Matt Moog

I am excited to officially announce the launch of the FireStarter Fund, another major (and really cool!) effort to help Chicago digital startups get funded and grow.

The FireStarter Fund is an early stage investment fund created by 42 experienced digital founders and CEOs. We are a group of Chicago founders who have come together to support the next generation of entrepreneurs. We all have direct experience founding, operating and investing in digital technology based businesses that leverage the developments of the past forty years. We owe a debt to the innovators who came before us and it is a debt we intend to repay by helping to fund promising new ideas and the entrepreneurs who have the passion and the drive to see their ideas become reality.

The FireStarter Fund has $5.7 million in committed capital and will make investments as small as $25,000 and as large as $500,000. We expect our typical cumulative investment in a portfolio company to be between $150,000 and $350,000.   Although the fund is free to invest at any stage we expect most of our portfolio companies to be at or near revenue generation with the business strategy in place the technology very well along in development.

Growth of the community

We believe that one of the most important factors in the development and growth of entrepreneurship and innovation is the growth of a business community that is open, helpful and nurturing. We know that as entrepreneurs some of the most helpful counsel and advice we have received over the years has been from successful founders who graciously made themselves available as mentors and shared lessons that gave us the confidence and insight necessary to persevere and succeed.

So it is in that spirit of promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in the golden age of digital technology that we have formed the FireStarter Fund.

FireStarter as part of a growing digital ecosystem in Chicago

As many of you know, Built In Chicago launched in late 2010 to help provide a place for the Chicago digital community to come together. We built on the momentum created by Hyde Park Angels,Excelerate Labs, University of Chicago New Venture Challenge, ITA and the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center.  Since then we have had more 300,000 visits to builtinchicago.org and have had nearly 7,000 people register and create profiles.  And then a group of us started working on creating an amazing new physical space, which you now know as 1871.  In just a few months 1871 will house 400+ entrepreneurs and 100+ new startups every year.   And now we have the FireStarter Fund.  Wow!  With nearly 30,000 people working in the digital space we have come a very long way in the last three years.   It takes just one look at these infographics to see the growing momentum in the Chicago digital community.   So hang on.  2012 is going to be a great year for digital innovation and entrepreneurship in Chicago.

Please visit http://www.firestarterfund.com to learn more and apply for funding.

Ok, it’s not quite at that level, but you can find a food truck on the move, get to the front of the VIP line and get some dude to bring you a beer at a ball game without leaving your seat, so you can see that it’s heading it that direction.

FOOD TRUCK FREAK Food Truck Freak is an online information aggregator site that allows food truck enthusiasts to track their favorite tamale, churros, or pizza truck. Food Truck Freak organizes food truck appearances …

FOODGENIUS FoodGenius allows consumers to find a restaurant type based on a variety of menu and location qualifiers.

JUMP ROPE Jump Rope is an app that allows users to buy their way to the front of the line at enrolled night clubs and events, with pricing that fluctuates based on capacity, timing and weather. Users present t…

POGGLED Poggled notifies potential buyers of drink deals via email, Facebook, two Twitter accounts, and their website. Buyers have a limited period of time to buy a ticket and get in on the deal.

READYPING ReadyPing is a provider of wait list management and text message paging solutions. Web-based software helps restaurants and other businesses enables to easily send text messages to alert customers whe…

RESTAURANT BUCKET LIST The Restaurant Bucket List is a Facebook application that allows users to create their own personalized list of restaurants they want to visit to display on their profile. Users can then invite others…

RESTAURANT.COM Restaurant.com matches users with restaurants that are offering deals that align with their personal tastes and location proximity. Users are notified through email delivery as to the availability of …

SCENETAP SceneTap uses on site people counters and facial detectors to give users an accurate demographic of the bars they want to go to.

