Jessica Hopper and J.R. Nelson return with the "second season" of the WBEZ Hit It Or Quit It podcast. Hopper's hiatus is explained away with the claim she's been holed up writing scripts for the new shows (in fact she became a recent mom, going into labor at last year's Pitchfork Music Festival), while Nelson claims to have been locked up (a bunch of hooey). more ›

Music journalist/critic/author Jessica Hopper has had a long-time presence in Chicago's critical community, and for good reason. Her columns and writings have always been provocative food-for-thought, whether it's tackling the sexism of modern-day emo, or talking faith (or lack thereof) with former Pedro The Lion frontman David Bazan. more ›

The guest band on tonight's installment of Vocalo's "Live from Studio 10" program is one you should check out. forgetters is the latest project from Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker and Jets to Brazil fame. Jawbreaker was a huge influence on a lot of the pop-punk that came in the mid-to-late 90s. From what music forgetters has released, it mines the familiar punk territory, but with a refinement and focus that comes with age. more ›

Perhaps it’s unusual, if not necessarily ironic, that a movement with as clear goals as Riot Grrrl had would be misunderstood in the context of rock history. After all, how could anyone who read the bomb-throwing declarations in the Riot Grrrl manifesto, published by Bikini Kill singer and Riot Grrrl icon Kathleen Hanna in 1991, think that anyone was being vague? Of course, the misconception about Riot Grrrl that author Sara Marcus tries to clear up isn’t about the movement’s intentions; rather, its reach. more ›

We've long been fans of both Jessica Hopper and JR Nelson's writing, but they've brought their insightful crit-wit to the airwaves. Well, the airwaves of the internet at least. Named after Hopper's long-running 'zine, the Hit It Or Quit It podcast grew out of an appearance on Vocalo a few weeks ago connected to the duo's relatively new Gossip Wolf feature in The Reader. Gossip Wolf collects musical news and oddities from the week and the Hit It Or Quit It podcast follows roughly the same format, only with a lot more conversational fuel and stream of consciousness humor. more ›

Jessica Hopper is currently on her reading tour promoting her new book The Girls' Guide To Rocking. We've already weighted in with our thoughts on this excellent primer, and reports from other stops have lead us to believe that kids are embracing the book and taking its advice to heart. Hopper has been trying to organize little bonus offerings at some readings, and her stop this afternoon at the YouMedia Center in Harold Washington Library is no different. more ›

Local rock critic and sometime-bass player / band member Jessica Hopper has released her first book The Girls' Guide To Rocking. It's a comprehensive and straightforward guide that covers everything you ever wanted to know about being in a band. more ›

After speculation over who will be the "special guest" at the Robbins Family benefit we posted about last week, organizer Jessica Hopper announced today that local legends Eleventh Dream Day will headline the event at Empty Bottle on January 27 at 8:00 p.m. Also appearing that evening are Chin Up Chin Up, Bobby Conn, Life & Times, and Red-Eyed Legends. Plus, they'll be raffling off lots of goodies. Here's the list so far: * VIP... more ›

As we near the end of November and look to the winter, the on-sale listings begin to look a bit spare; only the hardiest of souls venture into a Chicago winter. The California band Curtains records for the Sufjantastic label Asthmatic Kitty. And while its sound resembles the delicate folk of his records, that’s like saying Rivers Cuomo and Ira Glass resemble each other because they both favor heavy glasses and sweaters. Curtains favors spare... more ›

Sometimes we here at Chicagoist find ourselves neglecting things -- the litter box, our family, other people’s children; so for this month’s Convince Us we need suggestions for reading biographies. We haven’t read many biographies, either auto or otherwise, and we feel the need to see what real life is like instead of the make-'em-ups. So give us your suggestion of a biography we should read; we’ll pick one, read it, review it and post... more ›

We have no beef with The Chicago Tribune’s primary rock critic, Greg Kot. We’ve never accused him of exactly being cutting edge, but we do believe he writes insightful and honest critiques for the most part. Unfortunately, since Matt Lurie left the paper, the Trib had been pretty devoid of anything approaching decent music coverage. They’re consistently behind the trends and most of their freelancers would be better used to compose press releases instead of... more ›

Jessica Hopper, aka DJ Coco Le Roc more ›

Ahhhh. The joys of summer. Hot weather, music festivals, swimming pools and ... Bell's Oberon. Nothing says "the time of the year when you sweat your ass off" quite like it. Unless of course you equate the summer months with vodka lemonades, in which case, Chicagoist has got you covered. To celebrate our second anniversary, we're not only bringing you some kick-ass music - and cake! Let us not forget cake! - but also a... more ›

Next week, Chicagoist officially turns two years old so we’re throwing ourselves a party with cake, booze, and some down-and-dirty rock and roll. At 9 p.m. on Thursday June 8th, Chicagoist will host its 2nd Anniversary Party with special guest Suffrajett at the Pontiac Café (1531 N. Damen). A Chicagoist fave, Suffrajett combines hard rocking, fuzzed-out guitars with funky R&B grooves and a live show that will leave you sweaty and happy. But that’s not... more ›

We hear there’s a free show featuring Chicagoist favorites The Assassins and local kids The Redwalls tonight. Now a free show featuring The Assassins would be enough to get our collective panties in a proverbial bunch but there is a nice little added bonus to this evening’s festivities. Chicago homeboy and musical chameleon Chris Holmes is coming into town to DJ this evening’s event. Since moving out West a few years ago Holmes had moved... more ›

"[We’re] reminding the kids that there is another way of life, that you don't have to be Britney Spears. Trying to get 16-year-old girls to pick up guitars instead of hot pants. Or guitars and hot pants." The source of that quote is Justine Frischmann, lead singer of the punk rock band Elastica (ask your older brother about them; then ask your cool uncle to tell you about Wire). One could argue whether Elastica was... more ›

Chicagoist will be the first to admit that we often prefer a quiet night with a book or magazine over a rollicking party where we have to, like, interact with real people. We comfort ourselves with the notion that the partiers are missing out on our glorious literary knowledge, but might we be missing out on something ourselves? Well, for those of us book nerds who never get out, and those of you crazy party... more ›