Friday, October 30, 2015

Happy Halloween, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!


This video is just absolutely hilarious. When it came on TV this morning Mich started laughing so hard she could hardly get out the words, "Come here and see this!"

If you're in Chicago this Halloween, there is a TON to do, and you have extra time to do it since we gain an hour Saturday night! An extra hour of Halloween? Yes, please!

Anyway, here is  a list of concerts I recommend seeing today and tomorrow, and here is a huge list of other events going on over the weekend for you to consider too.

This is SO my favorite holiday.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

I feel bad for this guy because I can totally relate.

This video has been making the rounds, but this version is my favorite since it appears to keep the original audio. This has certainly happened to me in the past and I'm sure I've reacted similarly...

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Why should be excited by a free Textbook?

Because this is a Textbook that rocks! If you dig Midwestern power-pop with a rough edge this is right up your alley. It came out last year but the boys just decided to make it a free download for a limited time. Get on it!

Friday, October 23, 2015

The kinda Friday that makes you feel like the workweek was well spent.

As I zoom home via the public-est of transports the city has to offer I slump lazily in my seat, gratified at a week that was really busy but never overwhelmingly so, marked by projects I was happy with turning out even better than I expected. Working hard is never difficult when you actually like what it is you're doing, and this week certainly reminded me of that.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

The Cubs.

I'm no huge sports guy but I did grow up with WGN being my only connection to Chicago for the many years I traveled across the country to different destinations as my family moved when I was a kid. I was born here, but didn't grow up here. So based on that, the Cubs became the default team I would cheer for. Well, outside of the Cal Ripkin Jr. / Eddie Murray Orioles of the late '80s since I lived in Annapolis at the height of my baseball card collecting—and mostly final sports—phase.

So I was rooting for the Cubs, even though I secretly feared that if they won it'd remove that one thing that made them unique in all of baseball.

Of course I was in the very, very small minority with that worry.

But the Cubs didn't win. They lost. And usually that would spark a wave of anger in Chicago. But this time it was different. Every fan I know was proud of the team. For once their loss wan't viewed as the fault of management for gutting a team. Instead the team's leaders were credted with finally starting to invest and build a team that had room to grow and develop. The fact they made it to the playoffs this years was a bit of a surprise, but i suspect it won't be so shocking when the same thing happens next year.

And the best part is all the hardcore fans I know who usually lick their wounds in the winter months are actually walking with heads held high, sporting viably optimistic hopes for the future. For maybe the first time in a really, really long time.

Also, look! I wrote a post about sports! Whaaaaat?!

Nothing is impossible.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

'Back To The Future' Day is finally here!


To say that Mich loves Back To The Future would be the most extreme definition of an understatement. She's been waiting for this day—the day Marty and Doc Brown actually land in the future—for what feels like forever. I wish I could throw her a party and give her a day off work and turn this into her own personal national holiday so she could just wallow in all things Back ToThe Future and enjoy this moment.

After today Back To The Future will no longer be something in the future, it'll only be in the past, so she should get everything out of this day that she can.

Of course now there's the very important question of which timeline are we in? It's 2015 and the Cubs could actually make it to the world series, while at the same time a blonde hotel magnate with a bad combover is rising in power. Mich investigated the question in great detail, so read all about it.

Great Scott! I can't believe it's actually here! If you've been looking forward to it as well, I hope this day is everything you'd hoped it would be too.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

How about some light psych for your Tuesday?

Boogarins
Tl;dr? Boogarins is Brazil's answer to Tame Impala.

A little more meat? Boogarins spins out light psych that's fit for either warm summer day or early fall evening. There's a sadness in their new album Manual (out on October 30) that tugs at the listener. An ache and longing for something different. Much of the albums feels more like a sigh of resignation, so maybe it's engine is actually that inward turn?

The band has also said that the 2014 World Cup that took place in Brazil left them feeling disillusioned since the people's sport did so little to actually uplift the lower class communities in their homeland. Considering the album is sung in Portuguese I can't really say if that's reflected in the lyrics or not, but their is a heaviness to the music that wold support that reading.

