The Killers meet The Smiths? In Chicago?!

Every once in a while there is a Chicago and that seems to break big without me ever being aware of their existence. It doesn't happen often, but it's always a shock to get that email about a slick, huge, super-duper professional-sounding release from a band that looks like each member has their own stylist and then read the line "Chicago-based" without having a single clue who they are! This just reinforces that even in a world where I have an inordinate amount of knowledge, I still have some glaringly embarassing blind spots!

Which brings us to Brigitte Calls Me Baby, a group so slick I initially approached them with caution, thinking they might be some industry baby or whose "connections" to Chicago were tenuous at best. But a quick glance through their concert history proves they definitely cut their teeth in smaller Chicago venues, moving up the food chain in a natural manner—which means I have no excuse for having missed these cats before now.* Especially when the band in question manages to cross the drama of The Smiths with the galloping danciness of early Killers, merging a bit of theater with funkier rock and/or muscle in a way thatI found irresistable. They are of a dying breed of rock band that have no fear of gloss but still manage to make songs sound like they came from a few human's bouncing ideas off each other and not a conglomerate of sonic technicians grafting disparate parts together in search of "a hit."

Brigitte Calls Me Baby's sophomore effort Irreversible is out in early march and if you're looking for something bright, shiny and fun you should have this high on your list of new releases to check out. You can stream "Slumber Party" (and click through to pre-order) below to get a taste of what to expect. My praise of this stuff doesn't come lightly, and while I'm slightly red in the face for being so late to this party I am so glad I finally accepted the invite!

*O.K., I'm being hard on myself. I no longer go to 4-6 concerts a week, and since the pandemic my "ears to the ground" approach has been somewhat hindered by that. Though a glance through old emails proves I've definitely been sent plenty of press releases about the band, but none of them included links to downloadable music, so I ended up not digging any deeper. MY MISTAKE!

The Blue Line.

The train I was on this morning lurched to a stop just before 9 a.m., almost throwing a few folks standing in my car to the floor. Shortly afterward, a stunned-sounding conductor announced, "We'll be standing here for a moment. Someone fell on the tracks in front of the train." It was rush hour and people were in a hurry so someone on our car pried a door open and most folks followed him out, but I stayed on the car with a few other people, figuring we'd start pulling forward soon. About ten minutes later all the doors opened and we were told to exit, walking along the narrow pathway next to the train until we met a gate that a CTA employee held open for us.

I've been on many trains who were stopped for a "sick passenger" and anyone who rides the CTA on a regular basis knows that's usually code for either someone acting erratically, or for an accident on the tracks. But this was the first time I've ever heard an employee just say that someone fell on the tracks.

I walked the remaining 10 blocks from that stop to my office, hoping the person involved was O.K., while hearing the compounding wail of multiple sirens make their way towards the station as I walked along.

I haven't been able to shake the sound of that conductor's voice all day.

Van Der Bye.

I know he was first in many people's hearts for his roles in Dawson's Creek and Varsity Blues, but quite honestly I thought James van Der Beek's most hilarious role was playing "James Van Der Beek" in the TV series Don't Trust the B---- In Apartment 23. Talk about a postmodern wink and a smile. Followed up by his hilarious send up of Jason Mewes in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. The man was a seriously comedic talent in both those productions.

But Van Der Beek's finest role that showed his range as an actor was as as Sean Bateman (Patrick Bateman's little brother in the Bret Easton Ellis expanded universe) in The Rules of Attraction. If you've never seen that film, strap yourself in for a distinctly early aught ride through various levels hilarity, depravity, ennui and dark depression that also contains one of the most heartbreaking uses of a Henry Nilsson song I've ever experienced.

Van Der Beek passed away yesterday at a far-too-young age—I literally gasped when someone shared the breaking news with us in a meeting—and I'm realizing this has hit me harder than I would have ever thought it would. 

New addition of Quick Spins for this Bandcamp Friday!

I wrote up a few recent releases for folks to check out over at Third Coast Review, taking advantage of Bandcamp Friday in hopes some of these artists gain a few new listeners. Wouldn't you like to be in that cohort too?

(Regular readers will already recognize a few of the artists above, but make sure you check all of 'em out!)

The winter blahs arrived early this year.

I mean, come on!
Even our underground and indoor subway stations are encased in ice. 

Listen, we Chicago folk are a hardy bunch, but this winter is starting to fray on everyone’s nerves. The deep freeze doesn’t usually settle in until February or so, but this year it arrived around the holidays and hasn’t really let up since then. The rare days where to sun is actually visible or the temperature is above 20º F are aberrations we get excited about, but for the most part the city has just been encased in a grey, frozen envelope and that does get hard to live in.

I was born here but grew up both down south and on the east coast before landing back in Illinois near the end of high school, and there’s a part of me that always thought I’d eventually move out west into climes that are warmer year-round. These days that seems less and less likely, through there are seriously periods of time—and this is one of them—where I wonder why I don’t care enough about my mental health to move somewhere sunnier and warmer. This questioning of my own sanity has only grown stronger in recent years as I found more solace in long outdoor walks and realized just how important both nature and sunshine have become to my wellbeing.

I did pick up a treadmill last year, so I am lucky enough to be able to keep moving throughout the day, even as long outdoor journeys have become less pleasant and more arduous. And I suppose I could buy a sun lamp to help offset the constant cloud cover sapping my internal battery. So, it’s not like I don’t have options! But man oh man, I am really missing the hour or so I could just wander off to the nearby forest preserve and get lost in sun-dappled greenery right now.