Change is a constant, especially within the music industry. Bands change their lineup, their name, their sound, but even though most bands are constantly evolving, that doesn’t mean that they forget why they got into music in the first place. Suderland, England’s The Futureheads, a quartet probably best known for their new-wave rendition of Kate Bush’s "Hounds of Love," are a band that’s roots are steeped in their commitment to making the music they want to make. Over the past year they have split from major label Warner Brothers, started their own label, recorded the album they always wanted to make, The Chaos, and toured across the globe to support and celebrate their new found freedom. Somewhere in the middle of all of this lead singer and guitarist Barry Hyde made time to talk to us about the whole thing and managed to even crack a few jokes during his busy schedule. more ›

We’ve read (and cried through) her diary and now we get a glimpse into her family photo album. “Anne Frank: A Photo Album” is on display at Ela Area Public Library in Lake Zurich. Funded from a state grant and brought in from the Anne Frank Center in New York, the exhibit features over 70 black and white photos taken by Anne’s father, Otto Frank, who was a talented amateur photographer. The exhibit chronicles Frank family life from when Anne was a baby all the way up until the family's last summer together at home. more ›

At the risk of feeding the hype machine, we still have to offer a congratulations to Mr. Kanye West for pulling in some Grammy gold last night. While we still don't buy the Grammys as an accurate barometer of the music industry and what's actually, you know, good in music these days, it's still the industry's main award show so there's something to be said for coming away with multiple trophies. While the night's big winner was Amy Winehouse, Kanye still managed to pull in four awards, as well as one of the night's most memorable acceptance speeches (surprise!) when he gave producers the verbal smack-down for trying to run him off in the middle of a tribute to his mother. more ›

Love him or hate him, you can't deny Kanye West has a certain flare. Proving himself to a more prolific blogger than Steve Johnson (and more entertaining, too), Kanye has dropped a few details about an upcoming tour. He'll be touring with fellow Chicago MC Lupe Fiasco, supporting his recently released (and excellent record The Cool), along with Rihanna, and Neptunes side project N.E.R.D. Whatever you think of Mr. West, that lineup is nothing to sneeze at. We also dig that Star Wars/Max Headroom promo poster you can see over to the right. more ›

When Tim Kasher isn't busy fronting the band Cursive and writing screenplays, he's penning songs and touring with his other project, The Good Life. The band began as a side project of sorts, but now has noted two albums under its belt: 2004's heart-wrenching The Album of the Year, which narrates a romantic-turned-nasty two-year relationship, and the recently released Help Wanted Nights, which actually serves as a soundtrack to Kasher's play of the same name.... more ›

Chicagoist felt like Liz Crokin when we shared a room at Fogo de Chao with some of the best footballers (soccer players, whatever your preference) in the world. Chicagoist started off the day enjoying the thoroughly entertaining Clash of Champions between the United States and Brazil at Soldier Field with 45,000 other rabid soccer fans. After attending the Brazilian practice session on Saturday we wrote that the U.S. needed to be careful not to give... more ›

We were not fans of Howl, the last release from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC). The band traded in it's Jesus And Mary Chain-saw guitars for Exile On Main Street Stonesy "rootsiness" and the transformation didn't quite take. BRMC have been revivalists from the get-go, but the new earnestness of Howl did not flatter them the same way their reinterpretations of bratty, shoegazing, walls of sound did in the past. Luckily the band is solidly... more ›

Attention: All you shoe-loving rap fans, all you jobless hipsters ... Time to put down the Cristal. Time to take off the ice for a minute ... As Miles Raymer reported yesterday on Crickets, Redman is scheduled to do a DJ set and a meet-and-greet from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at St. Alfred in Wicker Park. So you know, if you don't have anything to do on a Wednesday afternoon, you might as well... more ›

There were three and a half long hours of the Grammys last night where the performances took top billing to the actual awards. Did anyone actually watch past The Police? Well, we did. Until a little after 10:00 when our eyes just wouldn’t stay open anymore. As we watch the Grammys we try to guess who might win based on which band just performed or if there is some sort of trend with the presenters... more ›

A 21-year-old West Side woman was hospitalized this weekend after becoming too intoxicated while playing the 2006 current events version of Trivial Pursuit, thus becoming the answer to a question in the 2007 version. Flurisha Cooper and her friend would take a shot of brandy and smoke weed after each incorrect answer, and Cooper apparently lost. more ›

As we’ve completed a solid two hours of work, Chicagoist is now turning its attention to its weekend plans. Unfortunately, all the cinephiles we know have declined our invitations to enjoy the beautiful weekend coming our way with a simple “Well, there’s this screening…” Challenging and thought-provoking films abound this weekend from the South Side to the North Side and other points in between. At the Music Box, L’Enfant begins a weeklong run tonight. The... more ›

In one of the biggest upsets at last night’s Grammys, one of Chicago’s most talented artists was robbed of the top honors for his stellar work in the past year. As unbelievable as it might seem, Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones didn’t win the Grammy for Best Polka Album. And Kanye West is gonna have a problem too, ya'll. Unlike last year, we chose not to subject ourselves to the Grammy awards so we’ve been catching up... more ›

Spend enough time on the Internet and you’ll find someone making a Nazi metaphor, typically a flip comment about anyone inspiring enough wrath: strict parents, obtuse politicians, that guy who disagreed with you in an online chat. We can’t fathom how a blowhard political commentator or grandstanding Congressman merits comparison with a regime that killed millions of people in concentration camps, so we were relived when Senator Obama denounced this type of rhetoric in the... more ›

