Jim DeRogatis: "A lot of people who meet us are disappointed that we're such
moderately intelligent, well-balanced, happy guys," Jesus Lizard
bassist David Wm. Sims told me in August 1994. "[Guitarist] Duane
[Denison] and I spend a lot of time writing songs. [Singer] David [Yow]
and [drummer] Mac [McNeilly] are married. David is doing some acting
and working a lot with computer graphics, and Mac has a family. That
takes people back initially."DeRo's blog More music news and reviews
Jim DeRogatis: "A lot of people who meet us are disappointed that we're such
moderately intelligent, well-balanced, happy guys," Jesus Lizard
bassist David Wm. Sims told me in August 1994. "[Guitarist] Duane
[Denison] and I spend a lot of time writing songs. [Singer] David [Yow]
and [drummer] Mac [McNeilly] are married. David is doing some acting
and working a lot with computer graphics, and Mac has a family. That
takes people back initially."DeRo's blog More music news and reviews
Jim DeRogatis: "A lot of people who meet us are disappointed that we're such moderately intelligent, well-balanced, happy guys," Jesus Lizard bassist David Wm. Sims told me in August 1994. "[Guitarist] Duane [Denison] and I spend a lot of time writing songs. [Singer] David [Yow] and [drummer] Mac [McNeilly] are married. David is doing some acting and working a lot with computer graphics, and Mac has a family. That takes people back initially."
In the world of 24-7 hype, expectations matter much more than the actual payoff. So goes the case of Kid Sister, the 29-year-old Markham native who is the latest fresh face on Chicago's burgeoning hip-hop scene that has been revving up for quite some time now, but has yet to cash in fully on its promise.
Q. You just released "Normal as Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day." Why did you decide to do an album featuring your take on Doris Day songs?
What's Thanksgiving without Cranberries? Though the Irish alt-pop quartet skirted multiple breakup attempts during the 90s, it seemed that burnout had settled in for good when their separation was announced in 2003. Luckily for fans, the family is functional again -- just in time for the holidays.
NEW YORK -- The Who will perform at halftime of the Super Bowl this season.
Music retailers say Susan Boyle's album "I Dreamed a Dream" is way beyond sales expectations.
NEW YORK -- On Christmas Eve, Sting and his wife Trudie go to a local church, sing along to carols, then head back home to their English estate to open presents with their family.
Lying in bed one night in 2007, Peter Criss felt something strange: a small lump on his left breast. "I thought, 'It's a nodule, I'm a guy, I don't think it's anything more than that,"' he said. "The more I messed with it, the bigger it got and the more it hurt, and that started really scaring me."
Taking cues from the Three Tenors model -- a cash cow that has since been milked to death by the Irish Tenors, the Three Mo' Tenors, and so on -- the Australian collective the Ten Tenors wiggles their tushes and serenades to FM faves, opera arias, and, most prominently Tuesday night at the Auditorium Theatre, everyday Christmas tunes.
Reunited for its first tour in seven years, the Irish band the Cranberries is headed toward Chicago but only working its way slowly toward recording new material. "It would be nice to come up with a new record. I don't see why not," singer Dolores O'Riordan says.
The death Friday of the great Swedish soprano Elisabeth Soderstrom at age 82 cast a shadow and a sense of torch-passing toward Lyric Opera of Chicago's opening performance Sunday afternoon of Leos Janacek's "Katya Kabanova."
Jim DeRogatis: For all the talk of an edgier, angrier and more mature new Rihanna, it's hard to buy the re-emergent dance-pop singer as a towering pillar of feminine strength akin to Patti Smith, Courtney Love, Queen Latifah or Mary J. Blige. Nevertheless, "Rated R," the new album recorded in the wake of Rihanna's altercation with former boyfriend Chris Brown and arriving in stores today, is by far the best, most layered and most heartfelt effort of the 21-year-old artist's career.
