Karin Fjellman writesCelebrate CHIRP Radio’s One-Year Anniversary this month!

January is an exciting time for CHIRP Radio, as we recognize all the hard work we’ve done in our first year of growth as an online radio station. We’re so grateful to have received so much amazing support from our community in 2010 — so what better way to honor our anniversary and thank our community than with some parties? To celebrate, we’re hosting several events around Chicago this month — and the best part is, everything’s under 10 bucks!

To kick things off, we’re having a CHIRP Dance Party at Beauty Bar with DJ sets by Mad Decent’s Depressed Buttons (former members of The Faint) and CHIRP DJ Dustin Drase on Friday, January 14. The party starts at 10pm and cover is only $5 — come shake your groove thang for cheap!

The following Monday, January 17 marks the official date of our one-year anniversary of launching CHIRP Radio online, and we’ll be celebrating with our monthly benefit show at The Whistler with The Velcro Lewis Group and Rambos at 9:30pm. Entry is free, so there’s no reason to miss this one!

That Thursday, January 20 is CHIRP’s One-Year Anniversary Party at the Empty Bottle, with music from Campfires (Mexican Summer Records), Black Math (Permanent Records), and Cool Memories. The show starts at 9pm, and entry is $8.

One week later, Thursday, January 27, we’ll be having a benefit concert at The Hideout, starring Slushy (formerly Kramer versus Kramer), and more to be announced! Music starts at 9pm, and entry is $8.

And let’s not forget about Wednesday, January 26, as CHIRP continues its reading series, “The First Time.” For those uninitiated, The First Time is a series where local performers/writers/bloggers write and read original pieces around the “first time” theme; this month is “first car.” The piece will reference a song, which will be played immediately after the reading by Steve Frisbie/Liam Davis/Gerald Dowd. The show is $10; doors at 7:30 and festivities get underway at 8 p.m.

The lineup looks like this:

Jim DeRogatis
Susan Messing (Annoyance)
Josh Caterer (Smoking Popes)
Erin Shea (ejshea.com; and author of Tales From the Scale)
James VanOsdol
Robbie Fulks
Matt Spiegel (Tributosaurus)

Please note, all events are 21+. Hope to see you at one or more of these parties this month!