Scott Smith

Though I’m a staunch defender of Chicagoist’s editorial we, and abhor anything that smacks of grandstanding, I’m also not without an ego. So permit me a brief indulgence as (per precedent) I take a moment to rock some first-person singular and say goodbye. It is with a heavy heart that... continue reading on Chicagoist

Acoustic folk-rock artist Martha Berner has a certain power. Her live shows are revelatory. An artist in the Machine Records stable, she managed to deliver a solid performance with her full band at the label’s holiday party at Schubas last December, despite a bout of laryngitis that harshed her otherwise... continue reading on Chicagoist

Note: This is the first in a series of features about the bands playing Chicagoist's Ctrl - Alt - Rock v. 2.0 show. For a band that exhibits such an open, frenetic presence, both onstage and off, the Chicago punk/metal band Reptoids does its best to be mysterious. In a... continue reading on Chicagoist

Oscar nominations are out, and for the second year in a row, there were few surprises save for one notable exception. Confounding the experts and flying in the face of several critics’ awards, Dreamgirls did not pick up nominations for either best picture or best director. The film was a... continue reading on Chicagoist

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided... continue reading on Chicagoist