Meet Me Upstairs is a free, weekly dance party held in the Upstairs Lounge at Schubas. The event takes place on Fridays from 9pm to 1am. All are welcome.

Ali Najdi is a DJ, curator, producer and writer living and breathing in Chicago. Ali’s sets are guided by a playfulness and spirit of musical freedom that is bursting at the seams with energy. Equal parts flirtatious, revelatory and challenging. Ali’s maximalist musical sensibility point’s directly to their textured and dynamic upbringing from the Middle East to New Orleans.

As a student of dance music history and club culture across the ages, Ali synthesizes new and old school stylings into their sets, narrativizing dramatic arcs that leave you curious, breaking the mould of underwhelming dance floors and imploring a closing of the perceived spacial gap between dancer and DJ. Ali’s sets are a colorful musical cornucopia where underground dance music seeks to find a unifying theory.

In 2021, Ali threw the first Pleasure Club at a dive bar in Avondale and the rest is history. They now act as Podlasie Club’s co-director of programming, with the intent to contribute to the rich ecosystem that is the Chicago dance scene.

DJ Chia Pudding is serious about having fun. This Chicago DJ has an appetite for bubbly, bratty, and bouncy bass music that lovers of the low end will eat right up. Her love of r&b shines through. You can often hear her rinsing UK Garage edits of 90s classics or playing the original when an edit just won’t do. Ingredients for a proper Chia P workout can include: dreamy breaks, dark 2 step, euphoric rave cuts, hypnotic grooves, proggy tech, leftfield club—and absolutely no added junk.

Looking to get a taste? She has selected at Chicago’s esteemed underground clubs—smartbar and Podlasie—as well as Minnesota based festival, The Great Beyond. She curates the parties Swung and Soft Swerve so others can enjoy the sounds that move her.