As we mentioned last month, the Chicago Public Library capped a “we’re not just books” promotion with a music contest, challenging Chicagoans to write songs about the city. Through September, “Sound Off” garnered submissions from across the spectrum not only stylistically, but by age as well. The winner, however, wasn’t an unknown but rapper Psalm One (born Christalle Bowen). We’re not saying – this being Chicago – that the fix was in, though not only is Psalm a widely admired MC (she’s signed to Rhymesayers, home to Atmosphere, Brother Ali, and MF Doom), but, as was revealed when Trevor Fisher profiled her in IE three years ago, has a degree in biochemistry. (Jessica Hopper and Rhymefest were on the judges’ panel, if that tells you anything.) It’s kind of like Dwyane Wade coming home to win a park-district H.O.R.S.E. competition. A people’s choice vote went to Shawn Pennington’s “Door Closing.” Psalm’s “My Bucket Song” and more entries can be heard at notwhatyouthink.tumblr.com/tagged/music_entry.

AND THE VAN THEY RODE IN ON

The members of local-group Scotland Yard Gospel Choir have never espoused much religiosity, regardless of what can be inferred from their name. But there’s a chance they’re either cursing or praising a higher power after their van was destroyed on I-65 in late September. En route to Cincinnati while touring behind this fall’s And The Horse They Rode In On (Bloodshot), a tire blew and sent their van across the median into oncoming traffic. Frontman Elia Einhorn told the Chicago Tribune that drummer Jay Santana managed to steer the van back into the median, but couldn’t keep the vehicle from flipping several times. Everyone was injured, though Mark Yoshizumi had to be airlifted to Christ Church in Oak Lawn, while Mary Ralph broke her pelvis and collarbone and Einhorn’s head was sliced open on the torn roof. A benefit show goes down at Hideout with The 1900s and Brighton MA on the 12th, while Bloodshot Records has set up a Paypal account if anyone wishes to help the band pay for their medical expenses or replace their equipment, which was destroyed.

MARRIED TO IT

Even though our publication cycle prohibits us from delivering hard news the way we’d like, we do have the advantage of giving you perspective and closure in a manner your average source has no time for. (Remember Senator Larry Craig? Did he pray enough to get the gayness out of him? Hello CNN? ABC?) So. You might remember this little saga we followed all summer called “Aerosmith.” (They were on our June cover to tout a summer tour; the bandmembers endured various mishaps until the jaunt was eventually scrapped.) It turns out, since frontman Steven Tyler’s stage-fall that ended their roadtrip, he had not spoken to any of the rest of the band until an October 17th concert in Hawaii. Guitarist Joe Perry released a solo record and told Reuters that he hasn’t written a song with Tyler in more than a decade (so much for the next band album happening anytime soon), and Aerosmith will be put on the shelf indefinitely. Adding insult, Perry’s wife Billie sent a Twitter that she has never listened to an Aerosmith album from start to finish. “Without the live show, the songs n [sic] lyrics don’t move me.” Wait a second, she has a Twitter page?

BUT ONLY ONE DVD?

There seems to be some confusion. At various points in the last two years, we’ve been told the CD era is over, and downloads are the form. (Never mind that 29 percent of households in this country do not have regular Internet access.) Pitchfork proclaimed this transition at least twice: once for Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy, and again when The Beatles’ albums were restored – the post-Sticky Fingers Rolling Stones reissues were justifiably ignored. Jazz, of course, sees no boundaries, so if the key or time signature changes the band adapts and Jimmy Smith (tuning out his death) takes a 20-minute organ solo. That’s how come Columbia Records can justify its latest dip into the Miles Davis (a Dolton native!) pie: The Complete Columbia Album Collection, a 70-CD, single-DVD, $325 Amazon.com exclusive. The package, which is only undergoing a single pressing, also includes a 250-page book and all the rarities/outtakes that have been included with recent reissues. The irony is by the time the average Davis fan has time to absorb all this material and appreciate the remastering, not only will the CD era be over, but likely life as well. The cockroaches will thank you for your purchase.

– Steve Forstneger

The blues world has lost its Queen. Koko Taylor, whose raw-edged, impassioned vocals won the hearts of fans worldwide for five decades, passed away at 80 on June 3rd of complications from gastrointestinal surgery.

Koko (so nicknamed because of her love for chocolate) was raised on a sharecropper’s farm just outside of Memphis. Music was her saving grace from an early age. Along with her siblings, she would sing and play the gospel and blues songs that she heard on the radio stations out of Memphis, listening intently to Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie, but close attention to the men as well.

Taylor moved to Chicago in her early 20s with future husband Robert “Pops” Taylor in order to find work. Music was still her focus and her saving grace. She and Pops visited nightclubs on the South and West Sides where they heard Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Elmore James, and Willie Dixon. Encouraged by Pops to sit in, Koko was noticed by Dixon, who took her to Chess Records, which effectively launched her career.

