An Interview With
CHicago Commuinty Jail Support
for their Beneifit Compilation
WArm Violet
Benefit compilations have been springing up everywhere during 2020. Every scene across the country and the world has been trying to raise funds for a cause or just to keep a roof over their artists heads. However, Warm Violet is something special. A massive collection of Chicago musicians, spanning a stunningly diverse array of genres. Forty six tracks of unreleased material, from live and demo versions to fully fleshed out recordings, these artists have given their work for free to support an essential and important organization. Chicago Community Jail Support may be a young program but they are doing things for people that is an essential service. We spoke to volunteer Don Lyons, who had a hand in putting together Warm Violet (along with other volunteers Julia D, Macie S, and Avery S). He filled us in on CCJS, the compilation process, and their continuing efforts to aid the citizens released from Cook County Jail.
Warm Violet is being released today on Bandcamp Friday. Every first Friday during the pandemic Bandcamp has waved their handling fees. If you have the means please visit Bandcamp and purchase this compilation to help support CCJS.
Don Lyons (he/him/his)
Tell us about Chicago Community Jail Support. How long has the organization been around and how was it started?
Don: Well, jail support and mutual aid have been around forever. Other cities like St Louis have had this sort of ongoing mutual aid support work for people getting released from jail well before us, and I'm pretty sure we're not even remotely close to being the first Chicago crew to take on this endeavor. We're just building on so much work before us and doing our best to do right by the community. We're a very small slice of a long-term abolitionist movement in Chicago led by Black and Brown people calling to defund, disarm, and dismantle the Chicago Police Department and Cook County Jail.
That being said, I believe this specific Chicago Community Jail Support operation began around late May, as a response to protestors being arrested en masse following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police. A response based network of activists and volunteers sprang up really quickly, congregating on a few different backchannels to keep track of where protestors were being held and how to support people post release and connect them to legal advocates. This included Cook County Jail, but also provided resources to protestors held at different precincts.
As the acute crisis of mass arrests at protests tapered off in favor of the more normalized police terror that hangs over Chicago, there was no longer a need for a jail support presence at these other precincts. Allowing us to focus on providing support at Cook County Jail, where the majority of people are released from police custody. As fewer explicitly protest related arrests were being released, we realized that everyone coming out of Cook County Jail still needed the support we were giving to protestors. I think if you haven't been to jail or have a loved one who's been to jail, especially Cook County Jail, it's hard to understand just how much of a losing situation people are put in. You're kept in a freezing building with abysmal food and stinking water, and then when it's time to get out, you're pretty much kicked to the curb without your phone, which you have to go to a precinct miles away to get. If your car's been impounded, you might not even have your keys to get into your home. If you don't have a phone or secure housing to begin with, it's even worse. The most they offer you is a bus pass when you get out, and we frequently observed situations in which released people weren't even given those. So it really makes a difference to have people who are willing to lend their phones so people can make calls, have a cooler full of clean water and Gatorade, a table of snacks, and the offer of a safe ride to pick up property or get home. We purposely have a huge, eye-grabbing bright purple tent, so people know to come to us for care and comfort. Hence "Warm Violet" for the compilation name. Clever, no?
These are just one man's recollections and so it's possible that some of the following details are wrong, but it's the narrative that my brain has retained. I got involved when the efforts moved from the smaller precincts to the ongoing mutual aid project at Cook County Jail that became Chicago Community Jail Support. Around early June. We were there 24 hours a day at that point as we hadn't yet learned the usual release schedule for those getting out. My first shift was something like 11pm-5am. I watched the sun come up over the jail. I was pretty much hooked at that point. My next shift was a late afternoon/early evening shift where I gave my first ride home to someone. I try to keep a good count, and I think now I've given rides to just shy of 200 people.
As we continued these operations it became clear that we needed to become more organized. It was almost naive for us to think that we could just jump into this kind of work, when the act of helping the recently released often dovetails with substance abuse harm reduction, housing instability, and long-term violence prevention. Not to mention that we've had to develop relationships with other community stakeholders in the neighborhood and broader Chicago area; from the cab drivers who take fares out of the jail, to other groups who were eager to aid us in the work, to people we helped out who were eager to get in touch and become volunteers themselves. We didn't have a name for months, but in the intervening time we have a pretty neat loose structure that allows us to undertake this work in a sustainable way.
What are the organization's goals and what do you hope to accomplish through this compilation fundraiser?
Our goal is to abolish the criminal punishment system in Chicago, America, and the world. We believe in taking care of people along the way, since it's a big fight and it feels significant to us to be providing genuine, unconditional, not means tested care to those who leave jail.
The compilation is really meant to get us through a long winter. The most common thing we hear when people start chatting with us as they leave jail is, "Where were you the last time I was here?" It's become clear that this operation provides safety and security to many people, and the alternative is often a long wait for a bus across town, or a semi-precarious walk to the train. Few people coming out of Cook County Jail actually live in the neighborhood, and many don't even live in Chicago. That can be a multi-hour voyage just to get to where you can rest your head for the night. We have a plan to purchase a vehicle, some auxiliary heating, and other resources to keep our work possible through the most hauntingly cold months of Chicago winter; but it's not possible to do so without a funding source, and it's only getting colder. That's why we're so humbled and so grateful for anyone checking out the comp and donating money to purchase it. You're all making this work possible.
