Results tagged “rb”

Howard Bedno and Peter Wright founded Twinight Records in 1967. The R&B/soul music label would go on to release fifty-five singles over the next five years, with five of them charting.

Anything snarky that we come up with regarding the use of music in the Democratic Presidential campaigns just pales in comparison to the cold, hard facts: Hillary Clinton's theme was a Celine Dion song and has recently been replaced by a Big Head Todd and the Monsters tune, and Barack Obama's fundraising events feature performances by some of the most relevant and buzzworthy artists out there. Tonight's Change Rocks concert at the Riv brings...

Here at Chicagoist, R&B superstar and alleged water-sports enthusiast R. Kelly has given us more than our fill of laughs and head-scratching moments. Now it looks as though the "sexasaurus" has discovered the power of YouTube. His completely staged "Real Talk: Behind the Scenes" is the best meta singsong since Screaming Jay Hawkins had the "Constipation Blues." It's also loaded with profanity, so if you're at work, keep the volume low. "Profanity represents how real...

Oh, pornography. It holds a strange power over people. It can cause priests to debate porn stars, the incarceration of R&B singers, and even become a code name in the biggest scandal in American history. Or it can cause a woman to kill her boyfriend. Wait, what? Kill her boyfriend? Jeanette Strowder, 58, had been dating her boyfriend, Jesse Martin, 54, for sixteen years. For the past two years they lived together in Fuller Park....

A month ago a friend of ours landed a job tending bar at Skylark. He's opening the place a couple days a week, and while it isn't the most ideal shift, it is a job. Since Skylark isn't far from our stomping grounds, we decided to pay him a visit, the possibility of maybe one free beer in the offing in the back of our mind. He saw us enter, took stock of the draft...

We always get a little suspicious when female R&B wunderkinden announce that their latest effort is the first release to feature their "actual" grown-up selves. Often that merely indicates that artists the public grew to know as adolescents are now comfortable wearing next to nothing whilst singing about just how much they like sex. What these starlets often miss is that heavy breathing and lots of skin are rarely any sort of actual window into the world of mature artistry.

There was a time when a little bit of Kurt Elling went a long way. The insanely talented singer always seemed to balance precariously on the gossamer between genius and schmaltz, but Elling always had a knack for pulling the reins tight just when listeners were ready to cringe. Most of the time. Restraint, or knowing when to utilize it, seemed to be one of Elling's shortcomings in the past.

Well, it's a lighter than usual week for touring bands in Chicago, due to a certain festival down south. That doesn't mean we're hurting for music though! This is a week that famously gives lots of local acts prime spots they might otherwise not have available to them, so you have a good chance of catching a good band you might have never heard of before just by wandering into any of Chicago's music venues over the next few days. Here are a couple shows we're particularly looking forward to.

Chicagoist's experience mixing socially-defined inappropriateness and school was, like many people's, limited. About the only instance we can think of where sex, violence and/or swearing was sanctioned by authority figures was when we got to watch "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" in European History. The saying of "shit" in the classroom was met with many giggles. And there was much rejoicing. Some fourth- and fifth-graders out in Minooka, IL, have us beat by a...

While some people are busy wondering if Barack Obama is in fact the Messiah, two of the Chicago Tribune's columnists/bloggers have been attending to some of the would-be next President's more immediate concerns. Eric Zorn has been polling readers all week as to what Obama's campaign theme song should be after mixed reviews of the music selection from his early campaign rallies. His choices so far have been a mix of classic but overplayed R&B...

No, not that one. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

Some days when Chicagoist is busy reading the trades, it’s almost enough to put us to sleep. Thank goodness for that that intravenous caffeine drip. Lately, these stories all have a “Chicago Connection”. From working with Jay-Z and Kanye West on his debut album to garnering three Grammy nominations, Lupe Fiasco has had some dreams come true. He’s decided to take Oprah’s advice and dream even bigger for what comes next. His high hopes include...

Gunther Murphy's, Tonight, 9 p.m., $8-10, 21+.

Of course by now you know all about how the Brits foiled a terrorist plot to blow up airplanes flying to America with liquid explosives. The news caused absolute chaos at airports yesterday as passengers had to dispose of all liquids, gels, creams, and lotions, and subject themselves to more intense searches. Add to that the simultaneous freakout that occurs at the mere mention of terrorism near an airport these days, and you have an absolute nightmare for air travelers.

