A few stops through Chicago's (and my) musical history courtesy the Aadam Jacobs Collection.

A piece I just did on the Aadam Jacobs Collection just went up at Third Coast Review!

Most of what I write tends to come quickly, but this is a piece I actually spent quite a bit of time putting together. Ironically, what once began as a piece with no timely news hook took me so long to finish that by the time I did, there was now a new news hook to make it a timely entry in the reams of copy already written about Aadam’s collection.

This is also a pretty personal post, so I wasn’t sure if it was even working until I got some feedback from a second set of eyes—I am always open to feedback but rarely solicit it on a draft, which tells you something—but in the end I’m happy with how it turned out and hope you all enjoy reading it.

Think about the future!

Happy Mondays in their earlier days. Photo via their Bandcamp page.

In 1990 I would have been scrambling to find anything Madchester-related, following my exposure to The Stone Roses the year before, and reading the descriptions in music magazines and newspapers of other like-minded rock bands playing even heavier music over drums grounded in funkier, dance rhythms. 

So when I finally got my hands on Happy Mondays’ Hallelujah EP, my first exposure to their sound after reading thousands of words describing it, I remember being slightly underwhelmed, hoping for more of a small army of dance-able drums layered over each other (based on what I’d read). But as I played the tape it grew on me, and when I got to the final track on side B, my jaw dropped. It was as if all the original versions and remixes had been building up to “W.F.L. (Think About The Future Mix).” The dance beat felt massive to me (at the time) and the use of a sample from Tim Burton’s Batman—easily my most anticipated cinematic event of the prior year—was just an extra cherry on top.

Over 36 years later I still return to “W.F.L. (Think About The Future Mix)” and it’s always remained just as potent a hip-shaker and groove-strutter as it was the first time I heard it. 

Ready to dace in 3…2…1…

Dive into 'The Haunted Fishtank.'

You have no idea just how many times I watched this VHS tape in 1989 to try and understand a band I had totally fallen for at the time. Or how much of a massive expenditure it felt like at the time to lay out dough for a VHS tape about a band that I could only watch at home and not play on my omnipresent Walkman everywhere I went. But ultimately it felt like gaining unlimited access to Love And Rockets by having the ability to see these videos over and over again instead of hoping hoping hoping that 120 Minutes might play one of them.

Nothing to do this weekend? Consider these last minute plans!

Photo of MEGG by Sarah Rosin.

It's a pretty jam-packed weekend in Chicagoland if you're looking for under the radar music options. 

I wrote about MEGG late last year and was knocked out by her "big riffs that would've rocked the original WARPED Tour crowds, mixing of-the-moment pop-cultural references with the maturity someone in their mid-30s, creating a sound that deserves plastering teenage walls with posters off her." 

MEGG plays her first show in Illinois ever just outside of Chicago at Tivoli Bowl in Downer's Grove tonight. I have NO idea what to expect from the other 3 brands on the bill or the venue itself, but I'm diving into the unknown while I still have a chance to see MEGG perform in a teensy tiny space.

And tomorrow, we are ridiculously awash in 2 excellent local music options. Rory Lake's Boosterfest fundraiser is happening in Bucktown, and it has been a heckuva long time since I last visited Post 923, but with a bounce house and bands like The Dead On, Invisible Solids, and Discoveries of the American Scientific you can be sure I'll be making an appearance.

And across town on Saturday, Montrose Saloon continues their 2-day End Of Summer Music Fest. Both Friday and Saturday are filled with great bands, but Saturday features some personal faves including Dave Suh & The Dirty Wings, Danimal Farm, and The Bon Mots. While I Weill never understand why local bands and promoters who are all really tight keep scheduling EVERYONE playing on the same day at different venues, the Montrose show goes late into the night, so one could easily hop from Booster Fest to Montrose and experience a massive Saturday of some of Chicago's best bands. 

Oasis does finally learn to don't look back in anger.

We saw an early screening of Oasis: Don't Look Back In Anger last night and we both walked out having really enjoyed the film. 

I laughed, I cried, I got chills, and I felt a greater understanding of the band dynamics that had long been more of a mystery to me.

And I was honestly surprised by how surprised both Gallaghers were by the genuine reactions to their tour all over the world, and their reactions to that. Even the Gallaghers seem to grapple with the unanswerable question of why it was these guys and those songs that conquered the world, and made Oasis into OASIS.*

The movie opens wide tomorrow! And it appears to be playing in quite a few theaters. But if you can't make it out during its run, the film will eventually come to Disney+/Hulu, however I really recommend catching it on a big screen in a theater with a kick-ass sound system if you can. 

*But isn't that the eternal mystery of popular music? I've spent decades of my life watching people try to apply formulas to decide which band will be big and worth an investment and which won't. And the truth is it all comes down to luck, timing, talent...and did I mention luck and timing?

A light Labor Day recap with some urgent suggestions for the artistically curious.

While we did not avoid all labor this long holiday weekend, our labors were richly rewarded. We managed to balance rest and recuperation with reenergizing activities and knocking a few long-staring items off various to-do lists.

A particular highlight was catching the Willem de Kooning exhibit at the Art Institute before it closes in a few weeks.* I'll be posting something on Instagram about that later this week. But if you haven't seen it yet and I've in the area, I found it a really rewarding and revealing look inside a person's work I've been so familiar with for so long, but I've never had the chance to see so much of his stuff that clearly displayed his evolution over the years, transforming what appeared to me as quantum leaps before into more logical paths of pursuit, connecting dots I had never seen before.

In other words, it's pretty frickin' good!

However the highlight of the weekend was probably our little family BBQ on Monday, and not just because of the delicious cookie cake. 

But the cookie cake certainly didn't hurt!

*I also just discovered the mammoth Paradise Lost piece by Raqib Shaw that I've seen a few times, and had anticipated spending years going through and picking apart all the teensy tiny details within, is only on temporary loan to the Art Institute and leaving in November! I don't know if it's moving elsewhere or if Shaw intends to add to the piece and then loan it out somewhere else, and there doesn't seem to be any verifiable answer to that question. The important thing is that it's leaving soon, so I need to get another few visits in, and if you haven't seen the piece at all, I strongly urge you to make immediate plans to do so.

One more sneaky suggestion, just under the wire.

I wrote up a Quick Spins that will go live in a bit went up today for Bandcamp Friday, but I was shocked at the number of albums I'd originally wanted to write up that don't come out for another couple of weeks...so I guess I'll just have to do another Quick Spins in a week or two!* But if you're the sort who's willing to take a chance on a pre-order before hearing the whole thing, and you're looking to help support a truly independent musical group, might I suggest adding Perennial's forthcoming Modernism to your consideration set?

It's non-stop, energetic fun!

*I love getting music months before it's released, but it is a sweet kind of torture to have to sit on stuff that gets you fired up from months as well. And sometime I get confused and assume something I've listened to for months must be out by now, only to discover nope; you gotta wait another couple of weeks.