THE BEER MAPPING PROJECT Beer Mapping is website, with mobile capabilities, that offers users customizable POI subscription system, review comparison and vendor location system that codes visited sites for user blogs. Beer Ma…

THEFANGO FanGo’s mobile platform enables fans to order food, beverages & retail merchandise directly from their mobile device

Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, directing

Wisconsin-born filmmaker Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ path towards becoming a professional director and producer was an exceptionally long and tortuous one, yet one that inevitably shaped his future. Filled with challenges and trials that threatened to derail his life’s ambition, Kyle’s course tested his personal spirit and passion. In 2006, with his dream of attending University of Southern California’s film school finally coming to fruition, Stokes was called to duty in Iraq, where his journey would reach its harrowing zenith.

Recognized as an astute soldier by his commanders, Kyle’s early efforts in Iraq found him rewarded with a quick promotion to Staff Sergeant, which placed him in command of a military convoy tasked with shepherding tanks and armored vehicles along the country’s main highway. Stokes’ troop had the perilous assignment of defending these vehicles, which transported water, food and supplies to Iraqi civilians, from roadside bombs and unexpected enemy fire.  The duty became an unrelenting source of anxiety and fear for Kyle, manifesting itself in the filmmaker’s post-traumatic stress disorder which he still suffers from today.

As it was in Fort Polk, Stokes’ method of mitigating the gravity of his circumstances was to document his experiences through film, which found him capturing footage of gunfights, explosions and mutilations along his journeys. Striving to fulfill his goal of chronicling the soldier’s story, Kyle soon found that the one he was telling was his own.

At the completion of his yearlong tour of duty, the 25-year old was abruptly sent back home.  Within 48 hours, Staff Sergeant Stokes, commander of a military convoy consistently under the threat of attack, became Kyle, civilian with no real obligations or responsibilities. The lack of healthy transition became toxic for Stokes, as his two worlds began to blur.  Suffering from PTSD, Kyle had trouble with daily tasks such as driving, often seeing groups of youngsters as potential threats and billowing plastic bags as explosives.  In addition, his newly-acquired fear of large groups proved nearly debilitating to his life as a student. Encountering a lack of support from both peers and the Veterans Affairs program, Stokes found solace in his calling, his storytelling.

Kyle Hausmann-Stokes on the set

As a class assignment, Kyle produced a semi-autobiographical account of his daily struggle with PTSD, called Now After. Immediately becoming a hit in the classroom, Stokes watched his pet project evolve into a viral sensation, as it began making its ways through military and civilian channels alike. Attracting the attention of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Kyle was soon commissioned to produce public service announcements.  With a steady and viable stream of military clients, Stokes was able to establish his own production company, which he appropriately named Blue Three after his call sign in Iraq.

In a few short years, Blue Three Productions has become Kyle’s vehicle for achieving his ultimate aspiration.  His company uses Hollywood-trained personnel to provide attention to military issues for veterans and civilians alike.  Incorporating cast and crew members with military backgrounds, Blue Three Productions has become a successful company that, among its many projects, has produced commercial spots for ESPN.  As a personal achievement, a film of Kyle’s was also recently screened for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the First Lady, Michelle Obama.

Kyle Hausmann-Stokes at work on a PSA

While Stokes believes the work that Blue Three Productions does is a step in the right direction toward alerting the public to the plight of the soldier, his ultimate dream is significantly loftier. Kyle hopes to convey these themes into a full-length feature that would encompass the varied array of experiences for all those affected by war, which he calls his “Platoon: Iraq Version.”  “I want people to see that each person in war has a story that’s unique, and that story often continues long after they return home.”

Stokes’ personal tale is still an unsettled one.  While managing his PTSD continues to be a struggle at times, his unique method of therapy has set him down a healthy road towards normalcy.  Through his work, Kyle hopes to provide a voice for his forgotten brothers in order to help them, and himself, recover.

Read part one on Hausmann-Stokes here, and watch “Now, After” here.

