Columns
Hello, My Name Is J.
Q&A with J. Cole IE: I know you were born overseas, but had you traveled much before the Rihanna tour? J. Cole: Oh yeah, on my own tours for two years at least. Growing up I was kind of a military brat. But after coming back from Germany as a kid, I never traveled much.
File: October 2011
Energizing Bunnies: The Windy City’s resurgence as a setting for motion pictures has spilled onto the small screen, notably with “Boss” and “The Playboy Club” hoping to outlast the since-canceled “Chicago Code.” These programs draw high numbers of Chicagoans, who no doubt sit close to their sets wearing loupes to pinpoint flaws.
Gear: October 2011
When Nevermind was released by Nirvana 20 years ago, a North Side guitar-store owner told me Kurt Cobain‘s Jaguar guitar was a piece of crap and Nirvana sucked.
Media: October 2011
Flying Saucers Rock ‘N’ Roll When someone is barely even mentioned anywhere on the Web, that’s when you know what obscure really means – and it’s amazing how much info has yet to make the billions of pages that Google looks through,” says author and “Chic-A-Go-Go” cofounder Jake Austen.
Sweet Home: October 2011
Blues Passages The last two months have packed powerful blows to the blues community, with the passing of David “Honeyboy” Edwards and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. Both enjoyed significant careers that helped preserve the soaring legacy of the Delta blues. As elder statesmen who represented crucial decades of living blues history, they will both be […]
Around Hear: September 2011
Local Band Reviews Music-wise, Clara May‘s debut CD, Hush, is a bit all over the place – which is perhaps a reflection of its chief singer/songwriters being first and foremost a filmmaker/corporate executive/grad student and religious/equal-rights activist/author, respectively.
Caught In A Mosh: September 2011
Nouveau Sheet Music Remember last month when I conducted an interview with myself? Pretty awesome, yeah? To defend myself against accusations of narcissism, though, my reasoning for that column needs clarification: The originally planned feature with Swedish band Ghost never materialized.
Hello, My Name Is Susan
Q&A with Human League’s Susan Ann Sulley IE: What’s been going on during the decade between Human League albums? Susan Ann Sulley: The last album, Secrets, didn’t do so well because the record company [Papillon] went bankrupt when it came out, and we had to pick ourselves up from that.
File: September 2011
Festival Tragedies The way they’re marketed – like vacations – it’s easy to forget that music festivals are as prone to fate’s whim as anything. While flash-mob gate-crashing at Lollapalooza didn’t become a national epidemic like the England riots, Cheap Trick‘s experience at the Ottawa (Canada) Bluesfest in July shockingly repeated itself twice more in […]
Gear: September 2011
More Love From Nashville Last month we previewed a slew of new guitars from NAMM’s Nashville music trade show, where guitars seemed to be making a comeback as the instrument of choice. On the electronics side, accessories for the home-recording crowd – including iPad users – also took a majority of floor space. This month, […]
Media: September 2011
Dahl’s Basement Tapes Radio legend Steve Dahl started charging for his podcast last month. He was dumped from “free” radio in December of 2008, when CBS Radio bought out his WJMK-FM (105.9) contract (and continued to pay him). Two years ago, Dahl launched his podcast, joining a growing number of local media figures who have […]
Studiophile: September 2011
Recording In Hi-Style With a voice that channels the spirit of Little Richard and James Brown, JD McPherson recorded his debut album, Signs & Signifiers, for Hi-Style Records, in the local label’s hometown studio.
Sweet Home: September 2011
Race, Rage, & The Blues Nobody expected a brief Alligator Records tribute to become a catalyst for examining blues-industry race relations. When the Chicago Reader ran a profile of founder Bruce Iglauer commemorating the 40th anniversary of the label, buried within the May 19th piece was a quote that inflamed the blues community:
Hello, My Name Is Rik
Q&A with Triumph’s Rik Emmett IE: What did your life look like throughout the ’80s during the Triumph whirlwind? Rik Emmett: I remember it being an exciting time and a pressure-filled time. We were a unique entity in managing ourselves and we had our own office, studio, and a pretty intense relationship with the record […]
File: August 2011
Timlollarpalooza In keeping with last month’s baseball-themed Pitchfork Festival preview, we’ve dedicated our Lollapalooza snippet to the playing days of former San Diego Padres pitcher Tim Lollar, who did his damnedest to help the Cubs win in ’84 (4 IP, 2 HR, 4 BB). Lollar also wears the distinction of having been traded to the […]
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