It's the last band camp Friday of 2025!

I did another round-up over at Third Coast Review of albums well worth your time (and $$$) to check out this Bandcamp Friday!

Have fun checking them out!

Lotsa love for 'Little Darlings.'

I watched this movie a zillion times as a kid in the ‘80s, and last night I finally got around to watching the 4K reissue I’ve had for a while. And you know what? It’s still pretty great! I threw the little collage you see above together as I started watching—I’ve started to share little things like this online* as I dig through older movies and TV shows—and a) I really love how quickly just 3 photos set the tableaux for the story to follow and b) I was caught a bit off guard by the number of people for whom these images unlocked a slew of their own memories to share with me!

*While I refuse to resume activity on the site I shall forever call Twitter, I have become pretty active on Threads, so feel free to follow me there if the spirit moves you. Honestly, it's where most of my political musings go these days, and I do try and keep them more constructive or informative rather than shooting for "engagement" through inflammatory approaches. Plus, lighter fare like the above.**

**Though if lighter fare is more your thing, I would recommend keeping up with my Instagram stories and posts too!

I'm grateful to be here to witness all the beauty of this world.

Yesterday was quite a day. One of those jam-packed days at the 9-to-5 where you feel like you’ve done a week’s worth of work in a single day. But it was also the kind of workday that ended with me feeling incredibly happy and accomplished. As I was standing on my front porch in the evening, the rolly-polly-ist of raccoons came to my front step to say hi before adorably wobbling off. 

 
Then my Aurora app alerted me there was a super-low chance the Northern Lights might be visible in my area, but living in the middle of a brightly lit city like Chicago, I initially discounted it. Until I saw the slew of posts from friends who were seeing them within the city limits, which spurred me to walk over to the nearest park in hopes of catching a glimpse. 
 

Unfortunately, for some reason, a Chicago police SUV was parked there with its brights on, so I was about to give up until I realized that the church parking lot near my place might have enough open space with minimal light pollution for my needs. After getting there and initially seeing nothing, suddenly a brilliant and shimmering red stripe of aurora borealis popped up overhead, and I spent the next 10 minutes alternately gazing up in awe and snapping lots of photos. 

I couldn’t believe how bright the Northern Lights were, visible to the naked eye without the aid of an extended camera exposure, and the experience filled me with wonder and joy, and I got that super intense pleasurable tingle from an experience you’ve truly never had before. I’ve been trying to hold onto that sensation for as long as possible, before it just fades into an experiential memory.
 
It took me an hour or so to come back down from that natural high, but once I did I settled in to watch Dracula A.D. 1972, a film recommended by my partner that I hadn’t yet finished, and it was the grooviest end to a truly remarkable day.
 
Our times are currently incredibly turbulent and uncertain, but days like yesterday remind me why we keep moving forward. It’s a beautiful world out there, and we only have so long to experience it. And me? I’m glad I’m alive to do so.

No joke—it's time to brighten up your day with Sadlands!

Photo by Brittany Rose Queen

Anyone who knows me also knows that I consider the Josie & the Pussycats soundtrack to be one of the greatest power-pop albums of the aughts, and dang if Sadlands doesn't give me similar feels on their full-length debut, Try To Have A Little Fun.

I'll be writing up something a little more substantial for this album, but everything in the world has been so terrible that I felt the need to inject at least one super-duper-positive recommendation into the universe to hold y'all (and myself) over until the Quick Spins I plan on running this Friday (Bandcamp Friday, y'all!) over at Third Coast Review. 

The return of Rocktober (in spirit)!

I think I’m going to have to stop labeling myself as largely being a hermit! I’m back to going to at least one or two shows a week, though these days it’s mixture of music, comedy, interviews, theater, and spoken word getting me out and about instead of just 5 concerts or something like that. 