Christ & Co. (Gonzales’ Christ Revised and Extended) by Ebony G. Patterson

“The tone of the show is supposed to be colorful and I wanted to invite people in as opposed to pushing people away,” Camille Morgan, curator of the Black Gossamer show at Glass Curtain Gallery, explains. Walking into the exhibition, a visitor is greeted by wide open space, white walls splashed with bright yellows, purples and blues – glitter, textiles, and fabrics -  radiating from the various artwork. The atmosphere of the arrangement is fun and psychedelic, but the pieces definitely showcase complicated undertones regarding some social, economic, and historical commentaries. “As you get closer to thinking about the artwork,” Morgan says. “You would see that there’s something more complex underneath that you may or may not find controversial.”

One would think fashion is a subject that is the least controversial – outside of that dress that’s too skimpy, those jeans that sag too low, or that informal outfit at a bow tie event. But to take the concept of fashion, take it away from what some might call the trivial environment of the red carpet or runway, and view it in terms of culture makes the subject more than what’s laying around in someone’s closet. The Black Gossamer show says loud and clear that fashion is like a picture, in and of itself. Holding a shirt, an accessory, or a fabric can tell just as many stories as a picture with a thousand words. The value of fashion is something that Camille Morgan has held close to her heart throughout all of her studies in art history and design. “There’s the underlying element of fashion where people don’t often times want to take it seriously on an academic level,” she says.  “But it kind of lives throughout everything we do – everyday – even if you don’t want to recognize or think it’s valuable. But there are also many fashion academics like myself that write about it in a critical way, so I thought if I’m going to curate a show my ‘thing’ will always be connected to fashion.”

Pin-Up series by Wangechi Mutu

Walking in the door, the viewer is first greeted with a black and white photography piece by Krisanne Johnson. This is the same piece featured on the cover of the exhibition catalogue. As a purposeful placement choice by Morgan, the photograph sets the tone for many themes throughout the entire show. Displaying young African American adults in designer clothes, the pictures seem to take the perspective of a fly on the wall, capturing a candid party atmosphere. Though the photography style might remind viewers of an advertisement spread one would find in VIBE magazine (which in fact, does speak to consumerism – a shared theme throughout the show), the artwork does invite people to analyze what connection fashion has in black culture and what clothes mean in regards to status, popularity, and stereotypes. In fact, Morgan encountered a visitor who thought that the young people in the photo were doing illegal drugs, perhaps glorifying the practice, when in fact they were smoking hookah. However, what is it about the photos that made this person jump to that conclusion? Like the rest of the show, these works pose an open-ended question and leaves it to the viewer to come up with their own answers.

Next to the photography is an installation by Aisha Bell that – on surface level – seems to depict all the different faces, characteristics, personalities, or moods women (and not just limited to black women) chose to “put on” and wear. With the use of colors and fabric,  the work speaks directly to how important clothing is in regards to identity. Morgan explains, “Even though people are like ‘Just because I’m wearing it doesn’t mean that’s who I am.’ Well then who are you? Why are you wearing it? There is some reason behind that.” Likewise, there is a reason why each fabric is placed on that installation – they tell a story. Bell has put a name to almost all of the fabrics, for instance, there is a “club dress” fabric. When talking to Bell, Morgan discovered that Bell found a very stretchy, light bright pink, almost velvety fabric at a shop. Someone came up to Bell and asked what she thought about using it for formal wear. There, the point was made – there’s a fabric for everyone, any time, for every personality, and it’s always rooted in identity.

Next is Christ & Co. (Gonzales’ Christ Revised and Extended) by Ebony G. Patterson, an installation that takes the space of an entire room. Shrines depict a dense representation of the culture of Dancehall, a form of music popular in Jamaica that borrows from both dance and reggae. But just like hip hop, fashion plays an important part in the culture and the more flashy, the more outrageous, the more daring – the better. The glitter, lights, candles, and textures make the room very busy, and one might compare it to being in the heart of Las Vegas – a somewhat condensed hyperactive space depicting what some might call consumerism, American culture. What’s interesting about this piece is the religious connotation – containing a slow, hymn playing in the background, and Jesus-like symbolism in its epicenter. The song, however, is not about religion, but about a popular shoe brand within Dancehall culture. Accessory and products adorn the shelves, with everything from jewelry to creams for skin bleaching – a practice also popular in that culture. Contrary to what most might think, for many the practice isn’t an attempt to imitate “whiteness” or express dissatisfaction with who they are – it is a way to be the most extreme. Much like extreme sports or wearing the highest heels known to man, the most outrageous is often respected and rewarded with attention.

