Columns
Gear: December 2012
Gear takes a look at this year’s batch of “Made In The U.S.A.” musical gifts. While it’s easy to get enticed by cheaper-priced Asian-made wares, smaller U.S.-based manufacturers (two right here in Chicagoland!) are taking advantage of changing customer tastes and favorable exchange rates by offering higher quality domestic-made products. Here are a few of […]
File: December 2012
Live On ‘XRT One grand tradition refuses to go the digital route. When you pick up a copy of ONXRT: Live From The Archives, Volume 14 starting on Dec. 4 at local Target stores (or at Target.com) have a set of keys, a pen, or any relatively sharp object (fingernails included, but why ruin a […]
Digital Divide: December 2012
So here we are again. Seems that another year has rolled by, and now the pressure is on to indulge in the spirit of giving and pony up some hard-earned cash in order to avoid having the albatross of handing out the lamest gift hanging around our necks. Don’t worry. As curator and guardian of […]
Caught In A Mosh: December 2012
Paul O’Neill is finding it difficult getting into the Christmas spirit this year. The last of his guests arrived last night, and today they’re putting the finishing touches on the annual holiday lights display. The patriarch of the family is certain this year his lights will impress everyone who gets to see them. (Spoiler: He […]
Around Hear: December 2012
The self-titled debut from The Ex Senators is more mainstream than its name and the CD’s superhero cover art would suggest. The quintet offers a well-crafted, big rock sound built on guitars, keyboards, and singer/rhythm guitarist Dmac’s full-bodied vocals. Things get more confrontational on the politically charged tracks, “United Corporations Of America” and “Start A […]
Hello, My Name Is Henry
IE: You don’t let one day go by without buying a record. What is today’s selection? Henry Rollins: Well, I haven’t bought it yet, but the day is young. There’s a band from Finland that I like a lot. Well, it’s a guy and he records under the name Uton and he makes a lot […]
Around Hear: November 2012
Though the initial (and title) cut on Ride My Junk is only so-so, once Atomic Shop kicks into gear, John Kuczaj’s studio-only project hits a fun groove. From “Green Lantern,” a rollicking ode to the famed comic-book hero, to a forceful cover of Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah’s “Lake Shore Drive,” the 13 tunes – which range […]
File: November 2012
WHAT ARE YOU DOING NEW YEAR’S EVE? Any day now the elves at The Lite (WLIT-FM, 93.9) will flip that red and green garland-wrapped lever they keep in a back room next to the reserve stash of Coffee-mate creamers and beat us into submission with a non-stop playlist of cheery Christmas carols. Worried you’re developing […]
Digital Divide: November 2012
Magical Mystery Tour EMI At the halfway point of their career, The Beatles found the pedal marked “creative experimentation” and floored it. The three years between 1965 and 1967 saw them release the most stunningly original albums in the rock era with Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was a […]
Caught In A Mosh: November 2012
Attempting to make it as a New Yorker and failing carries with it a few stories. Here is a doozy: I once lived next door to an Irish nurse who would drop a bowling ball on the floor after midnight because she didn’t like the Brazilian couple downstairs. She threw boric acid on their child. […]
Media: November 2012
Open any newspaper or media website and you’re likely to see more hard news bylines belonging to men than women – and even fewer by minorities. But it’s not part of a conspiracy, says Michele Weldon, seminar leader at The OpEd Project. “The gender gap in most all cases is not deliberate. It is a […]
Sweet Home: November 2012
Wayne Baker Brooks has always been a rebel. While most blues musicians were weaned on a steady diet of classic blues, he also listened to house music, ’80s rock, and hip-hop. While most scions of blues legends gain musical schooling from the masters themselves, Brooks is self-taught. And while most musicians regularly perform riveting examples […]
Gear: November 2012
Fender Guitars Jaguar 50th Anniversary The Fender Jaguar electric guitar is 50 years old. Wow. Unveiled in 1962, it was the last and arguably, most criticized of the guitar maker’s four signature electric guitars to be introduced, and, as it turned out, the last major “six-stringer” by Leo Fender whose name is still adorned on […]
Studiophile: November 2012
Longtime studio owner/engineer Michael Kolar has upgraded his Chicago-based SOUNDSCAPE STUDIOS with Carl Tatz Design‘s (CTD) acclaimed PhantomFocus System, a monitor tuning protocol that stands above all other possible control room upgrades. “When you can mix from instinct and taste as opposed to compensating for playback anomalies, the sky is the limit,” Kolar contends. “At […]
Hello, My Name Is Matthew
IE: You channel Abbey Road-era John Lennon on the cover of your debut, Big Inner with a crisp, white suit. Matthew E. White: If I don’t wear a suit, with the long hair and beard I look like hippie man or some rocker guy. The album is kind of classy. [The suit] lets people know […]
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