Sox Shuffle Continues
Friday Afternoon Diversion
Jay-Z Announces 2010 Tour Dates. Chicago Not On List.
Around Town
I Fight Dragon$
We admit we rarely really listen to WXRT anymore — in fact it fell of out regular rotation sometime in the '90s as their demographic skewed older and mellower — but we do still remember it as the "big" station that really tried to be a part of the community. And while WXRT's playlist may no longer excite us, we do still appreciate a number of the artists they continue to trumpet, their devotion to supporting the live music scene, and their philanthropic endeavors.
Each year the station combines all of the above and compiles some standout live tracks performed by artists that have swung through town, releasing the results on their ONXRT: Live From The Archives series.
This year's edition came out yesterday and features some pretty great artists including The Pretenders, Death Cab for Cutie, Lily Allen, Midnight Oil (quite possibly the WXRT house band at this point?), The Decemberists, and Johnette Napolitano. Sales of the disc raise money for both the Little City Foundation and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Greater Illinois Chapter.
You can pick up your copy at local Starbucks locations or online.
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Franke E. Lee is gagga for chrissy hein.
So Tankboy, you don't listen to XRT because it's older and mellower but their CD has GREAT artists like the Pretenders, Death Cab, Lily Allen and The Decemberists. All artists that they play alot of? Which one is it? Or are you afraid your indie beard wearing friends might shun you for listening to XRT more than you care to admit.
Guest #2, just because I don't want to wade through WXRT's AAA playlist daily, that still doesn't mean that I don't enjoy a number of those bands.
And, for the record, none of my friends have beards.
What do you have against the Beardos, Tankboy?
as their demographic skewed older and mellower
I was just listening to XRT last night and thinking to myself "hey, this is kinda nice."
sigh
I am not sure that "older and mellower" is what happened. It used to be that XRT was super eclectic. I remember hearing the Cure and Led Zepplin back to back in the later 1980s. Even if you did not love every song, you could guess that the next song or two would be cool, and likely something you had not heard in a while.
I don't get the sense that is true anymore. It seems more like a typical station now, with fewer deep cuts. I really have not found an FM music station that I can leave on for an hour since 1997 when I abandoned XRT. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Guest #6, you are out of luck with local commercial stations now and probably forever. Try 88.7 for the goods and some internet stations or even satellite.
As far as XRT, yes it was listenable back in the 80's. Now it's mostly crap acts, with no deeper cuts from artists I enjoy, just the same few songs I've heard a million times. Chicago, you are screwed when it comes to listening to commercial radio!