Phil Lesh assembled his friends for another four-nighter at Grate Room of Terrapin Crossroads over the weekend. There was a decided North Mississippi flavor with the Dickinson brothers on hand, but Jackie Greene and Jason Crosby also brought their unique approach to Grateful Dead music.Interspersed between GD classics were covers of Allman Brothers, The...

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...

David Byrne and other like-minded artists performed at a benefit for the Content Creators Coalition at New York City's Le Poisson Rouge last night and the nature of the event called for something just a bit different than a typical Byrne performance. He is calling attention to the fact that in the US, unlike many...

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...

Fans of Pavements Stephen Malkmus know that a Jicks show can be a little loose and more than a little drunken.For their 2011 stop at the Metro, Malkmus and the Jicks are in top form, loosely jamming out most of the songs from Mirror Traffic, giving a depth the record itself sometimes lacked. Tracks like...

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the January 10th show.Everybody knows about Carlos Santana's career as a trailblazing Latin Rock psychedelic fusioneer from the 60's. Others know his pop leaning hits from the 80s and beyond. But Carlos was captivated with jazz, particularly fusion, in the seventies...

One of the highlights of Panic's NYE run was the opening trio of Neil Young covers from Time Fades Away, Young's '73 Live Set that has never seen a proper CD release due to his inherent Neil Young-ness. However, JB points out that it was one of the only vinyl albums that the band had...

With roster changes completed, the Chicago favorites in Cornmeal are in a getting-to-know-you stage all over again. The new and coalescing lineup is in the midst of a Midwest and Colorado swing before heading to the Northeast -- they are getting their legs way they've always done it, by playing a shit ton of shows....