Review: Hazy Soundscapes Make for a Dreamy Night at Salt Shed
Nothing says Fall like dusting off your tallest pair of Doc Martens and pulling out your favorite all black outfit for a Cigarettes After Sex show. El Paso, Texas dream […]
Review: Truest Metal: Heroes of the Metal Underground, by Alexandros Anesiadis with Yannis Skarpelos
Metal, as a genre, is an amusing blend of arrogance and earnestness. Look past the leather and chains, wind-milling manes, and tight animal print pants with padded baskets…ignore the kayfabe […]
Review: Beck and Phoenix Sail the Summer Odyssey to Northerly Island
There was no other place I would have wanted to be last Thursday evening than at one of this summer’s fantastic outdoor concert hurrahs. The immensely anticipated Summer Odyssey Tour […]
Chicago Jazz Festival in Review: Honoring History and Celebrating the Now on the Final Day
The final day of the Chicago Jazz Festival is always a blast and a perfect sendoff to summer. Now, I say summer until the Autumnal Equinox and dare anyone to […]
Review: Third Coast Percussion Unveils Between Breaths in Music and Film
Third Coast Percussion opened their 2023-24 season Saturday night with a celebration and performance of Between Breaths, their new CD on Cedille Records that will be released later this week. […]
Review: Pixies, Modest Mouse, and Cat Power Dazzle Beneath a Blue Moon
Year two of the Salt Shed putting on shows has been a doozy. Honestly, they certainly have not needed to go this hard for this long. Every show brings something […]
Chicago Jazz Festival 2023 in Review: Music Is a Healer and Teacher on Day 3
Tammy McCann is a classically trained singer who could easily grace the world’s stages singing Mozart, Purcell, or Bizet. McCann felt a calling encouraged by Von Freeman and Ramsey Lewis, […]
Chicago Jazz Festival 2023 in Review: A Perfect Cap on Summer and Joy Post-Pandemic
The Chicago Jazz Festival is 47 years old! I am trying to get my head around how long that is, and what a gift it is to know that Chicago […]
Review: Charly Bliss Brings the Heat to Beach Bunny’s Perfect Pool Party
It was a hot one outside the Shed last Thursday in Chicago; a whopping high of just barely 100 degrees and a heat index topping out at 114. Despite the […]
Preview: “Look Mama Your Product Is Legit”—10 Years of Doris at House of Blues
On July 19, 2014, Thebe Kgositsile (professionally known as Earl Sweatshirt) performed in Chicago for the first time at Cabaret Metro in support of his major-label debut Doris. I remember […]
Preview: Bare Yourself to Merce Lemon This Thursday at Sleeping Village
I’m here writing this Merce Lemon preview for their upcoming show at Sleeping Village with co-headliner Lily Seabird and Chicago-based Hemlock simply because Merce Lemon is far too under the […]
Review: Tech Glow-Up for Chicago’s Long-Running Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group started as outsider art, railing against the machine of corporate commodification and end-stage capitalism. Now it’s become a perfect performance entrée for kids and their families, which […]