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Upcoming CHIRP Events
CHIRP Co-Presents the Fireside With Series: J. Bambii
Chicago Athletic Association Hotel
12 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago
,
IL
21+
Join us at the beautiful White City Ballroom (8th floor) at the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel for the kickoff of the new Fireside With series!
Fireside With is a monthly, curated live music series featuring diverse representation of Chicago’s music talent. Each event in the series will feature a live conversation and concert with that month's featured artist. In taking the performance out of the traditional concert venue and into our historic spaces, the series offers Chicagoans and visitors a unique experience to connect with artists and their community.
The first event features J Bambii, an artist, educator, tarot reader, and cartoon-lover from the Southside of Chicago. She is the founder and creator of The Brown Skin Lady Show & the community healing initiative called “Come Together,” and is at work on her debut album, Black American Beauty.
Angel Bat Dawid says, "J Bambii iz one of the Illiest MCs out hurrr...Her swag deliviery and bounce is outt of this world...this album izz pure flamezz!"
You can check out her music on Bandcamp.
Doors open at 6:30pm and the show begins at 7.
CHIRP's own DJ Eddie will DJ the afterparty in the Game Room (2nd floor) from 8:30-9:30pm.
CHIRP Fundraiser at Lou Malnati’s
Lou Malnati’s (Lincoln Square/North Center)
4340 N Lincoln Avenue
Chicago
,
IL
60618
Join us at Lou Malnati's Pizzeria (4340 N Lincoln Avenue) on Wednesday, January 15th between 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM and make a difference! With every order you place, 20% will be donated to CHIRP Radio.
You can participate in this fundraiser by:
- Dining in: Tell your server that you're dining for CHIRP
- Ordering takeout or delivery online: Visit Lou Malnati's Pizzeria's online order website. Use the promo code of "GPFUND24" and 20% of your meal’s price will be donated back to CHIRP
- Ordering takeout or delivery by phone: Call 773-654-4000 and mention that you are with CHIRP Radio before placing your order (must order directly from Lou Malnati's, not via a third party app)
This fundraiser only applies to the Lou Malnati's at 4340 N. Lincoln, not other locations.
CHIRP Welcomes: Elsa y Elmar
Outset
1675 N Elston Ave
Chicago
,
IL
60642
All Ages
CHIRP Radio 107.1FM welcomes Elsa y Elmar to Outset on Saturday, January 25!
Much like the sea for which she named herself, the essence of Elsa y Elmar moves with the tides. Yet the anchor to her genre-meandering “spiritual pop” is her unsparing, confessional approach to songwriting. In Palacio, she plumbs the depths of her soul, searching for a bigger meaning in her most personal anxieties and romantic mishaps; she surfaces with pearls of synthy, alt-pop wisdom to share with others wading in the same deep waters.
“It’s very complex, the spiritual dimensions of us millennials,” says the CDMX-based, Colombian-born artist, whose real name is Elsa Margarita Carvajal. “I try to capture that in my music. We’re all about giving others a space for their feelings. That’s a pretty spiritual experience!”
CHIRP Welcomes: Tim Heidecker and Neil Hamburger
Thalia Hall
1807 S. Allport St.
Chicago
,
IL
60608
17+
On Friday, January 31st, CHIRP Radio 107.1FM welcomes Tim Heidecker with Neil Hamburger to Thalia Hall!
Tim Heidecker makes music to be understood. While the multi-hyphenate comedian and
songwriter was on tour in 2022—his first time performing his own material with a full band every night—he noticed a recurring response to his lyrics among his devoted fanbase. “Especially people my age, maybe a little younger,” he recalls, “They would come up to me and say, ‘That is how I feel. And it’s nice to know you feel that way, too’”
Where his celebrated work in film and television is often an act of complex, surrealist
worldbuilding, the increasingly tender and expertly crafted singer-songwriter material that Heidecker releases under his own name is built to encourage these person-to-person connections. After the breakthroughs of 2020’s wistfully lush Fear of Death, made in collaboration with Weyes Blood, and 2022’s High School, whose multidimensional tales of nostalgia were never quite as distant as they seemed, Heidecker has reached a new peak with Slipping Away, his warmest, fullest, and most ambitious record to date.
“I guess you could say all my records are concept albums to some degree,” Heidecker notes. This one, however, tells a story on a larger scale, offering an imagistic framework that allows for some of his brightest melodies, heaviest themes, and most direct and vulnerable lyrics. “There’s a feeling of before the fall and after,” he explains of the album’s two-part arc. “Things are going well… until they’re not. I wanted to write some stories about that experience.”