Just last week we saw my old friend Rachael Yamagata perform a stunner of a show at City Winery and then caught one of the hilarious tapings for Chris Fleming’s forthcoming HBO special. This week I’ll be at a taping for Slate’s Political Gabfest (I attended their very first taping during Obama’s first inauguration and try and catch them every time they’re in town).

And November is even more stocked with events I’ve committed to and will not miss!

The world is a scary place right now, and I can’t overstate how much the recent events in Chicago have impacted my stress levels. For the first time in years my resting heart rate has spiked for a sustained period of time, if that gives you any clue as to just how much tis city feels like it’s under attack by our own government. (If you're interested in my thoughts about that, I try and post reasoned commentary on Threads, so you can follow me there.

This makes out even more important to feel connected to others, and celebrate community. So I feel lucky that my own ability to socialize more often happens to coincide with a time when we all need human contact the most.

Shredding riffs and Super Creeps.

Dave Suh & the Dirty Wings, photo by me.

I had a really great time at LiveWire Lounge Chicago last night seeing Dave and Skid’s bands play. I’ve known Dave for most of his musical career, beginning with helping his old band Emil Muzz out (and even helping to get them onto an MTV reality show at one point!) so it’s been a true joy to see his musical evolution in the years as he played both sideman and frontman in variety of bands, currently landing on a group that sounds more “him” than any that’ve come before; Dave Suh & the Dirty Wings. I saw them about a year ago and that was good, but last night’s show was nigh perfect. 

Super Screeps, photo by me

I’ve booked shows with Skid’s numerous bands throughout the years as well, and he’s always been a consistently great entertainer with an amazing ear for new-wave and danceable rock. So when he started fronting the local David Bowie tribute band Super Creeps I knew it would be good, but since I’ve been such a hermit the last couple of years I hadn’t had a chance to check them out until last night.

Holy heck, they are GREAT! And that’s coming from a guy who’s seen a couple Bowie tribute bands that included actual former Bowie band members! 

Due to the Cubs game*, the night went late and I could only catch the beginning of Super Creeps' set, but over those few songs they showed they could tackle every era of Bowie’s career with equal comfort and magnetism, and I am eagerly awaiting my chance to see them again and catch a full set!

If you see shows coming up featuring either Dave Suh & the Dirty Wings or Super Creeps, take it from a person who has seen thousands of shows over the years—you will NOT be disappointed!

*Sorry for your loss Cubs fans, but their last World Series win knocked us onto the worst timeline, so I’m not terribly eager to see them win another one, for fear of what that might do to the world. Then again, maybe another Cubs World Series win would knock us back onto a better timeline?

A more personal, positive check-in.

I did a reset on my eating and some other health-related habits* over our vacation a few weeks ago and am now at the level of toxin-free sobriety where my brain is firing on all 10 cylinders, and what I thought was an already inhuman forward drive has kicked into almost frightening levels.

I thought I was operating at a higher level over the last couple of years since I quit drinking**, but I haven’t felt this preternaturally sharp since I was a teenager! (And now with (hopefully) more wisdom!)

It’s kind of scary…but really exciting. And here I thought I was destined to remain a distant hermit, hanging as a shadow over my previous accomplishments. But now I feel a whole new chapter of possibilities opening before me.

(If I can ever quit smoking—the one addiction I've yet to be able to shake—I can only imagine what that would do for me. But for a guy who didn’t think he was going to live to hit 50, the way I feel now I makes me think I could make it to 90 (depending on which side of my family’s genes end up deciding the whole longevity thing…)!)

*For the curious, I excised a few bad health habits, but the one that's made the biggest immediate difference has the radical reduction of my sugar intake. I had gotten to the point where I was stress-eating 1–2 pints of Jeni's ice cream a night, and while that was delicious, it appears that was really throwing a lot of sludge into my system and slowing me down.

