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The CHIRP Blog
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writes@CHIRPRadio (Week of June 18)
Upcoming Events
- Thursday, June 21: CHIRP Radio welcomes The Horrors to The Bottom Lounge
- Friday June 22: CHIRP Radio welcomes Chad Valley to Beat Kitchen
- Friday June 22 to Sunday June 24: CHIRP Radio is at The Logan Square Arts Festival
- Saturday June 23: CHIRP Radio celebrates the 4th edition of Beermiscuous!
New Media
- Ari Mejia catches up with legendary Chicago DJ Michael Serafini
- Amanda Roscoe Mayo speaks with Sarah Louise
- First Time: First Strike - Saya Hillman
- Clarence and Kevin talk about Tully on The Fourth Wall
Kevin Fullam writesThe Fourth Wall: Tully
Welcome to The Fourth Wall, CHIRP's weekly e-conversation on cinema. This week's subject is the movie Tully.
This edition is written by CHIRP Radio volunteers Kevin Fullam and Clarence Ewing.
WARNING: Major Spoilers Ahead…!
Clarence:
Marlo (Charlize Theron) is far from loving life. She and her husband Drew (Ron Livingston) are parents of two children with another one almost due. Ron has checked out on the domestic front, Marlo’s son is having developmental problems at school and is looking at expulsion, and there’s general sense that Marlo’s existence is not the one she wanted, which she might be able to do something about if she could find 10 minutes to get some sleep.
After Marlo gives birth to #3, she begins behaving in ways that suggest postpartum depression. Her wealthy brother Craig (Mark Duplass) offers to pay for a night nanny to help her out. Marlo resists at first, but soon Tully (Mackenzie Davis), a twentysomething free spirit whose youthful energy is matched by her earthly wisdom, appears at Marlo’s door, ready and willing to assist. In every way, Tully is exactly what Marlo needs. Whether tending to the newborn, baking cupcakes for school, or jumpstarting Marlo and Drew’s love life, Tully is perfect. Maybe too perfect...
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writes@CHIRPRadio (Week of June 4)
Upcoming Events
- Friday June 8 to Sunday June 10: Join CHIRP Radio at the 20th edition of Ribfest Chicago
- Friday June 8: CHIRP Radio and Midwest Action welcome V.V. Lightbody to Schubas
- Sunday June 10: Classic Album Sundays spins Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
New Media
- Leslie Gwam chats with Chicago rapper Marantz Moon
- First Time: First Strike - Carly Ballerini
- First Time: First Strike - David Manilow
- Kyle Sanders counts down Stevie Nicks’ Top 10 Deep Cuts
- Clarence and Kevin examine The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Kevin Fullam writesThe Fourth Wall: The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Welcome to The Fourth Wall, CHIRP's weekly e-conversation on cinema. This week's subject is The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
This edition is written by CHIRP Radio volunteers Kevin Fullam and Clarence Ewing.
Kevin:
One popular storytelling recipe:
1) Start with one seemingly perfect, well-to-do family.
2) Add one shady interloper.
3) Stir slowly.
It's certainly a formula tried and true in genres ranging from comedy (What About Bob?) to thrillers (Cape Fear). I suspect that part of the trope's appeal stems from the jealousy that we tend to have of pristine families who appear to have it all. And so, we wonder: how much stress can we inject into these households before even fundamentally serene people start to crack?
Steven and Anna Murphy (Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman) live in a beautiful home in a gorgeous neighborhood. He's a heart surgeon of some renown, and together they're the parents of two cheerful kids, Kim and Bob. When Martin (Barry Keoghan), a socially awkward high-schooler, shows up during one of Steven's shifts, we're originally led to believe that he's simply an overzealous kid eager to ingratiate himself with a star physician. Soon afterwards, however, we discover that they share a dark history... one in which Martin holds Steven accountable for a personal tragedy. And in retribution, Martin calmly lays out the parameters for their new relationship with a chilling succinctness.
Unless Steven makes restitution for what Martin perceives as a gross injustice, Bad Things will start happening to Steven's family. And indeed they do. His children start to lose the use of their legs. Then their appetites. Much like what was said of Arnold's T-800 in The Terminator, Martin can't be reasoned with or bargained with, and he doesn't feel remorse for the children that soon suffer his wrath. He also doesn't want any money -- his required "restitution" is the sacrifice of a family member.
KSanders writesTop 10 Stevie Nicks Deep Cuts
wiritten by Kyle Sanders
If there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that "time makes you bolder." And Stevie Nicks is getting older, too. Yes, this year the Gold Dust Woman turned 70 on May 26th, and as a musician "taken by the wind" she seems to show no signs of slowing down.
The band that made her a household name, Fleetwood Mac, is about to embark on another tour (albeit sans guitarist Lindsey Buckingham), and earlier this year she and her band mates received the MusiCares "Person of the Year" award. Nicks even became "meme-worthy" when her song "Dreams" was included on a meme that went viral.
Looking back on her forty-five years in the music industry, Nicks has proven herself a fashion icon, a musical influence for aspiring female musicians, and one of rock's most celebrated songwriters. She's responsible for such enduring hits like "Rhiannon," "Landslide," "Dreams," "Gold Dust Woman," "Edge of Seventeen," and "Stand Back," but she has also written many other songs that are as valuable as any of those other classic rock mainstays.
In honor of her 70th birthday, here's a list of Stevie Nicks deep cuts (listed in chronological order):
"Crystal" (Buckingham Nicks, 1973/Fleetwood Mac, 1975/Practical Magic, 1998)
The only Nicks-penned tune with ex-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham on lead vocals, "Crystal" has popped up multiple times throughout Stevie's career, first introduced on the Buckingham Nicks LP, then as a track on the duo's debut with Fleetwood Mac in 1975.
Almost a bookend to Nicks' classic "Landslide," the lyrics showcase a theme of reflection and emotional growth: "How the faces of love have changed turning the pages / And I have changed, oh but you, you remain ageless..."
Nicks would ultimately dust off this song some twenty years later, as a contribution to the Practical Magic soundtrack, this time with her own weathered voice as lead.