Both Sides Now presents: Folk, Punk, & Grit
Schubas
3159 N. Southport
Chicago
,
IL
60657
(773) 525-2508
21+
Step into a realm where the music takes center stage and vinyl records reign supreme.
Introducing Both Sides Now: A CHIRP Vinyl Listening Bar -- a monthly oasis for music aficionados and introverts alike. Nestled in the cozy upstairs room of Schubas Tavern, this unique event happens every first Wednesday of the month.
Join us upstairs at Schubas! The decks start spinning at 7:30pm.
This month's menu comes from CHIRP DJ The Audible Snail: "Folk, Punk, & Grit".
- Tom Waits – Mule Variations (1999)
- NNAMDÏ – DROOL (2017)
- Gillian Welch – The Harrow and The Harvest (2011)
CHIRP Welcomes: Jessica Lea Mayfield
Schubas
3159 N. Southport
Chicago
,
IL
60657
(773) 525-2508
18+
CHIRP welcomes Jessica Lea Mayfield to Schubas on Thursday, 2/6!
Jessica Lea Mayfield is singer-songwriter hailing from rural Ohio, she’s been active since age 15 as a solo artist and grew up living in a bus and traveling around playing bluegrass festivals with her parents family band starting at the age of eight.
Mayfield writes ominous Appalachian folk rock songs depicting love and relationships and human dynamics. Her 4th studio album, Sorry is Gone, was released in November 2024.
CHIRP DJ Night @ The Native!
The Native
2417 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago
,
IL
60647
(872) 206-5526
21+
Join us Tuesday February 11 for our first installment in 2025 of CHIRP DJ Night at the Native! This month DJ Shannon Duffy (@shannon_candy) will be spinning her favorite selection of tunes from 9PM til close. No cover at this dog friendly and cash only bar! The Native is located at 2417 N Milwaukee Ave in Logan Square.
The CHIRP Music Film Festival Presents: Empire Records
Gman Tavern
3740 N Clark St
Chicago
,
IL
60613
(773) 549-2050
21+
It's almost Valentine's Day, so why not celebrate your long love affair with record stores? The CHIRP Music Film Fest presents Empire Records on Wednesday, February 12 at Gman.
Join us as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of this cult classic of Gen X cinema following the day in the life of a group of twentysomethings working in a small independent record shop. Starring Liv Tyler, Renee Zellwegger, and Maxwell Caulfield as the washed up pop idol Rex Manning, and with a stellar soundtrack featuring a who’s who of 90s indie rock and pop including Gin Blossoms, the Cranberries, Cracker, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Edwyn Collins, and more!
Check out the trailer!
Wear your best 90s gear to add to the fun. You might win a prize!
Door at 6:30pm, trivia and screening start at 7:30pm.
You're welcome to bring outside food.
Your $5 suggested donation benefits CHIRP.
CHIRP Welcomes: The Vulgar Boatmen
Schubas
3159 N. Southport
Chicago
,
IL
60657
(773) 525-2508
21+
CHIRP Radio 107.1FM welcomes The Vulgar Boatmen back to Schubas on Saturday, February 15th with Chicago's own 6kitty!
Formed and abandoned in Florida in the early ’80s by future Silo Walter Salas-Humara, the Vulgar Boatmen eventually came to rest, in a most irregular remote collaboration, on the mutual shoulders of singer/guitarists Ray (at the time a graduate student in Indiana) and Lawrence (a veteran of Bloomington’s goofy punk Gizmos who had taken a course taught by Ray). After Ray returned to Florida, the two exchanged tapes by mail, jointly crafting songs that took shape as a sublime semi-electric pop sound melding the patient intensity and precision of the Feelies, the driven certainty of quiet Velvet Underground and the shapely melodic force of classic pop artisans. While Ray maintained a Vulgar Boatmen in the Southeast, Lawrence formed a group called Right to Left (later renamed the Vulgar Boatmen) to play the material that would eventually appear on the band’s first album. Over time, the Indiana contingent became an exceptional live act of diverse talents and unassuming intensity, augmenting its original creations with one of the most eclectic cover repertoires on the planet.
CHIRP Music Trivia: Black History
Beermiscuous
2812 N Lincoln
Chicago
,
IL
60657
21+
CHIRP Partners With The Chicago Film Society For “Light of Day”
Northeastern Illinois University Auditorium
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago
,
IL
60625
(773) 442-4050
All Ages
CHIRP is proud to partner with the Chicago Film Society for a 35mm screening of "Light of Day"
Paul Schrader’s 1987 film “Light of Day” is a melodrama starring Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett as working class siblings in a struggling rock band, inspired by the popular real-life Cleveland band The Generators.