Taylor Swift swept the night, and Michael Jackson made history, but all anyone’s talking about today is Adam Lambert. And a lot of them are complaining. ABC says more than 1,500 people have called to complain about Adam Lambert’s sexually charged performance at the end of Sunday night’s American Music Awards.
Among the most anticipated "comeback" performances at Sunday night's American Music Awards ceremony was the return of Jennifer Lopez. Would she win us over again or would she fall on her behind?
Michael Jackson made history by winning four American Music Awards on Sunday night, but he couldn't beat Taylor Swift as the year's favorite artist and the evening's top winner.
Adam Lambert, the runner-up on season 8 of "American Idol," has a song on the "2012" film soundtrack, is performing on Sunday's American Music Awareds and his debut album, "For Your Entertainment," comes out Monday.
Despite the cheeky, hinting-at-generic sounds moniker, Noise By Numbers draws inspiration from the fertile ’80s indie-rock scene of Husker Du, the Replacements, Dinosaur Jr. and their ilk as well as classic Chicago punk sounds like Naked Raygun and the Effigies.
Jim DeRogatis: When it comes to tragic spectacles in this sorry age of reality television, beyond even the pathetic sight of Patti Blagojevich eating bugs on "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!," falls the obnoxious exploitation of Scottish homebody Susan Boyle.
LOS ANGELES -- Jennifer Lopez plans to include fireworks and an onstage costume change in her performance at the American Music Awards. "American Idol" runner-up Adam Lambert will incorporate leather and chains and into his.
Rob Zombie decided to push back the release date of his “Hellbilly Deluxe 2” album because “everything was turning into a chaotic mess.” Zombie’s fourth solo studio album — and the sequel to his 1998 solo debut — was originally slated to come out this week. He plays in Chicago this weekend.
With no hype and even very little standard promotion, Liverpool, England-born Paul Lewis has emerged in recent years as one of the world's finest pianists. At 37, he no longer should be judged as a "younger pianist" but simply as the great artist he is increasingly showing himself to be.
Jim DeRogatis: Born in Chicago Heights, Melissa Young didn't think a lot about the role of women in hip-hop. So while the 29-year-old artist -- now better known to the music world as Kid Sister -- is one of the most exciting voices to emerge on the scene since the heyday of Queen Latifah, MC Lyte and Yo-Yo, she'd prefer to be known as a great rapper, period, instead of as a great female rapper.
Brian Setzer's new album, "Songs From Lonely Avenue," was inspired by film noir themes from the '40s and '50s. Now he'd love to see someone make a movie based on the record.
When Amanda Blank bounds onstage, prancing like a '60s go-go dancer, she's giddy, almost awkward, and all megawatt smiles.
Now that he's revisited the rootsy country and early rock terrain of his first post-Creedence Clearwater Revival days on "The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again," John Fogerty says he's ready to start sounding like, well, John Fogerty again.
Don't you dare call Heather Moran a desperate housewife.
With no TV reality show to flog them this time, the duo of Shwayze and Cisco Adler are hoping the new Shwayze album, "Let It Beat," will bring them a greater kind of musical credibility.
Black Francis and the Pixies, Boston's proto-alternative quartet that soared with 1989’s ‘‘Doolittle,’’ delivered a track-by-track performance of the inscrutable classic Thursday at the Aragon Ballroom and even sold recordings of the show to fans on the way out.
Though they're the biggest deal in Latin music, the Bronx-born guys of Aventura remain humble. Their latest disc, "The Last," featuring more of the band's "urban bachata" hits, went multiplatinum and spent more than 15 weeks at the top of Billboard's Latin albums chart.
A sprawling, indulgent set riddled with jokes, digressions, snippets of hits and an endless supply of sleaze. In other words, it was typical R. Kelly Tuesday night in the first of two concerts at the Auditorium Theater. Kelly’s tenth studio album, “Untitled,” is due in stores Dec. 1. Instead of previewing those songs, however, he shuffled through truncated bits of various cuts like an iPod on the fritz.
