Words / Photos: @WeirScrewedEven in the robust musical market of Chicago, it is a rare treat when two virtuosos the caliber of Chick Corea and Bela Fleck come together. Both players have such deep catalogs and their respective careers transcend genre. The duo visited the magnificent Auditorium Theatre on Saturday night to play for a few...

Words / Photos: Alex WoodWith the excellent 2013 release White Lighter, Typhoon perfected their indie sound with well-written tracks and clean production. However, listeners of the studio album wouldnt guess it was an eleven-piece band making the music.For their performance at The Metro, there was no doubt.Two drummers and a percussionist played atop one another...

Though Anderson turned 42 last week, Lies & Wishes comes off as a record of maturation, the artists writing process essentially providing therapy toward recent events.Album opener Lies & Wishes illustrates this emotional intensity best.I think about the title track. I remember writing it and the first time I wrote that melodic finger picking...

Words / Photos: Alex WoodThe Del McCoury Band defines traditionalism in the bluegrass genre.The five piece band, including Dels sons Ronnie and Robbie, performed an acoustic set comprising of originals, covers and traditional songs, the musicians huddling around two microphones for amplification.With few older bluegrass veterans left to carry the torch of traditionalism, 75-year...

There was a pure, collective excitement about White Denim at Metro that I haven't felt in a good long time. With so many regular contributors to this site in attendance, I asked a few of them to contribute short thoughts to our "team coverage", while I chime in with my thoughts of my own below....

Mike's long, engaging introduction for guest Sugar Blue at the end of his first set was certainly informed by the type of comedic improv that he experienced first hand during his encounter with Second City at last year's Phish Chicago run. He was personable, funny and interesting.What followed were three perfect choices for a...

Photos: Mike Kaiz PhotojournalismAs both Bob and Phil have conspired to avoid Chicago for nearly two years, it was great to see Grateful Dead family rally around Bobby at Friday night's sold out Ratdog gig.But Steve Kimock was the pope of this gig -- stealing the spotlight again and again, a considerable task, as...

Words / Photo / Video: @WeirScrewedOn a cold and sunny Sunday afternoon following a spectacular Hard Working Americans show, Todd Snider fans packed the City Winery to watch the documentary East Nashville Tonight, directed by Todd Barnes and his brother Brad. In addition to screening the film, fans were enticed with a Q&A with Snider...

Words / Photos: Alex WoodEven without Workbooks 25th anniversary, Bob Mould has reason to celebrate.Always ahead of his contemporaries, Mould mastered punk in the 80s with Husker D and alternative rock in the 90s with Sugar.The cornerstone connecting the two, of course, was 1989s Workbook.The albumstands as a historical marker in the story...

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,...