In which we take a quick look at a few recent musical releases.
In which we take a quick look at a few recent musical releases.
This Friday marks the closing date of artist Barbara Koenen's Muse: a 125 square-foot installation examining the relationship between hand grenades and pomegranates. Koenen's piece, nested on the fifth floor of the Fine Arts Building, wryly and elegantly hypothesizes a connection between the War on Terror and what she perceived as a "sudden and simultaneous popularity of pomegranates in the U.S." Grenade-shaped water balloons, real-life grenades tucked away in crocheted sacks, and placards of POM Juice advertisements are just some of the items juxtaposed together.
A sad week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part photo essay, one, two). That wasn't the only photo essay either: Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy friends and Star Trek actors all joined in at the Writers Strike and KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas brought two nights of amazing bands that included Avenged Sevenfold, Linkin Park (Part I), Modest Mouse, Muse, Spoon and The Killers (Part II). Not only is L.A. a great music town, it has just been named the best city for bookish types. For those who are looking for something a little more active, American Gladiators are back (yes!) and if that's not enough, how about a Christmas gift of action and adventure?
This writer-photographer had never been to Lollapalooza and came with mixed expectations. Fortunately, we seemed to choose our acts correctly, and between the tight sets from The Hold Steady and Muse on Saturday and the intense energy offered up by Iggy and the Stooges and Cafe Tacuba on Sunday, we left the weekend without any disappointments. Chicagoist was fortunate enough to secure a few coveted photo passes, allowing us access to the photo pits...
Before we teleported up into the great nightclub in outer space, Chicagoist took a few hours to walk around Grant Park this weekend and have a friendly chit-chat with some of the many fine folks who came to Lolla this weekend. Some of them came from nearby - North Side, South Side and the suburbs. Others came from farther away, places like New Jersey. Still others came to visit us from other countries, like Ireland....
Each morning we're going to highlight five bands playing at Lollapalooza that we think are worth seeing. Some will be popular, some less known, but we believe they're all worth your time. And for those not making it to the festival itself, we'll round it out with an additional show going on after the grounds close down for the evening. Matt & Kim Bouncy, jouncy, fun, and happy, Matt & Kim are just the sort...
Each morning we're going to highlight five bands playing at Lollapalooza that we think are worth seeing. Some will be popular, some less known, but we believe they're all worth your time. And for those not making it to the festival itself, we'll round it out with an additional show going on after the grounds close down for the evening. The Switches We are sure we'll be cursing this band from England throughout the day....
The day is finally here! We get to mark up the schedule, fight with our friends over who to see, and determine what time we have to wake up to make it down to Grant Park. The Lollapalooza schedule is finally out. Also, if a three-day pass seemed excessive, the single day tickets are now on sale for $80. Which headliner will make the previously unconvinced head to the festival? Will it be Daft Punk...
Austinist got us thinking about the Mecca that is SXSW when they compiled their list of bands allegedly playing the conference. We decided that we should google and Myspace around and see which bands from Chicago may be heading down there during Spring Break, March 14-18. The list isn’t that big yet, but that’s because everyone is doing a better job of keeping their mouths shut until the official announcement comes next week.
God, we're so sick of Snakes on a Plane that we want to kill anyone and everyone that makes a "something on a something" joke. But then we realized that there was no way we could ever win this fight, and, hell, if you can't beat them, we might as well join them. And with that, you have the theme of this weeks' Gothamist network post. Austinist makes it easy for us, with Candidate on...