Terence Evergreen

With a storied tradition, house music has been around for over two decades. Terence Evergreen has seen more than half of it first hand. “I like to think of a defining moment for house coming by the hands of Fast Eddie. House began to shift from the synth-based new wave disco sound of Frankie Knuckles and other Chicago legends to what house has become today. Fast Eddie was a bridge for the likes of popular DJs of today, such as Derrick Carter and Mark Farina. It’s funny to see those guys play hip-hop remixes, because that was Fast Eddie’s signature. Fast Eddie fostered the hip-house style and a more up-tempo style with this hitting bass. Plus, he even laid his own rhymes. It just stormed through Chicago. ‘Git On Up’ was it.”Fast Eddie’s “Git on Up” was released in 1989 on DJ International and quickly became a huge success. “That song was everywhere. It was played on the radio as a single. That’s how hot the song was.” A house song by a local DJ made the regular rotation on a major radio station in a huge radio market with the standard format of playing ‘the same song 15 times a day for 3 months’. A song put out on an independent house label. “I was about 13 years old then and I was hooked. School dances, underage nightclubs, and house parties were about all I could think of. Plain and simple, the beat just made me dance.” In Chicago, few house cuts made it to radio as a single during the day and early evening hours. Most house music was only radio played late at night during the weekends on mix shows. Shows with Fast Eddie and Tyree Cooper were some of Evergreen’s favorites. “Fast Eddie was the first I can remember. It was the door.” It wasn’t until 5 years later, when Aly Us’ ‘Follow Me’ was a radio hit on WGCI & WBBM of almost the same magnitude.You never know what you have until it’s gone. In 2001, Terence packed up and left for the West. “I never realized all the great clubs, music, and DJs I had access to until I left Chicago. However, the great thing about moving is seeing new & different DJs, going to different clubs and new record shops. The Bay Area has a great scene. Also, I like to see my favorite DJs come around and witness how they are received in a different city. Plus, the history of house in a different city can be so interesting.” Quite noticeable was the large legendary rave scene of the west coast.“All I heard from locals when I got out here was about these huge bay area raves back in the day. It sounded like a lot of fun. But it was just so different from home.” After leaving the underage club scene of Chicago behind in 1994, Terence went on to college 7 hours south of the city to nothing but a college party & bar scene. “It could be really depressing at times. No good djs anywhere.”After graduating, Terence returned to Chicago in 1998. “Being of age had its advantages. I was able to check out tons of clubs in Chicago. There was Mondays at Red Dog with Mark Grant and also his Madbar residency when the weekend hit, Thursdays was Buddha Lounge and Red No. 5, but Smartbar quickly became my favorite.” The legendary Smartbar was at its peak.The first night Terence was there, he battled some breakers on the floor. By the end of the evening, Terence had joined the X-men b-boy crew. “At first I thought it was an unusual name, but after meeting up with them every Friday and Saturday, the name of the crew was readily apparent in a few weeks time. Dave always had his backpack and was the most popular guy in the club.”Local DJs like Heather, Colette, and Darrell Woodson dominated the monthly line-up with appearances by the likes of Traxx, Kenny Carvajal. J Dub, Lego, DJ V, Mark Grant, Brett Haynes, out of town resident Miles Maeda, Synergy and Rasoul. Terence finally had enough. After years of pondering the thoughts of getting some turntables, the camels back broke.“Roderick was doing the booking for Smartbar then and I became friends with a bouncer there named Kenny Yu. On his few off nights, we’d check out other clubs, like Red No. 5 and Madbar. So I’m feeding him my mix tapes here and there. One night, out of nowhere, Kenny gives me a call. A guy he knows is playing a party down by UIC, where that cheesy movie Candyman was shot. He gives me directions to the spot and tells me to bring my vinyl.” That night, Terence Evergreen hooked up with Chicago’s legendary underground DJ Tommy M, a Chicago underground DJ and old Medusa’s regular who now has over 2 decades of dj experience.“I learned so much from Tommy. It was funny because the DJ booth at Smartbar was basically a big brown army bunker. You couldn’t see the DJ, regardless if it was Colette, Heather or Miles. So, I could never see some of my favorite DJs actually mix. Tommy gave me lots of pointers early on. The guy is legend with those who count.” (Just ask Traxx!) Terence still gets a chance to play with Tommy every time he returns home.Special thanks to Tommy M, Marshall, Tripple J, MG, Frank, Al, Tyrel and Karl. You all are generous, warm-hearted folks who I am proud to have as friends.Calendar & Email list: [email protected] Home | Browse | Search | Invite | Film | Mail | Blog | Favorites | Forum | Groups | Events | Videos | Music | Comedy | Classifieds