As evangelists of rock in the burbs, imagine our delight that one of most buzzed about albums of 2010 is Arcade Fires The Suburbs.Aside from being another standout set from a band that pushes some cool sonic buttons, its release was packaged with one of the most innovative videos ever created. Entitled The Wilderness Downtown...

The five shows we produced in The Barn 1.0 era were a bit like a laboratory experiment. Our commitment to our audience was to bring the experience of seeing music in the city to the burgeoning community of music fans in our neck of the woods. We plastered posters up all over town, sold tickets in...

One of the new features we are rolling out with The Barn 2.0 is a focus on data visualizations and InfoGraphics that pertain to music. Thanks to blogs such as I Love Charts and Wired Magazine's InfoPorn, these are widing a wave of popularity lately amongst both nerds and geeks.Enter The Barn. With tons of...

After a four month hibernation, we are getting ready to bring you The Barn 2.0.Wait. What?!?We launched The Barn (1.0) at about this time last year with a mission to produce and promote high quality live music events for adults in Chicagos Western Suburbs. Five events into our enterprise, we decided to pause and evaluate...

Jeff Massey brings the same energy and enthusiasm to a friendly conversation that he brings to the stage. Engaging, reflexive and honest, the same qualities that make Steepwater Band music so exciting came through in this discussion. It was a privilege to speak with him about The Steepwater Band and his role in it --...

Lets say youve got a ton of soul, a wealth of talent and a hell of a creative streak. You get off on loud guitars and the deep rumble of the bass. Your music is an extension of yourself, a vehicle of expression for joy, pain, melancholy, even anger. Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and Howlin...

It is a beautiful thing when technology allows a hobbyist to put a video like this together in just a couple of hours. The author (username marc4dfan on YouTube) doesnt have a background in video production, he just got an idea in his head and thought maybe I could do that.The template is...

Update 6/15/10: Enjoy a stream of the entire show by clicking below, courtesy of Joe Perona. Solo and acoustic. A musician has got to have pretty big stones to pull it off. Without a band and effects for distraction, the audience can only focus on the artist, warts and all. They are laying it out there,...

Our change of venue does not come without for its fringe benefits. Brixie's is a straight up Beer Wonderland. With 30+ on draft and over 100 bottled varieties, there is sure to be something to satisfy any conniseur's pallatte.I wanted to take a moment to use some space here to showcase what is available and include...

Jay Stanek and Chris Meier are friends and bandmates. Emerging out of the fertile music scene of Champaign-Urbana in the mid-nineties, their muse has taken them to stages, studios and points beyond to achieve their goals.Filtering a ton of musical and personal influences through a shared vision and welcoming a revolving cast of talented...