A northern Illinois city is having its first festival that pays homage to a genre that started decades ago.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of house music. This high energy sound began in Chicago and trickled into its surrounding areas. Michael “Hitman” Wilson is a producer and DJ. He grew up in Aurora. He said many of the songs he made were created in his family home.
“The guys that inspired me when I started DJing, Julian Jumpin Perez, like Julian did, he was the one doing parties in Aurora back in the early 80s,” Wilson said. “And so, he kind of put it on, he put the house music on the map with his parties that he was doing there at the Alamo.”
The Alamo was a nightclub in Aurora.
Julian “Jumpin” Perez will attend the event along with other DJs like Fast Eddie, Maurice “ICE” Culpepper and many more.
Wilson said this event will be the first of many more house music celebrations.
“We're going to build it up so that we can start promoting Aurora talent and artists." he said. "This is going to be a spot that we're going to set up for them to perform and all this other stuff.”
Wilson was a part of Chicago’s Hot Mix Five. The Aurora native said there is another recognition that he is looking forward to. The city is dedicating a street to him on the same street as his family home, which his father still owns.
“That is the most overwhelming thing about it, that they sprung that on me, like as a surprise,” he said. “And I'm like, ‘wow, I was just happy to do the event.'”
The first ever A-Town House Music Fest takes place at 3 p.m. September 28th at RiverEdge Park in downtown Aurora. Doors open at 2 p.m. The street dedication will happen at noon before the event.
