Recent Articles
Featured: The Avalanches
âBuild a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door,â goes the old Emerson-attributed adage. And Australian producer-multi-instrumentalist Robbie Chater can definitely relate. Back in 2000, his unassuming but ambitious little electronic trio The Avalanches came up with a debut disc like no other before it, the buzz-crackling Since I Left […]
Media: January 2021
After twenty-plus high-profile years in radio and television, Melissa Forman is an important part of the Chicago media landscape. âTwenty-plus years?â she responds. âYikes. Itâs going fast. My Dad always said to me: âLife 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 […]
Stage Buzz: Livestream Buzz December 29th – January 2nd
CKY presents an âevening of mayhem, madness, and musicâ with âsweet sounds and special guestsâ as one final kiss-off to the year on Tuesday, December 29th at 9 PM. Get tickets here. The legendary Patti Smith and her band will perform in celebration of Smithâs birthday on Wednesday, December 30th at 8 PM. Get […]
Stage Buzz: Livestream Buzz December 22nd – 29th
Metal Injectionâs “Slay at Home” benefit series continues this week in support of Toys for Tots with performances from False Gods, Hull, Jonathan HultĂŠn, Knoll, Labirinto, Horseburner, Future Usses, Loss Becomes and Fire in the Distance, and cover collaborations with members of Type O Negative, Suicide Silence, Mutoid Man, Testament, Darkest Hour, Incite, Fit […]
Featured: Lindsey Stirling – “Home For The Holidays”
Itâs hard to believe, but yes, itâs that time of year again â the usually festive, Frosty-and-Rudolph, tacky-sweater-sporting Yuletide season, when everyone, even that spindly little Charlie Brown conifer, gets spruced up for the occasion. But if youâre having a tough time getting out of grumbling Grinch mode, imagine how itâs been for poor […]
Stage Buzz: Livestream Buzz December 17 – December 20
Audiotree: Staged presents Chicago punk rock trio Meat Wave live from Lincoln Hall on Thursday, December 17th at 8 PM. Tickets available here. Grandsonâs Death of An Optimist: The Movie features never before seen footage from the studio, the road, and the grandkids, along with the live debut of his new album, Death of an Optimist. […]
Hello My Name is…Exene
Itâs 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 […]
Stage Buzz: Livestream Buzz December 10th-December 15th
Parquet Courts celebrate their 10th anniversary with a livestream performance from New Yorkâs Brooklyn Pioneers Works. âTen years ago, our adventure began by playing our first show to virtually no one, and to celebrate, weâve decided to play a show to everyone, virtually,â Parquet Courts said in a statement. Celebrate with the band Thursday, December […]
Stage Buzz: Livestream Buzz – December 1st – December 5th
Punk rockers Salem will stream a socially distanced show presented by Kerrangâs K! Pit Tuesday, December 1st at 12 PM. Watch it for free on their Facebook page. Clint Black and wife Lisa Hartman Black will perform live from the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee Wednesday, December 2nd at 8 PM. Get tickets […]
Spins: U2 – “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” ⢠Super Deluxe Vinyl Box Set
U2 All That You Canât 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 1997âs experimental and techno-friendly Pop (an album that went âmerelyâ platinum in the United States), the Irish quartet were determined to reclaim their signature soundâand 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 canât 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 […]
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