Chameleon by Aisha Bell

This piece speaks in dialogue with Wangechi Mutu’s Pin-Up series very well, which depict images of African American “pin up” girls with grotesque deformities such as alligator tails, exaggerated body parts, and missing limbs. One might view such pieces as a commentary on the African American body image, but there’s another perspective – especially in regards to how disturbingly close the use of plastic surgery in contemporary society comes to creating such images off the canvas, and not just in African American culture. “I wanted to look at a part of a culture, specifically black culture, in a way that was not focused on comparing it or viewing it through white culture,” Morgan says. “In my head these artists are really looking at black culture…not necessarily being ideas bounced off of something else, like white culture.” In fact, these artists successfully raise many questions about cross-cultural issues. How far will “extreme” fashion go in our society? Is this really only the product of something connected with African American’s relations with white culture or is it something more universal?

The Black Gossamer exhibit gives a tunnel vision snapshot of African American culture through the eyes of fashion and at the same time, expands the viewer’s peripheral vision about individual identity not necessarily connected to African American culture. It shows how effective fashion can be as an unspoken language, just like a picture or photograph. “Weaving is one of the oldest practices that humans have ever done…to clothe yourself, it’s very basic.” Morgan says, also getting to the very raw, simple, and yet still complicated statement of the exhibition. “People have a lot of fun with [fashion] now but I think it says a lot about identity.”

You can see the show for yourself until February 11^th at Columbia College’s Glass Curtain Gallery. 

Christ & Co. (Gonzales’ Christ Revised and Extended) by Ebony G. Patterson

“The tone of the show is supposed to be colorful and I wanted to invite people in as opposed to pushing people away,” Camille Morgan, curator of the Black Gossamer show at Glass Curtain Gallery, explains. Walking into the exhibition, a visitor is greeted by wide open space, white walls splashed with bright yellows, purples and blues – glitter, textiles, and fabrics -  radiating from the various artwork. The atmosphere of the arrangement is fun and psychedelic, but the pieces definitely showcase complicated undertones regarding some social, economic, and historical commentaries. “As you get closer to thinking about the artwork,” Morgan says. “You would see that there’s something more complex underneath that you may or may not find controversial.”

One would think fashion is a subject that is the least controversial – outside of that dress that’s too skimpy, those jeans that sag too low, or that informal outfit at a bow tie event. But to take the concept of fashion, take it away from what some might call the trivial environment of the red carpet or runway, and view it in terms of culture makes the subject more than what’s laying around in someone’s closet. The Black Gossamer show says loud and clear that fashion is like a picture, in and of itself. Holding a shirt, an accessory, or a fabric can tell just as many stories as a picture with a thousand words. The value of fashion is something that Camille Morgan has held close to her heart throughout all of her studies in art history and design. “There’s the underlying element of fashion where people don’t often times want to take it seriously on an academic level,” she says.  “But it kind of lives throughout everything we do – everyday – even if you don’t want to recognize or think it’s valuable. But there are also many fashion academics like myself that write about it in a critical way, so I thought if I’m going to curate a show my ‘thing’ will always be connected to fashion.”

Pin-Up series by Wangechi Mutu

Walking in the door, the viewer is first greeted with a black and white photography piece by Krisanne Johnson. This is the same piece featured on the cover of the exhibition catalogue. As a purposeful placement choice by Morgan, the photograph sets the tone for many themes throughout the entire show. Displaying young African American adults in designer clothes, the pictures seem to take the perspective of a fly on the wall, capturing a candid party atmosphere. Though the photography style might remind viewers of an advertisement spread one would find in VIBE magazine (which in fact, does speak to consumerism – a shared theme throughout the show), the artwork does invite people to analyze what connection fashion has in black culture and what clothes mean in regards to status, popularity, and stereotypes. In fact, Morgan encountered a visitor who thought that the young people in the photo were doing illegal drugs, perhaps glorifying the practice, when in fact they were smoking hookah. However, what is it about the photos that made this person jump to that conclusion? Like the rest of the show, these works pose an open-ended question and leaves it to the viewer to come up with their own answers.

