It was a good year for live music in Chicago so we asked a couple members of our music writing team to pipe in with their personal favorite moments. more ›

The CSO isn’t letting 2011 end without a nod to the great late-Romantic composer, dubbing December “Mahler Month” and filling it with three programs featuring his music. more ›

Unlike their slick recordings, Cut Copy's live show thrives on a primal energy that is far more humanistic than it is synthetic. more ›

In today's listings: an intimate recording session, ¡Buen Provecho! Pilsen and Double Door's Birthday Bash series returns. more ›

Sub-Pop label mates, Fruit Bats and Vetiver, played Lincoln Hall Thursday night, churning out their folky brand of back-to-basics songwriting and classic Americana rock ‘n roll to a sea of plaid shirt-wearing twenty-somethings. more ›

Today's listings include a birthday celebration at Pastoral, beer and sliders at Sheffield's and a preview of a play based on a Bette Midler movie. more ›

Today's listings include a free performance by Gold Motel, the annual Gaming on Green event and a cooking demo direct from Paris. more ›

Today's listings include a book sale for a good cause, rock at Reggie's and the start of the "Silent Summer" film festival. more ›

A Columbian hip hop trio headlines today's listings. more ›

The Hideout's "A Day in the Country" has become one of the most anticipated events on their musical calendar. more ›

Today's listings include a fashion and food event at the W Lakeshore and a concert at Katerina's. more ›

In today's listings, Do312.com celebrates its first anniversary. more ›

Beer more ›

Today's the final day for free general admission at the Shedd Aquarium. more ›

Reminder: the Alt-media slam is tonight. more ›

In today's listings: a bike tour of downtown, a tribute to Charles Mingus and Art Brut. more ›

Dine at The Florentine anytime on Tuesday, June 21st, and 15% of your bill will be donated to Share Our Strength. Share Our Strength helps fight childhood hunger, sponsors events and dinners throughout the year to raise money. On the 21st, diners can go for breakfast, lunch or dinner - doesn’t matter, and there is no minimum order. If you’ve been waiting to check out The Florentine, now’s the time. 151 W. Adams more ›

Regular Chicagoist Photos Flickr Pool contributor Joshua Mellin (aka "the extinction blues") added a few shots he took from last night's Paul Simon concert at the Vic Theatre. Simon moves to the roomier Chicago Theatre tonight. Here's a link to Mellin's full set. more ›

Today's listings include a Local H performance, a screening of a Nuremburg documentary and special dinner at North Pond. more ›

If you have never seen the trippy animation classic Fantastic Planet, this week's screening with live accompaniment by Del Rey may be the perfect opportunity. René Laloux's 1973 film, known in its original French as La Planète Sauvage, is a visual delight and a wholly unique experience: think Hieronymus Bosch using Terry Gilliam's Monty Python animation techniques for late-60s science fiction. Though the imagery is unforgettable the film's fatal flaw is revealed whenever a character opens his mouth: the script is frighteningly bad. more ›

Today in "Pencil This In:" Flourish Bakery's family dinner tackles sloppy joes, the return of YAWN, a film screening on the subject of Christianity and homosexuality. more ›

Ralph Stanley came out of Virginia like a cannonball with his late brother Carter in the mid-1940s with their own take on Bill Monroe's style of hard-driving bluegrass. But it was his switch to the more raw, unadorned mountain style of the music, anchored by his own unique "clawhammer" style picking on the banjo. the "Stanley style" of clawhammer banjo is done by picking with three fingers in a continuous series of rolls close to the instrument's bridge, giving the strings a distinct resonance when picked. Stanley's voice is reedy tenor as old as the hills of southwestern Virginia he still calls home. Stanley's vocals on the Appalachian dirge "O Death" from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack eventually won him a Grammy in 2002. more ›

Today's listings feature activism, Spanish pop music and an Indonesian style buffet. more ›

If you have an event you wish for us to consider for "Pencil This In," please e-mail out Tips inbox, Chuck, Tankboy (for arts and events), or Anthony (for food and drink-related events). more ›

Adam Granduciel, vocalist and lead guitarist for Philadelphia indie rockers The War on Drugs, set the stage for the main act Destroyer just before finishing up the opening set Tuesday night at Lincoln Hall. "You guys are in the sax section," Granduciel said, waving a sleeve of his jean jacket stage right, "and you guys are trumpet," he told the other half of the audience. Granduciel may have been the spitting image of Jimmy Fallon doing his dead-on Neil Young impersonation, but what he was was the telling the truth and cutting to the chase. This sold-out crowd had come for the horns, and it was horns they were going to get. more ›

Marc Ribot is the very definition of versatility. From stints playing guitar with the likes of Wilson Pickett, Carla Thomas, Chuck Berry and other legends, to membership in John Lurie's Lounge Lizards, to collaborations with John Zorn and an unshakable association with Manhattan's downtown avant-garde scene, to high profile work with Tom Waits and Elvis Costello, the acclaimed instrumentalist and composer has been just about everywhere you could look at one time or another. Of late you'll encounter his work quite frequently playing behind your favorite movies, with noteworthy work on films such as Walk the Line, The Departed, Where the Wild Things Are and Where the Wild Things Are. 2010 even found him releasing an album called 'Silent Movies,' 13 instrumental compositions for films. more ›

It’s been nearly two years since AEMMP, the Columbia College Chicago record label, celebrated its relaunch with the release of its first sampler, Chompilation. Now in 2011, they’re returning with the follow-up, Chomp, Too, which sees its official release date today. Available as a free download on the label’s Bandcamp page, the compilation features songs by local acts that include students and alumni of Columbia. Unlike many compilations that focus on one genre, Chomp, Too is sort of all over the place, covering punk, psych, garage, hardcore, pop, experimental, and post-rock. more ›

Even if you've never heard of The Godfathers, you've heard them. They're most famous in the U.S. for their minor hit "Birth, School, Work, Death," a workmanlike driving slab of rock that encapsulated the band's strengths at combining hooks with acidic drive. If the quartet wasn't from the U.K. the would have definitely been described by many a rock scribe as a perfect example of midwestern brawny rock and/or roll. And there is something very industrial -- as in factory work ethic and not eyeliner and lace -- in the band's body of work. So that might be why we're feeling like their Chicago show this weekend almost feels like a homecoming of sorts. more ›

The Tribune's Greg Kot, citing reliable concert industry sources, reports that Eminem, Muse and Foo Fighters are among the headliners for Lollapalooza 2011. Other artists slated for the bill for the Aug. 5-7 festival, according to Kot, Lykke Li, Best Coast, Girl Talk and Crystal Castles. more ›

It's been written here previously: Justin Townes Earle has some mighty large footsteps to follow as a musician. The son of hardcore troubadour Steve Earle (one of the best songwriters of the past 40 years) and named after his father's best friend and hero Townes Van Zandt, Earle's musical education rivals anything you can get at the Old Town School of Folk Music. more ›