But again, these are transitory feelings. To these ears the heaviness and resignation ultimately functions more as a soothing sense of submersion that any act of depression.

Monday, October 19, 2015

'New World Towers' is the new Blur documentary we needed.

This looks very cool. The new Blur documentary New World Towers hits UK theaters on December 2. An international release is planned but there are no details on that yet. I need details!

Since they skipped Chicago this will have to do as far as me seeing the band live this year.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Weeeeeeeeekend!

Today couldn't come quickly enough, this week.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Throb throb throb.

I've done two rounds of physical therapy and even paid for a massage last week in hopes of somehow solving the chronic pain along my back and right arm, and another visit to a specialist this afternoon has me no closer to resolving the problem. It looks like the next step is electrocuting my arm to make sure the issue is back related. Yay!

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

What to do in Chicago this week!

I'm still busy bt if you have free time, Mich has been spearheading a new twice-weekly post at Chicagoist rounding up events you might want to check out. Here is this week's! 

They go up every Monday and Friday, so make sure to visit the site and take them all in!

Monday, October 12, 2015

Busy week ahead!

Juggling a jillion things already has me looking forward to quitting time on Friday. Let's go!

Friday, October 09, 2015

Kids Interview Bands interviewed one of my favorite Chicago bands.


The Kickback are on the road promoting their excellent debut album and during an Ohio stop they took some time to sit down with Piper for an excellent interview.

Thursday, October 08, 2015

The weather outside is delightful, so why do I feel frightful?

It's almost torture that a day is as beautiful a day in October as this one. Both because you just know that the next day won't be nearly as wonderful and the day after that will probably have you chattering your teeth, even in direct sunlight. And of course, I'm feeling under the weather and still can't shake that, so I can't fully enjoy the loveliness that is outside. Blerg.

Wednesday, October 07, 2015

Don't try this at home.


Or, rather, do! Via IMDB (and stumbled over as I watched 2001:A Space Odyssey as comfort food last weekend):
Rock band Pink Floyd was at one point approached to perform music for the film. However they turned it down due to other commitments. Yet they retain a connection with the film: much like The Wizard of Oz (1939) and "Dark Side of the Moon", it is said that Pink Floyd's song "Echoes" from the album "Meddle" can be perfectly synchronized with the "Jupiter & Beyond the Infinite" segment of the film.
 Here's how to set it up and what to look for once you've started.

Tuesday, October 06, 2015

As usual, Kylie saves the day.


I've been feeling under the weather and rundown all day, so to pep me up I've been listening to Matthew Perpetua's massive mix surveying the music of 1989.

Forget the fact that's basically the soundtrack of my senior year of high school so the sentimental rush has been hitting me in waves as I listen to the tunes. Instead let's focus on how I totally forgot this Kylie Minogue song came out that year. And you know what's even more remarkable? It's aged incredibly well!

So put your hand your heart and dance along with me.

Monday, October 05, 2015

Friday, October 02, 2015

Big Freedia helps Elliphant add some serious swagger to 'Club Skunk Now'

Mich and I are famously always out of town when Big Freedia comes to play Chicago. But not this time! Big Freedia's got a show at Bottom Lounge on November 10 and the guest appearance in this video only makes me more excited to finally get a chance to catch her on stage!

Thursday, October 01, 2015

Dirty Ghosts skips the sophomore slump.

Photo by Liz Caruana
Finally got around to listening to the new Dirty Ghosts album this afternoon. I'm saving a slightly longer review for Chicagoist—most of my reviews there are now going to be in Quick Spins round up form so I can package a few together at a time—so look for that next week. The tl;dr of it is the band is still really good at putting together rough edged "underwater soul."*

The album is out tomorrow but you can stream the whole thing below. That should convince you to shell out a few bucks for it, right? They're on tour and I recommend catching them, since their live show is a little more Joan Jett than you'd expect.



*A term I coined when their original Biz 3 publicists sent me their original demos in '09. His reply was, "Thank you for not saying “lo-fi” -- that drives me nuts!"