Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the year the Beatles arrived in America, Jim DeRogatis began voicing his opinions about rock 'n' roll shortly thereafter.

Together with Greg Kot -- Siskel to his Ebert -- DeRogatis co-hosts Sound Opinions, the world's only rock 'n' roll talk show, on Chicago Public Radio and syndicated nationally through American Public Media. He is also the author of several books, including Turn On Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock; Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Critic; Milk It! Collected Musings on the Alternative Music Explosion of the '90s; and Staring at Sound: The True Story of Oklahoma's Fabulous Flaming Lips. Together with his wife, Carmél Carrillo-DeRogatis, he also edited an anthology entitled Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsiders the Classics. 

DeRogatis jokes that he is a drummer, not a musician, but he has nevertheless done time in a procession of indie rock bands dating to the early ?80s, and is currently working on a book about these adventures tentatively titled The Best Thirty Minutes of My Life. He lives on the North Side of Chicago entirely too close to Wrigley Field.