The Berlin Philharmonic at Orchestra Hall might have been the hottest ticket in town Monday night, but you wouldn't have known it from the bustling Harris Theater as Music of the Baroque gave its second subscription concert of the season. Just up the street from where the traveling Germans were settling in, Nicholas Kraemer led a breezy and often-hilarious night of wildly inventive period works by Vivaldi, Jean-Fery Rebel and Telemann.
The Berlin Philharmonic has been one of the world’s greatest orchestras almost from its founding in 1882. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago, it has resumed its place as a national institution in a reunified city that is once again the sole German capital.
Kris Allen knows he's not garnering as much attention as Adam Lambert, and that's OK with him. Since foiling Lambert at the "American Idol" finale in May, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter from Conway, Ark., has not appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and declared he's gay.
Being in a band for nearly 40 years is not something you plan, says Joe Perry. “It’s like, what are you going to watch on TV in three weeks?” asks the Aerosmith guitarist. “You don’t think about things like that. So the way that everything turned out, it just ... evolved.” And may still be evolving.
Sir Simon Rattle’s new contract with the Berlin Philharmonic is just days old but already he’s looking ahead — to the orchestra’s coast-to-coast U.S. tour, which just got under way, and to the role that classical music can and will play in 21st century society. Rattle and the 128 members of the Berlin Philharmonic departed last week on the seven-stop U.S. tour that makes its way to Chicago on Monday.
Even the Chicago Symphony Orchestra catches its breath occasionally. This fall has been a heavy roll of European touring, Mutimania and four large-scale works these last two weeks under the painstaking care of principal conductor Bernard Haitink. One had a sense that the CSO concert Thursday night at Symphony Center was more a preview of great performances to come than a fully realized achievement.
Here is the bitter irony: The tragic story that unspools in "Hopera: A Fallen Hero" --the "hip-hop opera" that is a fiery blend of grand opera and hip-hop riffs -- plays out for real in neighborhoods just a short walk from the stage of the DuSable Museum of African American Art, where the work will have its final performances tonight and Sunday afternoon.
Jim DeRogatis: Second only to Kurt Cobain, a decade and a half later, Jeff Buckley stands as the most influential -- and tragic -- musician to impact the fertile music scene of the '90s. His slippery, soulful voice and penetrating songs continue to touch legions of fans, and his legend looms ever larger.
Late last month four teens were cited for disorderly conduct in American Fork, Utah, after repeatedly (and, some would argue, hilariously) rapping their order at a McDonald's drive-through. "There've been quite a few media outlets that have tried to make it about the rapping," says American Fork police Sgt. Gregg Ludlow, "but that's not the case. It was the fact that they pulled in, they interrupted the business, they were swearing at the employees ... and just causing public annoyance or alarm," he alleges.
Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry says estranged singer Steven Tyler's surprise guest appearance at a concert Tuesday night "really didn't change anything in my mind" about the status of Aerosmith.
Of all the Beatles albums you could think of to faithfully recreate -- track by track during a live performance -- the group's 15th American release, officially titled "The Beatles" but more commonly known as "The White Album," probably wouldn't top your list. "It's a piece by the Beatles, why not?," asks musician Jimmy Vivino.
It's been Taylor Swift's year, and Wednesday was her night as she became the youngest person and the first solo female act in a decade to win the Country Music Association's entertainer of the year award. Swift won all four awards for which she was nominated, making history on a historic night that included Darius Rucker's win as new artist.
Steven Tyler said he is "not leaving Aerosmith" as he made what appeared to be a conciliatory guest appearance with guitarist Joe Perry and his band. Tyler joined the Joe Perry Project on "Walk This Way" Tuesday at Irving Plaza in New York.
Rolling Stones rocker Ronnie Wood has been divorced by his wife of 24 years on the grounds of adultery.
