David Berman, One Night
That midsummer night, David Berman kept at his post at the crook of the bar. White light on face, halation, white reflected on smudged lenses, halo.
Still Breathtaking: A Preview of Sting at Ravinia Festival
Sting’s solo catalog boasts more than a dozen studio albums. He may not rack up the hit singles like he once did, but he remains a compelling writer, musician and performer.
Righteous Anger and Radical Faith: IDLES and Childish Gambino make the personal political at Lollapalooza
In its rousing rendition of “Television,” IDLES decried body negativity (“The bastards made you / not want to look like you / so you pay through the nose / to look like someone else”) without the faintest whiff of victim-blaming. Listening to these lyrics while looking at the IDLES’ Lollapalooza audience was more than a bit mind bending. How often do you see thousands of white men—the crowd had an obscenely high bro quotient—wildly applauding a set list that is effectively a feminist manifesto?
Once an “It” Band, Still an Influencer: The Strokes Get It Done During a Tight Lolla Set
Julian Casablancas has an inimitable voice that has not so much aged well as not aged at all, and Hammond’s guitar work remains glorious. You don’t have to dance at a Strokes show but you do need to move: the band’s best tracks are fast, fierce and over before you know it, the abrupt ending being something of a Strokes signature.
Music Top 5: August 2019
Hancock’s Miles Davis Quintet-backed piano chops, alongside Washington’s artful sax, assures a genre-bent night of jazz and beyond.
Beyond Eurocentrism: Crossing Borders Music Explores Global Classical Traditions
An organization programming underrepresented composers from many different cultures not normally associated with classical music.
Multigenre Master: A Preview of Eilen Jewell at Hey Nonny
Jewell’s next release, “Gypsy,” is due in August and is described in advance press as “personal and sometimes political.”
Impresarios of the Moment: CIVL Defense—Chicago Club Owners Find Strength In Solidarity
“Small venues and multiple venues provide spaces for bands to experiment, and to fail. Our bottom line is nurturing creativity.”
Shape-Shifting to Groove To: Cage the Elephant Finds Its Rhythm (Again)
Despite its myriad of influences and momentary lapses, Cage the Elephant has created something new and not at all derivative with its new album, “Social Cues.” There’s a splash of cynicism where there used to be ache and urging.
Blockbuster: A Preview of The Silver Room Block Party in Hyde Park
This is a block party in the same way that the Chosen Few Picnic is a picnic.
