It was a beautiful, if hot, summer day in Chicago. Pride Fest and Puerto Rico fest were in full swing and the Cubs were playing at home. And I was reveling in […]

“Hole-in-the-wall” is the most popular description for the beloved music venue The Empty Bottle. Local Chicago publishing house Curbside Splendor has released a coffee table book, chronicling the shows, personalities […]

Stunned. Shocked. Saddened. My initial reactions to Prince’s death were all set in denial; this couldn’t be real. But it was, and here we are, without one of music’s greatest […]

Communion‘s debut video for their latest cassette tape Anything 4 U is anything but saintly. It’s sinister and seductive. At best, the almost two minute video for the song “Head Held […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGlsP_kZyYo&w=560&h=315] Ian Vanek started Howardian with his brother in 1993. He was 12 years old. Still, his early experiences seeing Nirvana perform and having the members of Mudhoney talk […]

It’s 2 p.m. on a chilly Friday afternoon in Chicago. The sky is gray and in the middle of making a crucial weather decision for its fussy weekenders. There’s a […]

A couple of weeks ago, Chicago emcee Rich Jones dropped by The Dojo, an arguably secretive DIY spot in Pilsen. The January chill had slowly set in on that Saturday […]

Before the age of 10, Andrew St. James sang and toured for the San Francisco Opera. It was his first job, but it couldn’t last forever. “My voice dropped, and […]

It was 57 years ago, early in the morning of Sunday, Feb. 3, 1959, when a small plane crashed in a snowstorm soon after taking off from Clear Lake, Iowa. […]