**It just occurred to me this is something I haven't talked about at all in this space, preferring to work through the first couple of years of freedom from my addiction to alcohol, only sharing progress with friends and family through Facebook. This has been because I've never been sure what I can offer to others with similar struggles to mine. But I've been free from alcohol for over 6 years now, and perhaps it's time for me to try and figure out better ways to share some of those experiences in hopes they will help others. Sorry for the digression, but since I broke the seal on that topic here for the first time, I figured a bit of context would help. Though I also imagine longtime readers put 2 and 2 together about this topic long ago.***

***I also realize that when I started this site as an extension of the original Tankboy email newsletter back in 2002, I often mixed my personal life with my cultural critical thoughts, and I think if I'm going to be more active in this particular space, I'll have to get comfortable mixing those two things more readily again.

Happy Bandcamp Friday! Check out these new releases (and one surprise)!

First of all, head on over to Third Coast Review to see my recommendations for Bandcamp Friday. I mean, these are my recommendations every day, but perhaps knowing all dough goes to the artists will spur you to check them out and pick up the ones you like today!

And while you're on Bandcamp, Tuff Tamale (Kip and I) have finally released our "proper" debut album The New Masters Of Tuff as a free download for all to enjoy! (And it's also available on all the usual streaming services for those who prefer that route of listening.)

Refreshed and rarin' to go!

I just returned from a week-long vacation in L.A. and am feeling unusually refreshed and energized. I'm still getting used to vacations that are actually, y'know, vacations again but even with that in mind, I can't remember the last time I had such a lovely time that was both action-packed and truly restorative.

A nice side effect? I feel I broke through a few logjams that have held back my (personal) writing output, so expect a deluge of new music reviews over at Third Coast Review and more activity here as well!

It was mega to see Oasis return to the U.S.!

 

I saw Oasis last week and it was everything I'd hoped for. Read all about it in my review for Third Coast Review!

Incidentally, I did not plan on reviewing the show. But as I was making coffee the next morning I suddenly felt that familiar yet irresistible pull and as I ran to my keyboard I realized I'd already written a full review, it was just fighting to get out. Hope you dig it!

Recent reviews!

If you don't have Third Coast Review bookmarked or in your feeds (and why don't you?!) you may have missed two reviews I did last week. 

I covered the new album from The Kickback, and it's both a doozy and the best thing they've done so far. And I think everything they've done is great, so that's saying something!

And Dave Suh & the Dirty Wings released their debut collection of hooky rockers that left me feeling really good.

Laughing at yourself is the best medicine.

Last December I popped into Laurie's Planet of Sound for a quick look at the used CDs (as I often do when walking in that neighborhood) and spotted a mint-condition copy of the The Best Of The Best Show Numero Group compilation, and while I've heard many, many, many people talk about the Tom Scharpling show that often featured  Jon Wurster over the years I had never listened to it, yet I still felt an undeniable impulse to pick up the box set before I could reason myself out of spending the dough. The moment just felt right.

And I haven't regretted the decision one whit! The entire set is thus far delightful! 

I'm slowly making my way through, leisurely enjoying the segments one or two at a time, and yesterday I made it to disc 9 and the gem below that had me cry-laughing at myself for the first 2 acts and then sob-laughing so hard at the entirely expected unexpected turn the conversation takes.

While The Best Of The Best Show is out of print, if you ever see a used copy for sale, do yourself a favor and pick it up! And as you can see above, many of the segments collected in that box set are also on a series of compilations that are still available, so there's no need to put off digging into the show without the box set.

Also, and I swear this timings absolutely coincidental, but news broke recently that Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster will be taking The Best Show on a 25th anniversary tour for a few dates this October. Just FYI.

New music for you to check out!

I did a Quick Spins over at Third Coast Review covering new releases from Violets, OK Cool, Danimal Farm, and Post Animal. Check it out and give the albums a spin and pick up the ones you dig!

Muy Malkmus on the solo tip.

Photo by me!