Next to the photography is an installation by Aisha Bell that – on surface level – seems to depict all the different faces, characteristics, personalities, or moods women (and not just limited to black women) chose to “put on” and wear. With the use of colors and fabric,  the work speaks directly to how important clothing is in regards to identity. Morgan explains, “Even though people are like ‘Just because I’m wearing it doesn’t mean that’s who I am.’ Well then who are you? Why are you wearing it? There is some reason behind that.” Likewise, there is a reason why each fabric is placed on that installation – they tell a story. Bell has put a name to almost all of the fabrics, for instance, there is a “club dress” fabric. When talking to Bell, Morgan discovered that Bell found a very stretchy, light bright pink, almost velvety fabric at a shop. Someone came up to Bell and asked what she thought about using it for formal wear. There, the point was made – there’s a fabric for everyone, any time, for every personality, and it’s always rooted in identity.

Next is Christ & Co. (Gonzales’ Christ Revised and Extended) by Ebony G. Patterson, an installation that takes the space of an entire room. Shrines depict a dense representation of the culture of Dancehall, a form of music popular in Jamaica that borrows from both dance and reggae. But just like hip hop, fashion plays an important part in the culture and the more flashy, the more outrageous, the more daring – the better. The glitter, lights, candles, and textures make the room very busy, and one might compare it to being in the heart of Las Vegas – a somewhat condensed hyperactive space depicting what some might call consumerism, American culture. What’s interesting about this piece is the religious connotation – containing a slow, hymn playing in the background, and Jesus-like symbolism in its epicenter. The song, however, is not about religion, but about a popular shoe brand within Dancehall culture. Accessory and products adorn the shelves, with everything from jewelry to creams for skin bleaching – a practice also popular in that culture. Contrary to what most might think, for many the practice isn’t an attempt to imitate “whiteness” or express dissatisfaction with who they are – it is a way to be the most extreme. Much like extreme sports or wearing the highest heels known to man, the most outrageous is often respected and rewarded with attention.

Chameleon by Aisha Bell

This piece speaks in dialogue with Wangechi Mutu’s Pin-Up series very well, which depict images of African American “pin up” girls with grotesque deformities such as alligator tails, exaggerated body parts, and missing limbs. One might view such pieces as a commentary on the African American body image, but there’s another perspective – especially in regards to how disturbingly close the use of plastic surgery in contemporary society comes to creating such images off the canvas, and not just in African American culture. “I wanted to look at a part of a culture, specifically black culture, in a way that was not focused on comparing it or viewing it through white culture,” Morgan says. “In my head these artists are really looking at black culture…not necessarily being ideas bounced off of something else, like white culture.” In fact, these artists successfully raise many questions about cross-cultural issues. How far will “extreme” fashion go in our society? Is this really only the product of something connected with African American’s relations with white culture or is it something more universal?

The Black Gossamer exhibit gives a tunnel vision snapshot of African American culture through the eyes of fashion and at the same time, expands the viewer’s peripheral vision about individual identity not necessarily connected to African American culture. It shows how effective fashion can be as an unspoken language, just like a picture or photograph. “Weaving is one of the oldest practices that humans have ever done…to clothe yourself, it’s very basic.” Morgan says, also getting to the very raw, simple, and yet still complicated statement of the exhibition. “People have a lot of fun with [fashion] now but I think it says a lot about identity.”

You can see the show for yourself until February 11^th at Columbia College’s Glass Curtain Gallery. 

TINC: What growth phase is your company in currently?

So far, just FFF (Founders, Friends and Family). We’re profitable and growing.

