| BLAKE JARRELL | The past  two years have brought this extraordinary young artist a plethora of serious achievements.  From his ongoing summer residency at the legendary Amnesia club in Ibiza, to a 40 country world tour to complement his successful 2-disc DJ mixed compilation for the Armada Dancefloor Sessions series.  Blake Jarrell is one of the fastest rising stars in the dance music industry today. It is hard to believe that just a few years ago Blake’s fortunes we’re anything but good.  Blake arrived in his adopted hometown of Chicago in 2005 shortly after packing up all his belongings and fleeing the Mississippi Delta from the menace of Hurricane Katrina.  The Windy City’s vibrant electronic music community embraced Blake’s natural fan making ability and he was making waves in no time. Blake quickly rose through the ranks of local jocks and a big break was just ahead.  Some high profile bookings brought on a chance meeting with Armada Music’s head aficionado Armin Van Buuren.  After listening to a few of his original productions, Armin contacted Blake and soon after he joined the Armada artist roster.  Since that time Armin has invited Blake on several of his world tours as an exclusive special guest performer.  Finally, Blake cemented his relationship with Armada Music when he joined a select group of international stars for full summer residencies at Armada’s weekly shindig at Amnesia in Ibiza in 2007 and 2008. Battle tested indeed, after traveling to over 90 cities, the New Orleans kid turned Chicago hometown heavyweight remains busy and is looking to climb further up the DJ charts with an intense schedule of original productions and remixes.  Blake’s studio skills are what earned him an undisputed reputation and his creativity is enjoyed and heavily supported by Markus Schulz, Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, Paul van Dyk, Pete Tong, Matthew Dekay, John Digweed, Paul Oakenfold and of course Armin Van Buuren. Blake recalls his 2008 hit Punta del Este and his remix of Moussa Clark’s She Wants Him as just some of the highlights of his young career.  The former was featured on Armin Van Buuren’s acclaimed A State of Trance 2008 compilation, and the latter held the #1 position on Beatport’s trance charts for several weeks. It is this blistering pace of success that has kept Blake grounded which explains his dedication to expanding his monthly radio show Concentrate.  The show continues to evolve and reach new audiences by featuring signature mix sets from Blake Jarrell and special international guests.  He believes in his fans immensely and works tirelessly to give back to the people that have supported him and his records. Blake is set to kick off 2009 with an international tour in the better part of February in support of his upcoming project for Armada Music.  A unique compilation that will feature some of Blake’s original work as well as high profile remixes.  The album will debut at the Winter Music Conference in Miami at the end of March with a CD release on Armada Music scheduled shortly after.  The tour will see Blake off to Riga, Stockholm, Helsinki, Vancouver, Toronto, Miami, Boracay, and San Francisco, among others.  Blake Jarrell sets the bar awfully high for aspiring young artists from Chicago, New Orleans and beyond, but it is his perseverance, dedication, hard work, and most of all passion for his craft that sees him through to the top and across the world. GENERAL ADMISSION $20 DISCOUNT ADMISSION: Click HERE to RSVP $10 Before Midnight, $15 After PURCHASE PRE-SALE TICKETS ONLINE: Wantickets.com/vision $15 TABLE RESERVATIONS To make a reservations contact our VIP Host Catherine at 312.504.9400 CELEBRATING A SPECIAL OCCASION? ContactAshley at 312.266.1944 or send her an email at amills@aceplaces.com. Click HERE to check out our personal party packages. BLAKE JARRELL [blakejarrell.com]

Shlomi Rabi, NBC Chicago Street Team In order to be anybody who’s anybody (or is it anybody who is somebody? somebody’s anybody? nobody’s everybody? who cares, you get the gist), a true Chicagoanista must comply with the memo to prove their commitment to style. The first requirement, of course, is spending …

Dave Leonard, NBC5 Street Team, (Video) This past weekend I was treated to a fun and engaging comedic experience from seven of the funniest and most talented ladies I’ve ever seen…The Elite Delta Force 3.  This all-female sketch comedy troupe have been selling out shows in the Los Angeles area and …

Candace Jordan, NBC Chicago Street Team I woke up Thursday morning, May 28th, to the most unusual emails.  “You’ve got to do it!”, “You’re our choice.”, “Email them now!”, “You’d be perfect for this!”….blah, blah, blah….only until I opened up the newspaper did I understand what they were talking about.  There …

Paul M. Banks a.k.a. The Sports Bank, NBC Chicago Street Team One of the weirdest aspects of a rivalry is when a player changes teams, and goes to his former team’s bitterest of rivals.  Even though he’s been wearing a Detroit Red Wings(who currently lead the Stanley Cup Finals 2-1)  sweater …

Every Wednesday, 8pm-2am – 428 E. 87th St. Residents JMJ + Vince Miller.

Every Tuesday, 9pm-2am | 938 E. 75th St. | no cover Resident DJ Mike Dunn + guests.  listing from http://www.5chicago.com/  

Laura Lodewyck, NBC Chicago Street Team Think you’ve got the stuff to join the leagues of such heros as Craig “Hot Lixx Hulahan” Billmeier, Andrew “William Ocean” Litz, and Fatima “Rockness Monster” Hoang? Come prove it at the US Air Guitar Championships at the Metro this Saturday. All are welcome …

Laura Lodewyck, NBC Chicago Street Team The hottest pepper in the world has a challenge for you tonight: “eat me and win a plasma tv”. Contestants at Lion Head Pub will start off easy with a mild bell pepper, eating their way through progressively hotter peppers (jalapeño, ancho, cayenne and habanero…) until the …

Laura Lodewyck, NBC Chicago Street Team Experience the best of Turkey, brought to your own backyard (that is, if your backdoor is across from City Hall, on Washington Street between Clark and Dearborn). The Chicago Turkish Festival continues through this Saturday, followed by the ai Lounge’s Turkish Festival “After-party”. This FREE Festival, which …

Candace Jordan, NBC Chicago Street Team Local icon and all around incredible woman, Donna LaPietra, was honored Thursday night  by the Apparel Industry Board at the Casino. The event benefited the Stanley Paul-Raelene Mittelman Scholarship Fund which awards scholarships to college students from Greater Chicago and/or Illinois who are studying in …

Two men were killed early Sunday and another man was shot in the leg after they were involved in a verbal altercation with an unknown shooter, police said. Police said the shootings happened on the 1100 block of North Kildare Avenue on the West Side in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood. Demetrius Tyson, 32, of the 900 block of North Lavergne Avenue, was pronounced dead at 3:53 a.m. at Mt. Sinai Hospital. He was shot in the head and neck, police said. Quincy Chaines, 32, of the 4300 block of West Augusta Boulevard, was shot in the torso and pronounced dead at Bethany Hospital at 3:45 a.m. A third man was shot in the leg and was being treated at Norwegian American Hospital. No other details were available. — Staff report