If you didn't vote early, vote today! Find your polling place here. And if you're not registered, you can do it on site with two forms of ID including one showing your current address.
If you didn't vote early, vote today! Find your polling place here. And if you're not registered, you can do it on site with two forms of ID including one showing your current address.
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At the end of every month, we here at the Top Five take stock of the music news that mattered most to us during the preceding 30-odd days. Without further preamble, here are our five favorite stories from January 2015.
1) They Might Be Giants and Jens Lekman Write One Song A Week for a Year (Sadly, Not Together).
What began its existence as "a regular phone call to Brooklyn" is back for the internet age: They Might Be Giants have officially resurrected Dial-A-Song, their old-school song distribution service and perhaps the finest use of answering machine technology ever produced. To celebrate, they're releasing a new song every week for 2015, releasing tracks on Tuesdays via the website above and (for old time's sake) a toll-free telephone call to (844) 387-6962. It's the same idea that drives Jens Lekman's Postcard project, which finds the singer penning weekly pop correspondences from Sweden while taking breaks from work on his new album. Whether you're a fan of oddball pop or looking to correct a Swedish wistfulness deficiency, you now have something to set your calendars by.
Welcome to On Tape, CHIRP's weekly exploration of Chicago music in films, videos, and beyond. Each week, our editors will reach back into the archives for the interviews, music videos, live concert appearances, and found footage of the city's most important musical icons. This week: Minnie Riperton.
Minnie Riperton first tells the lion story on The Mike Douglas Show in 1975. Just weeks removed from the one-week reign of "Lovin' You" atop the pop charts, she's the room's rising star, and it shows in her delivery; Douglas and company treat her like the cleverest kid at an adult party, hardly letting her finish the story of how she'd nearly been mauled during a promo shoot for Adventures In Paradise before asking another question, reuqesting elaboration. Her dusky blue dress looks cool amid the set's garish yellows, matching the demeanor of the person it covers. She is unflappable and elegant; even Dom Deluise can't get her to break.
We're three weeks into January, and New Year's resolutions are already dropping faster than a lapsed gym membership. If you're reading this blog, it's safe to guess that "learn a musical instrument" has appeared somewhere on your list in the last 20 years or so. Worry not, CHIRP listeners: this is the year you finally pick up that guitar/trumpet/mountain dulcimer, and we've got the inspiration to help. Five kinds, actually, all provided by musicians associated with Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. It may take more than a year to catch up to John Prine, but with this list, you'll be equipped to power through.
[originally published in 2010]
It’s time to salute the reclusive damaged blues singer with the four and one-half octave range who gave the world such memorable albums as Trout Mask Replica and Bat Chain Puller and important songs such as “Nowadays a Woman’s Gotta Hit a Man” and “A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond”. Yes, it’s Happy Birthday time for Captain Beefheart (a/k/a Don Van Vliet), who deconstructed classic American music and made it modern and dangerous, inspiring countless bands along the way. To honor the good Captain, please get your iPod or MP3 player, hit shuffle and share the first 10 songs that come up.
Welcome to On Tape, CHIRP's weekly exploration of Chicago music in films, videos, and beyond. Each week, our editors will reach back into the archives for the interviews, music videos, live concert appearances, and found footage of the city's most important musical icons. This week: Naked Raygun.