Charlie “Chuckaluck” Hosch Jr. is probably one of the most famous bass players you may never have heard of. Hosch has played bass for a roster of artists, including Roy Ayers, Buddy Guy, The Emotions, Earth, Wind & Fire, Pop Staples and the Staples Singers and the list goes on. The 2014 Chicago Music Awards Lifetime Achievement honoree and founder of Down With Guns Up With Instruments is playing a new tune hoping to empower and engage youth by giving them access to musical instruments and technology as an alternative to the violence facing many communities across the city.
Talk about your philanthropic work.
It sort of came by inspiration for me. I grew up in Chicago and I saw how desolate some areas of the streets have become. I didn’t want to stand by idle anymore, given what I know and have learned through my own travels. I feel I have been “spiritually called” to do something about it. Each decade things in our communities are getting worse and worse and the violence is increasing. Guns are not coming out of the sky and neither are drugs. We’re having a systemic problem in our society, so where are they coming from, and why is it happening mostly to the African American communities all over the landscape of America? It is so important for all citizens in our society to be an instrument of change for our generation and one way can be through the art form of music. Making a difference by participating in underserved communities through the arts can transform the lives of our youth in a positive way. It transformed my life and I just want to pass it on.
Who has influenced you musically?
There are quite a few. I grew up in an era where thumping the bass guitar was a new phenomenon that Larry Graham from Sly and the Family Stone started, but Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire was a mentor of mine. It was an awesome experience for a kid like me to know Verdine White. We went to Crane High School on the West Side during different periods. I wanted to be so much like him. I would mimic his ways of playing. Go figure, I ended up recording with founder and lead singer of Earth Wind & Fire, Maurice White at Hollywood Recording Studio in Los Angeles.
Finally, talk a little about your latest endeavor, Down With Guns Up With Instruments.
Down With Guns Up With Instruments is a new program by which we’re implementing a gun exchange program with law enforcement in exchange for instruments, employment and any other programs we will implement. This initiative will revitalize our children’s desire to learn and earn by also developing our next musicians and entrepreneurs. Young people need to know and learn the power of their own hands. They can master musical instruments instead of firing guns and their lives can be transformed as a result. We are taking a new kind of philosophy — a holistic approach to transforming kids spiritually and mentally.
For more information, visit www.downwithguns.org