The ukulele may never receive the shot of cool that Elvis Presley gave it in 1961 with “Blue Hawaii,” but new ukulele-centric releases by veteran artists including Tiny Tim and The Cars’ Greg Hawkes give a hint of a renaissance. Indie-pop crooner Dent May is arguably the first artist in four decades to break out while staking his sound to the compact four-stringed instrument.
NEW YORK -- Members of Bon Jovi were supposed to be taking it easy this winter, basking in adulation and just letting the money roll in.
Don Henley coolly provided an efficient review of his greatest solo hits from 20-plus years in the past. Monday night at the Rosemont Theatre, the matter of course was about keeping the customer happy while showing that a few finds in his catalog still have teeth. They still suit Henley’s voice, which sounds more comfortable from the losing end of things.
Kenny Chesney has made the very hard work of dominating country music look easy. And Taylor Swift is paying close attention. The 19-year-old sensation has the record sales. She beat out every living artist -- no matter the genre -- this year with more than 3 million copies of her "Fearless" CD sold.
Rihanna says recording songs on her new album was such an emotional experience that she sometimes had to leave the studio to prevent herself from breaking down. “I walked out the studio a few times just trying not to be in tears,” she said Monday about recording her fourth studio album, “Rated R,” to be released on Nov. 23. "It was too deep for me to even listen to,” she said.
Did pop diva Beyonce Knowles and her Destiny's Child rip off a Chicago songwriter's song? A copycat claim contained in a 2006 lawsuit is expected to land the "Bootylicious" sensation in a witness chair next month as part of a copyright infringement trial to be held in Chicago's federal courthouse.
The University of Chicago's Mandel Hall isn't known for its modern amenities or comfortable seating, but its lively acoustics, wooden Victorian opulence and accessible sightlines make for a hyper-sensory experience. That the superb U. of C. Presents music series regularly brings here first-rate stars makes it an essential destination for downtown-weary Chicagoans.
‘Five Years.” That’s the title of one of the most iconic songs by pop music avatar David Bowie, and by coincidence, it also indicates the interval since the man known alternately as Ziggy Stardust/Major Tom/Aladdin Sane/The Thin White Duke, et al., slipped off the world’s stage after a health crisis. With Bowie largely quiet since he underwent bypass surgery in 2004, it’s curious why rock journalist Marc Spitz seized this moment to write Bowie: A Biography.
Paul Shaffer devotes a chapter to co-writing his gay disco pop hit “It’s Raining Men” in We’ll Be Here For The Rest Of Our Lives, but that’s not why I called.
The dream times continue at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with a blissful three-man minuet of some of the world's greatest conductors making delicious music week after week.
Jim DeRogatis: 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. Now the beloved group is crawling back to life after the catastrophic automobile crash the group suffered on Sept. 24.
The musical worlds of classic opera and modern hip-hop might seem like the unlikeliest of candidates for a mashup, but Chicago singer, musician and composer Adrian Dunn doesn’t think so. “Traditional Western European opera and hip-hop aren’t that far apart,” Dunn says. “Opera can be popular again, but young people need to feel like they have a place in opera and other classical music.”
Basement Jaxx, the British duo responsible for some of the most infectious dance-floor anthems of the last decade, is following the release of its latest studio album with a series of rare North American DJ dates this fall, including tonight at the Congress Theater.
Despite his various apologies, Chris Brown's efforts to atone for assaulting Rihanna may not be enough to satisfy fans.
First, we got Sting’s memoir, Broken Music, back in 2003. A couple of years ago, guitarist Andy Summers published a superb autobiography, One Train Later. That left one remaining member of The Police to weigh in on the superstar rock group’s incredible fame and infamous friction. But if you’re eager to read drummer Stewart Copeland’s account of his life in the Police, circa 1976-1983, his newly published memoir, Strange Things Happen, will disappoint.
WEST HOLLYWOOD -- "Look at Kiss culture," says Gene Simmons, radiating pride. "People tattoo their bodies with Kiss faces, name their children after our songs, have Kiss conventions.
