Whether one is charitable and inclined to say that Lollapalooza is making a (better late than never) effort to incorporate the desires of the Chicago music community and the rest of its customers, or more cynical and prone to the view that, as confirmed my by interview with talent buyer and co-owner Marc Geiger a while back, the brain trust behind the giant musical Walmart on the lake has never really had any vision for the thing beyond raking in the Benjamins, it's interesting to note the festival's current invitation to us to "Be the Booking Agent" (coming to me originally via the ever-diligent Tankboy at Chicagoist).
"Tell us who you'd put on next year's Lollapalooza lineup, happening August 6-8, 2010. Give us your Top 5 artists -- monster headliners to bands we've never even heard of -- from rock to avant-garde, indie to hip-hop, and all the sounds in between. Speak up by November 10. We'll collect all of your ideas, then see what we can make happen," the invitation reads, before asking for (one presumes) valuable demographic data about us voters and then offering the opportunity to pick as many as five (five!) acts to fill Grant Park next summer.
Well, thanks, fellas. Are you also going to share your commissions?
Meanwhile, a petition is making the rounds urging, "Save Chicago music - You can help!"
"Music, arts and cultural programs presented by the city of Chicago are threatened by severe budget cuts," it notes. "We can't let this happen--our city is known around the world for its free music programming that not only brings enjoyment to hundreds of thousands of fans and adds to the richness of our civic culture, but also generates jobs and income for local businesses.
"If you value programs like Blues Fest, Jazz Fest, the World Music Festival, SummerDance and Millennium Park concerts including Music Without Borders, Downtown Sound and much more (see below for a list), please do your part. City budget hearings are underway, and you can make a difference. If you do nothing, these programs could be cut back sharply."
While some would say the world (or at least Chicago) might be better off without Blues Fest, there is no denying the value of the burgeoning cutting-edge music programming at Millennium Park, which recently has included Andrew Bird, Shellac, the Dirty Projectors, Calexico, the Feelies, Red Red Meat, Tortoise, Chuck D and the Bomb Squad and more.
As is perhaps inevitable with any band that's built a 15-year career and an eight-album discography, fans have been grousing that "Weezer should go back to being Weezer" for years now. With its last release in 2008, its third self-titled disc or "the Red Album," the alt-era survivors and emo progenitors made a partial detour from the arena rock of recent years to return to the willfully naïve, exuberantly bouncy, heart-on-sleeve pop of their first self-titled disc and 1994 debut--though even gems such as "Heart Songs" weren't enough to please the grousers.
The only thing that could make them happy, it seems, would be "Pinkerton, Part 2." But bandleader and primary songwriter River Cuomo would be the first to tell you he could never really return to the troubled period of his life that produced that uniquely soul-baring epic, even if he wanted to.
With the wonderfully titled "Raditude," Cuomo appears to have stopped worrying about his history and fan base and begun to simply indulge his love for and mastery of pop song craft, in particular as it's practiced on the pop charts circa 2009. Though his nasal voice and the band's essential guitar-bass-drums attack will always mark his latest collection of songs as Weezer product, Cuomo could well have sold some of this material to, say, Lady Gaga (the band has been covering her "Poker Face" live of late) or any number of current hip-hop, R&B or pop chart-toppers (Cuomo also wrote a tune for Katy Perry). Guest producers include Polow Da Don,; Weezer has fleshed out and glossed up the poignant and brilliant "Can't Stop Partying," a collaboration with Jermaine Dupri first heard on a 2008 demos collection, with a much snazzier groove and a cameo by Lil Wayne (Weezer and Weezy, side by side!) and "I'm Your Daddy" is the best R. Kelly song that Kelly never wrote.
Of course, Weezer being Weezer, there also are some songs that couldn't have been done anyone else, in particular "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" and "Put Me Back Together," as well as a mind-boggling detour or two, including the sitar-powered Bollywood jam, "Love Is the Answer." It all combines to make what may be the most uneven and inconsistent album of the group's career, yet it also is one of its most entertaining and just plain fun.
It's hard to ignore a pitch like, "Think pop like Coca-Cola, think raw fun like Ecstasy, think catchy like a lacrosse stick," if only because you want to counter, "No way this band is going to sound like that much fun!" But sure enough, Jesse Palter & the Alter Ego deliver on those promises with a strong four-song EP currently streaming on the Web at www.myspace.com/jessepalterthealterego and www.palterego.com.
