Jim DeRogatis: The Chicago quartet Rise Against doesn't fit neatly into any
pigeonholes. As ultra-melodic hard-core punks with a serious political
consciousness, the musicians never were part of this city's vibrant
pop-punk scene or its venerated art-punk tradition, and some peg the group as the next local band destined for the multiplatinum success of Fall Out Boy.
Chicago-area pop-punk band Fall Out Boy rescheduled its next album, “Folie a Deux,” for release on Dec. 16. But they’re coming home before that to celebrate and play the new tunes for hometown fans.
Jim DeRogatis: The Chicago quartet Rise Against doesn't fit neatly into any
pigeonholes. As ultra-melodic hard-core punks with a serious political
consciousness, the musicians never were part of this city's vibrant
pop-punk scene or its venerated art-punk tradition, and some peg the group as the next local band destined for the multiplatinum success of Fall Out Boy.
Andrew Patner: What would happen if a leading British-based music magazine ranked the world's leading orchestras and the "winning" U.S. ensemble didn't care? That's basically what's happened when leaders of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra shrugged their collective shoulders over the London monthly the Gramophone saying that it's the top classical outfit in the United States. 
JJ Grey says he doesn't like to overthink things. As a subscriber to Occam's razor, the scientific principle that states, "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best," he believes, for one thing, that man never set foot on the moon.
Jim DeRogatis: The Chicago quartet Rise Against doesn't fit neatly into any pigeonholes. As ultra-melodic hard-core punks with a serious political consciousness, the musicians never were part of this city's vibrant pop-punk scene or its venerated art-punk tradition, and some peg the group as the next local band destined for the multiplatinum success of Fall Out Boy.
Change often is good. For years, we put John Legend at a piano. That’s where he was when we met him back in 2004 — a new breed of balladeer. But now it seems, Legend wants to be more. He wants to get down -- uptempo.
Chicago-area pop-punk band Fall Out Boy rescheduled its next album, “Folie a Deux,” for release on Dec. 16. But they’re coming home before that to celebrate and play the new tunes for hometown fans.
JJ Grey says he doesn't like to overthink things. As a subscriber to Occam's razor, the scientific principle that states, "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best," he believes, for one thing, that man never set foot on the moon.
LOS ANGELES -- Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' ''Chinese Democracy'' is a reality.
Sarah Dash, Patti LaBelle and Nona Hendryx are back together and will perform at 8 p.m. Jan. 10 at the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State. Tickets are $50-$89.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday by phone at (312) 559-1212 or online at ticketmaster.com.
Coming from a 41-year-old man wearing a floor-length tiered skirt, fistfuls of rage might feel a little insincere. So Billy Corgan lightened up. At the Chicago Theatre on Wednesday, Corgan and his resuscitated Smashing Pumpkins performed the second of two homecoming shows that complimented the excessive rock portion of the first night with an evening of finely textured folk and light pop.
John Legend is that rare R&B/pop star whose success is measured in album and ticket sales rather than airplay. “I haven’t been a big singles artist, but when I do concerts, the people who buy my album want to hear all the tracks that never got played on the radio,” he says. “So we try to give them as much as we can in the show,” like his Chicago performances tonight at Friday.
Jim DeRogatis: Just shy of eight years after what he said was the band's last show ever at Metro in December 2000, Billy Corgan finally brought the Smashing Pumpkins back home to Chicago Tuesday, marking the return of a key band of the alternative era and one of the best-selling groups this city has produced.
Frigid weather and hazardous road conditions on his current tour — stopping here on Thursday — can’t curb legendary songwriter JD Souther’s enthusiasm for his first studio album in nearly 25 years, ‘‘If the World Was You,’’ which dropped Oct. 14. ‘‘I didn’t want to put anything out that was substandard,’’ he says. ‘‘I couldn’t tell you exactly why it took that long.’’
Hear a clip of their songs! Sure, the season finale of "American Idol" should have been the deciding bout in the battle between David Cook and David Archuleta. After all, Cook won. The battle, however, is far from over. Archuleta's debut CD dropped last week. Cook's recording is out today. Consider it round two of David vs. David.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s new album, ‘‘Working on a Dream,’’ will arrive Jan. 27. Excerpts from the title track debuted during NBC’s NFL halftime show on Sunday.
