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The CHIRP Blog
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesThe Old Town School of Folk Music Welcomes Robbie Fulks on Saturday the 6th
He may have been born in York, PA and spent some time in Virginia and North Carolina, but Robbie Fulks’ home is Chicago. He’s been a teacher at the Old Town School of Folk Music and worked with many Folk and Alt-Country musicians around town for decades. His latest record Gone Away Backward was released on Bloodshot records last year and is the 12th solo release for a man who has firmly established himself as a creative force who makes music that doesn’t fit into easy categories but will satisfy any roots music fan with an appetite for melody and humor.
Fulks returns to the Old Town School on Saturday, Sept. 6 for an 8:00pm show at the Gary and Laura Maurer Concert Hall, 4544 N Lincoln Ave. He’ll be joined by fellow life-traveler and self-proclaimed “Grammy Award-losing drummer” Gerald Dowd, who’s also collaborated with a whole lot of talented folks. You can buy tickets here. Come on down and get yourself an earful.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesRediscovering Our Record Collections: 2 Live Crew’s “As Nasty As They Wanna Be”
When my friends and I first heard this album, we basically had a big laugh about it. The kind of boisterous but slightly forced and nervous laugh that comes from not really knowing what you're laughing at. Little did we know we were listening to a record that would have far-reaching implications for Rap, and not just because it would become the first album in U.S. history to be declared legally obscene.
Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesTop Five: Songs About Football
Thanks to two decades as the theme of Monday Night Football, Hank Williams, Jr.'s NFL-centric remake of "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" remains the most recognizable song about football not called "The Super Bowl Shuffle." America, we can do better. In honor of football season, here are five superior songs about the gridiron, and all of the promise and peril it contains.
1) Pavement, "Lions (Linden)" (1992)
The Linden Lions are real. They play football in California's tiny Mother Lode League, facing off against teams from other farm towns irrigated to life by the reservoirs of the Central Valley. Stephen Malkmus attended high school in nearby Lodi, balancing his slacker whateverness with a red-blooded love of sports. Both aspects of his personality come out in this track from 1992's Watery, Domestic. The freak in Malkmus criticizes the usual targets: small-town provincialism, civic mismanagement, the rah-rah that fills stands and funnels money to booster clubs while the surrounding infrastructure decays. Despite all that, the fan wins out. Malkmus understands the escapist appeal of autumn weekends spent sitting in a rickety stadium, rooting for the kids from the next county over to get their teeth kicked in.
SKaiser writesDon’t miss The Onion’s A.V. Club & Hideout Inn Block Party this Friday and Saturday!
Come hang with CHIRP this Friday and Saturday, September 5th/6th, at The Onion’s A.V. Club & Hideout Inn Block Party! Feast your eyes on Death Cab for Cutie, The War on Drugs, Hamilton Leithausar, Mac DeMarco, Sylvan Esso, The Handsome Family, The Dismemberment Plan, Funky Meters, and more! WBEZ’s Jim DeRogatis says the festival “simply has the most soul, many of the best sounds, and an audience devoted to hearing that music and welcoming anyone who shares the same passion.”
This family-friendly event offers a bike valet, kids area, food and drink of course – and a portion of every ticket will go to a variety of Chicago charities, including Rock For Kids.
Click here for tickets. They include Limited Two Day for $65, and (Friday or Saturday) Single Day for $39.
Amanda writesSonny and the Sunsets Ride the Endless Summer Waves to Schubas on September 2nd
by Amanda Roscoe Mayo
Sonny and the Sunsets are coming! Sonny and the Sunsets are coming!
CHIRP Radio welcomes to Schubas this San Francisco based crew on September 2, 2014 along with White Reaper and The Sueves. The support for this show, both based in the Middle West, is proof that a band doesn’t need to live near an ocean to get into the grit of beach rock and roll. It’s a California state of mind, after all.
Sonny and the Sunsets released, Antenna to the Afterworld on Polyvinvl records in June of 2013 and it is jam packed with Sonny Smith’s signature clear but soft vocals, beachy rock, and synth-infused arrangements.
We don’t know about you but we missed a real summer in Chicago and are looking forward to being transported to a warm, happy, and breezy place via Sonny and the Sunsets, and even though the show is technically after Labor Day, we won’t judge if you rock your white denim!
Meet the sunsets and watch them compete against one another in a real nail biter.