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If you came of age in a certain time, between the death number one of the vinyl record and the shining pony magic of the digital compact disc, your first album probably came in a 3-by-4 inch plastic cassette. The music clung to a spool in the form of chromium dioxide shavings, and the recording was identified by way of the artist's name in bright red block letters. Once I had saved up eight dollars in allowance so I could buy The Go-Go's Beauty and the Beat from the Nice Price collection, my career as a music consumer was underway.
Much later, ten dollars earned from mowing lawns went towards Run-DMC's self-titled album, a purchase that my CHIRP colleague Micha Ward made as well. Both albums influenced my young adulthood greatly. But this isn't about either of those.
This is about the first album I ever stole.
(Weekly Voyages is CHIRP Radio's listing of concerts in Chicago at select venues. Information about tickets can be obtained from the venues' Web sites. Do you have corrections or updates for this list? Send us an e-mail.)
Leopold And His Fiction, Winnie Page & The Dirt Band
Abbey Pub 9pm, 21+
Adia & The 7 Eyes, Bittersweat & The B-Sides, Midnight Sinners, LA Volt
Beat Kitchen 9pm, 21+
The Marla Vickers Project
Elbo Room 8pm 21+
Andy Allo, Underdogs From Outerspace and more
Elbo Room 8:30pm 21+
The Hoyle Brothers
Empty Bottle 5:30pm, 21+
Ghosthouse, BAATHHAUS, White Gold, 1WO
Empty Bottle 9pm, 21+
Nikki Glaser, Tom Brady
Hideout 7pm & 10pm, 21+
Assuming you all survived the hell that was ChiBeria, grab your rain boots and head to Logan Square for CHIRP Night at the Whistler!
Every second Monday of the month, CHIRP Radio brings in some awesome bands for a night of good booze and better music. This month we have local dream-pop quartet Sister Crystals, who's debut self-titled LP dropped last summer and who have been making themselves heard at venues all over the city. Lauren Whitacre's etherial vocals paired with some solid melodies will go pretty great with some Whistler libations.
Joining them is Chicago's own James Swanberg, aka Today's Hits, who's been recording a song every day for the past…God, how long has it been now? Looks like around 1025 days at this point. If that's not reason enough to come check him out, give his catchy-as-hell garage rock tracks a listen and you'll be sold.
Meet us at the Whistler on Monday, January 13th at 9pm to check out these solid bands and drink obnoxiously good cocktails . As always, the event is 21+, and we'll be raffling off prizes. See you then!
(Weekly Voyages is CHIRP Radio's listing of concerts in Chicago at select venues. Information about tickets can be obtained from the venues' Web sites. Do you have corrections or updates for this list? Send us an e-mail.)
In La Kesh, Inbound Kennedy, The Good Old Boys
Abbey Pub 9pm, 21+
Big Black Bird
Beat Kitchen 9pm, 21+
The Lost Brigade, Pitchy and the 44s, Kathy Greenholdt
Double Door 8:30pm, 21+
Sunnyside Up
Elbo Room 8pm 21+
SounsSmith, TOOFUNCHILD, Simon, Atom Poets
Elbo Room 8:30pm 21+
Martin Van Ruin, Farewell Milwaukee, Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts
Empty Bottle 9:30pm, 21+
The Hoyle Brothers
Empty Bottle 5:30pm, 21+
Today we pay tribute to one of my first favorite singers, Jim Croce. I got an AM clock radio (with a light up dial!) as a first communion present and it was tuned to the Top 40 stations and on a lot. Which meant I heard a lot of Jim Croce. He had a nice voice and could alter it to fit the mood of his song, singing with tenderness on love songs like “Operator”, while jiving on the song I loved, such as “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” and “Bad Bad Leroy Brown”. His Life and Times album was my favorite of my dad’s 8-track tapes, where I heard his mix of love songs and story songs, often from a working class perspective. This perspective was earned – he did a stretch in the National Guard to avoid going to Vietnam and worked various trucking and construction jobs. And he drew from that environment in his music. Moreover, as I revisited his music as an adult, buying a 50 song compilation that had pretty much all of his studio work, I appreciated his facility with country, blues, pop and classical music. Songs like “Time In a Bottle” and the amazing, non-single “These Dreams” show a composer who combined directness and economy with subtle sophistication. His death in a plane crash in 1973 robbed pop music of someone who still had scads of untapped potential. Thankfully, his recordings still have the warmth and vitality they had 40 years ago. In honor of Mr. Croce, please grab your iPod or MP3 player, hit shuffle, and share the first 10 songs that pop up.