TINC: Give us your Elevator Pitch.

ClubExpress provides clubs and associations with an Internet platform to manage both front office and back-office operations.

ClubExpress combines the association web site with the membership database, secure online member signup, renewals and expirations, credit-card processing, membership directory, discussion forums, event calendar and online registration, E-commerce storefront, committees, document and media library, member interests and other modules based on what clubs and associations do.

The platform includes a full suite of administration tools to run the organization. There is no programming or HTML experience required; menus and dialog boxes control everything, and all changes are immediately live. We use state-of-the-art security, there’s no advertising, and associations own their data at all times.

TINC: Can you tell our readers more about the process and reach of the product or service you provide?

We focus on smaller clubs and associations, those that are generally run by volunteers or with a small paid staff. Our sweet spot is groups with 100-2000 members. Our reach is national; clubs in all 50 states are using our service.

The types of organizations using our service include hobby and enthusiast clubs, leisure and active sports clubs, professional and trade associations, community service organizations, social clubs, business and networking groups, moms and dads groups, fraternities and sororities, alumni groups, school PTOs, PTAs and booster clubs, homeowner and condo associations, chambers of commerce and neighborhood groups, religious organizations, and membership-based businesses.

TINC: What industry would you most closely align your company with?

Association management and non-for-profit membership-based organizations.

TINC: How is your product different from the other guys? What makes your company unique to the scene?

Some of our competitors cobble together a product using pieces licensed from third parties. We don’t do that; instead, we develop each of our major modules from scratch, to ensure a consistent user interface and proper integration with the membership database and our transaction and payment systems.

We take continuous improvement far more seriously than our competitors. Since ClubExpress launched, we’ve released a new version on average every 3 months; we’re on our 34th major release!

We’ve built some amazing functionality for associations with chapters, districts and regions, something that no one else can match.

We provide unlimited, toll-free support for admins and members! We recognize that ClubExpress is going to be a big change for a club, its officers and its members, so we work hard to make the change as smooth and easy as possible.

ClubExpress Demo Website

TINC: How many employees do you have on board right now?

1-10, and about to hire two more people.

TINC: Who are the founders and CEO’s of your company?

Dan Ehrmann is President and CEO, with more than 25 years of IT experience; ClubExpress is his fifth startup. Ehrmann was previously a Managing Partner of USWeb/CKS, and founder of Kallista, Inc., a database consulting firm. He was also the founding president of a Chicago car club and a past president of the Chicago Computer Society.

Ray Novak is our CTO. Ray has more than 20 years of experience at designing and building large-scale software systems with multi-tier architectures and web components.

Dan Minds is Vice-President of Software Development. Dan has 25 years experience designing and developing software solutions in industries such as education, healthcare, automotive, retail, and office/home automation.

TINC: When was your company established? What is the official founding date?

We were founded in August, 2003 and launched version 1 of our product in March, 2004.

TINC: Tell us about development platforms you may be using, or what you’re coding this in.

We use a Microsoft Stack: Windows servers, SQL Server for the database. ASP.NET and C#. It’s worked really well for us.

TINC: What is your technical approach that makes your software better? How are you getting the details right or working in a more optimized way?

We practice an extreme form of agile software development. We’re continually enhancing the software, adding features and even redesigning features based on feedback from our customers. A major software version might be built up over weeks of smaller releases.

With a major new feature, we recognize up front that we can’t think of everything. So we’ll give it our best shot and throw it out there for customers to play with; they’ll quickly tell us what works and where we missed; we can then make changes to fix the issues.

TINC: What growth phase is your company in currently? 

Series A (early stage seed funding)

TINC: Give us your Elevator Pitch. 

TimeXchange is a business network used by people to manage the tracking, submitting and approving of time sheets between anyone, anywhere. We launched in 2007 and have since seen many well-funded competitors offering expensive web applications. How expensive? For the average small business with 10 people the cost is $600/year or more. By contrast TimeXchange is just $99/year for organizations with up to 25 employees, saving our clients hundreds if not thousands of dollars each year.