Jim DeRogatis: When it comes to stage patter, there’s perfunctory, there’s innocuous and then there’s Robyn Hitchcock. One of the psychedelic troubadour’s many talents is the ability to spontaneously unleash great gushing torrents of free-associated surrealism in between songs, playing with language the way a great bebop improviser plays fast and loose with melody.
Jim DeRogatis: During its intoxicating heyday in the mid-'90s, "alternative rock" was an ambiguous term for a wide variety of idiosyncratic bands that never subscribed to any one style, coherent aesthetic or single way of doing business. "Alternative to what?" was the question some asked, and it was a good one. But there was one similarity to the many groups that stormed the pop charts after the phenomenal success of Nirvana's "Nevermind" (1991).
LONDON---- Paul McCartney says it's time an experimental Beatles track saw the light of day.
Though Billy Corgan has almost always been eager to talk in the past -- in fact, many times, it was hard to shut him up -- the always enigmatic leader of the Smashing Pumpkins has declined numerous invitations to speak to the Sun-Times dating to well before the release of "Zeitgeist" in July 2007.
LONDON---- British police say a man is in critical condition after being stabbed at a music awards ceremony in London.
On last season’s ‘‘American Idol,’’ David Archuleta’s version of ‘‘Imagine’’ earned him the title of ‘‘the one to beat’’ early on. He never once placed in the bottom three. In the end, David ended up losing the crown to another David — David Cook — but he still got a chance to pursue his pop star dreams with a record deal on 19 Recordings/Jive Records.
Usher's latest tour was promoted as a show for the ladies a la those 1970s steamy Teddy Pendergrass shows. But more than girls wanted to have fun in the presence of the R&B crooner Thursday night at the House of Blues.
In a brave new media world where most underground rock bands would kill to garner the sort of Internet buzz that greeted "Microcastle," the third album by the Atlanta, Ga., avant-pop quintet Deerhunter, bandleader Bradford Cox had a very different reaction when the music leaked last May, several months ahead of its official release.
A music fan recently approached Craig Finn, lead singer of the Hold Steady, with an observation. He'd seen about 40 bands perform over the previous year, and only members of Finn's band and Drive-By Truckers were seen smiling onstage.
Loudon Wainwright III is in recovery. That is, his new album is called “Recovery,” and it’s a set of 13 old songs — songs mostly from the earliest outings of Wainwright’s acclaimed and varied career. He talked to the Sun-Times about why he decided to look backward and what it’s like singing a young man’s songs at a much older age.
It's anything but game over for "Video Games Live." The multimedia concert, which features live performances of music from video-game franchises like "Mario," "Zelda," "Halo" and "Final Fantasy," returns to the Chicago area this weekend.
Kenny Chesney won only one of the seven awards he was nominated for at the CMA Awards, but he sure made it count. Chesney took home his fourth entertainer of the year trophy Wednesday, tying Garth Brooks for the most wins in the category, considered the night's top honor. He's now won the award the last three years in a row.
It's not easy living with the label ''genius'' over your head all the time.
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Mitch Mitchell, drummer for the legendary Jimi Hendrix Experience of the 1960s and the group's last surviving member, was found dead in his hotel room early Wednesday. He was 61.
Whatever else one thinks of the educator, writer and orchestra conductor Leon Botstein, there can be no disagreement that he is tireless.
Before Grammy-winning songwriter/music director Donald Lawrence even announced the runner-up, the Rev. Bernard Sutton turned to his wife and others sitting with them in the arena seats and shouted, “We won!” Then he tore off down the steps toward the stage.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa---- Miriam Makeba, the South African singer who wooed the world with her sultry voice but was banned from her own country for more than 30 years under apartheid, died after a concert in Italy. She was 76.
If you’re happy about this week’s presidential election results, there are plenty of ways you can get your groove on. For starters, in the Sun-Times mailbox yesterday was a fresh copy of the new compilation CD created by and for Barack Obama’s campaign. “Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement” features 18 songs — some new, some classics — by such heavy hitters as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, Jill Scott, John Mayer, Lionel Richie, Jackson Browne, Chicago rapper Kanye West and others.
