Chicago -
By Scott Gordon
Every year, the presence of mediocre but once moderately successful bands that fill out the lineups of dozens of concert tours and small local festivals and concert series’ inherently pose a question to their fans and the rock world at-large: What keeps us going?
Posted on August 7, 2006
The Beachwood Playlist Affairs Desk
Who knew so many people were interested in the crappy snippets of music played on Chicago Tonight? From the program’s Frequently Asked Questions:
Posted on July 31, 2006
By Don Jacobson
What is the meaning of this strong connection between goats and bars in Chicago? I have detected new evidence of the curious goat/tavern karma here. As if one all-too-popular bar that fetishizes the animal isn’t way more than enough, now there’s another popular watering hole in town that’s sporting a thing for horned ruminants.
Posted on July 31, 2006
By Mick Dumke
The Cook County Board’s been on our minds lately, so I considered it great fortune when I found a bargain-bin record the other day by my favorite soul-singing commissioner, Jerry “Iceman” Butler. Since Butler has now had a long career as a Regular Democratic Party loyalist, it’s easy to forget that, as a founding member of the Impressions and through his solo work, he’s one of the most influential soul artists in history.
Posted on July 23, 2006
By Don Jacobson
As we have seen in earlier installments of Chicago In Song, when it comes to our city’s treatment in popular song lyrics, there seems to be a hate-hate relationship going on. Why do they hate us? Why? We’re not really such a simmering hellhole, are we? If you judge by these common-man poets, that’s just what we are. This time around, we’ll look at a song that comes right out and tells us we’re crap; one that bemoans friends getting killed; one that associates the city with Big Brother mind-control; and one that actually kind of gets it right.
Wow. Had to look around some for that.
Posted on July 23, 2006
By Tim Willette and Natasha Julius
And the flag was still there.
The Alphabetically-Spangled Banner
Air and and and at
banner bombs brave bright broad
bursting by can dawn’s does
early fight flag free gallant-
ly gave glare gleaming hailed
home in land last light night
o o o’er o’er of of
our perilous proof proudly
ramparts red rockets say
say see so so stars star-
spangled still streaming
stripes that that the the the
the the the the the the the
the there through through
twilight’s was watched wave we
we were what whose yet you
Posted on July 1, 2006
By Scott Gordon
“If you just walked in and you don’t know what the heck is goin’ on, we’re the Gin Blossoms,” lead singer Robin Wilson announces early in the band’s set at Lincoln Park Zoo. This may actually help some people in the audience.
Posted on June 25, 2006
By Don Jacobson
Jamgrass.
That’s the kind of band Yonder Mountain String Band has been accused of being. Like the jam bands of a more rock ‘n’ roll persuasion, they’ve been known largely for wild live performances that go on forever, reaching groovitude after a few songs and sustaining the high for as long as humanly possible as the smell of that other kind of jamgrass wafts far and wide. As the glow sticks bounce in rhythm, instead of electric guitars and plugged-in keyboards, bluegrass jammers pound away on the acoustic tools of their trade, thus combining two essential elements: The community-building qualities of the rock jam band ethos and the undeniable authenticity of the countrified mandolin plucker and acoustic flat-picker.
Posted on June 18, 2006
By Scott Gordon
You would think Chicago has enough music venues for every act worth listening to – and you would be right. Even those on the lower end of the acoustic folkie food chain have a variety of welcome stages from which to ply their wares, courtesy of the hometown Potbelly Sandwich Works chain. Anyone who frequents Potbelly for cheap lunches has felt the awkward presence of one of the city’s surplus guitar-slingers, often immersed in a lunchtime-inappropriate Three Doors Down cover, or worse. I scouted numerous locations for talent, often having to digest delicious toasted sandwiches under oppressive sonic conditions, and found that not all Potbelly singers suck equally. While one I encountered had a decent feel for her audience, the others either lacked confidence or seemed to think they were performing at a wake, instead of the home of Big Jack’s PB & J. Who are these sandwich shop vagabonds playing for next to nothing before indifferent crowds for free milkshakes? And are they any good?
Posted on June 16, 2006
By Don Jacobson
– The Detroit Cobras will incongruously perform an in-store at the Virgin Records Store on the Magnificent Mile this Wednesday night. The Cobras are neither virgins nor magnificent, at least in the North Michigan Avenue sense of the word. They are, however, quite possibly the smokin’est band going, and this chance to see a free in-store should not be missed. The show is scheduled to go off at 7 p.m. See if the Virgin cops cramp Rachel Nagy’s style.
Posted on June 15, 2006