* Chicago’s Victory Records announced this week that it will release a live CD and DVD from legendary Chicago rock band The Smoking Popes on February 26th. Thanks to a successful (and sold-out) reunion show last November, a headlining tour is planned from February 22nd to March 12th. The tour will kick off in St. Louis with the band playing an all-ages show at Creepy Crawl. More cities will be announced soon. more ›

Nominations for the 48th Annual Grammy Awards were announced today and thank God Kanye West was nominated several times or we would never hear the end of it. As expected, West’s “Gold Digger” picked up nods for Record of the Year and Best Rap Solo Performance while Late Registration was tapped for Album of the Year and Best Rap Album (“Diamonds In Sierra Leone” pulled a songwriting nod for Best Rap Song). Common, another member... more ›

A few years ago we were booking a local club and, as usually happens when booking a local club, we were talking to a local booking agent. He was expounding on how terrific this dude he was representing was. He kept likening the dude to Uncle Tupelo with better vocals. He kept talking about the dude like he was God or something. This is what booking agents do. Usually we would have dismissed all of... more ›

Liam Davis, Frisbie more ›

Millennium Park fans have a new reason to cheer and, um, take pictures this morning: The Tribune is reporting a $5 million gift to the park from Boeing, which will be used to fund construction of the aptly named "Boeing Galleries." Construction has actually already begun on the project, essentially a duo of 80-foot-wide granite-paved promenades that will be used to exhibit public art in the vein of last year's popular Boeing-sponsored "Family Album" exhibit.... more ›

With the Super Bowl over for another year, America’s pop culture radar is now flooded with innumerable awards shows, most of which are utterly pointless aside from their function as commercials for whatever corporate entity is presenting them. In order to avoid exhaustion, Chicagoist avoids most of them except for the Grammys and the Oscars.* Not because they’re the most entertaining or honor those most deserving but because there’s not much cultural insight to... more ›

Remember last summer when Millennium Park opened and you strolled around in the sun, leisurly taking in Uwe Ommer's "Family Album," an exhibition of photographs depicting families from around the world? Well, this year we've got aerial photography by Chicago's own Terry Evans to look forward to. more ›

On the days when Chicagoist indulges the little ten-year old boy inside of our collective self (we call him Renaldo), we like to pretend that we have a secret identity that allows us to roam the city at night and fight crime. We put on a cool mask and cape to hide our alter ego and run around our apartment yelling “Have no fear, citizens! The Blogger-er is here!” until our significant other gets home and tells us to cut it out or there will be a revocation of carnal privileges. more ›

You know what's refreshing about Kanye West? His total lack of humility. Oh sure, if Chicagoist picked up ten Grammy nominations we might say something like "This is really a surprise. Especially for my debut album" or even "Thank you." But that is why we write pithy comments about events in the news and Kanye makes more money than Israel's got Jews (Happy Hanukkah to ya'll). Instead, Kanye described his nominations as "amazing," "nothing to complain about" and "like a perfect score" which indeed it would be if there were only ten noninations given instead of 107. No gospel album nomination though. Thanks for sparing us the controversy, Grammy-ers. more ›

Last night at the World Music Awards, Kanye took home the trophy for Best New Male Artist. The WMAs had been held in Morocco in previous years but were brought to Las Vegas for this year�s festivities. Why? So there were no conflicts with Diamond Award winner Celine Dion�s Caesar�s Palace performances? Hmm�I guess next year we�ll see if what happens in Las Vegas always stays in Las Vegas. Anyway, back to Kanye. Last week... more ›

Everybody loves his mashup albums these days. There have been countless revolving around Jay-Z and his "farewell" The Black Album, from The Slack Album (Jay-Z meets Pavement) to The Black and Blue Album (Jay-Z meets Weezer, a.k.a. Rivers Gets a Cap in his Ass) to Danger Mouse's justly heralded Jay-Z meets the Beatles project The Grey Album. (Chicagoist thinks these albums come into being when the DJs behind them think up a clever album title.) There was even the Jay-Z-Metallica mashup The Black on Black Album. Jay-Z � we're getting real tired of typing "Jay-Z" � ever the brilliant marketer, made all this possible by making a-cappella versions of Black Album tracks readily available. more ›

Country-music fans (yes, both of you) rejoice: Chicago transplant Kelly Hogan will play a pair of shows tonight at Hideout. But the real music story is tomorrow night, when there are so many quality bands playing in the area that we decided to give you a day�s warning to make the torturous decision. At the Empty Bottle will be the Mountain Goats, a.k.a. John Darnielle. (Chicagoist just loves singer-songwriters that pretend to be full-fledged bands, e.g. Cat Power, (smog), Destroyer, Iron & Wine, and Bonnie �Prince� Billy.) Darnielle will perform his unique, literate brand of lo-fi folk pop, and here�s hoping his awesome acoustic cover of Ace of Base�s �The Sign� makes the setlist. Archer Prewitt from local heroes The Sea & Cake will open. At Metro, weirdo Neutral Milk Hotel wannabes the Decemberists will play � probably in costume � their songs about pirates, soldiers, movie characters, and real-life novelists after the equally strange Chicago-area popsters Head of Femur open. And at House of Blues, check out Danger Mouse � the brilliant mind behind the justly lauded Beatles-Jay Z mash-up �The Grey Album� � performing with Brooklyn cohort Jemini. The duo�s recent collaboration �Ghetto Pop Life� evidences further wizardry with hip-hop tricks both underground and mainstream. No matter which show you choose, each will be a great way to kick off the weekend. more ›