Seen at Sun-Times first: Days after C3 Presents staged the Election Night celebration here for Barack Obama, officials announced Thursday a plan to allow the Austin, Tex.-based promoters to continue the three-day Lollapalooza music festival in Grant Park for at least 10 more years.
Jim DeRogatis: After splitting from his influential band the Soft Boys, English psychedelic rocker and surrealist folk troubadour Robyn Hitchcock launched his solo career with a fine album called "Black Snake Diamond Role" (1981). But then something went wrong.
Given the historic election we've all just experienced, it's hard to remember back to last week, let alone June 2007, when Barack Obama was a true underdog, polling way behind front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton. That's when a 32-year-old ad executive came up with an idea for a new Web video.
Diane Izzo woke up with a headache. She took a Tylenol. By the end of the day, a neurosurgeon told her she had a brain tumor. Now Izzo, who has no insurance, is turning to the ad hoc system many musicians use when faced with a crisis: the benefit show. Chicago music luminaries Robbie Fulks, Califone, Sally Timms, the Waco Brothers and others are playing “A Big Brain Benefit” at 7 p.m. Sunday at the School of the Art Institute Ballroom, 112 S. Michigan. Tickets are $20.
In the last four years, Michael Franti has traveled into the hearts of Baghdad, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to shoot his documentary, ''I Know I'm Not Alone,'' and its audio companion, ''Yell Fire!,'' and he wrote a children's book, What I Be.
When Zac Brown was 18, he set out on the road in a van with his dog, Pete, a drummer and a PA system. He played at clubs all over the Southeast, carefully assembling the hardworking pieces of what would become the Zac Brown Band.
"Bob the Builder Live! Spud's Big Mess Set," PBS' pint-size hard hat goes live in this stage production of the popular cartoon, 2 and 5 pm. Feb. 7, Chicago Theatre; $30-$40. On sale at 10 a.m.
Britney and Justin still share one bond: Madonna. In separate appearances, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake performed Thursday night during Madonna’s show at Dodger Stadium. The former pop power couple did not take the stage together, and it wasn’t clear if they’d crossed paths.
Though many may claim to be the hardest-working rock band in America, few can say they have had to struggle as much as Pansy Division. The band -- composed of Jon Ginoli (founder, guitarist and lead singer), bassist Chris Freeman, drummer Luis Illades and guitarist Joel Reader -- is the subject of a new documentary, "Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band," screening Saturday as part of the 27th annual Reeling Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival.
THE STARS CAME OUT on Monday to pay their respects to Jennifer Hudson, whose precious family including her mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson; brother, Jason Hudson, and nephew, Julian King, were senselessly murdered last month on the South Side.
NEW YORK---- New York City-based Def Jam Recordings says that the executive that succeeded Jay-Z as the head of the legendary hip hop music label has died.
Election night results are already not favorable for fans of Celine Dion. The superstar has postponed her concert at the United Center on Tuesday night due to illness. A statement from her publicist revealed the singer has been battling a recurrent naso-pharyngeal infection for the past week and is under doctor's order to refrain from singing for the next five days. Dion appeared on the "Oprah" show last week, where she did perform.
Who needs Robert Plant? Apparently not the other surviving members of Led Zeppelin, who are ready to pull the trigger on a tour with a new singer if Plant refuses to join in. Sources say the frontman first in line for the gig is Myles Kennedy, who has most recently led the rock outfit Alter Bridge.
As they prepare to remember their breakthrough with the upcoming "Live at Budokan: 30th Anniversary" box set, Cheap Trick is also readying the release of their next studio album, which guitarist Rick Nielsen says is in the can and ready to go -- although no label, title or release date are set yet.
Jim DeRogatis: The Chicago rock scene has a long tradition of pulling out all the stops on Halloween, whether it’s local bands donning the fashions and sounds of some of their musical idols for special one-off cover sets, or local venues booking the most frightening music from across the country in honor of our scariest holiday. Here is run-down of the very best tricks and treats in club land commemorating All Hallows Eve, 2008.
