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Q&A: Blackie Lawless
Hello, My Name Is Blackie IE: If you were to release “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)” today, would it be met with more or less controversy? Blackie Lawless: That’s difficult to say because the first impression has obviously already been established. That’s impossible for me to say, but I don’t think things have changed that […]
SXSW, T. Rex, Juvenile
MR. FORSTNEGER GOES TO AUSTIN If you get bored from the 15th through the 19th, head on down to Austin, TX, for South By Southwest. You won’t be lonely, all of the following Chicago bands will be there: Office, The M’s, Owen, Puerto Muerto, Chris Mills, a Flameshovel Records showcase featuring Bound Stems, Lying In […]
March DVDs!
The Constant Gardener Universal There’s no denying the price of prescription drugs is out of this world. What is often overlooked is the cost to bring those drugs to the market. Sure, it may cost the pharmaceutical company pennies to make the pills it offers, but it costs upwards of half a billion to bring […]
Stop, Thief!
Lost Delta Found: Rediscovering The Fisk University-Library Of Congress Coahoma County Study, 1941-1942 is an important book. Edited by writers Robert Gordon and Bruce Nemerov, it introduces an unpublished manuscript by Fisk University professor, composer, and musicologist John Wesley Work III, sociologist Lewis Wade Jones, and graduate student Samuel Adams. The three Fisk scholars had […]
Who, What, When, Why, Where
At ARS STUDIO in Alsip, Larry Schara mastered the latest project for Tee & Company, Live From Joliet 2, and continued tracking with #Jock Hardy# for his latest Disney project . . . Schara also tracked choir vocals for Vishawn Mitchell‘s upcoming CD . . . Jennifer Highland tracked, mixed, and mastered for the Charles […]
At Least Joan Cusack Hasn’t Ditched Us (Yet)
Like “Soul Train,” the band Chicago, and the writers of the Broadway hit “Urinetown,” Ira Glass and his innovative public radio show “This American Life” are packing up and leaving town for greener pastures.
Pick Like Satriani
M-AUDIO Sputnik Microphone Home studio boffins looking for boutique-quality sound on a project/studio budget (who isn’t?), should find M-Audio‘s Sputnik ($899) an exceptional value. Sputnik is M-Audio’s flagship mic — a true large diaphragm vacuum tube condenser mic, with a sound the company claims “rivals the best microphones on the planet.” In this price range, […]
Smiling Scottish Eyes
March traditionally inspires lots of Celtic music and celebrations in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, but it’s important to note Celtic doesn’t just mean Irish. As a matter of fact, St. Patrick wasn’t actually Irish at all and some historians place his birth in Scotland, some in Wales. It’s a fitting reality considering after the […]
Local CD Reviews
Typical of countless other bluesy-rock bar bands, Analog Theory play conventional, straight-up rock that lacks originality or interest. Their sound is tired — chunky riffs, generic rhythms, and trite lyrics. This doesn’t mean they lack passion or spirit, as their musicianship exhibits cohesiveness and the performances are sharp. It’s too bad they put such a […]
Cover Story: Lost Albums
Release Me The releases of Brian Wilson’s Smile and one head of Fiona Apple’s bi-cephaloid Extraordinary Machine spotlighted artistic endeavors that had, until then, been considered lost. Both were hailed as masterpieces — Wilson’s for 37 years — before their formal introductions, only two items in a whole world of aborted projects. What’s interesting is […]
Those Damned Gideons
Bible Of The Devil For The Kids, Man “That’s our first setlist right there on the deerskin,” Greg Spalding, Bible Of The Devil drummer, says as he points toward the back of the band’s practice space in the Superior Street rehearsal facility. There hanging from the wall is, as advertised, a deer pelt with a […]
Chemical Bryar
My Chemical Romance Getting Windy My Chemical Romance might be touted as a New Jersey band, but they’re based, not literally but rhythmically in Chicago. That essence can be attributed to the addition of West Suburban drummer Bob Bryar in 2004.
Run For It, Marty!
Marty Casey & Lovehammers Star Time Hanging out with his buddy in a swank Hollywood pub recently and buying rounds of drinks for all his newfound bar friends, Marty Casey was feeling — if not on top of the world — then pretty damn close. Letting the relaxing effects of alcohol wash over him, he […]
Studio feature!
Price Point: Chicago Studios Adapt To The Home Recording Revolution In the ever-changing music industry, recording studios are adapting and re-molding themselves to stay competitive. Not all studios have been able to fight the battle. Major institutions such as Hit Factory in New York and Cello in Los Angeles have closed. Some studios in Chicago […]
Six Feet Above
Sia Waiting To Exhale Sia, known to the Australian government as Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, is familiar with fate, deja vu, fortune reversals, and other tricks at the universe’s disposal. When she awakens in the morning, celestial entities tremble, the Earth’s polarity relocates, and God cracks his knuckles. But for right now she has one […]
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