Marea Stamper is becoming quite the name in Chicago these days. She's the head booker for Smart Bar—the city's premiere club and one of the most well-known on the continent—and her sets are crate-digger catnip for classic house and disco heads (they're played with real panache, too). But she's also a producer, with releases on Stripped & Chewed, Argot and the Nite Owl Diner label.
"Dance music needs riot grrrls. Dance music needs Patti Smith. It needs DJ Sprinkles. Dance music needs some discomfort with its euphoria. Dance music needs salt in its wounds. Dance music needs women over the age of 40. Dance needs breastfeeding DJs trying to get their kids to sleep before they have to play. Dance needs cranky queers and teenagers who are really tired of this shit. Dance music needs writers and critics and academics and historians. Dance music needs poor people and people who don't have the right shoes to get into the club. Dance music needs shirts without collars. Dance music needs people who struggled all week. Dance music needs people that had to come before midnight because they couldn't afford full admission. Dance music does not need more of the status quo." - The Black Madonna