Last May we saw Stephen Malkmus play an acoustic solo set at Old Town School Of Folk Music that quite honestly featured songs I never, ever expected to hear performed live. Due to the wonders of the modern digital age, some kind soul uploaded the entire set for free to the Internet Archive, so you don't have to track down a bootleg cassette tape, or finagle some complicated trade for 3 Phish tapes and good Dead show for 3 indie performances of dubious quality plus Malkmus, or something like that.

So now you can enjoy this fantastic set as well!

And while we're talking Malkmus, if you missed my recent review of the Pavements movie, you can still check it out here.

,

A random hike through my morning brain.

I don’t know about you but I’m still getting my bearings. The last couple of years have held so much change (from the personal to the international) that I know I am a somewhat different person. Though I often wonder if I’m just returning to the core person I’ve always been; the one that somehow managed to survive despite being pushed into the background over the years. Whenever I am confused as to why when I meet two people at the same time, one person immediately likes me as a human while the other can’t stand me, I have always reckoned that the one being nice to me sees the painfully nice guy buried deep inside all the protective layers I’ve accumulated over the years. Then again, I have grown to believe that the layers of protection I built up were pretty easy to see through or bypass for most people, when they wanted to.

Does any of that make any sense?

I am really trying to get back to a more regular cadence of public writing, because I think it was that constant process that helped keep me tenuously tethered to the world in the more out-of-control periods in my life. These days there's no drama and therefore no more out-of-control periods, and if anything I worry I keep too much in my head, mistakenly keeping it to myself because I don't think I can get it exactly right, and I fear being misinterpreted.

But isn't fear of misinterpretation built into the core elements of writing? You're always taking a chance you'll look like a fool or worse, any time you try and write something honestly. And while I can certainly bend words to my will, I continue to be driven by honesty in my written output, so I'm always putting my neck out there. And in recent years I think I was rightfully cautious as I decided how I wanted to proceed.

I'm getting there. And as always, if you're reading this sentence right now, you haven't a clue how appreciative I am of your existence and that you'd spend a few seconds/minutes with me in your brain, hopefully helping both of us feel a little more seen in this world.

Yes, the latest is a pretty super 'Superman' movie.

I have found all the cinematic versions of Superman enjoyable in different ways. But this latest Superman stands a very good chance at becoming my favorite version. It’s the first to truly tell the story using the wilder and more playful (and in moments, more emotionally effective) lens of the comics, instead of trying to make a comic book story more “realistically” cinematic. 

No spoilers here, but I will divulge it’s also just a really good dang time in the theater. Our showing was packed and it makes me so happy so many people are seeing a movie with a strongly positive overall message that also just feels good to watch together.

P.S. It was an impulse purchase and ridiculously expensive, but I do not regret, not one whit, picking up this adorable Krypto popcorn bucket. Now I just have to decide whether he lives in my office at home or downtown.

How could anyone say no to this?!

Goin' mobile (within reason).

I bought a car a few months ago, so for the first time since 2009 I can get around the city (and suburbs and other states and countries and who know where else) in my own vehicle instead of relying on public transport, or another person’s car.

I hadn’t planned on buying a new car. The one time I could’ve really used one was during the pandemic, and goodness knows I am really hoping a situation like that doesn’t arise again in my lifetime.* But an opportunity from a long-trusted friend presented itself and I was able to purchase their used car for a fair price. I’ve never owned a new car in my life, but this is the closest to “new” I’ve owned thus far … and the car is already 14 years old.

I debated the purchase in my head, weighing all the pros and cons, and all the fears the responsibility of ownership of an item that requires a constant influx of money just to keep insured and full of gas, with mountains of potential dough going out the window should the vehicle require anything beyond those two things. But I got over my doubts, and the benefits really did outweigh my concerns, so I bought it.

I was worried it would impact my step streak, but I’m still walking as much as I ever had. Bt it has had one unexpected benefit I couldn’t have foreseen: I’ve completely stopped ordering food or groceries for delivery. Which means my snacking on impulse deliveries has dropped to almost zero, which has been pretty terrific for both my wallet and my waistline!**

Another unexpected outcome? I am loathe to lose a good parking space when I get one right on front of my house, which also reduces frivolous trips in favor of still getting most of my errands done on foot.