Despite her enormous success, Taylor was a sweet and grounded person. I had the pleasure of interviewing her in the early 80s, and when asked about her influences her reply spoke volumes about the intensity of her music: A shy, soft-spoken woman, Taylor cited Waters and Wolf, then paused, and with a shy smile said, “Elmore James.” It was a heartfelt moment that I will never forget. Rest in peace.

– Beverly Zeldin-Palmer

WAIT A MINUTE, MR. BOSSMAN

Those images of Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament testifying before Congress seem so quaint now. If you really want to take on Ticketmaster, you need someone behind you ready to throw out the rules for a vicious cockfight.

Months ago, Bruce Springsteen, Inc., skewered the ticketing giant for redirecting New Jersey Boss fans to its Ticketsnow reseller, which is more-or-less its legalized scalping arm for sold-out shows. The trouble is, the shows hadn’t sold out and purchasers were essentially being hoodwinked. This lead to a public apology . . . but maybe they had their fingers crossed. In June, TM’s chairman ridiculed the E Street camp in the New York Post for reserving nearly 1,000 of the best seats for the show in question. Springsteen manager John Landau immediately fired back, calling the counterattack “blowing smoke” to distract from Ticketmaster’s acknowledged error. He explains the large ticket reservation as standard (as it is for most artists) when the artist plays near his homebase, and that there are six other shows where no such ticket buy occurred, not to mention the relatively low cost ($100) of top Springsteen tickets. He then fired a parting shot: “Unlike some Ticketmaster-managed artists, no tickets are held for high-dollar resale on Ticketsnow, or through any other means.” Me-yow!

WHAT, US CURSED?

Like Lou Piniella and Dusty Baker before us, we scoff at the idea of curses. You make your own luck maybe, but the only credible link between evil and goats is that dreadful scene in the film version of Dragnet, starring Dan Aykroyd and the Tom Hanks we all miss. The Entertainer has been accused before of unleashing the spirits on our cover subjects, what with The Redwalls (dropped), Kevin Lee & The Lonesome City Kings (dropped before the issue came out), Caviar (disbanded), At The Drive-In (broke up at their peak), Mest (Bueller?), My Morning Jacket (bad stage dive), Billy Corgan (forgot about that solo career, did you?), Touch And Go Records (suspended operations), and Marianne Faithfull (oh, wait, that cursed us).

You think it’s our fault that just days after I interviewed him for our June cover story that Brad Whitford would drop off of Aerosmith’s summer tour? They say it’s only for the time being, but the guitarist certainly missed the June 13th gig at Alpine Valley while recovering from an undisclosed surgery and August 28th (when the band return to Tinley Park) is plenty of time to recuperate — just ask Mark Prior.

Just don’t blame us.

RIOT LETTER DAYS

Now that summer’s finally here, we can discard boneheaded “You call this global warming?” asides (until it’s 60 again) and anticipate “What recession?” from your “Hot enough for ya?” friends. In that spirit, Riot Fest, the fall’s annual punk extravaganza, announces not only will it remain a five-day festival in October (7th through 11th), but will also expand into Riot Fest West over three November days in Los Angeles. Back to Chicago, five days doesn’t have to carry an un-punk price. One dollar short of 100 will grant you access to all 14 showcases and the chance to get into four secret ones! We suppose you want to hear some of the lineup first. Fine: Screeching Weasel, NOFX, Alkaline Trio, Murder City Devils (reunited!), Dead Milkmen, and Cock Sparrer!

–Steve Forstneger

For one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most treasured groups of “bad boys,” Aerosmith haven’t done much rockin’ or rollin’ lately. The mechanics of mobilizing their aging machine have proven more difficult than imagined, as age, health, and stop/start productivity have given the band fits. The marketing arm has no problem functioning – Aerosmith are set to push out on their umpteenth summer tour and have a deal with the “Guitar Hero” video game to promote — but the edgiest way guitarist Brad Whitford can describe their reputation these days is “We’re very undisciplined.”

Appearing: Saturday, June 13th at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI and Friday, August 28th at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park.

This isn’t meant as a broadside on an act who have defined nasty, American guitar bands for more than 30 years. Nor is it an insinuation they’re deliberately shirking duty. Foremost, bassist Tom Hamilton underwent successful cancer treatment and was justifiably sidelined until he recovered. Guitarist Joe Perry battled knee problems, while frontman Steven Tyler’s throat and leg surgeries turned into a rehab stint for painkiller addictions. No one could be faulted for wanting to cover Whitford and drummer Joey Kramer in Bubble Wrap and throwing away the scissors.

