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The CHIRP Blog
Mike Bennett writesFriday iPod/MP3 Shuffle—Happy Birthday John Cale Edition
For the second week in a row, we have a former Velvet Underground member to pay tribute to. Today is John Cale’s birthday. While Cale’s contributions to the band aren’t as lauded as Lou Reed’s, as Cale rarely was in front of the mike, he played a big part in the band’s sound. For me, however, it was after VU split up that Cale became really interesting. Although his solo career has not been as commercially successful as Lou Reed’s, I think there’s a good argument to be made that Cale’s solo work is more artistically fulfilling, and not just because he didn’t make an album with Metallica. Cale has covered a wide swath of music in the past four plus decades. He’s performed modern classical based music with Terry Riley, He put his own spin on glam pop with his marvelous albums on Island during the ’70s (on par with Brian Eno’s solo work). He became one of the earliest orch-pop practitioners with the amazing Paris 1919 album. And he continues to make fine albums today (oh, and don’t forget the great album he did with Brian Eno). Let’s celebrate this talented and diverse performer by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesThis Week with CHIRP Radio (Week of March 5)
Tuesday, March 6
CHIRP Radio welcomes Korallreven and Young Magic to Shubas, with a DJ set from How to Dress Well!
Schubas / 3159 N. Southport / 8:00pm / 18+
Last Week On chicagoindieradio.org…
- Chicago Theatre Off Book, with guests John Bucchino of Porchlight Theatre and Erica Daniels of Steppenwolf Theatre
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Happy Birthday, Lou Reed!
Mike Bennett writesFriday March 2, 2012 iPod/MP3 Shuffle—Happy Birthday Lou Reed Edition
He is one of the most influential figures in rock history, both for his seminal work with The Velvet Underground and subsequent solo career. For all of the many great songs he’s penned in his career, he has taken monumental chances and is certainly not afriad to fail (see last year’s collobaration with Metallica for evidence of that). His legend looms so large, it’s almost hard to wrap one’s head around it. It’s just enough to know that rock music would not have gone into many places it ended up without Lou Reed. Let’s celebrate Uncle Lou’s birthday by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle, and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesCHIRP News Launches New Series: Person of Interest
CHIRP News is releasing its first on-going series featuring the voices of people from all around Chicago. News Director Dan Epstein and series producer Whitney Henry-Lester provide their perspectives on what they hope to achieve and what CHIRP listeners can expect to hear.
Dan Epstein – Director, CHIRP News
If you’re thinking we’re producing a radio version of the CBS television series of the same name, I hope you’re not disappointed to hear that’s not the case.
So why “Person of Interest?”
The title is a deliberate attempt to appropriate the phrase law enforcement likes to use to describe people who aren’t yet officially suspects. Despite its degree of separation from “suspect,” this phrase now shares the power of “suspect.”
If you’re labeled a “person of interest,” you might as well be an actual suspect. We want to free “person of interest” of its scarlet letter quality by seeking out the “people” part of “person” and the “pay attention to” part of “interest.”
As a news organization, we try to bring you stories about what’s happening in our community. We talk to people who are involved in activities that shape our culture, our public policies, our work, our leisure.
But as a community radio station, we feel it’s necessary also to talk to you, your neighbors, your fellow Chicagoans about how news-making events affect you, about how you’re getting along, about what’s on your mind.
Person of Interest is produced by a team of reporters from CHIRP’s News Department. We have Whitney Henry-Lester, who’s worked with NPR’s Story Corps, Meg Whedbee and Iris Lin. They’ve been traveling around the city asking people if they’d like to sit down and have a chat. Despite shoving a microphone in people’s faces, they can still make people comfortable enough to talk about such things as meditation and how they’ve recovered from breaking their neck.
So take a listen. Tell us what you think. And if you know someone we should talk to, drop us a line at news@chirpradio.org.
Whitney Henry-Lester – Person of Interest Producer
I admit it, I don’t know the name of my next door neighbor. Actually, I feel like I know more strangers on Twitter than people in my building.
It’s not because I don’t care or because I’m rude or unfriendly, but rather, I live in a buzzing city of millions of (busy) people. And I’ll never be able to meet all of them, let alone have a conversation.
Chicago has millions of people coexisting on one big plot of land, all with different backgrounds, jobs, hobbies, dreams, musical tastes, stories. And yet we tend to hang out with the same people, hear from the same people on the news.
This is an attempt to listen to the people around us rather than those in the headlines. Person of Interest is that person you see on the train or at a cafe or in the park that makes you wonder, “Who are you?” Person of Interest is your barista, your taxi driver, your next door neighbor. It’s not breaking news, but collectively it’s the real story of our city.
Click here for a complete list of Person of Interest stories.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writes2011 Honor Awards Live Stream
The first annual Chicago Theatre Off Book Honor Awards are tonight from 8:00 – 10:00pm! If you can’t make it to the Oracle Theatre, we’re live streaming the show here. Click below to enjoy the show!
Watch live streaming video from oracletheatre at livestream.com