We're used to the Reader throwing out a curve ball now and then and rubbing some people the wrong way, but nevertheless we raised our eyebrows after reading its four-star review of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. If nothing else, it takes a certain amount of chutzpah to put a Cartoon Network-derived feature right up there with A Woman Under the Influence or even A History of Violence. Despite the controversy... more ›

When Chicagoist was growing up our musical influences were not, shall we say, diverse. Before we learned to use the buttons on the radio, they consisted of classic country (Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash) and the local oldies station. We eventually expanded our musical tastes, but when certain artists become the bedrock upon which you form the rest of your musical experience, you never really get past them. Our heart still melts when we hear naked emotion accompanied by acoustic guitar and we still thrill to a good three-minute pop song. more ›

WARNING: Do not click on the following links with your office speakers turned up. In fact, probably best to save this post for the privacy of your own home. more ›

For anyone who still hadn’t seen it, the line that can be drawn as the shortest distance between the two points of gospel and soul music was sketched quite neatly in a sequence from the film Ray. As Jamie Foxx’s Ray Charles is wooing his soon-to-be wife he steps into a version of “I Got A Woman” that’s even more tinged with the rhythm and movements of gospel than the version eventually laid down on... more ›