The benefit compilation has a long history in the indie music scene, why go this route than traditional fundraising?
Independent musicians are oddly well suited to this work. Many of us have spacious vehicles for touring, we're used to intermittent communication, we improvise with the equipment available to us, and we organize people efficiently to make something out of nothing. If you can turn a laundry room in a basement into a dance floor, why not turn the meridian of the road across from the jail into a place of care and refuge? And musicians are missing gigs badly, not just financially but also socially. How many people do I know that I really just know from saying "sup" to them at a gig a few times a month? I think the strength of having a compilation of locals is that it kind of brings that loose community back in a really real way. Warm Violet makes me feel like I'm at a really good show. The familiar din of a friend's singing voice, the novel sound of a performer I'd never been exposed to before then, an ambient piece that drives through me like a lightning bolt, a dance rocker that almost makes me knock my laptop over, or the folk song that puts a happy tear in my eye.
The benefit compilation is classic for sure. It's a cool artifact of the 80's/90's DIY spirit, when taping equipment became affordable to have at home. In the years before, compilation albums were usually either promotion attempts by major record labels with money to burn, or musicological oddities and artifacts, meant to provide a scientific view of a certain genre or period. Once the power of the tape made its way into the hands of the people, small regional labels thought, “hey, why not make a mix of people from our zone to distribute?” Then they were everywhere. We're doing a hand-recorded limited tape run to pay homage to this movement, another way independent music brings people together. I think it also reflects the value of mutual aid. Anyone with a computer or instrument can make music, anyone with a tape deck can dub their own tapes, and anyone with a caring heart can do something to better the conditions of those around them. It just makes sense.
Even beyond this compilation, fundraising for Chicago Community Jail Support has been clever and multi-faceted. In summer we had a socially distanced BBQ with live music, a bake sale, and a supply drop off area. It was a huge hit. We also just started a thrift store that runs online, https://www.instagram.com/chicommunitythrift/ or chicommunitythrift.com , and we also run that as a pop-up at Comfort Station in Logan Square every other Sunday from 11am-3pm. Our next one is on December 13th. So there's a lot of inspired fundraising efforts at play in the volunteer group. This compilation is just one piece of it!
You are releasing on Bandcamp Friday (when Bandcamp waves their handling fees) to try and maximize your revenue. This was by design, I assume?
Yep. We know people want to donate directly to a good cause, so we figure we'd use Bandcamp Friday as a resource to make it happen. It's probably the coolest way I've seen a music platform respond to the pandemic, when so many musicians are out of work and not touring. It's really cool and if you want to spread your Bandcamp Friday dollar further you'd be wise to track down the Bandcamp pages of the artists on the comp, because there is just so much incredible music out there by these contributors. We have everyone's pages linked on the Bandcamp page for their individual track when you click on it.
Warm Violet is a massive collection of Chicago artists, how long have you been working to put it together?
It's been a few months, but with a great crew working for a cause we believe in, it flew by.
How many artists did you contact in order to get 46 songs?
You know, we cast a pretty wide net. We knew we wanted to do all Chicago music, but we didn't want to narrow it down by genre. Because we just didn't know what the interest would be! I remember being happy if we got 10 acts to donate a track. We just knew it was a lot to ask of people during this time, especially musicians who may not have a chance to get together and record. Who are trying to figure out how to make it through an uncertain pandemic period, and it wasn't like we were a huge label that were going to be putting people on. We're just a few Chicago locals asking our friends and acquaintances to donate a track. So the number wasn't too much higher than 46, I think. We were just so blown away by the generosity of the Chicago music scene. During 2020 it's really sweet to be pleasantly surprised and humbled by the kindness of others. Every single track on here means a lot to us because it's our community selflessly giving a recording to be part of a broader mosaic to help other people in Chicago. It's really touching! So really, please do check out the individual artists' pages, because everyone on here is a major player and deserves support.
Which was the most exciting artist to land?
This question isn't fair! I do, though, want to give a shout out to John Daniel, who mastered the compilation, completely donating his time. You might not realize it looking at it, but this thing is three hours of audio, of wildly different genres, and a lot of the tracks were totally different volumes, dynamic ranges, formats, etc. before the mastering phase. John got the audio and turned it around in just a few days, and it sounds incredible. It's coherent and flows really well. So, it was exciting to have John's help bringing the audio-technical aspect of this all together, in a really sensitive and artful way that showed he really worked hard to get this compilation to sound amazing.
If someone doesn't want to buy the collection but still wants to donate or get involved in Chicago Community Jail Support, what's the best way to help?
We're at the corner of 27th/California every day, 5pm-10pm. Just look for the big purple tent!
You can also send a message and get connected with us on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chicommunityjailsupport/
Also, feel free to hit up my personal email with any questions about our work - if I can't answer them, I'll connect you with someone who can: emailmonogamy@gmail.com.