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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!
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.