larry Tchogniou, you’ll hear an energetic beat by Panik of The Molemen. Check it out above.
Everything Must Go will have its book release party this coming Monday, September 16 at the Chop Shop. The party will be held in Wicker Park, the neighborhood that inspired it, delivering a cultural celebration like in the good ol’ days. Get your free tickets here: https://www.chopshopchi.com/.
More details below.
The free event will have sounds by DJ Ca$h Era with appearances from Idris Goodwin, Sharkula, and Kee Stein. Oh and you see in the flyer displaying below where it says a special guest?… You can expect The O’My’s & also JUICE, who’s coming into town from LA.
The book celebrates Chicago’s Wicker Park in the late 1990’s, Coval’s home as a young artist, the ancestral neighborhood of his forebears, and a vibrant enclave populated by colorful characters. Allston’s illustrations honor the neighborhood as it once was, before gentrification remade it. Buy your copy now via Haymarket Books: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/
