Monthly
The Lockdown Interviews: Steven Van Zandt
As anyone familiar with his anecdote-spiked DJ sets on his retro-rocking Underground Garage Sirius XM station can attest, Little Steve — AKA E Street Band and Asbury Jukes guitarist Miami Steve Van Zandt — has got stories. LOTS of serpentining stories, probably more than Aesop, Uncle Remus, and Grandpa Simpson combined. So naturally, all the […]
CinemaScopes: February 2021
CinemaScopes – Dinner & A Movie Month! February is traditionally the month for relationship movies, given Valentine’s Day is on the 14th and dinner and a movie is a perfect date night for many couples. Theaters in the Chicago area are open, but with most of us still avoiding public places, streaming and VOD releases […]
Media: February 2021
Former Partridge Family star Danny Bonaduce had an extremely memorable run on Chicago radio during the mid-90s. Still, since his time here, Danny has done radio in Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and now for the last decade, he’s been the morning man in Seattle at KZOK (102.5FM). “I think this is my longest run […]
Cover Story – Pale Waves
If anyone didn’t know it when she first got into showbiz as a wide-eyed, small-town British naif, they know it now — Pale Waves front-vixen Heather Baron-Gracie pulls no punches, suffers no fools gladly, and always shoots straight from the hip. She’s justifiably proud of her newfound industry acumen, and she’s even developed an alter […]
Featured: Beki Hemingway
Earth, Asphalt, and Places in the Soul The tall tales and small stories captured on Beki Hemingway’s new album Earth and Asphalt suggest that her audience has a lot of catching up to do, with the assurance that it will be time well spent. Much has happened since the release of 2017’s Whins and Weather, […]
Media: January 2021
After twenty-plus high-profile years in radio and television, Melissa Forman is an important part of the Chicago media landscape. “Twenty-plus years?” she responds. “Yikes. It’s going fast. My Dad always said to me: ‘Life is like a roll of toilet paper. In the beginning, it moves slowly, and in the end, it moves very […]
Cover Story: George Thorogood
By all accounts, it was a triumphant prodigal-son homecoming: The night of November 23, 1982. when the newly-crowned Tazmanian Devil of roadhouse-scruffy blues George Thorogood and his backing band The Destroyers tornadoed back into their adopted hometown of Boston sprawling, 27-song set at a club then known as the Bradford Ballroom. After making his mark […]
CinemaScopes: January 2021
2020 has changed our lives forever, and it has altered the way we now view and regard cinematic excellence. While we may not be watching films on the big screen, we devour them at home via streaming and VOD. Ironically, none of the films on this list would be considered big blockbusters or similarly noted […]
Spins: Taylor Swift • evermore
Taylor Swift evermore (Taylor Swift) Despite the roller-coaster year that was 2020, it seems that nothing can stop Taylor Swift from doing what she does best. Swift dropped her surprising second no-skip album of the year in early December, somehow managing to display her own genius yet again. Continuing the contemporary alternative writing of her […]
Hello My Name is…Exene
It’s not like Exene Cervenka, and her bandmates in the Los Angeles proto-punk quartet X are just sitting around their respective houses, idly twiddling their thumbs this enforced-lockdown December. But they are coming to surreal grips with the fact that for this Yuletide season, at least, they will not be the hardest-working band on the […]
Spins: U2 – “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” • Super Deluxe Vinyl Box Set
U2 All That You Can’t Leave Behind Super Deluxe vinyl box set (Island/Interscope/UMe) During the year 2000, U2 was a band on a mission. After the perceived disappointment of 1997’s experimental and techno-friendly Pop (an album that went “merely” platinum in the United States), the Irish quartet were determined to reclaim their signature sound–and with […]
Media: December 2020
2020 was a rough year everywhere, but we lost some of our all-time greatest broadcasters in Chicago. Television greats like Sheldon Cooper (WGN-TV general manager), Lee Phillip Bell (The Lee Phillip Show), Bob Petty (Channel 7/ABC anchor/reporter), Dick Johnson (anchor at Channel 5/NBC), Jerry Taft (longtime Channel 7/ABC weatherman), and Joel Daly (iconic Channel 7/ABC […]
Cover Story: The Smashing Pumpkins
Oh, that irascible old Billy Corgan. Even in a foreboding, energy-sapping, pandemic Plague Year, you just can’t take him ANYWHERE. It was a solid, thought-provoking opening question, intended to kick-start our recent interview with the man about CYR! The remarkably-assured new double-record set from Smashing Pumpkins, its 11th, featuring the mostly-original lineup of James Iha […]
Photo Gallery: deadmau5 with Bentley Dean and Kiesza at SeatGeek Stadium
deadmau5 / Bentley Dean / KieszaSeatGeek Stadium – At The Drive-InBridgeview, IL October 30, 2020 Ed Spinelli captured EDM pioneer and producer deadmau5 with Bentley Dean and Kiesza on a chilly evening in Bridgeview’s SeatGeek Stadium. All three came together for “Bridge By A Lightwave,” making it the highlight for the night. Drive-In concerts have […]
Spins: Tom Petty • Wildflowers & All The Rest Deluxe Edition – Reviewed
Tom Petty Wildflowers & All the Rest Deluxe Edition (Warner Bros.) After seven gold and platinum-selling albums with the Heartbreakers, Tom Petty released his first solo album in 1989.Chart favorites including “Free Falling” and “I Won’t Back Down” helped the Jeff Lynne-produced Full Moon Fevereclipse even the success of 1979’s Damn the Torpedoes. When Into the […]
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