Vocalist Jesse Palter and multi-instrumentalist Sam Barsh began their collaboration in 2006. Both had enviable reputations in the jazz world--Palter was named "Outstanding Jazz Vocalist" for three years in a row at the Detroit Music Awards before moving to Chicago, while Barsh has played with names such as Cassandra Wilson, Bobby McFerrin and the Brand New Heavies--but the goal of the Alter Ego was to bring their considerable chops to the often simplistic genre of dance-pop, creating irresistible hooks and undeniable grooves that are as smart and sophisticated as they are silly good-time fun.
In other words, Lady Gaga, watch out! (The band recently played Martyr's; watch its Web sites for other upcoming gigs.)
Coming on the heels of U2's announcement of a return engagement to the giant toilet bowl on Lake Michigan that once was this city's grand and noble Soldier Field, New Jersey hair-hoppers gone country-popsters Bon Jovi have announced that they, too, will play the venue next summer, on July 30, under the auspices of the second biggest national concert promoters, AEG Live.
(The Austin, TX, promoters behind Lollapalooza, C3 Presents, won a deal with the city to bring more entertainment to Soldier Field more than a year ago, but they have as yet done nothing with it. That, however, is another story.)
Bon Jovi tickets go on sale Monday, Nov. 16, at 10 a.m. through www.ticketmaster.com, (312) 559-1212. Regular ticket prices were not announced. There also are VIP and Fan Club packages available starting at 9 p.m. tonight through www.bonjovi.com.
So, you ask, isn't it odd for next year's big summer concerts to be coming on sale before Chicago has even seen the first snow of this season? What's up with that?
Well, you buy your ticket and you pay your money now (plus egregious Ticketmaster service fees, of course), and your hard-earned cash sits for 9 months in the bank accounts of the promoters, the bands and the ticket sellers, accruing interest that might otherwise have gone into your bank account.
Better Jon Bon Jovi and Bono eke out a few more dollars than their fans keep that money, right? Because they really need it for the mortgages on their third or fourth vacation homes, no doubt.
If you are concerned you won't have gotten enough of the mighty noise delivered by Chicago's reunited Jesus Lizard after its two shows at Metro later this month, the club has announced that the band also will perform there on New Year's Eve.
The original lineup of David Yow, Duane Denison, David Wm Sims and Mac McNeilly will be joined by openers Disappears, and tickets will go on sale at noon Saturday, Nov. 7, via www.metrochicago.com and at the Metro box office. Tickets are $51 in advance and $61 the day of show.
In addition to being an extraordinarily talented group of singers, songwriters and musicians, as well as some of the nicest people you'll meet on the Chicago rock scene, the biggest reason for the Scotland Yard Gospel Choir's success is that no local band works harder.
One of the greatest frustrations 29-year-old bandleader Elia Einhorn has experienced since the catastrophic crash the group suffered on Sept. 24 is that he hasn't been able to walk the streets hanging fliers promoting the benefit concerts the group's peers have been quick to mount on its behalf.
"I went out to put up some posters for the Halloween benefit, and I hurt my muscles just putting up fliers, so I've been in bed the last couple of days," Einhorn said with a sigh late last week. "I'm not used to being laid up like this--postering is in my blood!--and I just thought, 'Oh, I can go out and walk around a little bit.' But I pushed myself too far. It was a good lesson: I have to slow down... at least for a little while."
"Thousands of miles of bad road, hundreds of shows raging, questionable or both, countless broken hearts and battered eardrums, and infinite beers later," as the hard-rocking Chicago band says, Bible of the Devil will celebrate its first decade on the local rock scene on Saturday, Nov. 7, at the Cobra Lounge, 235 N. Ashland. Ironhead and High Spirits open starting at 9 p.m., and admission is free. Oh, and the band is taking requests from longtime fans at botdmusic@gmail.com, noting, "If we can remember it, we'll try to play it!"
Whether it's been as a member of Ultramagnetic MCs, as Black Elvis or as Dr. Octagon, rapper Kool Keith has long been one of the most creative, innovative and wonderfully weird forces in hip-hop. He'll perform at Reggie's Rock Club, 2109 S. State, after opening sets by Shala and Robust starting at 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7. Tickets are $20 via www.ticketweb.com; for more information, call (312) 949-0121 or visit www.reggieslive.com.