Dave Hoekstra: The spirit of tomorrow will illuminate the stage when Booker T. & the MGs appear with Mavis Staples on Saturday in a benefit concert for the Old Town School of Folk Music. The soul music legends each will perform their own set in the Harris Theater in Millennium Park. They will be in Chicago on the cusp of a historic presidential election.
When the Latin rock group Jaguares titled its latest disc "45," it was making a bold political statement. That's not surprising, since the Mexico City-based band has championed many causes, such as human rights and environmental awareness, over its long career.
Performance time at the average symphony concert means male musicians in white tie and tails, a get-up more at home in a Fred Astaire musical from the 1930s than early 21st century Chicago.
As the charming poster for this year's Umbrella Music Festival suggests, there is something a little Mary Poppins about this ostensibly imposing summit of great musical minds.
Evolve or die? Darwin never met AC/DC. ‘‘Black Ice,’’ the band’s 15th studio album and first since 2000’s ‘‘Stiff Upper Lip,’’ is barely distinguishable from the rip-snorting discs of its mid-’70s heyday. Guitarist Angus Young puts it simply: ‘‘We’re always going to sound like AC/DC.’’
Music from the Beatles is coming to video games ... but not to ‘‘Rock Band.’’ MTV Networks and Harmonix — the game developer behind the popular ‘‘Rock Band’’ franchise — together with the Beatles’ Apple Corps Ltd., are developing an entirely new interactive music game based solely and exclusively on the entire Beatles catalog. The game will not be part of the ‘‘Rock Band’’ franchise, but will be based on the same platform.
FAYETTEVILLE, N.Y. -- A drug charge against Barenaked Ladies singer-guitarist Steven Page will be dismissed if he stays out of trouble for six months.
Janet Jackson had to exert a little extra ‘‘Discipline’’ during her concert Tuesday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills in suburban Detroit.
Just a month ago, a bubbly Jennifer Hudson — who had been striking gold with just about everything she touched — was running down the list of all the projects that she expected would soon dominate her life. But last week, at a moment when her wildest dreams were either realized or seemed well within reach, she suffered a personal tragedy so devastating, so unthinkable, that it would be understandable if she never moved to reclaim them.
The non-singing members of Led Zeppelin apparently aren’t waiting around for Robert Plant to sign off on a reunion tour and/or album. In an interview with BBC Radio, bassist John Paul Jones said he, guitarist Jimmy Page and drummer Jason Bonham ‘‘are trying out a couple of singers.’’
Jim DeRogatis: David Byrne’s collaborator on the recent album “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today” — as well as on the 1981 release “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” and the three most wildly inventive albums by his old band, the Talking Heads — was nowhere in evidence among all of those white-clad bodies gyrating on the stark black stage. Nevertheless, the influence of Brian Eno loomed large on nearly every note throughout the Sunday night concert at Chicago's Civic Opera House.
Mark Guarino: For the Average Joe, plumber or no, an identity crisis is a private thing, aided by psychological therapy and a lot of pharmaceuticals. But for Madonna, an identity crisis takes a different toll: Mock catharsis before about 35,000 fans. At the United Center Sunday, the first of two stops on her current Sticky and Sweet Tour, Madonna confronted the multiple identities she's rotated through since 1982.
For most of his long career, Latin pop star Luis Miguel could have been billed as "The International Man of Mystery." After all, he rarely grants interviews, manages to keep his busy private life ultra-private and projects a reserved, at times downright chilly, demeanor. Fans might recall his 2000 concert at the United Center, which started 90 minutes late without a word of apology.
Gym Class Heroes have experimented so much on their latest CD that even frontman Travis McCoy can't quite describe the group's newly formed sound.
Thanks to her Southern twang and onstage cowboy hat, Lucinda Williams has long been recognized as a country artist. But her most recent Grammy Award win in 2001 was for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and on her new album, ''Little Honey,'' Williams lets her rocker gal loose with authority.
In his lively 2004 history of theater in Chicago, A Theater of Our Own, Richard Christiansen recounts a delicious moment from the early 1970s when the city had very little home-grown theater.
Tough economic times it seems are affecting area theaters and live concerts.
