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Cover Story – Pale Waves
If anyone didnât know it when she first got into showbiz as a wide-eyed, small-town British naif, they know it now â Pale Waves front-vixen Heather Baron-Gracie pulls no punches, suffers no fools gladly, and always shoots straight from the hip. Sheâs justifiably proud of her newfound industry acumen, and sheâs even developed an alter […]
Featured: Beki Hemingway
Earth, Asphalt, and Places in the Soul The tall tales and small stories captured on Beki Hemingwayâs new album Earth and Asphalt suggest that her audience has a lot of catching up to do, with the assurance that it will be time well spent. Much has happened since the release of 2017âs Whins and Weather, […]
Media: January 2021
After twenty-plus high-profile years in radio and television, Melissa Forman is an important part of the Chicago media landscape. âTwenty-plus years?â she responds. âYikes. Itâs going fast. My Dad always said to me: âLife is like a roll of toilet paper. In the beginning, it moves slowly, and in the end, it moves very […]
Cover Story: George Thorogood
By all accounts, it was a triumphant prodigal-son homecoming: The night of November 23, 1982. when the newly-crowned Tazmanian Devil of roadhouse-scruffy blues George Thorogood and his backing band The Destroyers tornadoed back into their adopted hometown of Boston sprawling, 27-song set at a club then known as the Bradford Ballroom. After making his mark […]
CinemaScopes: January 2021
2020 has changed our lives forever, and it has altered the way we now view and regard cinematic excellence. While we may not be watching films on the big screen, we devour them at home via streaming and VOD. Ironically, none of the films on this list would be considered big blockbusters or similarly noted […]
Spins: Taylor Swift ⢠evermore
Taylor Swift evermore (Taylor Swift) Despite the roller-coaster year that was 2020, it seems that nothing can stop Taylor Swift from doing what she does best. Swift dropped her surprising second no-skip album of the year in early December, somehow managing to display her own genius yet again. Continuing the contemporary alternative writing of her […]
Hello My Name is…Exene
Itâs not like Exene Cervenka, and her bandmates in the Los Angeles proto-punk quartet X are just sitting around their respective houses, idly twiddling their thumbs this enforced-lockdown December. But they are coming to surreal grips with the fact that for this Yuletide season, at least, they will not be the hardest-working band on the […]
Spins: U2 – “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” ⢠Super Deluxe Vinyl Box Set
U2 All That You Canât Leave Behind Super Deluxe vinyl box set (Island/Interscope/UMe) During the year 2000, U2 was a band on a mission. After the perceived disappointment of 1997âs experimental and techno-friendly Pop (an album that went âmerelyâ platinum in the United States), the Irish quartet were determined to reclaim their signature soundâand with […]
Media: December 2020
2020 was a rough year everywhere, but we lost some of our all-time greatest broadcasters in Chicago. Television greats like Sheldon Cooper (WGN-TV general manager), Lee Phillip Bell (The Lee Phillip Show), Bob Petty (Channel 7/ABC anchor/reporter), Dick Johnson (anchor at Channel 5/NBC), Jerry Taft (longtime Channel 7/ABC weatherman), and Joel Daly (iconic Channel 7/ABC […]
Cover Story: The Smashing Pumpkins
Oh, that irascible old Billy Corgan. Even in a foreboding, energy-sapping, pandemic Plague Year, you just canât take him ANYWHERE. It was a solid, thought-provoking opening question, intended to kick-start our recent interview with the man about CYR! The remarkably-assured new double-record set from Smashing Pumpkins, its 11th, featuring the mostly-original lineup of James Iha […]
Photo Gallery: deadmau5 with Bentley Dean and Kiesza at SeatGeek Stadium
deadmau5 / Bentley Dean / KieszaSeatGeek Stadium – At The Drive-InBridgeview, IL October 30, 2020 Ed Spinelli captured EDM pioneer and producer deadmau5 with Bentley Dean and Kiesza on a chilly evening in Bridgeview’s SeatGeek Stadium. All three came together for “Bridge By A Lightwave,” making it the highlight for the night. Drive-In concerts have […]
Spins: Tom Petty ⢠Wildflowers & All The Rest Deluxe Edition – Reviewed
Tom Petty Wildflowers & All the Rest Deluxe Edition (Warner Bros.) After seven gold and platinum-selling albums with the Heartbreakers, Tom Petty released his first solo album in 1989.Chart favorites including âFree Fallingâ and âI Wonât Back Downâ helped the Jeff Lynne-produced Full Moon Fevereclipse even the success of 1979âs Damn the Torpedoes. When Into the […]
CinemaScopes – November 2020
With many films officially postponed or rescheduled until 2021/2022, the slate for what would normally be the biggest release window of the year has definitely changed due to COVID. Theaters are still open, but many films have now made the jump to VOD and streaming services to get their product out while still trying to […]
Media: November 2020
When you have already been inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, the National Radio Hall of Fame, and you are featured in the radio wing of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you might think that there isnât really anything left to accomplish. But when John Records Landecker recently got […]
Cover Story: Steve Kilbey
Serenity is where you find it; Steve Kilbey has decided, mid-pandemic. And in his beachside home in gorgeous Sydney, Australia, itâs something that the spiritual-minded Church frontman has been actively seeking, from the moment he awakens every potentially-oppressive day. First of all, he says, âI have to be near the sea, I need to see […]
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