The house music scene in Chicago has been in a reflective mood recently – and much of it has come from the recent death of Paul Johnson. He died aged just 50 on August 4th from Covid-19 – and it’s a loss which has hit many of the DJs in the city hard.

Whilst differences of opinion about vaccines, lockdowns and son unquestionably exist, my source in the city tells me the one thing they don’t want to see are clubs being closed again. The spread of the highly infectious Delta variant in other countries has not gone unnoticed – nightclubs in the Netherlands are now closed until at least November.

So the Chosen Few DJs have decided to put on an event this coming weekend for which anyone attending must be fully vaccinated. Quite simply, you must have been double jabbed by August 14th to be allowed in. And the decision has caused almost no controversy at all in the city.

Infact, a source in Chicago tells me that several clubs in the city are watching this closely – “they’re seriously thinking of doing the same, but want to see how this weekend goes before making a final decision. But this is deadly serious. Some of these clubs will shut forever if they’re ordered to close, and one club going down can cause a domino effect”.

If this happens, there are a few DJs who could find their work opportunities in Chicago curtailed dramatically…