Morseland: Show’s Over
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No beef is actually the problem: the Morseland was busted for not serving food. Though it hasn’t really functioned as such since 1995, it’s licensed as a restaurant that can sell alcohol, not as a bar. Duggan, a 31-year-old former Loyola student who’d worked as a cocktail waitress and bartender there since 1993, took over the Morseland from the previous owner, who still possesses the building at 1218 W. Morse, in December 1996. He’d given up on the place, but in a surge of sentiment she offered to manage it for him and ended up buying the business for $3,000. “I thought we could make some money and I really wanted to keep it going,” Duggan says. “There’s still not much in Rogers Park to do entertainmentwise. It was a shame to see the place close down.
Once she’d reopened, Duggan applied for a change of corporate officer–basically to have her name put on the liquor license–and the city said no. She appealed the decision, a process that took almost two years. She says one official who was involved told her she’d get the license, but that the Morseland would have to start operating as a restaurant again. “I said, ‘Oh sure, sure, we will,’ but we didn’t,” she says. “We had tried it in the past and we lost money.” Less than a month after the change was granted, undercover agents visited the Morseland, and on Friday, June 9, it got written up for noncompliance. To avoid further citations, Duggan closed up shop that weekend.
Although the exact schedule for this year’s World Music Festival is still being worked out, many of the performers have been confirmed, and at first glance the lineup looks even better than last year’s. Among the highlights so far are Brazilian pomo popster Lenine (making his U.S. debut), Nubian oud master Hamza El Din, breathtaking Kurdish vocalist Sivan Perwar, Israeli singing star Chava Alberstein, and the superb Puerto Rican salsa group Plena Libre. Nearly 40 acts are scheduled to perform between September 21 and October 1.
