Go ahead and wear your Yo La Tengo fandom like a badge of honor. For a band that seems to live at the outer-fringe of mainstream attention, they're actually not hard to listen to or even get in to. Despite some lovely pop hooks, the music is cerebral and doesn't pander one bit --part of...

Gaslight Anthem does a great job of straddling the line between aggression and introspection. Often compared to a younger, edgier Springsteen - their wholly American tales of working class people are definitely anthemic. They were a perfect fit for Chicago edition of Riot Fest which featured some too-angry-for-my-tastes acts and others that have the just...

Have you checked out The Greenville Tavern yet? This new pub played host to Mr. Blotto's New Year's Eve gig. The band ripped through classics by Dylan, The Dead, Allman Brothers and J.J. Cale and rang in 2013 with one of Paul's trademark raps out of Kool and The Gang's "Jungle Boogie".Here's the audio (...

It's something of a Rolling Stones tradition to "warm up" for stadium tours with some club gigs. For me, it's sort of encouraging -- kind of a proof that the show isn't about fireworks, catwalks or video screens.The Stones deliver in this Chicago performance at the famed Double Door, running through...

Digital Tape Machine played a late night show on Saturday night to cap a short Midwest run, and several choice videos have emerged. With sporadic shows due to commitments of its principals, its always nice to have a record of what the all-star team has to offer. We're lucky to have them call Chicago...

In 2010, when I first conceived of a holiday mix tape, the concept seemed like fertile ground -- there were a number of much celebrated holiday takes from my favorite jambands, and all I had to do was assemble them. The playlist just sort of fell togetherA few leftover tracks turned into the seed for the 2011...

We've got one more update from the action packed Chicago Thanksgiving Weekend 2012. Saturday night at Martyrs featured sets from two of Chicago's very own: Henhouse Prowlers and Family Groove Company.Each band delivered their own set before coming together at the end of the night for an extended post-encore jam that touched on...

Listening to this offers a weird and wonderful trip through a time machine and is a true fly-on-the-wall experience.  A year before he decided to have a go at playing rock music with his buddies in The Warlocks, Jerry Garcia was riding high in the folk scene and giving banjo lessons.  I can...

I have to admit, I hadn't listened to Soundgarden in a long time. Then, as if all worked out in advance, I recently saw that they were returning to Chicago in 2013 and within about an hour, this live show recorded in Chicago during their 90s heyday just kind of fell into my lap. So,...

Wish I could find a recording on the November Metro show to accompany our recent show review. But, in lieu of that, I did manage to track down Tame Impala's next to last Chicago show, at the massive Lollapalooza festival.Perhaps a side stage set in the blinding daylight and punishing heat didn't...