Chicagoist loves the live music. We love it even better when it's free. Columbia College Chicago is giving us these two great tastes in one great fest. They are putting on the Manifest Urban Arts Festival tomorrow to showcase the graduating students' work (before they are forced to give up their dreams, go out into the real world, and get a job). We are focusing on the music performances in this post, while the 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...

Five months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, the future of New Orleans remains mired in doubt and bureaucracy. When the mainstream media shelves substantive debate over the city’s rebuilding to decipher Mayor Nagin’s “Chocolate City” speech, the art world picks up the slack. Two local exhibits and a new play examine The Big Easy, the city and the idea.

The band Lincoln Conspiracy must enjoy a challenge.

The voice that breathed velvet soul is now silent. Smooth voiced Grammy-winning singer and Chicago native Lou Rawls passed away this morning after being hospitalized in Los Angeles for treatment of lung and brain cancer. Mr. Rawls was introduced to music by his grandmother and the gospel strains of church. He started singing professionally in the mid-'50's with the L.A.-based gospel group the Pilgrim Travelers, whose contemporaries the Soul Stirrers featured at that time the...

Saturday night the Detroit Cobras will be playing at the Double Door. Tickets are only $12 to see this swaggering rock and soul quintet.

R. Kelly's wife agreed to let a court drop the order of protection she had secured against him earlier this month. She says she has had enough of court wranglings and wants to try to work out their marriage. The order had given Andrea Kelly custody of their three children, possession of their 2003 Mercedes, and called for "no contact at all by any means" between her and the R&B crooner. Andrea sought the order after the R snapped on August 24 over seeing a picture of her with another man in Miami.

In case some readers think that we fine folks at Chicagoist have been going overboard with the Macy Field's coverage the past two days, for your perusal today here is a gaggle of news from Hamburger U that has nothing to do with the nutritional quality of its food or its CEO suddenly dropping dead: - Helping those affected by Hurricane Katrina will take years. The possibility of Rita hitting the Gulf Coast would...

Chicagoist did our duty and tuned into the MTV Video Music Awards last night just in case anything Chicago related occurred. Or in case a giant tidal wave washed over Miami. Either way, it would’ve been cool with us. It had been a number of years since we last had cable and were able to watch this so count us as being rather surprised by just how much the rock and/or roll dominated the proceedings....

With more court action overshadowing his latest release, Chicagoist is almost—almost—starting to feel sorry for R. Kelly. Yesterday a Cook County judge ordered Kelly to give a deposition in a civil case brought against him by a woman who claims he videotaped her without permission; the woman was of legal age at the time (and my God we can’t believe that’s a clarification we actually have to make). Kelly’s lawyers argued that the statute of...

While Lollapalooza is casting a big shadow over the other music events this summer, you don’t need to spend $85 (or $100 or $115) to see live music in the city. Metromix has posted dates for the various fests that celebrate local neighborhoods and musical genres this summer. Lineups for the neighborhood fests have yet to be announced but the schedules for the 21st Annual Chicago Gospel Music Festival and the 22nd Annual Chicago Blues Festival are out. Plus, they’re free.

For those punk fans who do not suffer from the curse of procrastination, this weekend will be just like heaven as Rise Against headlines a pair of sold-out shows at Metro. You could just as easily bill these shows as “Rise Against...and Friends” as The Methadones open the Saturday show and Break The Silence opens on Sunday. Rise Against seems poised to break wide as their profile has risen considerably in the last month with...

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...

If you didn't get enough R&B superstar stalking in with R. Kelly's appearance on the Chicago River, then you'll soon have your chance with Usher. The singer is in talks to star in and executive produce a movie called "Step In the Name of Love". The movie has been billed as the "urban Saturday Night Fever" and is a period piece about the Step dancing movement�a Chicago derivative of swing dancing. Uh.. The Urban Saturday Night Fever? Sounds like a winner.

Last night Chicagoist walked past a shoot of an R. Kelly video. Currently facing 14-counts of child pornography, Kelly is Chicago's #1 bad boy rapper R&B artist. Which should make us not like him, but we just love the song Ignition Remix so much that we had to stop and watch the video shoot for a while. The bridge above the boat was crowded with fans and Kelly waved, blew kisses, and was generally nice - responding back when people shouted to him. Kelly, who was pimped out in all white, wasn't the only one getting attention. The boat was filled with scantily-clad honies who drew many admiring men to the bridge.