Early voting is underway! Find out where to vote early in Chicago here.
The CHIRP Blog
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesTop of the CHIRP Charts (Week of Aug. 26)
Twin Peaks spent the last week of the summer at the summit of CHIRP's charts...
1. Twin Peaks - Wild Onion (Grand Jury)
2. The Yolks - Kings of Awesome! (Randy)
3. Common - Nobody's Smiling (Def Jam)
4. Spoon - They Want My Soul (Loma Vista)
5. The Abigails - Tundra (Burger)
Check out all of the albums at the top of the charts and new albumsadded to the library, and listen to live DJs playing these and all kinds of records every day on CHIRP Radio!
Amanda writesAn “All You Can Listen To” Music Event at Subterranean on Sept. 8
by Amanda Roscoe Mayo
On September 8th, CHIRP brings a full bill to Subterranean. This smörgåsbord of tasty music is lead by the eclectic tunes of Part Time. Hailing from San Francisco, a city best known for psychedelic rock and costume parties, Part Time sounds like Rocky Horror Picture show went on vacation with the Talking Heads to Maui.
Just south on the 101 resides the Sea Lions who imbue their California surf pop with a dash of country. To keep things interesting local Johnny Whispers brings his insane show to the table. Rarely on stage, Johnny sings accompanying a computer programmed with pop and Casio keyboard elements—crowd surfing, rolling around, hiding in closets, and asking strangers to slow dance—in his memorable performance. Fellow Midwesterners Today’s Hits keep things mellow, real mellow, with their somber surf punk and will no doubt ease the crowd into a night of enjoyable music noshing.
For more info and ticket prices visit Subterranean and be sure and stop by the CHIRP table to bend our ear about this stellar line-up!
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesThe Old Town School of Folk Music Welcomes Robbie Fulks on Saturday the 6th
He may have been born in York, PA and spent some time in Virginia and North Carolina, but Robbie Fulks’ home is Chicago. He’s been a teacher at the Old Town School of Folk Music and worked with many Folk and Alt-Country musicians around town for decades. His latest record Gone Away Backward was released on Bloodshot records last year and is the 12th solo release for a man who has firmly established himself as a creative force who makes music that doesn’t fit into easy categories but will satisfy any roots music fan with an appetite for melody and humor.
Fulks returns to the Old Town School on Saturday, Sept. 6 for an 8:00pm show at the Gary and Laura Maurer Concert Hall, 4544 N Lincoln Ave. He’ll be joined by fellow life-traveler and self-proclaimed “Grammy Award-losing drummer” Gerald Dowd, who’s also collaborated with a whole lot of talented folks. You can buy tickets here. Come on down and get yourself an earful.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesRediscovering Our Record Collections: 2 Live Crew’s “As Nasty As They Wanna Be”
When my friends and I first heard this album, we basically had a big laugh about it. The kind of boisterous but slightly forced and nervous laugh that comes from not really knowing what you're laughing at. Little did we know we were listening to a record that would have far-reaching implications for Rap, and not just because it would become the first album in U.S. history to be declared legally obscene.
Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesTop Five: Songs About Football
Thanks to two decades as the theme of Monday Night Football, Hank Williams, Jr.'s NFL-centric remake of "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" remains the most recognizable song about football not called "The Super Bowl Shuffle." America, we can do better. In honor of football season, here are five superior songs about the gridiron, and all of the promise and peril it contains.
1) Pavement, "Lions (Linden)" (1992)
The Linden Lions are real. They play football in California's tiny Mother Lode League, facing off against teams from other farm towns irrigated to life by the reservoirs of the Central Valley. Stephen Malkmus attended high school in nearby Lodi, balancing his slacker whateverness with a red-blooded love of sports. Both aspects of his personality come out in this track from 1992's Watery, Domestic. The freak in Malkmus criticizes the usual targets: small-town provincialism, civic mismanagement, the rah-rah that fills stands and funnels money to booster clubs while the surrounding infrastructure decays. Despite all that, the fan wins out. Malkmus understands the escapist appeal of autumn weekends spent sitting in a rickety stadium, rooting for the kids from the next county over to get their teeth kicked in.