Archive for May, 2009
The Dead live!
Allstate Arena, Rosemont
Monday, May 4th, 2009
By the time the latest version of the Grateful Dead took the stage at 7:45 Monday night, the circus surrounding this event was already many-hours old.
Leonard Cohen live!
Chicago Theatre, Chicago
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
With 15 years since he last performed on American soil, it’s no wonder why Leonard Cohen’s pair of Chicago Theatre shows are amongst the most anticipated of the year thus far. Though fans were given a sneak peak of the set list via the CD/DVD collections Live In London [...]
Flight Of The Conchords live!
Arie Crown, Chicago
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Reality and television converged at the first of a two-night, sold-out stand that brought HBO darlings Flight Of The Conchords to the Arie Crown Theater. Flanked by two screens better suited for the lawn at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement deadpanned their way through a two-hour [...]
Cover Story: The Dead
The Afterlife Afterparty
Bill Kreutzmann is in Washington D.C. and, from where he’s sitting, a bad place. He’s not getting weird vibes or whatever lame, hippie mysticism people derisively ascribe to his band and their followers – he can’t get an Internet signal. “I’m trying to get my computers up,” he says, pausing to plead with [...]
Rock ‘N’ Roll At The Goodman
The Goodman Stages A Rock Revolution
During the late 1960s, rock’s leading singers and songwriters, and their growing legion of long-haired flower children and liberal followers, were bragging about the a-changin’ times, chanting to give peace a chance, and all wanting a revolution to change the world.
Runs: May 2nd through June 7th at The Goodman Theatre [...]
White Rabbits interview
To Move Or Not To Move
Drink me, eat me. Eat me, drink me. Drink eat drink eat drink eat. If only the music industry were so cut and dried that artists could simply nosh to determine whether they’d go large or small. It would certainly save a lot of heartache.
Appearing: May 31st at Do-Division Fest [...]
File: May 2009
I’ve Got The Power
Right-wing bloggers are incensed. Leftist French laborers are kidnapping company executives. Stu, we need cleanup in aisle five! Can anybody hear me?! What in any god’s name is someone doing opening a nightclub in this climate?
The Greencards preview
Abbey Pub, Chicago
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The Greencards is a gender-mixed multinational acoustic power trio consisting of singer/bassist Carol Young, violinist/violist Eamon McLoughlin, and multi-instrumentalist Kym Warner. It has taken a shared obsession with bluegrass and American roots music, wrapped it up in a core of fiddle, cello, mandolin, bouzouki, and bass, and created a sound [...]
Manchester Orchestra preview
Subterranean, Chicago
Friday, May 8, 2009
Just babies when their first album arrived, Manchester Orchestra’s Mean Everything To Nothing presents the band a chance to show us just exactly who they are.
Caught In A Mosh: May 2009
Ooze & Angst
Alan A. Nemtheanga’s Irish eyes aren’t smiling. “Hope I didn’t sound too grumpy,” the Primordial frontman signed off after answering my list of e-mail questions. Truth is, Nemtheanga, who has fronted the Irish band since it truly became Primordial in the early ’90s, simply sounds honest. Grumpy or not, that’s refreshing.
Appearing: May 7th [...]
Media: May 2009
Media
Old-Time Radio Guru Chuck Schaden Retires
Many people — including former Sun-Times media critic Robert Feder — credit Chuck Schaden with single-handedly keeping old-time radio alive for generations. But Schaden is stepping down in May, after 39 years of doing his Saturday afternoon radio show, “Those Were The Days” (1 to 5 p.m. on WDCB-FM 90.9 [...]
Sweet Home: May 2009
Sweet Home
Steppin’ Out
If you have been out on the town over the past year or so, hanging out at premier blues and jazz clubs such as Andy’s, Buddy Guy’s Legends, or House Of Blues, you may have happened upon up-and-coming guitarist/ vocalist and songwriter Guy King. King is a young guitar master with limitless musical [...]
Studiophile: May 2009
Studiophile
At STUDIO VMR in Brookfield, producer Nate Johnson and Don Griffin recorded Chico DeBarge for Kedar Entertainment and Universal New York. The track will be added to a CD that DeBarge has compiling for several months . . . Silver Pipe was in VMR recording and mixing a new CD with some fantastic flute [...]
Gear: May 2009
Gear
LUDWIG
Element Lacquer Series Drums
When I think of Ludwig drums, I still think of Ringo Starr’s famous Black Oyster Pearl kit and John Bonham’s Vistalite from the mid-’70s. Now Ludwig is celebrating its 100th birthday, surviving two world wars, economic downturns, crap foreign drums, and disco. Today’s drum business is a long way from the company’s [...]
Hello, My Name Is Curt
Q&A With The Meat Puppets’ Curt Kirkwood
IE: Do you keep track of how many albums you’ve put out?
Curt Kirkwood: I don’t know. It’s more than a dozen. Twelve, 13, maybe 14. One solo, Eyes Adrift with Krist [Novoselic] and Bud [Gaugh], then we did Volcano with Bud and Miguel [Happoldt]. It was never released. It [...]