Vertical Horizon found platinum success in 1999 with the hit single "Everything You Want," but after an unhappy relationship with its record label, the band split ways.
Irish rockers U2 returned to Berlin for a free mini-concert Thursday in front of the Brandenburg Gate, a show obscured from public view by a nearly 6½-foot metal barrier.
When the members of AFI began work on their 2006 album "Decemberunderground," they "tried really hard not to think about it as the followup to a big, successful record," guitarist Jade Puget says.
While PDQ Bach and Victor Borge may still loom large, classical music and humor have long been seen as the perennial odd couple. On Monday night at Orchestra Hall, the Chicago Sinfonietta made a convincing argument that silliness abounds in the hallowed tradition of composition if you look hard enough. It doesn't always take a musicologist's ear to get the jokes.
The world's first Hasidic reggae superstar is getting a little unorthodox. Matisyahu Miller, known to his fans by his first name and to his friends simply as Matis, emerges this month with his first full-length album in three years -- and a sound more like Jersey than Jamaica.
Lyric Opera of Chicago has had a hit with its revival of audience-favorite "Faust" since its opening last month with rising Polish tenor Piotr Beczala, superstar bass Rene Pape and thrilling soprano Ana Maria Martinez.
Citing a "family issue within the band," Dashboard Confessional has called off its fall tour, including a Dec. 11 date at the Aragon.
For Grammy-winning producer Mark Johnson, the first step to an adventure that would take him around the world began in a New York subway station. It was there on his way to work one morning that Johnson heard two monks performing, one playing the guitar, the other singing in a language he did not understand.
1. Mohammed Alidu: He's created his own unique blend of Afropop, fusing traditional and contemporary elements from West Africa and Madagascar.
Unwilling to let his pipes rust while hurdles for a Who tour are cleared, the band’s singer is striking out on his own. The Use It or Lose It tour, Roger Daltrey’s first solo outing since 1985, hits Chicago on Monday. Daltrey says one of the goals of his upcoming “Use It or Lose It” tour is to get his voice in prime shape for the start of the Who’s next album later this year.
The historic Auditorium Theatre was the ideal venue for the Monsters of Folk indie-rock super group on Friday, but too often the show stumbled through erratic transitions.
Nick Jonas might be releasing a solo album next year without any help from his siblings, but that doesn’t mean the Jonas Brothers are over. In a MySpace blog post this week titled “WE ARE NOT BREAKING UP,” the power-pop trio quelled the worst fears of its fans, which stemmed from a news report that its youngest member was branching out with a side project.
This week, the first round of tour dates for Lilith Fair 2010 -- a revival of the late '90s women's music festival -- was announced, prompting those of us who were the target demo the first time to go, "Aw, cool." And then, "Wait, but is it?"
With Orchestra Hall still shaking down from the recent residency of Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director designate Riccardo Muti and the attendant Mutimania, the CSO turns its podium over to a busy Chicago-based conductor this week.
As much as the legions of tiny trick-or-treaters who'll fill the city streets this weekend, Chicago's always-vibrant underground rock scene loves Halloween.
First, let's get one thing straight: Monsters of Folk is not a Halloween monster mash featuring folk-singing Frankensteins, Draculas and werewolves. Even though the name is holiday-appropriate this weekend, it's the year-round name of the collaboration between four indie-rock musicians -- Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, My Morning Jacket's Jim James and singer-songwriter M. Ward.
Jim DeRogatis: Bob Dylan's new disc of massacred holiday standards is a miserable listening experience. But thankfully there wasn’t a harsh, croaking rendition of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing" in evidence Thursday night as the favorite son of Hibbing, Minn., played the first of a three-night stand at the Aragon Ballroom.
When it comes to putting a season schedule together, an opera company can be damned if it does and damned if it doesn't. Not enough chestnuts and many patrons get heated. Too many, and the critics yawn. A more obscure work often elicits cries of "why?"
