If Only Robin Thicke Hadn’t Gotten In The Way
1. At the Grammy’s.
Posted on January 30, 2014
Remembering Pete Seeger In Chicago
Championed Early By Studs Terkel
“Pete Seeger, the singer, folk-song collector and songwriter who spearheaded an American folk revival and spent a long career championing folk music as both a vital heritage and a catalyst for social change, died Monday,” the New York Times reports. “He was 94 and lived in Beacon, N.Y.”
Studs Terkel once famously described Seeger as “the boy with that touch of hope in the midst of bleakness” and helped him early in his career.
“[H]e first met Pete Seeger in July 1941, when the Almanac Singers (Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Millard Lampell, Lee Hayes) were on a cross-country trip,” according to The Pete Seeger Reader.
“The four stayed in Terkel’s apartment on 52nd Street. Terkel quickly identified with Seeger’s left-wing politics as well as his musical style and versatility, and he became his champion until his own death almost seventy years later. Often a guest on Terkel’s radio show . . . Terkel was instrumental in Folkways Records issuing the 1956 album Studs Terkel’s Weekly Almanac on Folk Music Blues on WFMT with Big Bill Broonzy and Pete Seeger.”
Posted on January 28, 2014
The Weekend In Chicago Rock
Curation By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. Latyrx at the Double Door on Saturday night.
Posted on January 27, 2014
Local Music Notebook: Vic Mensa Graduated While Amy Ray Got Schooled
Plus: The R&B Rapper
1. Vic Mensa on Sway.
“The whole school system is mad corrupted and twisted in Chicago.”
Posted on January 22, 2014
This Happened: The 45th Annual Chicago Festival Of Polka Bands
Curation By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
In Chicago Ridge over the weekend.
1. Music Company.
Posted on January 21, 2014
The Weekend In Chicago Rock
Curation By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. The Rural Alberta Advantage at Lincoln Hall on Friday night.
Posted on January 20, 2014
Nation Discovers R. Kelly’s Past
By Steve Rhodes
“On December 6, R. Kelly dropped one of the most anticipated releases of 2013, his 12th studio album, Black Panties, which arrived after months of hype that found him duetting with Lady Gaga, headlining the Pitchfork and Bonnaroo music festivals, and popping up beside Phoenix at Coachella,” Jim DeRogatis writes for the Village Voice. “It was his year as much as anyone else’s.
“So why is he nowhere to be found in this year’s Pazz and Jop poll results? Is this the year people stopped ignoring R. Kelly’s many crimes? Why, after my 15 years of reporting on those many crimes, have people started to take notice?
“The short answer may be the interview the Village Voice ran in December, a conversation I had with fellow Chicago journalist Jessica Hopper that in its first 24 hours online racked up 1 million views. As of this writing, it’s approaching 4 million hits. It is, essentially, all the reporting I’ve done over the years in one place, a one-stop shop for the truth about R. Kelly in the age of social media. Could it be why?”
Yes, I think that’s exactly why. And that’s a huge indictment not just of the music industry but of the news business.
Posted on January 17, 2014
History Of The Drumset: Chicago-Style Drumming
By Vic Firth
“Prohibition is enacted, leading to the decade known as the Roaring Twenties. Chicago, with its culture of gangsters and illegal speakeasies, offers a rich environment for the underground but highly danceable sound of jazz to thrive.”
Posted on January 16, 2014
Local Music Notebook: Shut Up, Studs!
Plus: Rage Against The E Street Band
This 1963 Studs Terkel interview of Bob Dylan has bounced around social media the last couple of months with rave reviews. Being a huge Dylan fan, I was eager to listen, but I never made it past the first few minutes because I became so frustrated with Terkel interrupting Dylan, jumping around in his questions instead of maintaining a consistent narrative, and putting words in Dylan’s mouth.
Is it just me?
“If you’re a fan of Dylan’s early work, I implore you to spend an hour with this stellar interview that he did with Studs Terkel from the spring of 1963,” Jason Shafer writes at Dangerous Minds. “You won’t regret it. It’s a very cool piece of history in my humble opinion.”
Posted on January 14, 2014
The Weekend In Chicago Rock
Curation By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. Our Likely Escape at Bottom Lounge on Friday night.
Posted on January 13, 2014