Check out the trailer here!
Tickets and additional information about the Chicago Film Society here.
CHIRP Welcomes: The Bevis Frond
Schubas
3159 N. Southport
Chicago
,
IL
60657
(773) 525-2508
18+
CHIRP is happy to welcome The Bevis Frond to Schubas on Thursday, March 6th!
The Bevis Frond (guitarist and songwriter extraordinaire Nick Saloman) have ultimately become the UK’s leading underground psychedelic rock band. Their music is an iconoclastic collision of distinctly British psychedelia, space-rock, grunge, slow-burning soulful laments, even grizzled folk and more than occasional moments of sublime pop genius.
If there is any artist who could be considered as having followed a tangential path from Hendrix to Big Star to Spacemen 3, that would be The Bevis Frond -- and that’s not hyperbole, the evidence is to be found in countless albums over 30 years of thrilling musical innovation that few have matched.
Yet, he remains the best kept secret in Rock ‘n’ Roll. Isn’t it about time you discovered one of England’s finest songwriters and insightful lyricists?
CHIRP Welcomes: Pom Pom Squad
Lincoln Hall
2424 N Lincoln Avenue
Chicago
,
IL
60614
(773) 525-2501
18+
On Friday, March 7th, CHIRP welcomes Pom Pom Squad to Lincoln Hall!
The Brooklyn-based indie rock band that has been making waves since 2019 with their distinctive blend of punk, grunge, and pop influences. Led by vocalist and songwriter Mia Berrin, Pom Pom Squad was originally conceived as a solo project, but evolved into a full-fledged band as she assembled a talented lineup to bring her musical vision to life.
Their music delves deep into themes of identity, vulnerability, and personal growth, often drawing from Berrin’s own experiences with mental health challenges and societal pressures.
CHIRP Music Trivia: International Pop Overthrow
Beermiscuous
2812 N Lincoln
Chicago
,
IL
60657
The First Time (First Course)
Martyrs’
3855 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago
,
IL
773.404.9494
21+
Join us for the next installment of CHIRP's unique storytelling and live music series, The First Time, 
with the theme "First Course." Six readers will share true stories of their "first course," however they choose to interpret the theme. Each reader also chooses a song that relates to their piece, known only to them and our fab house band, The First Time Three. Once the reader finishes their piece, the band plays the related song, often with a unique arrangement. Hosted by Jenn Sodini
CHIRP Welcomes: Nubya Garcia
Evanston SPACE
1245 Chicago Avenue
Evanston
,
IL
60202
(847) 492-8860
All Ages
On Wednesday, April 9th, CHIRP welcomes Nubya Garcia to SPACE in Evanston!
Garcia isn’t an artist you can easily classify. Is it jazz? Sure, the London-born saxophonist, composer and bandleader grew up studying the genre under the noted pianist Nikki Yeoh at Camden Music.
But it isn’t until you listen to albums like 2020’s Source and 2024’s Odyssey that you hear broader creativity shining through: It’s jazz, classical, dub, R&B and whatever else Garcia wants to convey. It all comes from a place of exploration and self-study, of wanting to do all the things across all disciplines while ignoring arbitrary boxes that don’t fit.
CHIRP Music Trivia: April Showers
Beermiscuous
2812 N Lincoln
Chicago
,
IL
60657
21+
CHIRP Welcomes: SPELLLING
Lincoln Hall
2424 N Lincoln Avenue
Chicago
,
IL
60614
(773) 525-2501
18+
CHIRP is excited to welcome SPELLLING to Lincoln Hall on Tuesday, May 13!
California-based artist Chrystia Cabral records fantasy-like, genre-blurring experimental pop under the appropriately magical pseudonym Spellling.
Her self-released 2017 debut, Pantheon of Me, was a haunting set of dreamy, loop-based avant-folk. After the album received acclaim, she signed with Sacred Bones Records and released Mazy Fly, a more fleshed-out blend of dark synth pop, art pop, and hazy soul, in 2019. Her third album, 2021's The Turning Wheel, was even more expansive, with lusher orchestration and more progressive arrangements. She reworked songs from her first three albums for 2023's Spellling & the Mystery School.
CHIRP Music Trivia: Mother’s Day
Beermiscuous
2812 N Lincoln
Chicago
,
IL
60657
21+