But as the weather gets nicer, I will happily lose those great parking spots on a regular basis in favor of driving out to different forest preserves and such to really widen the terrain of pretty hikes and fun excursions this summer! I've already starting knocking a few long-held to-visit spots on my list and am eager to pick up the pace.

Vroom vroom and zoom zoom indeed!

*Though the way things are going, I’m feeling less secure that will in fact happen. But I'm trying to keep it positive today, m'kay?

**In the “healthy, I feel better” sense. I am far less concerned with the vain reasons for reducing one’s waistlines these days. However, owning a car and discovering that Whole Foods carries all the "good" and "rare" Jeni's Ie Cream flavors has caused me to exhibit more self control in this area than I would have expected.

A quick sidebar to boogie down to.

Christine and the Queens and Cerrone photo by Thomas Spault

This song's been out for a spell, but I hadn't heard it until the EP it'll be on showed up in my email a few days ago. My bad! Otherwise I'd've been blasting this song from Disco legend Cerrone and the hypnotic Christine and the Queens all summer long (instead of, y'know, 4/5 of the Chicago summer)! It's light and sprightly while keeping a heavy beat anchor that will meld with your limbic system to promote positive grooves into your brain and brighten your day whether you like it or not. Me? I like it!

Snag the song through the Bandcamp player below, or get the full Catching Feelings EP when it's realized July 4.

 

Tuff Tamale's "proper" debut is almost here!

It's not that Kip and I haven't released versions of our music over the last couple years, but the upcoming Tuff Tamale release has me stoked since it finally feels like the right collection of tunes to issue as a "debut."

(Though, yes, Kitten Trapper Keeper is out there, but think of that as the mixtape and this new release as the album.)

And just in time for Riot Fest, it will feature a new mix of "We Hate Everything," since I think it's OK at this point in time to publicly reveal that we were also the duo behind Ur Lineup Sux, Bro.

We're hoping to have it on both Bandcamp and Spotify at then same time.

A new EP from Woolworthy with both the brand spankin' new and a few old faves.

On their latest EP—Fall With You, out now—Woolworthy continues to make a strong case for their continued reunion.* It's got 2 new numbers, and 2 songs familiar to anyone who's caught the band live in, oh, the last 20 years or so. While many are excited the band finally re-recorded "Moped Song" off an early release that has always seemed to be a fan favorite. But for me, hearing them finally lay down their version of Cheap Trick's "He's A Whore" is the song I'm most excited to finally have a non-live copy of.

If you're in Chicago, the band is playing an EP release show at Livewire Lounge on June 20. 

*Not that any case needed to be made, mind you.

'Pavements' gave me a chance to play a little bit.

I hiked out to the far 'burbs to catch Pavements a few weeks ago before it opened in Chicago, and put together this review of the film for Third Coast Review. 

Inspired by the movie, I took the opportunity to do something a little different with this review. Hope you dig it!

The Pavement video I never saw before yesterday.

I am once of those lucky folks who got in on Pavement close to the ground floor (due to a girlfriend at the time with better musical taste than me) seeing many live shows from the band during their initial run, and the recent spate of activity spurred by Alex Ross Perry's Pavements movie (which I saw last weekend and will review this week) has resurfaced material in my feeds I had somehow missed before! 

So, please enjoy this trip down memory (shady?) lane with me.

Just parking this here for now...

As someone who has chronicled his life pretty publicly since 1995, you'd think I'd have plenty of material to draw from when I want to write about it. But my life looks more like an incredibly byzantine multidimensional highway any time you try and apply the various layers of my existence to any given point in time and I get tangled up trying to make things clear. (I imagine this happens to everyone to varying degrees.)

