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Current DJ: Beatnik
Tess Parks California's Dreaming from Pomegranate (Fuzz Club) Add to Collection
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Meet Judadah, CHIRP Radio’s first Person of Interest
Meet Kim Ann Foxman from Hercules and Love Affair
Chicago Theatre Off Book, with guests from Lifeline Theatre and Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Happy Birthday, Nicky Hopkins!
Today, we’re going to pay tribute to an unsung rock great, Nicky Hopkins, session musician extraordinaire. At a young age, Hopkins contracted Crohn’s disease. So the talented pianist was pretty much prohibited from joining a band and touring. Instead, he played on thousands of songs, hitting may of the major bands of the British Invasion era and beyond. Here’s some of his c.v.: The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Easybeats, The Kinks, The Jeff Beck Group, The Beatles, David Bowie, Harry Nilsson, Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker, Steve Miller Band, and many more. My favorite Hopkins track is The Who’s “The Ox”, on the band’s debut album, The Who Sing My Generation. It’s an instrumental, named after bassist John Entwhistle, and the song is in full gallop from the word go, with Hopkins fast fingers banging away at the keys, keeping up with frenetic Keith Moon drumming. Hopkins passed away at the age 50 back in 1994, and left a legacy of great support for some of the all-time greats. Let’s pay tribute to Mr. Hopkins by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.
Wicker Park Arts Center / 2215 West North Ave / 6:30pm / All Ages
A CHIRP and Coach House Sounds interview with Redgrave
Weekly Voyages (your weekly roundup of Chicago concerts)
Bear in Heaven stream their new album
Happy Birthday, Gene Pitney!
Chicago Theatre Off Book, featuring interviews with the Artistic Directors of The Hypocrites’ and Signal Ensemble
Gene Pitney is an overlooked figure in rock history, even though he had a slew of hits, primarily in the days before the British invaded and took rock ‘n’ roll to a new level. Pitney was an ace songwriter and fine singer, best known for his classic weeper, “Town Without Pity” (which, oddly enough, was only a number 13 hit, he had a number of records that charted higher). He also penned classics like “He’s A Rebel” for The Crystal and Ricky Nelson’s “Hello Mary Lou”. And he was even bigger in England, where he had 22 Top 40 hits, as opposed to 16 Stateside. He left a fine catalog of songs, so let’s salute him by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.
On April 18, 2012, Bear in Heaven will be playing at Schubas – surely a venue catered to hearing a band’s textures and layers. Until then, the small rock house isn’t your only opportunity to hear the subtleties in the rock band’s sound. Touring in support of their new record, I Love You, It’s Cool, the band is offering fans a free stream of the album over at their website. BUT HOLD ON. SLLLLOOOOWWWW YOOUUUURRR ROOOLLLL. I Love You, It’s Cool is streaming now, stretched out to 400,000% longer than the real length. What that means is that even though the stream went up in December, if you started listening when then and waited until it finished, you’d be able to hear the entire thing just once. Justin Beiber, eat your slowed down heart out.
Listen to CHIRPradio.org for Blake Burkhardt’s exclusive interview with Bear in Heaven, coming soon.