So the other guy is selling Cadillacs, and we’re selling Chevys, but there are still lots of people who drive a Yugo. In this analogy the Yugo is a spreadsheet. Unlike the Yugo, the spreadsheet template is by far the most common time tracking method employed by small businesses, non-profits, and other organizations with tight budgets. These are the people we built TimeXchange for. It’s everything a small business owner needs to track and approve time at a price that won’t break the bank. This makes us the best bang for the buck of any time tracking solution.

Being the value leader is not enough though. We believe if we do the basics really well, provide excellent customer service, and keep it simple, the spreadsheet template will go the way of the Yugo.

TINC: Can you tell our readers more about the process and reach of your company and the service you provide? 

TimeXchange is time reporting for the rest of us who just think, by now, time tracking should be simple AND inexpensive.

TINC: What industry would you most closely align your company with?

The obvious answers are staffing, legal, and professional services. We’re in those industries, but that is just scratching the surface. We support organizations in secondary and higher education, public service, non-profit, association management, the trades, and property development/management –virtually anyone who tracks time for billing and/or payroll. The main common denominator is not what industry they are in, but the likelihood at one time or another they searched the Internet for “free time sheet.”

TINC: How is your product different from the other guys? 

We are the value leader in our category.

TINC: What makes your company unique to the scene? 

We view ourselves as a service company offering a tool as part of the service. We will work with a client to load their projects in, train their users or whatever they need to get a good start.

TINC: How many employees do you have on board right now? 

1-10

TINC: Who are the founders and CEO’s of your company? 

Joe Piekarz is founder and CEO.

TINC: When was your company established? 

2007

TINC: Tell us about development platforms you may be using, or what you’re coding this in. 

The platform is built on .NET.

TINC: What is your technical approach that makes your software better? 

Unlike most hosted applications, TimeXchange was architected from the beginning to a network. Among the advantages being a network gives our users is they can have multiple unrelated reporting relationships (different projects, different companies, etc.) maintained from one account.

Directed By Mac Eldridge
Written By Angel Esparza
Screenplay By Angel Esparza
Produced By Aric Jackson, Kevin McGrail, and Angie Gaffney

http://www.bloodontheplain.com

“We’re living in the space age… No matter where you are…” Longtime Arkestra member June Tyson sings in a haunting chant, clad in the silver-ringed cap seen also on Sun Ra’s drummers.

As Chicagoan, NASA astronaut and the first black woman in space challenged the audience in her keynote at DuSable Museum last summer, “The future didn’t just happen; it was created.”

This article focuses on Afro-Futurism and its fashion intersections with Chicago, also referencing how my Afro-Futurist performance art utilizes the garment as second skin and metaphor.

Artists have many reasons for utilizing the trappings of futurism. I focus on ritual to create meditative, immersive works investigating the artist’s ability to effect transformation through vibrational, intentional action.  Alter-Destiny 888--from Sun Ra’s  “I am the alter destiny”–considered the epidemic of fibroids among women of color and the use of healing sonic force.  The cloak became heavy with clumps of clay figures that were then dragged hanging off the back with increasing weight day by day.

Rapunzel Revisited: An Afri-sci-fi Space Sea Siren Taleis a zoomorphic hybridization of human and jellyfish “skirt” investigating trappings of “classic beauty” and notions of black femininity, remixing fairy tales.

Color: Shaping Experience

Photo courtesy Matt "Motep" Woods

In 1958 the United States launched the first satellite and the space age officially began.  Sun Ra dressed his band members in colors based on chakras, explaining, “costumes are music. Colors throw out musical sounds. Every color throws out vibrations of life.”[i] Trumpeter Lucious Randolph recalls that Sun Ra was so affected by color that “sometimes you’d have to change to a different color just to be able to talk to him.”[ii]  Ra designed the band’s costumes which became “so common…that some began to wear parts of them on the streets.”