It has occurred to me that it might finally be time to write a book or something more longform about my time at Chicagoist. The site launched in 2004 and I joined in 2005, remaining the only constant on the staff masthead (aside from our New York-based leadership) until we were abruptly shuttered in 2017. This writing might never see the pubic light of day, but it seems like an endeavor worth undertaking for a number of reasons.

I imagine there aren't a lot of people out there who managed to be in a leadership position at a single digital media outlet during that period, and even fewer who simultaneously had a full career in the marketing and advertising sector, giving me a unique vantage point into all the changes journalism underwent during that time. And I think I can do it in a mostly positive way that highlights some of the difficulties we encountered without applying blame—which is a nice byproduct of the passage of time and the bigger picture of all that happened coming into clearer focus devoid of the emotions that might have been present at the time.

It also seems like a more compact and focused unit of time to explore, and it might even unlock the ability to write about other periods of my life that have so far stymied me.

Anyhoo, just putting these thoughts here in hopes that sharing them publicly will hold me accountable and actually spur me to accomplish this task.

We'll see if it works, but I thank you for reading this far even if it doesn't.

Nothin' rude about Pretty Rude's pretty excellent debut.

Pretty Rude photo by Thomas Palko

Opening with a chunky and lurching riffy rhythm, with a melody that acts as a winch drawing you steadily into the maelstrom, and then slathering on the Queen-like harmonies, Pretty Rude's full-length debut Ripe gets off to a ripping start. The grandiose opening immediately locks into a series of sturdily built tunes built on solid grooves and so, so many pleasantly chunky guitar riffs chugging effortlessly along. 

Pretty Rude is just a duo, powered by James Palko and Matt Cook, but Ripe is a big ol' band album, sounding like a painstaking attempt to merge the group's power with their obvious deep love of accessible melodies, to create a mix that is, well, just right!

It's a heavy rock and/or roll record that balances its relentless rawkin' energy with bursts of lush layers of harmonies, and it manages to complete that equation flawlessly through the discs brisk run through 8 tracks. Dig the tunes below and preorder or pick up the whole thing when it comes out on May 16. And don't worry about these songs ever aging poorly, they're guaranteed to always be perfectly ... ripe.*

*So, so, so sorry. I simply couldn't resist.

The Fugazi flyer I forgot about!

Yesterday I found myself digging through the Discord Records website, checking out the live Fugazi archives* and checked in on a show I saw in 1993 to see if anyone had added new comments about that concert since I bought the download when it became available a few years ago. Imagine my surprise at seeing a flyer I drew to promote that show—and completely forgot about!—on the Dischord website! 

It seems someone saved this flyer for all these years and I can’t tell you just how delighted and surprised I was to discover its existence! Though I initially forgot about this, it makes sense that my roommate who booked the show for the University also tapped me to create the promotional posters/flyers.

To the person who saved this flyer and thought to upload it decades later? I thank you from the bottom of my heart. This was one of the more unexpected yet thoroughly invigorating surprises I don’t get to experience all that often. And I won’t lie, I do love the fact that the little cartoon version of me in the corner of this flyer has been living on the Dischord website for a while, and it is hard to convey the tingly feelings that ran through my body for a solid 20 minutes after making this discovery. Thank you!

*FYI, I was spurred to revisit the archives upon the news that they are starting to offer those shows on the Fugazi Bandcamp page. 

I do still "Love" OK Go.

Sorta kinda disclaimer still stands, but the new OK Go video is just as wondrously inventive and breathtaking (and smile-making) as their previous endeavors. They've come a long way from those treadmills, but the planning and concepts have only gotten both more grandiose and more emotive. At least that's my take.

I'm seeing them later this week and confess, despite contributing to the fundraiser to augment support for the release of And the Adjacent Possible I still haven't listened to the new LP from start tp finish. It's wanted to be in the correct mindset before digging in, and I think today will be the day, So if this video spurs you to check out their new album, we might both be listening to it for the first time together without knowing it!

