Illinois Entertainer

Q&A With Dennis DeYoung

IE: What have you been up to since appearing on these very pages two years ago?

Dennis DeYoung: I’ve been on the road, including some extensive touring in Canada, and I saw the double disc [The Music of Styx: Live With Symphony Orchestra] go platinum and the DVD triple platinum in Canada, which is miraculous, especially at my age! After the success of those projects, I made my first solo rock album since 1988 called One Hundred Years From Now and had [the title track, a English/French duet with Eric Lapointe] as a number one single simultaneously on [Canada’s] pop, AC and rock charts.

• Read more: Hello, My Name Is Dennis

Nacht Nacht — Who’s There

Shoot, we’ve already got a Dimmu Borgir feature in this issue, might as well keep the black metal ball rolling with some Nachtmystium news. Actually, the Chicagoans don’t want to be coined “black metal” anymore, but we’re doing it anyway, otherwise it screws up the whole intro.

• Read more: File: May 2008

Juno
Fox Home Video

Time was when an independent film simply meant a film released outside the studio system by an independent production company. However, once the Sundance festival became as much of a corporate-sponsored entity as any other film festival in the world, a vast majority of independent films have tried to one-up each other on the hipness scale.

• Read more: DVD Zone: May 2008

“Around Hear” is a monthly feature where a stable of IE writers review albums sent to us by local musicians. If you are interested in having your CD (must have a minimum of three songs) reviewed and are Illinois-based, mail it and any other media materials to 657 A W. Lake St., Chicago IL, 60661. Everything that meets the aforementioned guidelines will be reviewed in the order received. This may take several months.

There’s simply no neat way to summarize what Algernon sounds like on Familiar Espionage, though the instrumental troupe drops hints of indie rock (”Eraserhead”), jazz (”Transmission Received”), and classical chamber music (”Mission Protocol”). The highly unusual but surprisingly well-blended mix falls somewhere between the ongoing hipster appeal of Tortoise and the random but deft ramblings of Brand X (Phil Collins’ overlooked ’70s experimental jazz act). (www.myspace.com/algernonmusic)
– Andy Argyrakis

• Read more: Local CD Reviews

Plenty of people dislike Dave Mustaine (read the Al Jourgensen cover story for one), but you have to give the Megadeth frontman credit for Gigantour.

Its virgin run in 2005 wasn’t all that impressive because a lineup clogged up by Bobaflex, Dry Kill Logic, Symphony X, and Life Of Agony wasn’t a convincing reason to part ways with $40. Lamb Of God and Opeth as main supports on the following year’s package were huge improvements over Dream Theater and Fear Factory, but the problem was still getting through all the mediocre (or worse) acts before the big guns – the roster was wildly inconsistent.

• Read more: Third Time’s A Charm

Solid Cables
Dynamic Arc Ultra

Looking for a guitar cable that doesn’t fall apart after a few months? Solid Cables say they have an answer. They bill their Dynamic Arc Ultra as the world’s toughest guitar cord, designed to be “extremely rugged, gig friendly, abuse proof” and offer “exceptional tone.” Solid Cables also say the Ultra can pull an object weighing up to 10,000 pounds without breaking!

• Read more: Solid Like A . . . Cable

“There’s been a lot of agitation on the part of the electronic media and regular press to open up the courtrooms,” says courtroom artist Andy Austin, author of the new book Rule 53: Capturing Hippies, Spies, Politicians, And Murders In An American Courtroom (Lake Claremont, $19.95). Rule 53 is a Federal Rule Of Criminal Procedure, which prohibits cameras and recording devices in the courtroom, in turn ensuring artists like Austin have a job.

• Read more: Andy Austin, Courtroom Artist

When pressed to point out places on the map known for contributing recognized, high-end recording studios, Orland Park probably fails to make the short list. Yet, tucked within the vast span of suburbia, complete with Bar Louie chains and Borders and Barnes & Noble vying with each other for the same pool of book browsing, latte-deprived customers, is Passionworks Studio.

• Read more: Day At The Park

“Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out/Here comes something, you never dreamed about/Life is so unpredictable, that’s the way it is.

It gets a little hard to bear sometime/Things out of nowhere to blow your mind/But one thing I know for sho’/You’ve got to let life flow.”

Kenny Neal – “Let Life Flow”

• Read more: Return To The Blues

A Festivus For The Rest Of Us

If Lollapalooza packs ‘em in with the rumored announcement of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails as headliners, us Chicago folk might be crowded out of our own festival. Pitchfork Music Fest has already squashed the one that gave it birth (Intonation) — you’ll have to excuse us if we’re feeling a smidge overpowered. Escape to Bonnaroo? Summer? In Tennessee? Next.

• Read more: File: April 2008

Hello, My Name Is Andy
Q&A With Andy McKee

IE: What first attracted you to playing the guitar and how old were you?

Andy McKee: I was 13 when I got my first guitar and I asked for a guitar for my birthday that year because I heard Eric Johnson on the radio. They played a clip of “Cliffs Of Dover” and I had never heard instrumental guitar music before. I was just blown away.

• Read more: Hello, My Name Is Andy

I Am Legend
Warner Home Video

What is it about the end of the world? The current trend is to speculate about what the planet would be like if humans weren’t around to tend to the old homestead. Both The History Channel and The National Geographic Channel have run specials about it, and there’s I Am Legend.

• Read more: DVD Zone: April 2008

The music world lost two supremely talented and distinctive artists recently when R&B and rock drummer/singer/ songwriter Buddy Miles and Canadian guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Jeff Healey passed away. Miles succumbed to congestive heart failure at the age of 60 on February 26th in Austin, Texas, and Healey died a few days later in Toronto after a lifelong battle with cancer. He was 41-years old.

• Read more: Gone Too Soon

South Side drummer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Anthony (Sgt. Roxx, Raddaka, Pamela Moore) worked on his solo project called Gagorder13 at BAREFOOT STUDIO in Beecher with David Knuth. Gabriel finished drum tracks in March and plans to track all guitars, bass, and vocals through the spring and summer for a fall/winter release.

• Read more: Chicagoland Studio Happenings

Two years ago Steve Rhodes left his post as Chicago magazine media and political writer and launched The Beachwood Reporter, an online magazine chronicling all things Chicago (www.beachwoodreporter.com).

Last year longtime New York Daily News TV critic David Bianculli made the leap to the Web with Tvworthwatching.com, after the newspaper he’d been with for 14 years did not renew his contract. Former Chicago Reader music critic Bill Wyman also recently made the leap to the Web, with a music and media blog, Hitsville.org.

• Read more: Webbed Migration