Loop in Motion

With little fanfare — save for a brief R.I.P. note at the top of DJ Trackstar's weekly hip-hop newsletter this morning — Blueberry Hill's long-running Friday night hip-hop event, The Science (which is broadcast concurrently on KDHX (88.1 FM)), quietly held its last live performance at the venerable Loop landmark on Friday, September 29. I couldn't get in touch with current Science head honcho Da Fly (D-Ex) as of writing this, but radio show co-founder DJ Solo confirms the live broadcast from Blueberry Hill that began in 1998 is ending for, among other reasons, changing times. "The crowd was thinning out," he says. "All the people coming to the Science back in the day are older now, outgrowing the club life. Everyone I know is settling down and not going out as much."

All is not lost, however: DJ Solo says they'll still be holding down the airwaves from ten p.m. to midnight every Friday on KDHX — a boon for the scene, as in the night's eight-year-plus run, the city's most popular DJs (including DJ Crucial, DJ Agile 1, DJ Needles, DJ Chilly C and DJ Grocery) honed their skills at the Science. We'll have more on this story as it develops either in my column or right here.

In the meantime, the ending of the Science ironically comes on the heels of news that the area's other long-running hip-hop night, the Hi-Pointe Cafe, has a new home. Effective immediately, the weekly showcase will be held at M.P. O'Reilly's (5627 Manchester Road; 314-781-4487) on Monday nights — starting tonight, October 2, with DJ Charlie Chan Soprano on the decks and a listening party for the new Ludacris album, Release Therapy. (Maybe David Eckstein will show up?) Doors are at 9:30 p.m. and everyone is free (!) until 11 p.m., with closing time 1:30 a.m. Check my column this week for more info about the move.
-Annie Zaleski