Weird, over-the-top bands tend to attract weird, over-the-top fans. Witness the incident that recently greeted Atlanta garage-rockers and self-proclaimed "flower punks" the Black Lips when their tour stopped in New York.
As Lake Michigan loomed to his right and the Sears Tower glowed beyond his left shoulder, Lonnie Rashid Lynn took stock of how far he's traveled from 87th Street when he mounted the stage for an extraordinary performance Thursday night at the Charter One Pavilion on Northerly Island.
Chicago's underground rock scene was much smaller and less vibrant when I first arrived here in the early '90s. The energy of the mid-'80s had dissipated along with post-punk bands such as Big Black, Naked Raygun and the Effigies, and the alternative explosion of the mid-'90s had yet to ignite. From my perspective, two of the biggest signs of life were Material Issue and Algebra Suicide, in large part because of their tireless and charismatic front persons.
As Lake Michigan loomed to his right and the Sears Tower glowed beyond his left shoulder, Lonnie Rashid Lynn took stock of how far hes traveled from 87th Street when he mounted the stage for an extraordinary performance Thursday night at the Charter One Pavilion on Northerly Island.
Though the quality of her music has never lagged, Sinead O'Connor's career never fully recovered from the misunderstood 1992 incident when she tore up a picture of the Pope on "Saturday Night Live."
The Bears may have lost the Super Bowl. The Bulls may no longer be what they once were. The Cubs can pretty much be trusted to tank before the World Series. But Chicago has Kanye West.
Faced with a major backlash from advocates for Net neutrality after what Pearl Jam called the political censorship of its comments at Lollapalooza, AT&T;'s Blue Room Webcast has changed its "content monitoring" policy for this weekend's Webcast of the Austin City Limits Festival.
Bandleader Jeff Tweedy wanted to play someplace special for the first Chicago gig supporting ''Sky Blue Sky,'' Wilco's sixth proper album, and the increasingly rock-friendly Millennium Park proved to be the ideal setting for a memorable homecoming Wednesday night.
Today's release of the anticipated third albums by hip-hop superstars Kanye West and 50 Cent has prompted a much-publicized race for No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart, even if some observers believe country star Kenny Chesney may top both rappers.
Entering their 23rd year, MTVs Video Music Awards were in big trouble. The music channel, which actually has long since traded video programming for lame-brained reality shows, has seen a downward spiral in the ratings of its annual self-celebration for the last four years, with viewership plummeting 28 percent in 2006.
With summer concert season and the onslaught of festivals finally behind us, it's time for music fans to return to the clubs, theaters and arenas, and to head for the record stores (or their favorite download sites) for the record labels' big Fall releases.
8 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Riviera Theatre and 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Charter One Pavilion
"The Cool," (Atlantic Records, Nov. 20); and in concert (8 p.m. Oct. 31 at the House of Blues)
While last year's party celebrating the 25th anniversary of Touch and Go Records probably will stand as the most memorable ever sponsored by the local music scene's favorite dive bar, the Hideout once again has put together another strong shindig -- its 11th annual -- to mark a fitting end for Chicago's festival-packed summer concert season.
According to a recent study conducted by the University of Chicago, the Windy City "is a music city in hiding."
