By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk

A loose collection of whatnot.
1. Rockie Fresh’s new tape, Electric Highway, drops on January 21 with a debut LP to follow.
From Brooklyn Vegan:

Rockie Fresh will be playing a pair of record release shows for Electric Highway: One at NYC’s SOB’s on January 23 with Lunice and another at [Chicago’s] Bottom Lounge on February 2 with Chance the Rapper, Mark Battles, and R.O.E.. Advance tickets for the Chicago show are on sale now. All proceeds will go to benefit JDRF, a charity in effort to help juvenile diabetics.

Here’s “Nobody,” the first single:

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Posted on January 6, 2013

By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk

You shoulda been there.
1. Screeching Weasel at Reggie’s on Sunday night.

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Posted on January 5, 2013

Kicks It Up A Touch

In all sorts of ways.
1. Pipes and Sticks on Route 66.

Arguably the greatest drummer in the world, Jim Kilpatrick was one of five musicians who traveled on a 2,400-mile concert tour down America’s most famous highway.

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Posted on January 2, 2013

By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk

A loose collection of whatnot.
1. Waco Brothers Play T. Rex.
And for a good cause. This is a benefit show for the Pablove Foundation and Rock For Kids at the Metro on Friday, January 11.
But the Wacos are hardly alone on the bill. Take a look.

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Posted on January 1, 2013

By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk

You shoulda been there.
1. Neurosis at the Metro on Sunday night.

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Posted on December 31, 2012

By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk

You shoulda been there.
1. The Western at Subterranean on Thursday night.

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Posted on December 24, 2012

By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk

You shoulda been there.
1. The Draconian Crusade at Reggie’s on Sunday night.

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Posted on December 21, 2012

Don’t You Weep; She Made It

“Chicago gospel icon Inez Andrews was the last of her kind, a towering figure from a golden age when giants such as Mahalia Jackson, Albertina Walker and DeLois Barrett Campbell still toured the world,” Howard Reich writes for the Tribune.
“Andrews’ throaty contralto made her low notes thunder, while the enormous range of her instrument enabled her to reach stratospheric pitches without falsetto. Her dramatic delivery made her a charismatic presence in church and on stage.
“Andrews, 83, died at 2:01 p.m. Wednesday in her South Side home, said her granddaughter Vanessa Moultry. A cause of death has not been determined, but Andrews was being treated for cancer, her granddaughter said.”

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Posted on December 20, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

“On Tuesday, a 17-year-old South Side rapper born Keith Cozart but better known as Chief Keef [released] Finally Rich, his major-label debut for the morally vacuous Interscope Records,” Jim DeRogatis writes on his WBEZ bog, Pop N Stuff.
“The album is a bleak, nihilistic celebration of street violence, gang culture, drug use, disrespect for women and the worship of the almighty dollar above all humanistic conscience, arriving as Chicago nears the end of a year that’s seen an epidemic of violent killings in African-American neighborhoods every bit as tragic – and preventable, if the political will was present – as those in Newtown, Conn.”

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Posted on December 19, 2012

PSY OPS

The most inescapable and undeniable song of the year was PSY’s “Gangnam Style,” a sly satire of the insipid materialism and faux class of Seoul’s Gangnam District, which the artist has described as his country’s Beverly Hills.
The video is the most-watched YouTube upload of all-time – and also the most “liked.” It’s also likely the most parodied.
PSY performed the song in Chicago for the first time over the weekend. So here’s the original video, that performance, and the “best” Chicago versions we’ve found.

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Posted on December 18, 2012