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Koroboro Rock
Legacy and familial inheritance has always played a significant role in African society. Whether dictating marriage, social position, or profession, the rules and expectations of family lineage have changed very slowly. And being the son of an internationally famous father does not help matters. This is the situation Vieux Farka Touré, son of late Malian […]
Local CD Reviews
Alabaster takes a dim view of relationships on its four-song EP, Hold Me Close – Hold Me Damaged. The violent imagery smacks of heavy metal, but the band’s midtempo arrangements might not have enough power to hold the average headbanger’s attention. Shane Killian is a gifted vocalist, particularly when she drifts through the theatrical “Surface […]
Around Hear Page 2
Curiously named eight-piece band Oucho Sparks deliver nearly an hour of quirky indie rock on Foreign Cars And Robots. With an ever-shifting assortment of guitar riffs (from distorted to calm) and instrumentation (vintage keys, trumpet, etc.), each song offers its share of surprises. And alternating vocalists Tim Sandusky and Laura Grey rarely cease to stun […]
Around Hear Page 3
Lucy Smith‘s Movin On is something of a mixed bag. The flat and emotionless vocals of the opener (a cover of The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”) is bound to discourage listeners from moving forward, but the jazzier “Kiela,” the longing-fueled “All I Meant,” and her sassy rendition of “Go Down Moses” simply […]
Cover Story: Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Kenny Wayne Shepherd Lights, Camera, Blues “It’s one thing to hear the music, you know, but I think it’s something completely different to actually see the people who are making the music doing it as it’s going down.”
Hello, My Name Is Mo
Hello, My Name Is Mo IE: So, you’re in town taping for “Wait . . . Wait . . .Don’t Tell Me!”? Mo Rocca: We tape today; it airs over the weekend. I come about once a month. It seems unfair you’re in Chicago because Chicago has so much . . . Chicago, itself is […]
Richard Buckner interview
Richard Buckner Visually Stunned For as relatively anonymous as he is in the rock landscape, Richard Buckner’s life has been filled with feature-story tumult. He has moved all over the country, been divorced twice (once soon after recording an album with one of his wives), based work on a century-old Faulkner-esque manuscript, and dropped from […]
The Frames interview
The Frames Tragicomedy In an unusually reflective mood, Glen Hansard, frontman of The Frames — one of Ireland’s biggest acts — oozes charisma as he sits in a cushy brown leather love seat, which pleasantly contrasts with his maroon sweater and mop of ginger ringlets. Sporting a cropped full beard, a cluster of white hairs […]
Apples In Stereo interview
Apples In Stereo Mansions Of Sound Apples In Stereo mastermind Robert Schneider has just gotten copies of his veteran indie pop band’s hot-off-the-presses New Magnetic Wonder and he can barely contain himself. Appearing: February 23rd at Subterranean in Chicago.
Eleni Mandell Interview
Eleni Mandell 30 Love No one just picks up tennis 10 years into one’s career; there must be some ulterior motive. Perhaps the quiet life needs a jarring sport of starts and stops, lobs and rifled shots. It’s also an obvious outlet for someone who’s singularly competitive — le tenis is probably the most physically […]
Hip-Hop In The Studio
Hip-Hop And The Studio: Forget What You’ve Heard To many, the idea of hip-hop artists in the recording studio evokes a threatening image. Most common is the hostile rapper whose sole mission is to give engineers a headache. Now if you ask just about any engineer, they’ll probably tell you rowdy clients do exist. What […]
File: February 2007
A GOOD ROGERING “Mess with the bull, you get the horns” can apparently be translated as “Deal with The Gambler, you get the shaft.” Residents of Sandy Springs, Georgia, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, are unhappy with Kenny Rogers, and it’s not because of some neon chicken. One year after purchasing a seven-acre lot for […]
Mo Rocca 2
[ back ] IE: Is there anyone who’s smart in a really weird way, they happen to know a lot about one thing? MR: Well, me. I know everything about Presdential animals. I wrote a book on them [All The Presidents Pets: The Story Of One Reporter Who Refused To Roll Over]. IE: Guess what! […]
DVD Zone: February 2007
Broken Bridges Paramount A few things are well known about Toby Keith. He wears his redneck street cred like a badge, has a fetish for the troops, and above all . . . he’s a Ford® truck man. All of these traits are in full bloom in the extended Ford® infomercial, Broken Bridges.
James Brown, Soul Brother #1, R.I.P.
Sometime after midnight on December 29th, singer/guitarist and bandleader Phil Guy joined the Matthew Skoller Band onstage at his brother’s club (Buddy Guy’s Legends) and ripped into a spirited version of James Brown‘s “I Can’t Stand It” that brought the cheering crowd to its feet in tribute for a beloved artist who changed the face […]
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