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The CHIRP Blog
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesWhat’s Happening at CHIRP Radio (Week of April 25th)
Upcoming Events
- CHIRP Radio New Volunteer Meeting at Sulzer Regional Library on Tuesday, April 26
- CHIRP Night at the Whistler with Sheep Numers and Hollow Mountain on Wednesday, April 27th
- CHIRP Radio welcomes Varsity to Schubas on Thursday, April 28th
- First Time: First Deal at Martyrs’ on Thursday, April 28th
- CHIRP Radio welcomes Eleanor Friedberger to Evanston SPACE on Friday, April 29th
- CHIRP Radio presents Chicago Zine Fest 2016 at Plumbers’ Union Hall on Friday, April 29th and Saturday April 30th
- CHIRP Radio welcomes Cross Record to Schubas on Saturday, April 30th
New Media
- First Time: First Blood with Tim Barnes
- First Time: First Blood with Dave Maher
- Top Five Prince Songs Covered by Others Artists
- In Rotation: Andrew Bird
Eddie writesTop 5 Prince Songs Covered by Other Artists
by Eddie Sayago
Prince was (it’s tough to not type “is”) more than an electrifying artist and performer. He elevated music to a new level. He defied what a musician, performer, and person could be. As our finest ruler in music royalty (and oddly fitting that he takes the spotlight from an actual monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. On her 90th birthday nonetheless.), he could do anything. He played encores well over an hour after the show ended. He made everyone attempt to call him The Artist Formerly Known as Prince for nearly a decade. Hell, he appeared on Muppets Tonight as a singing farmer and on New Girl as himself, poking fun of his persona (“Oh, how rude of me, I haven’t given you enough time to freak now. You may do so now.”).
Here are five of his songs performed by six artists...
"Kiss" by Tom Jones/Richard Thompson
Prince was practically a genre. Just about everyone has covered a song of his either on record, on stage, during karaoke, or during a jam session with friends. Two British artists on each end of the musical spectrum and with illustrious careers of their own bring their own swagger to one of the most iconic songs in pop music.
Jones, no stranger to combining sex appeal with his vocal performances, originally began performing “Kiss” during a Vegas residency shortly after “Kiss” debuted in 1986. Avant-garde group the Art of Noise saw Jones live and wanted to collaborate with the man behind “It’s Not Unusual”, “She’s A Lady”, and the delightfully campy and raunchy “Sex Bomb.” That combo resulted in Jones’ first foray on MTV and a Top 40 hit in the US and a Top 10 in his native UK. Thompson, the folksy singer-songwriter extraordinaire best known for “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”, delivers a boldly confident performance of “Kiss” in front of a live audience, which was later featured in his album 1000 Years of Popular Music.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesIn Rotation: Andrew Bird
Are You Serious is the 13th studio album from Andrew Bird, not counting EPs, live records, numerous guest appearances, and his stint with Squirrel Nut Zippers. Dude is busy, and continues to be busy writing and performing music for records and the TV (He wrote music for The Muppets and the score for the FX cult hit Baskets). It seems too early to call Bird a Chicago institution since that word implies a person who is nearing the end of a career, while he seems to have a long musical road ahead of him. Suffice to say, this is the latest chapter in a prolific career that continues to produce some of the most skillfully beautiful Pop music that will come through your speakers. Songs from the new album are available in rotation and by request on CHIRP Radio.
SKaiser writesWhat’s Happening at CHIRP Radio (Week of April 18)
UPCOMING EVENTS
- All ages join CHIRP Radio and welcome Robbie Fulks to the Old Town School of Folk Music (4544 N. Lincoln Avenue) on Saturday, April 23
- CHIRP Radio welcomes Dengue Fever to Schuba's (3159 N. Southport) on Sunday, April 24 | 21+
NEW MEDIA
- The polls closed yesterday for Round Three of CHIRP's Battle of the Bands. Stay tuned for this year's winner!
- Friday mp3 Shuffle: Happy Birthday Besse Smith!
- First Blood - David Maher
- In Rotation: DJ Rashad
- Cher Vincent interviews KING at SPACE before their show in Evanston
- First Blood - Atalee Judy
TOP OF THE CHIRP CHARTS
1. Tacocat – Lost Time (Hardly Art)
2. Bibio – A Mineral Love (Warp)
3. Parquet Courts – Human Performance (Rough Trade)
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesFriday MP3 Shuffle: Happy Birthday Besse Smith Edition
(photograph by Carl Van Vechten)
Today is the birthday of Bessie Smith, now and for all time “The Empress of the Blues.”
As the most popular female Blues singer in the 1920s and 1930s, she had a glorious voice and was a fearless force of nature with a temper as big as her pipes (in the segregated South, she once chased a group of Ku Klux Klansmen away from one of her shows at a time when Black folks wisely avoided such confrontations). Bessie Smith’s recordings have influenced untold numbers of Blues and Jazz singers. Rockers and rappers, too - Janis Joplin not only appreciated her music but also helped pay for a tombstone for her as-then-unmarked grave, and Queen Latifah recently portrayed her in a 2015 HBO bio-pic.
Bessie Smith’s impact continues to be felt throughout American music. In her honor, let’s play the MP3 Shuffle. Take your MP3 player, press the "shuffle" button, and share the first 10 songs that play: