Columns
Caught In A Mosh: May 2009
Ooze & Angst Alan A. Nemtheanga‘s Irish eyes aren’t smiling. “Hope I didn’t sound too grumpy,” the Primordial frontman signed off after answering my list of e-mail questions. Truth is, Nemtheanga, who has fronted the Irish band since it truly became Primordial in the early ’90s, simply sounds honest. Grumpy or not, that’s refreshing. Appearing: […]
Media: May 2009
Media Old-Time Radio Guru Chuck Schaden Retires Many people — including former Sun-Times media critic Robert Feder — credit Chuck Schaden with single-handedly keeping old-time radio alive for generations. But Schaden is stepping down in May, after 39 years of doing his Saturday afternoon radio show, “Those Were The Days” (1 to 5 p.m. on […]
Sweet Home: May 2009
Sweet Home Steppin’ Out If you have been out on the town over the past year or so, hanging out at premier blues and jazz clubs such as Andy’s, Buddy Guy’s Legends, or House Of Blues, you may have happened upon up-and-coming guitarist/ vocalist and songwriter Guy King. King is a young guitar master with […]
Studiophile: May 2009
Studiophile At STUDIO VMR in Brookfield, producer Nate Johnson and Don Griffin recorded Chico DeBarge for Kedar Entertainment and Universal New York. The track will be added to a CD that DeBarge has compiling for several months . . . Silver Pipe was in VMR recording and mixing a new CD with some fantastic flute […]
Gear: May 2009
Gear LUDWIG Element Lacquer Series Drums When I think of Ludwig drums, I still think of Ringo Starr’s famous Black Oyster Pearl kit and John Bonham’s Vistalite from the mid-’70s. Now Ludwig is celebrating its 100th birthday, surviving two world wars, economic downturns, crap foreign drums, and disco. Today’s drum business is a long way […]
Hello, My Name Is Curt
Q&A With The Meat Puppets’ Curt Kirkwood IE: Do you keep track of how many albums you’ve put out? Curt Kirkwood: I don’t know. It’s more than a dozen. Twelve, 13, maybe 14. One solo, Eyes Adrift with Krist [Novoselic] and Bud [Gaugh], then we did Volcano with Bud and Miguel [Happoldt]. It was never […]
DVD Zone: May 2009
Jeff Beck: Performing This Week . . . Live At Ronnie Scott’s Eagle There may be no more daunting task in the music world than trying to figure out the enigma that is Jeff Beck. To quote Marlon Brando, he could have been a contender. As innovative as Hendrix, more rockin’ than Clapton, and just […]
Around Hear: May 2009
Around Hear “This fucker sounds just like Tom Waits. Do we need another Tom Waits?” Matt Arbogast, a.k.a. The Gunshy, asks on I Gave Too Much Time To The Wine‘s title track. It’s a fair self-critique, but, as he also points out, “Dylan was Woody” and “there’s a hundred Pogues.” Too Much Time comprises new […]
Around Hear May 2009 (2)
continued Dave Ero is an imaginative musician who employs vaudeville, Latin, blues, pop, and folk to back the offbeat songs on Nuns With Guns. But much of his work is undone by forced rhymes, awkward phrasing, and the misguided belief that cheesy vocals are always hysterical. It would be interesting to hear Ero when he […]
Hello, My Name Is Ramblin’ Jack
Hello, My Name Is Jack Q&A With Ramblin’ Jack Elliott IE: How’s your family? Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: Well, I’ve got a lot of families scattered all over the world. I have a daughter who lives in Los Angeles and she’s a filmmaker.
File: April 2009
File 2009 Not Quite Better Than The Real Thing Under a shroud of secrecy not seen since the Bush Administration . . . O.K., that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but on Tuesday, March 11th, U2 — arguably the biggest band on the planet — were ushered onto the famed Metro’s stage. Unfortunately, […]
DVD Zone: April 2009
Quantum Of Solace 20th Century Fox After years of stale plot lines and tired formulas (no offense, Pierce Brosnan), not to mention getting its British butt kicked by the superior Bourne series, the James Bond franchise got a much needed re-boot in Casino Royale. Starring Daniel Craig as a much more no-nonsense Bond, the series […]
Something Old, Something New
Listening to Chicago Blues: A Living History (Raisin), a two-CD set that covers 1940 to the present and features an all-star band of blues traditionalists including Billy Boy Arnold, John Primer, Billy Branch, and Lurrie Bell, led me to think about Jimi Hendrix. A space-age bluesman, Hendrix took the genre in a new direction. He […]
Local Studio Happenings
As of March 1st, BOTA STUDIO will no longer be operating at RECORDING ARTIST WORKSHOP in Lake In The Hills. Owner Don Byczynski will open a 2,000 square-foot complex in Grayslake on April 15th. The new BOTA includes a 21x15x12 A Room, 18x15x12 live room, and 13×11 B Room, both connected to five isolation booths. […]
Clearing The Static
You have to feel for The Haunted. The band had a kick-ass North American tour set to kick off this month before, well, shit happened . . . big time. That kick-ass package became significantly less so March 2nd when both Kylesa and Intronaut announced their intentions to join Mastodon‘s spring tour (April 30th at […]
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