Photos by Heidi Peters, additional reporting by Des PetersMaceo Parker has been on the front lines of funk from the days of James Brown through the P-Funk revolution and remains something of a hero to today's modern day funk crusaders.His set on Saturday night at Evanston's SPACE touched on all these spaces and more,...

Words: @WeirScrewedPhotos: Tom HarmonTodd Snider and the Hard Working Americans wrapped up their first ever tour Saturday night at the Park West. From the opening notes of "Blackland Farmer", the band extended most of the tunes from their self-titled debut into lush jammy landscapes. After exploring "Farmer" a bit, the band settled into a "New...

Great bands play in great bars and clubs every weekend -- hell, every day -- in Chicago. What has always intrigued me is how you take such a routine occurrence and and turn it into an EVENT.Old Shoe has succeeded in doing just that. Saturday, February 15th at the Volcano Room at Bottom Lounge...

We've been on top of All Things Earle lately. With JT visiting Concord in January, and a look back at one of his father's 2003 performances, we were primed and ready for the main event: a three night stand of Steve Earle, solo and acoustic, at Chicago's City Winery February 21-23.Heidi Peters was on hand...

A big welcome to our newest contributor, photographer Rickie Kostiner, who we expect some big things from.Her first contribution, however, is the classic intimate show, which we feel very lucky to be a part of. Ryan Montbleau, who is shaking things up a bit after touring for many years with his band, has boiled...

Ween's Mickey Melchiondo (aka Dean Ween) has made Chicago a regular stopping place these days. First, he dropped in unexpectedly with The Pod, our local Ween tribute band in September. Then, he found himself at Cubby Bear with his Moistboyz project in December.On February 4th, The Pod was billed with a VERY SPECIAL GUEST...

Dark Star Orchestra set the flux capacitor back to 1983 for the sold out crowd at Chicago's Vic Theater on Friday, but then used the time travel juice from a pair of special guests to reach back ten more years during an extended encore.The Grateful Dead's May 15th performance at Greek Theater in Berkeley served...

It's not uncommon for Railroad Earth to find themselves in Chicago this time of year.This time they came to town with a little more to prove. Their two Land of Lincoln dates fell on the weekend before Tuesday's official release of Last Of The Outlaws, the band's 10 song volume of new tunes.And so...

Mr. Blotto and it's fans had plenty to celebrate as 2013 ticked to a close. It was the year they put out their long awaited new CD, Thread. They completed another circuit of their trademark Chicago area events, including a horn-fueled funktastic James Brown encore at the fourteenth Blottopia.Singer / guitarist Paul Bolger, specifically had reason...

Words / Photos: Alex WoodDuring his second night in Chicago, Andrew Bird referred to this years Gezelligheid series at Fourth Presbyterian Church as the fourth annual, before acknowledging skipping a year somewhere in there.Regardless, the church shows have become a staple for Bird fans, a tradition celebrating the Chicagoans musical gift.And always just in...