Daniel Hertzberg – Time Out Chicago: A Decade After E2

It was an honor to be asked to do the cover of Time Out Chicago a couple weeks ago. It was a feature article about the 2003 E2 nightclub stampede in which 21 people were killed and more than 50 injured when panic ensued from a fight in the club. There was a lot of controversy with it- the owners claim police and fire departments (who in the past tried to shut down the club) didn’t rush to help, primarily because it was African-American owned and a predominantly black crowd there.
The art director wanted a broken heel in the center of the cover, with crime scene tape around along the side. But I tried a couple with a disco ball and the broken disco ball sketch was chosen. Since this was a remembrance piece, I wanted to show silhouettes of those that died in the tragedy, as broekn-off pieces of the disco ball. Also to show the racial issue, I thought the silhouettes could be black pieces and several white pieces separated. It may’ve been a little too much to show, so the broken disco ball was the final one chosen. Question though- is a disco ball a little dated? Sketches below.