There's also an extended behind-the-scenes video for the making of the music video (that's a mouthful) and it's super entertaining well.

Grey Cell Evergreen.

No joke, Ned's Atomic Dustbin's Godfodder came out on this day in 1991!

A few months later I would see them open for Jesus Jones so I could review the headliner's set.* I know not everyone digs them, and many of my British pals slightly cringe when I proclaim I am a fan, but this debut was a perfect thundering mix of melody and guitars atop a truly rumbling rhythm section that my ears were thirsty for at the time. The group would never recapture this formula so perfectly again, but I can still listen to it from start to finish with a smile on my face. And while I do love the most popular single off this album "Kill Your Television," it's "Grey Cell Green" that hooked me into my initial fandom.

*It was a memorable night, complete with me cornering some Ned's players at the back bar of the Aragon when I stumbled across them on my way to try and find my show buddy since he'd taken a bunch of acid earlier. I found him in the bathroom staring at a sink as he turned to ask me if I too saw that it was filled with blood. And friends, it was (and not the best time for him to run into something like that. Yipes! But he was fine and we enjoyed the rest of the show together.

Revisiting The Lemonheads' 'Car Button Cloth.'

Photo by: Michel Van Collenburg

I was listening to the expanded reissue of The Lemonheads' Car Button Cloth earlier today. When it originally came out, I was buzzing along with most other folks about the hefty one-two punch of It's A Shame About Ray and Come On Feel The Lemonheads coming out in quick succession in 1993 and 1994. So in 1996, Car Button Cloth was met with great anticipation as we expected another collection of lead Lemonhead Evan Dando's honeyed mixture of power-pop melodies with an indie rock sensibility and an uncanny, unerring ear for a hook. Instead, Car Button Cloth was an album taking a more fractured approach to pop, and back in the day, that album really did occasionally feel like you were experiencing Dando's mental degradation and disassociation in real time.

But here we are, almost 30 years later, and in the grand timeline/story of The Lemonheads Car Button Cloth not only deserves a second chance, I believe it's at times knife-edge emotional uncertainty feels like an artistic statement from the subconscious, no matter what shape Dando was actually in when recording.

The original album certainly seems less "off-balance" to my older ears than it did to my youthful ones. However, this would have been back in a time when I was DJing a lot and would often focus on the tracks I thought would work in a set, so I give myself a slight pass for not immediately recognizing some of the gems within its running order upon its inital release. On that basis alone, I would urge you to give this a spin (or another spin, if you also haven't returned to this album in decades).

If you're gonna pick up the album, in this instance I do recommend the expanded version since the bonus tracks here are varied and entertaining and go beyond the usual “here’s an acoustic demo or two” that afflicts most other reissues of this ilk. In other words, in the parlance we used to employ back in the day when you needed a review to know whether an album was worth your hard-earned dough to hear anything else inside of it beyond the radio singles, it’s worth it.

How I've missed days like this.

It is mid-March and currently 75º F in Chicago and I can't tell you how much being able to work at home with my windows open and the breeze carrying in the sounds of birds my ears is doing absolute wonders illuminating and improving my mood. I highly recommend it! 

In other news, I also wrote about the excellent new album from Neal Francis today, so please do head over to Third Coast Review and check that out.

A quick intro to a band you'll want to know a lot more about in the future—Violets!

Man, I was starting to feel I was on a roll around these parts as far as picking up the pace of posting, but life had other ideas. I’ve got stuff in the works but for now I recommend a tasty new tune from Chicago’s Violets, who are playing this weekend with a March 1 show at Chop Shop in Chicago.

A Band Called Horse!

A Band Called Horse didn’t play many shows during their brief existence, but I’ve always felt a little proud that I booked one of them at The Note in 2001 while I was talent buyer there. My tenure at The Note preceded the era of easily shooting digital video on your phone, requiring actual an actual digital video camera of some sort, so I have stumbled across very few visual recordings of the shows I did there. 

But man oh man, am I glad this one exists!  