In April 2010, Nicole Mitchell and Black Earth Ensemble’s Xenogenesis II performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art featured ethereal costumes made of white plastic bags with stage lighting that turned the band and stage into an ethereal dreamscape.[iii]

Chicago’s trailblazing Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians members are well-known for their painted visages and costuming that adds a mystical level to their multi-generational jazz performances.

Futurism Embodied

Sun Ra, scene from Space is the Place, 1974

Along with space travel and the approaching Millennium came new fashions shaped by these future visions.  Asking “voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?” Labelle stripped away the old persona and inspired legions of fans with seamless melodies, masterful lyrics, and silvery costumes that were at once space uniforms and sexy alien suits.  Pushing past notions of what black female musicians could do, they claimed their rightful place in rock music history.  A May 1976 Ebony magazine feature describes the scene:

“A masquerading groupie, prancing down the center of the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago like a pony freshly dipped in silver paint, is about to witness a great American rock show[...]The former doowah ladies…are in the forefront of outrageous unisexual futurism in rock music show biz…”[iv]

1978′s The Wiz introduced audiences to a black-centric version of The Wizard of Oz with Nipsey Russell as Tinman.  On most days on Michigan Avenue in front of any high-end shopping destination, you can find Chicago’s own Tinman Leroy Midyette who has been performing his signature dance moves to a Michael Jackson soundtrack on the Magnificent Mile since 1998.  Contrary to the Tin Woodsman, he is described as “full of heart.”[v]

Labelle

From Gary, Indiana to Thriller, Moonwalker to Neverland, Michael Jackson’s iconic style translated directly into mass market for desperately in love fans for whom the accessories and accoutrements brought them closer their hero and his tortured path with which they identified so deeply.

Outfitting the New Nation

At 1974′s Wattstax, Jesse Jackson led the 110,000-plus attendees in recitation of a national black litany.  At the end with fist raised, he roars, “What time is it?” and in unison they reply, “NATION TIME!”

“[I]n the early days in every nation, everyone had their costume.  ‘Cause they identified the nation….If you’re out fighting a battle, they say, “Fly your colors…every night I’m fighting a different kind of battle, so I have to change according to that night…”  -Sun Ra

“Sun Ra used to compare the Arkestra to a disciplined army,” James Jacson said.  “Soldiers can only win the war if they believe in what they do.”

Chakaia Booker, courtesy Nelson Tejada

“We’re like space warriors.  Music can be used as a weapon, as energy.  The right note or chord can transport you into space using music and energy flow.  And the listeners can travel along with you.[vi]

Jae Jarrell of Chicago’s AfriCOBRA created Revolutionary Suit in 1970.  Her tweed A-line suit with delicate scalloped “bullet” border translates fluidly as “ready to wear.”

Parallels to Afro-Futurism’s core tenets are found in the work of sculptor Chakaia Booker.  Always pictured in her headdress of African textiles, wrapped one on top of the other with panels hanging to shoulder and sometimes waist-length, she is Amazonian with eyes so direct they seem to strip away all pretense.  Her presence is awesome and beautiful.  Her monumental works of discarded tire rubber speak to reclamation and reuse; she pushes the material into forms that are alive, organic.

“To this day, [Booker] follows a family tradition and makes her own clothes, transforming them into wearable art, like the turbans that make her seem twice as tall as she is. Her eccentric appearance can shock people and still draws catcalls on the Lower East Side, where she has lived, in the same tiny apartment near Tompkins Square Park, for nearly 30 years.”

George Clinton as Dr. Funkenstein

Booker is represented in Chicago by G.R. N’Namdi Gallery.

George Clinton and P-Funk enact the cosmic drama with the mythological Dr. Funkenstein and Sir Nose where funk is rescued while “guitarist Gary Shider sail[s] over the audience, dressed as a diapered angel.”[vii]  Work “uniforms” in the Afro-Futurist style extend to all band members including his muse who enthralled the crowd in 2002 Washington Park by floating down the extended runway into the audience wearing a gigantic pair of butterfly wings, wild-colored Clinton-esque hair, and glittering gown.