Frenchie Davis to Headline E3 Radio’s Purple Tie Affair in Chicago, Honoring Otis Mack

The Oct. 3 concert and silent auction will celebrate Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community while raising money for Black queer-owned media and Toward Pride.

Grammy-nominated singer Frenchie Davis will headline E3 Radio’s 12th annual Purple Tie Affair on Saturday, Oct. 3, at Sidetrack, where the fundraiser will honor Otis Mack and support the outlet’s Queer News podcast.

The concert and silent auction will run from 6 to 9 p.m. at 3349 N. Halsted St. Organizers say 10% of the proceeds will go to Toward Pride, formerly known as Pride in the Pews. Tickets are listed at $75 on a Chicago Social Butterflies event page.

Davis leads a program that organizers say will feature host Trina Tru Luv, live music from Kenyotta & Kemistry, and food from Taylor’s Tacos. Guests will receive a printed LGBTQ+ business directory, and the silent auction will be open to bidders nationwide.

The evening will also honor Mack, whom organizers describe as a Chicago community legend. Recognizing people who have shaped local LGBTQ+ life is part of a Purple Tie tradition that pairs entertainment with support for community organizations.

“The Purple Tie has always been about giving back. This year it’s also about making sure we’re here for years to come,” E3 Radio founder Anna DeShawn said in an event announcement provided to Gaye Magazine.

DeShawn built E3 Radio around a question she encountered in her own life: Where could Black queer people hear music and stories that reflected them? A Chicago native who studied radio and television production at Drake University, she launched the online station in 2009 to spotlight queer artists and cover communities she saw receiving too little attention. What began as a radio show grew into a round-the-clock platform for queer music and news.

She carried that mission into podcasting with Queer News, a weekly show that covers politics, culture, and entertainment where race and sexuality meet. The podcast won a 2023 Ambie Award, and DeShawn was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame that year.

DeShawn also co-founded The Qube, a podcast production and discovery venture designed to help listeners find work by Black and Brown creators, particularly queer and trans creators of color. She told Block Club Chicago that the idea grew from hearing how often people found podcasts that reflected their experiences only through word of mouth. By 2023, The Qube hosted more than 90 curated shows.

Its original productions include Queer News, Second Sunday, a show about Black queer people and faith, and Black HIV in the South: How Did We Get Here? The projects broaden DeShawn’s work beyond a single station, making space for conversations about community, health and identity that do not fit neatly into one news category.

The Qube is still evolving. In a 2025 post, DeShawn outlined a plan to open its next version to all Black and Brown podcasters rather than require every show to pass through its original curation process. The proposed change reflects the same challenge behind the Purple Tie Affair, finding ways for independent creators to grow without losing the communities at the center of their work.

The fundraiser extends that work offline. DeShawn started the Purple Tie Affair to support smaller nonprofits, and the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame names Affinity Community Services, Project Fierce and the Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus among past beneficiaries. Organizers say the event has directed more than $20,000 to Chicago organizations serving LGBTQ+ communities.

At last year’s benefit, DeShawn told attendees that showing up meant supporting “Black queer-owned media” and “local journalism.” This year, the performances, the tribute to Mack, and the auction bring that message into one room: The stories a community needs take people and resources to tell.