Hi there!

Since these little folks make me smile multiple times a day when I pass them in my apartment, maybe they'll help brighten your Friday too.

One recommendation: Hundreds of Beavers!

It’s rare that I stumble across a piece of media that will easily answer the question I hear most often, “what do you recommend I listen to or watch?” Usually there is so much sloshing around up there that I can’t answer quickly with a response that feels tailor-made to that person’s individual tastes. But recently I stumbled across a movie that feels like an excellent recommendation to just about anyone of (almost) any age!

Go watch Hundreds Of Beavers. Now.

It’s been out for a few years on the festival circuit but recently made it’s way to Amazon Prime video (though the Blu-Ray seems to have been delayed, if you’re more a physical media type). And to say much more would rob you of the pleasure watching the film with a naive mindset. But if I must save an elevator pitch, I‘d say it’s a live action Looney Tune cartoon stretched to feature film length, employing some of the most ingenious super-duper lo-fi effects I’ve seen.

One word of warning: it does open with a musical number that doesn’t entirely work, and it can take a few minutes to adjust to the film once it gets really rolling. But if you’re looking for tons of fun, settle in, get comfy, and look no further.

(If you live in Chicago, I see the film is actually playing at The Music Box tonight at 11:15, so it's clearly already moving into midnight movie territory...always an excellent sign.)

A listening update on that whole "listen to more old and familiar music" resolution.

As you can see from the graphics below, my resolution to listen to more “old” music last year and try and take a break from ceaselessly consuming the “new” was…not successful.

Oh well, let's see how I do this year!

30 years of Tankboy?

It has occurred to me that 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the original Tankboy email newsletter (that ran regularly until the mid-aughts) and the 20th anniversary of my starting at Chicagoist (a gig I held for the next 12 years). Mind-blowing, sometimes.

And people wonder why it sometimes feels like I've "been around forever/have always been online" or get confused when they discover my age.* Most folks tend to believe I am just a few years younger or older than they are, depending on what time in their life they first came across my writing or met me. I have plenty of thoughts on that, too.

But this is more a reminder to myself that I shouldn't let either of these two things pass by this year without some deeper discussion on both, so that's something for you to look forward to as well, right?

It's also weird to me to think that the nickname I picked as an AOL handle based on my favorite comic book character at the time that ended up sticking to me from then on might be older than a number of my readers. Wait, did people even still know what AOL was/is?!

Okee doke, carry on. Just parking a few thoughts and I'm glad you stopped by.

"Sent from 64 iPhones."

I guess in the spirit of full transparency I should divulge that in December I contributed enough money to be an "executive producer" during this current album cycle for the band OK Go. It's symbolic nature and I think of it more as directly putting some dough into the collective pockets of a band I've been a fan of since their earliest days in Chicago.

Anyhoo, for me it's pretty exciting to see OK Go come out of a pretty long hibernation period, and their first video for the new album continues their trend of creating eye-bending visuals, this time through the vehicle of multiple iPhone screens showcasing a carefully stitched together collection of interwoven shots.

Rejoice! Franz Ferdinand's new album is out soon!

You've only got to wait until January 10 to hear the whole thing, but why don't you start the new year off right with a taste of one of my favorite albums of 2025 (already!). 

Franz Ferdinand's last album exceeded all my expectations and 2025's The Human Fear takes a few wild left turns to shake things up, broaden their sound, and holy heck if it ain't another stellar release from a band now decades into their career. 

This ain't a sentimental stroll but an adventurous road trip for your ears, exploring all kinds of new territories and revealing eddy upon eddy of swirling, captivating hooks to swim in.

The band is touring North America later this year, but it appears the Christmas show they played for the local radio station last month means Chicago doesn't get a dedicated stop on the proper tour. Which is a bummer, but I'm sure they'll be back some other time.

UPDATE 1/10: The band has just announced a Chicago stop after all! They'll play The Vic on April 5!