Plus: Spencer Tweedy, Jimmy Langford & Coco Gordon-Moore

And Billy Bragg, Nicki Bluhm and the National Pork Producers Council.
1. Buddy Guy (and others) choose Aurora over Chicago in the Battle of the Blues Fests.
2. From the publicity machine:
“Coming off of their critically acclaimed and fan-beloved first new album in over a decade, 2011’s Rock&Roll Submarine, Urge Overkill is thrilled to be sharing the stage with Glassnote Records’ Phoenix. The 90’s Chicago rock-punk power band did not perform in the Southeast on their last tour and are looking forward to reconnecting with their fans in Atlanta and Orlando. Also, check out this link to the new music video for ‘Effigy.'”
We checked it out so you don’t have to. Absolutely rote.

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Posted on April 24, 2013

It Went To 11

You should’ve been there.
1. Rebelution at the Congress on Saturday night.

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Posted on April 22, 2013

By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk

You shoulda been there.
1. Shuggie Otis at Lincoln Hall on Wednesday night.

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Posted on April 19, 2013

By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk

They played at a venue near you.
1. Fleetwood Mac on the West Side on Saturday night.

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Posted on April 15, 2013

By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk

They played at a venue near you.
1. Living Colour at the Park West on Thursday night.

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Posted on April 15, 2013

West Side Bluesman With A West Side Sound

“Chicago bluesman Jimmy ‘Fast Fingers’ Dawkins, known for his excellent guitar playing and mellow singing voice, has died. He was 76,” AP reports.
“Dawkins was born in Tchula, Miss. An only child, Dawkins taught himself to play guitar before moving to Chicago in the 1950s.”
Dawkins was “generally considered a part of the ‘West Side Sound’ of Chicago blues,” according to his Wikipedia entry.

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Posted on April 12, 2013

Plus: Lupe Fatigue In Milwaukee

A loose collection of whatnot.
1. Wilco Down Under.
“It’s been ten years since Wilco – the Chicago band who have become standard bearers for rustic American art-rock – first popped into town,” Russell Baillie writes for the New Zealand Herald.
“Back then, they were way down the bill on a secondary stage at the 2003 Big Day Out. From memory, frontman Jeff Tweedy was not in the best mood that: ‘We went to Waiheke yesterday,’ he deadpanned to small crowd before him, ‘that’s our anecdote.’
“But now on their fourth New Zealand visit – fifth if you count the time Tweedy and three bandmates spent in 2008 on Neil Finn’s second Seven Worlds Collide project – here was Wilco in front of a packed Auckland Town Hall finishing off the Down Under tour for 2011 album The Whole Love and having an infectiously good time. Their past NZ shows had been intense sit-down chamber-rock affairs. With a big standing huddle down the front, and the galleries filled above, this one felt sweatier, friendlier and more celebratory. A chatty funny Tweedy sure had more than one anecdote, and even made friends with the security woman standing at his feet.”

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Posted on April 11, 2013

By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk

You shoulda been there.
1. Tommy & The High Pilots at the Beat Kitchen on Saturday night.

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Posted on April 8, 2013

By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk

You shoulda been there.
1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds at the Chicago Theatre on Monday night.

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Posted on April 5, 2013

Plus: Black Metal Thrills & Chi-Cal Power Country

A loose collection of whatnot.
1. Peace Rap.
“Join the Universal Zulu Nation as we usher this initiative into our communities to have a SAFE, PRODUCTIVE AND FUN Chicago Summer for our Children and Teens!
“We are pleased to invite you to participate in Chicago’s first annual Hip Hop For Peace: Youth Against Violence Month, designated for Monday May 6th, Tuesday May 14th, Friday May 17th, and Friday May 24th, 2013 at the historic landmark Chicago Cultural Center in downtown Chicago, and Saturday May 18th at the Gary Comer Youth Center.”

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Posted on April 3, 2013