As reported earlier, U2 will return to Chicago for a repeat engagement at Soldier Field on July 6. The local office of giant national concert promoter Live Nation has just announced that tickets will go on sale a week from today, on Monday, Nov. 9, via LiveNation.com and at all Ticketmaster outlets.
Prices are $252.00, $97.00, $57.00 and $32.00, plus egregious service fees.
Though it cannot be denied that Bob Dylan is a living treasure and one of the most important and influential figures in the history of American song craft, the 68-year-old legend recently released a strong contender for the worst album of his storied career, "Christmas in the Heart."
It may have been a noble effort to raise money for charity. But the new disc of massacred holiday standards is nonetheless a miserable listening experience.
Thankfully, there wasn't a harsh, croaking rendition of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," an endless, torturous version of "Little Drummer Boy" or a weird threat-not-a promise take on "I'll Be Home for Christmas" in evidence Thursday night as the favorite son of Hibbing, Minn., played the first of a three-night stand at the Aragon Ballroom.
In fact, in his patently perverse, willfully noncommercial, change-it-up-every-night and "zag whenever they expect me to zig" style, Dylan completely ignored his new album. Instead, the man whose taped introduction branded him "the poet laureate of rock 'n' roll" gave us a typically atypical night, mixing a heavy sampling of songs from the last three studio albums before "Christmas in the Heart" with a handful of his most memorable anthems.
As usual, many of these songs were barely recognizable, as Dylan shuffled, rewrote, rearranged and just plain messed with them however the spirit of the moment struck him.
One notable failure: A particularly unsubtle and heavy-handed thrashing of "Just Like a Woman," part of a generally sluggish start to the two-hour show. (Dylan began promptly at 7:30 p.m., and there was no opening act.)
Among the standout high points: a revved-up "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum"; "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again," which was turned inside out and upside down; a rollicking and rambunctious "Highway 61 Revisited," and a tense and dramatic "Ain't Talkin'."
After a particularly inspired and reliably consistent stretch in the '90s, when his shows were marked by their furious guitar rave-ups and intense interaction with his crack band, Dylan's concerts have become much more uneven and sluggish in recent years. The star has spent much of his time onstage rigidly standing behind an electronic keyboard, reportedly because arthritis has made his guitar playing more difficult.
And the voice... oh, that voice. Even though of us who've applauded its harsh punk charms, forgiven its infamous limitations and championed it as a direct conduit to the songwriter's soul must admit that it's becoming ever harsher, more limited and sloppier, without an appreciable increase in soulfulness.
The current tour marks the return of Austin, TX, guitarist Charlie Sexton, one of Dylan's best ever sidemen, and a big reason why those '90s shows were so fiery. But the bandleader still spent much of Thursday night behind that dreaded synthesizer. When he did don a guitar, he hardly moved and barely acknowledged Sexton, second guitarist Stu Kimball and bassist Tony Garnier at his right side, much less drummer George Recile behind him.
Indeed, the only time Dylan seemed undiminished was when he blowing harp. His harmonica propelled "Ballad of a Thin Man," the last song before the encore, and the evening's climax.
Overall, this was a better night with Bob than the last few this critic has had, but it was far from the best.
The most hardcore fans will contend that any night with their hero is a privilege mere mortals should gratefully welcome without complaints. But I bet that even many of them are glad to have been spared his particularly unique reading of "Winter Wonderland."
Sure, March 17 to 21 still seems a ways off. But it's never too early for local musicians, indie business folks and fans to start thinking about the South by Southwest Music Festival, the music industry's largest annual gathering, and those are the dates when it will descend on Austin, TX, in 2010.
Meanwhile, festival promoters are holding a "SXSW Music Mixer party" on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at the Hideout, 1354 West Wabansia, from 6 to 8 p.m. According to the SXSW release:
"Staffers from the music conference, festival and sales departments will be on hand to discuss SXSW 10's new features. We'll be giving away a SXSW Music badge to a lucky contest winner, so bring your business card to drop in the fishbowl. Space and free beverages are limited, so RSVP now to MusicRSVP@sxsw.com!"
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