Rock and roll. Every time I’ve seen Cheap Trick, they played as if they invented it. Most exciting band in the world. – Steve Stav http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qojUFE7ZkI8
When the audience for Chicago blues shifted in the 1960’s from working class black to college age white, a good bit of strange and sometimes wonderful music resulted. Electric Mud certainly makes the first category. The second? Well… Leonard and Phil Chess had already tried to market Muddy Waters to suit the folk craze and …
I had the honor to go see Buddy Guy play at his own club recently. I am ashamed to say that I hadn’t ever done this before. Here are some random thoughts. Scott Holt, who used to play guitar with Buddy warmed up. He led a very tight three piece group through blues originals and …
Before his appalling murder on December 4th, 1969, Fred Hampton, head of the Chicago Panthers, formed an alliance with the Puerto Rican Young Lords and the Patriot Party (consisting of impoverished Chicago whites). Hampton announced this multiracial banding as “a Rainbow Coalition,” years before Jesse Jackson co-opted the term for his own political means. In …
Wild Belle is a sibling duo from Chicago which produces timeless psychedelic-pop with hints of jazz, reggae, and R&B. They recently embarked on their first North American tour and lead singer Natalie Bergman captured images from the band’s life on the road and cobbled those images together into the following retro-coolish video: The duo’s debut …
At Western Recorders in Hollywood on July 25, 1966, The Monkees recorded Mike Nesmith’s song “Mary, Mary” – meanwhile at nearly the same time, at Chess Studios on 2120 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, the Paul Butterfield band with Mike Bloomfield was recording it as well. I’ve always loved it when doped up, kick ass …
Otis Rush has been acknowledged as one of the greats of Chicago Blues for so long that his reputation is almost taken for granted. This performance, and the five others from the same session, is a breathtaking demonstration of how great he truly was when he was young and in his prime. This set, recorded …
Swedish born, New Orleans based soul singer Theresa Andersson is back with a new record, Street Parade: a lush, joyful and sometimes melancholy ode to they city she has called “home” for nearly 20 years. A stunning vocalist and a talented multi-instrumentalist, Theresa is best known for her technologically superlative live shows, where she crafts …
Muddy Waters‘ gravestone is in the Restvale cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, a small suburb just south of Chicago. (I believe there are more dead residents than live ones, based on the number of cemeteries in that town). I happened to be there last year for a gravestone ceremony for Joe and Charlie McCoy, early jug …
I suppose we humans like our numbers rounded. There’s a reason there’s no 49 dollar bill. But when it comes to age, it seems rather pointless to place emphasis on an event simply because it ends in a zero. But society has protocols with which we must comply, so I shall do my best to …
I wrote this song because I love Chicago. Casimir Pulaski Day has always been a great Illinois holiday. When we were growing up we got a day off from school. Now we get a day off from work which turns into a great 3 day weekend which reminds us that summer is just around the …
I love old postcards. They seem to capture history, the way it was really lived by ordinary people, in ways textbooks cannot. Here is a scan of the picture side of a postcard I found yesterday at a collectible store in town. It’s a scene of Chicagoans riding on horse-drawn carriages along Lake Shore Drive …
Kidd Russell has two new videos. He describes She Feels Like Home in this way, “We Shot this video on the last day of summer in Wisconsin. We had no plans, a bootleg camera, our ladies and a few cases of beer so we decided to have fun and shoot something authentic and fun. I …
Broke DJ Kidd Russell ft. DJ John Blaze aka the homeless DJ beat: sleigh bells -infinite guitars off the new mixtape: RUDY RUETTIGER MUSIC Free download: http://hulkshare.com/cponzmu79u06 Here’s a message from Kidd Russell: If you’ve been to our live shows you know this song well and it is a fan favorite. We appreciate everyone whose …
So there was a guy in a wheelchair on the corner of Belmont and Broadway in Chicago. He had a paper cup and was shaking coins. I grabbed about 50 cents and tried to throw it in his cup. He stared at me, and smiled a bit, and drank from the cup. The “coins” were …
I can’t come up with a Pop Culture Top 10 of 2011. I paid no attention this year, due to extenuating circumstances. My most memorable pop music experience occurred in April as I drove around my home town (Rochester, NY) the week of my mother’s funeral while the radio played the same songs it had …
Hi y’all: What is UP wit’ our ol’ friends at Rhino, anyway? Just seeing the be-candy caned logo below (still avec restricted trademark, natch) unleashed a rather severe Tremor in The Force, at least where I live and breathe. Can you IMAGINE—“An Evening with….”, playing in multiplexes nationwide for two nights this December, devoted to …
Legendary Chicago blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin has died. Born in Greenwood, Mississippi on November 16, 1931, Sumlin had recently celebrated his 80th birthday with a public appearance. He died of heart failure December 4, 2011 in Wayne, New Jersey. When reached for comment, EPB blues expert John Siscoe replied: “So Hubert Sumlin is dead. Though …
Chicagoan Kevin DeBolt may have overheard confirmation of the Ryne Sandberg back-to-the-Chicago-Cubs rumor. Says KB on FB Thursday morning, “Just walked past a certain Mr. Ryne Sandberg on Michigan Ave. He was on his phone talking about hitting coaches. I’m NOT joking. Could there be a DOUBLE announcement this weekend?” DeBolt is referring to the …
This is what I recall about 9/11/01. Normal day at the office, working in my 8’8′ cube across from soon-to-retire George Vuscko. A co-worker announces the first WTC building had been hit and then I discover that no one has internet access. We’re waiting for the decision to evacuate, which must come from D.C. Then …
He went by many names- Rice, Willie, Footsie, The Goat. His real name may have been Aleck Miller. He claimed to be the well-known bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson. When it was pointed out to him that this was another man, he insisted he had adopted the name first. Of course he was an imposter, but …
There’s a hot’n sexy new show set to start Sept. 19 on NBC called, “The Playboy Club,” set in 1960s Chicago (Ike and Tina Turner make an appearance). This story is from the LA Times last May, when the show must have been in its’ final stages of production, giving the sad and lonely endgame …
Amazing! How did he do that?!? Years ago when my oldest son was in Kindergarten (he’s 23 now), he and I shared an afternoon at Chicago’s World-Famous John G. Shedd Aquarium. I had bought him a little stuffed dolphin at the gift shop and he was playing with it, making it “swim” along the underwater …
I know posts to EPB tend to be quite short and oftentimes are simply a link to something someone has deemed worthy in his/her view. That is not a criticism; I too embrace brevity. This weekend people traveled from afar, eg. Japan, CA, WA, CO, and NH, to pay Ken Olson last respects at a …
Alfonso Ponticelli has been playing a weekly gig of Django Reinhardt music at the venerable Green Mill in Chicago for well over a year now. (Al Capone reportedly hung out at the Green Mill.) I recommend everyone go hear Ponticelli. Here he is in action at the Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest in Madison, Wisconsin. Located …
Here’s some new Chicago hip hop, the first visual from The 2 of Diamonds’ forthcoming project, “Jackin for Fans” set to release sometime in July. The video was directed by Nic Collins and Ryan Farmer: Better Dayz-The 2 of Diamonds ft. Chris Mathien from nic collins on Vimeo. .