You Should Be Dancing (For A Cause)!

As born and bred Uptowners, avid dancers, and fans of the many early house shows of our youth at the Riviera and the Aragon, we were thrilled when we finally got our own nightclub, Le Nocturne, in 2019.  

Since opening, owner Francois Crokaert has delivered on his opening promise to bring outstanding DJs from around the country and the world, and most importantly, he has also focused on promoting the amazing talent right here in our backyard.   

While we missed the event live this past Friday, Le Nocturne, working with the Frankie Knuckles Foundation and Chicago's living legends The Chosen Few DJs held an online fundraiser to purchase a headstone for Ron Hardy, who was buried in 1992 without anything to commemorate his critical contribution to the world's music scene. The fundraiser raised enough money for the headstone, and all proceeds raised over the cost of the headstone are going to COVID-19 relief efforts (you can still contribute here).

If you like to dance like we do during isolation, you can find the music side of the fundraiser on YouTube here (DJs Jamie 3:26, Bill Hardy (Ron's nephew), Andre Hatchett and Craig Loftis Part 1) and here (DJ's Craig Loftis Part 2, Mike Dunn, Gene Hunt, Wayne Williams, Ron Carroll and Celeste Alexander). 

Since we can't go to our local fitness clubs just yet, dancing for 10 hours straight is a great way to hold off the pounds we are all gaining by supporting our local restaurants.  

Apparently the video livestream got over 100,000 views live and had viewers from all across the world.  And that's not all.  Le Nocturne continues to run a series of weekly shows for all of your socially distanced dancin' needs, featuring some of the very best of Chicago's DJs and curated by Chicago legend Ron Carroll.

Pretty cool that one of the newest members of our entertainment district is getting attention from around the world. Although we're past our clubbing days, we very much look forward to having a drink or two at Le Nocturne and maybe testing out our arthritic knees once they reopen.

And, if you ever see him, thank Francois (featured here, speaking about his decision to move from Paris and open a club in Uptown) for bringing something great to our backyard!