None of it can disguise the fact — and Aerosmith aren’t making excuses – their last offering was a covers outing (2004’s Honkin’ On Bobo), which followed consecutive disappointing records, 1997’s Nine Lives and 2001’s Just Push Play. One original effort in 12 years is not the mark of a band who are near their peak. Will the road break the studio’s hex?

“We’re hoping,” Whitford says from the band’s Boston rehearsal space. “We had this one song we were going to put on the new album and are thinking in the next couple weeks of making a mix of it and posting it as a download. If that all comes together, we’d include that in the set. That’d be fun for us, too, to have something new that people would be familiar with. The other new stuff doesn’t make much sense to play unless people have gotten familiar with it.”

One of the new record’s stick points is it isn’t exactly new material. Instead of starting from scratch, Aerosmith are attempting to wrap up songs that have remained unfinished from old sessions. The tunes, perhaps feeling scorned for being ignored for so long, aren’t making it easy on the band.

“There is quite a library of songs, probably going back into the ’90s,” he says, ”that we either passed on or weren’t entirely finished [with]. We’d been working on a lot of those songs and hoping quite a few of those would be on the new album when we do finish it,” Whitford chuckles. “We were hoping to have it done before the tour, but we had several setbacks with scheduling and health issues. We didn’t have time to finish it. We had to start getting ready for this tour as well.”

The guitarist sighs, “For some reason, this album doesn’t want to get completed. Every time we start to work on it, something happens.”

Perhaps in the spirit of rummaging through old boxes, this summer’s tour will revisit, rather appropriately, 1975’s classic Toys In The Attic set.

“We’re doing a lot of material that we haven’t done either before or very little in the past,” he says. “It’s kind of a lot of refreshing the memory and relearning some songs. Our setlist just hasn’t varied a whole lot over the last 20 years, so we’re going to break out some stuff people might enjoy hearing that they haven’t heard before.” Even the most ardent Blue Army supporters are in for a treat. “The last song, ‘You See Me Crying,’ we’ve never performed. The arrangement’s not terribly complex, but it’s gonna take a little getting used to.”

Never played it live?

“No. And it’s a great song,” Whitford replies, amused as well. “There’s a lot of material that has never made it to the concert stage. We figured it’s time. It’s a lot more interesting for us. I personally enjoy having a challenge like having some ‘new’ stuff. It makes it more fun. Get to focus more. It might be one or two of the more complex arrangements that may take a week or two to feel more confident about.”

Given recent history, there might be concern whether there’s enough time to flesh those out.

“I’d say right now Joe’s a little behind the eight ball because he’s still learning the parts for some of these songs,” he admits. “Like I said, some of these things we haven’t played since they were recorded. So it requires homework, and then we sit here and do more of it. He’s trying to catch up as quickly as possible.” But Perry wrote most of those songs, didn’t he? “Yeah. Oh shit, yeah — excuse me,” Whitford apologizes. “They kind of stay up in the memory banks; you just gotta dust them off. You think, ‘How did I play that? Where were my hands on the neck? How did I voice the chords?’ It all comes back.”

Isn’t there anyone around to rally you guys? “Oh, gosh, I guess it varies from day to day,” he says somewhat impishly. “We’re fairly diplomatic, but someone will step into the driver’s seat every day. You gotta crack the whip around here — lately I’ve been.”
Any uncertainty hanging about Aerosmith fans should be allayed by the trail the band are slowly picking up. Following the feelgood comeback of 1987’s Permanent Vacation, the followup Pump suggested they were a serious force because of the hard-hitting child-abuse tale “Janie’s Got A Gun.” As if the band couldn’t get any bigger, however, 1993’s Get A Grip dominated radio and MTV with an endless hit parade, though it came with a price. The triple threat of the identical “Crazy,” “Cryin’,” and “Amazing” singles boasted Alicia Silverstone and Tyler’s daughter Liv in the risque videos and seemed to teach them that slick power ballads held the keys to further spoils. The result was “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing,” the Diane Warren-penned soundtrack companion to Armageddon, which made them a hit with tween girls and “Oprah” viewers, but diminished their rock cred. Many people blame the song for the pop sheen that devoured Nine Lives and Just Push Play and their successful but uninspiring singles, “Pink” and “Jaded.”

Honkin’ On Bobo addressed this with a sequence of blues standards to retrace the band’s roadhouse origins. Bringing Toys In The Attic on tour is another step in the right direction, punctuated by the forthcoming album’s producer, Brendan O’Brien, who’s not only a favorite of Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam, but who recently helmed the new Mastodon album.

–Steve Forstneger

For the complete picture, including Whitford’s thoughts on Aerosmith’s recent material, pick up the June issue of Illinois Entertainer, available free throughout Chicagoland.