Radio silence.

Yeah. The first time I haven’t written daily since 2002. Sue me. It’s been a rough year. Heck, I haven’t even been writing concert reviews. (Which is funny, because I’ve spoken them to folks and they’re like, “That’s totally complete! Just type it out!”)

Anyway.

So after 16 years I dropped the ball for a few days. But I’m back. So, stay tuned.

Foo Fighters and The Struts at Wrigley Field...

Photo courtesy The Struts

O.K., it took me a while, but my review of that show is now up!

Digging deep into the rawk with The Dirty Nil.

The Dirty Nil are an Ontario-based trio that realize the fundamentals of a good rock song is melding massive hooks with even more massive guitars. I know, sounds simple, huh? But believe me, it ain't.  I've been listening to their upcoming Master Volume, and it's the kind of album you put on first thing in the morning to rev up for the day, or last thing at night because there's no reason to stop the party.

They just released a video (above) for "Bathed In Light," Master Volume's opener, and it gives you a good idea of where the band is headed. Trust me, the rest of the album is just as good.

Oh heck, here's another taste of what to expect.

My thoughts on Lollapalooza 2018 are now up!

Head on over to Third Coast Review for my recap of this year's Lollapalooza. After years of rushing to do daily recaps it was nice to take some time and try to write something a little more comprehensive about the fest as a whole instead of just running through notes on a million bands. I hope you enjoy reading it!

Post-fest funk.

Something no one ever seems to write about is the series of blahs in the days that follow attending a large festival. This is especially true of a festival that stretches across, oh say, five days for me. It's not a depression, per se. It's more that your body and brain have been running on overstimulated overdrive for more days in a row than it's used to, so there's an inevitable recovery period.

For me that recovery usually takes a day. Historically I take the Monday off any festival off to recharge. But I must be getting older because now it's day two and I'm still run down. Maybe it's just because I'm still in-between jobs, and in the past I sort of willed myself to recharge a little faster? I don't know. But it sure is making me feel old to see Pickle the Kitten being more active throught the day than I am!

I survived another Lollapalooza.

I have a full review coming later this week—I was covering solo so need a little more time to write—but I'm still alive. Luckily my legs don't ache as much as usual, but I'm still exhausted. I'm heading to the shower now in the hopes of washing (most) of Grant Park off me and feeling slightly more human again.

Bittersweet.

I've been to every Lollapalooza since its inception, save two. This will be the first time in ten years I'm going without my longterm Lollapalooza companion, and the first time ever I'm going solo. I'm two days in and it's already a bit of a different experience. I'm trying to enjoy the newness, but it's still a little weird.

Interesting Lolla stats.

Aerial shot of Lollapalooza 2016 courtesy of Soaring Badger Productions

According to Vivid Seats...

• Average Ticket Price: $423 
• “Get-In” 4 Day Pass: $564 
• “Get-In” Day 1 Ticket Price: $245 (Arctic Monkeys, Travis Scott, Khalid) 
• “Get-In” Day 2 Ticket Price: $225 (Bruno Mars, The National, Post Malone) 
• “Get-In” Day 3 Ticket Price: $202 (The Weeknd, Vampire Weekend, Logic) 
• “Get-In” Day 4 Ticket Price: $161 (Jack White, Odesza, Lil Uzi Vert) 
• Average Distance Traveled: 444 mi 
• Price Change Since 2017: +3%

Sooooo, it appears Arctic Monkeys > JackWhite. Hmmmm....

Also, my cheat sheet to surviving Lolla from last year still applies.

Lollapalooza!

Who's going?


Here are my must-see bands that aren't headliners. Understand this is with the caveat that the undercard is mostly unknown to me so I'll still be wandering around taking in new music and hoping someone knock me out.
Thu 08/02/18 2:45 PM - Stars, Grant Park
Thu 08/02/18 4:45 PM - Franz Ferdinand, Grant Park
Thu 08/02/18 6:45 PM - CHVRCHES, Grant Park
Fri 08/03/18 1:50 PM - Post Animal, American Eagle
Fri 08/03/18 2:30 PM - Taylor Bennett, Perry's
Fri 08/03/18 3:45 PM - LIZZO, Tito's Handmade Vodka
Fri 08/03/18 7:30 PM - BØRNS, Lake Shore
Sat 08/04/18 4:45 PM - LL COOL J, Bud Light
Sat 08/04/18 5:30 PM - Carly Rae Jepsen, Lake Shore
Sat 08/04/18 5:40 PM - morgxn, BMI
Sat 08/04/18 6:45 PM - St. Vincent, Bud Light
Sun 08/05/18 12:45 PM - The Regrettes, Grant Park
Sun 08/05/18 4:30 PM - The Aces, BMI
Sun 08/05/18 5:30 PM - Manchester Orchestra, Lake Shore
Sun 08/05/18 7:30 PM - Chromeo, Lake Shore

Thu 08/02/18 3:45 PM - The Wombats, Lake Shore

'Preacher' v. Anne Rice.

Yet another in a series of brief posts because I think I'm suffering from general writing fatigue yet still have Lollapalooza staring me in the face for most of the remainder of the week. Still trying to figure out my mode of coverage, but I think I'm going back to my old school timestamp stylee because, after a few years of being told I couldn't, I now can again. Yippee!

Anyway, this week's Preacher features a secondary story that absolutely lampoons the Anne Rice style of vampire lore, and it's a gut-buster. I grew up on Anne Rice (I worked in a bookstore when the Interview With A Vampire / Lestat craze was first peaking and admit I completely fell for the series for a while) but holy hell is this some funny stuff.

Another (mostly) non-digital Monday.

Today I spent most of my time not texting people and watching fair to middling Netflix fare. I admit at this point the experiment is starting to fill me with a slight sense of dread because I avoided most of my email over the weekend already and I am not looking forward to plugging back in and catching up tomorrow.

So the question is: Is unplugging worth it if it's only going to make you feel a little anxious about plugging in again?

Now I have to escape the house for another showing! Bye!

The Phonographs.

I did a short piece on an excellent Chicago power-pop band called The Phonographs today. Check it out!

Frunching it up.

If you're looking for something to do tonight, I'm venturing to the South Side to see the July edition of The Frunchroom. It should be fun!

Lolla deluge.

Sorry for the short posts, there's just not a ton to to write about lately. However the press trigger on Lollapalooza-related emails seems to have been pulled, so my inbox is even more a battle to keep up with than usual!

Summer lull.

The job market seems to have slowed down, and while I've only been out of work for 2 months that's the longest I've been unemployed in a really long time! Cross your fingers for me, because I'm starting to run out of Netflix and Hulu shows to watch!

Spoon, the band, in the '90s.

Spoon at The Metro in 2014, photo by me.

I know I said I'd stay away from digital stuff on Mondays, but a short daily post won't hurt. And I just realized I totally forgot to share the recent episode of Dig Me Out I appeared one where we discussed Spoon's 1990s output!

Just realized something weird.

This year will be my first major music festival as a single guy. I'm not counting Lollapalooza in the '90s. But still, it's weird.

This is really great news!

I have no further comment on it, but Chance the Rapper bought Chicagoist!!!

Hiding down the corner.

One weird thing about showing your house to potential buyers is not being in your house when the showing is going on. I've been spending a lot of time at the restaurant at the end of my block or just taking long walks around the neighborhood lately!

I've found the walks, especially during the day, are great for clearing my head. So while there is the inconvenience of constantly having to leave my house there is as least that upside.

P4K 2018 preview!

I contributed to the Third Coast Review Pitchfork Festival preview. While I'm mostly not attending as a writer this year, I just couldn't resist supplying some content!