We gave a shout out earlier this year to Minds Matter – a great non-profit college-prep program for inner-city high school kids. Their big fall fundraiser [PDF] is taking place tomorrow night and Minds Matter is hosting a three-hour all you can drink shindig at Sully’s House Tap Room & Grill, with proceeds going directly back to the organization. more ›

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That Obama, he's a total hipster. First it's Wilco, Cool Kids, and The Changes...now it's Andrew Bird and Dianogah. Despite the slightly weird combination of baroque chamber pop maestro and underground instrumental rock band, we'll take any opportunity to 'rock for Barack.' Also, as an added bonus -- at this event only -- all the folks willing to shell out the minimum $100 donation to gain entry will receive a super ultra-rare insanely limited-edition hand-screened poster by Kathleen Judge. more ›

We'd just like to point out that for the price of one Hannah Montana ticket, you could feed a starving indie rock band for a year. For reals. Conrad Black got a 6 1/2 year sentence today. Oddly enough, we're not feeling sorry for him. Cheryl Lavin continues to dispense awesome advice. In this case she tells a woman who is upset at only having sex 4 times a week to tell her boyfriend... more ›

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just pales in comparison to the cold, hard facts: Hillary Clinton's theme was a Celine Dion song and has recently been replaced by a Big Head Todd and the Monsters tune, and Barack Obama's fundraising events feature performances by some of the most relevant and buzzworthy artists out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... more ›

In a move sure to send ripples throughout the video game community, Electronic Arts, aka EA, is shuttering its Chicago office effective immediately. In case that leaves you scratching your head, EA is responsible for such gaming franchises as Madden NFL, The Sims, The Orange Box, and the upcoming Rock Band. The now former studio was located at 215 W. Ohio. According to EA Games president Frank Gibeau, shutting down the Chicago branch was “the... more ›

We have long been vocal critics of The Redwalls, our primary gripe being that the group never really grew out of being the Beatles cover band they started out as. more ›

When we first heard about the GIANT FIX/dance in a pool event created by The Seldoms, we immediately thought of the McCarren Park pool events in Brooklyn, but after delving in a little deeper, we learned that The Seldoms is not some indie-rock band, but is instead a pretty forward-thinking local dance troupe. So basically, they've drained the Hamlin Park Pool and are turning into a surreal field of movement and whimsy, including six dancers... more ›

The Empty Bottle, in conjunction with Britain's The Wire magazine, will host this weekend's fifth annual Adventures in Modern Music festival, a self-described "celebration of 'outsider sounds.'" The festival promises to pack 'em into the Bottle for sets by groundbreaking artists both new and historic. Daily lineups, with highlights: TONIGHT (Wednesday): White Magic, Badawi, Holy Fuck, and Graveyards & Zac Davis Drag City's White Magic is fronted by the smoky-voiced Mira Bilotte, who channels a... more ›

Button up your sweaters and pack a picnic, because Wilco is set to give the Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park a proper inauguration tonight. The skies don’t appear to hold the same nasty storms that plagued the Decemberists’ show there in July, so the full beauty and potential of the space should be on display this evening. Not to mention, it’s freakin’ Wilco. A beautiful Lollapalooza 2006 performance aside, it’s been a while since perhaps... more ›

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too – two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the... more ›

Illinois budgets are in trouble all over -- at a meeting with legislative leaders late Tuesday, Gov. Blagojevich warned that unless a budget deal is reached, state government could shut down next month. Selling sex toys on the side and earning a $64,000 salary wasn't enough. Karen Bailey, a top assistant to Cook County Commissioner Jerry "The Iceman" Butler, faces felony charges for allegedly stealing nearly $300,000 from an 87-year-old woman, prosecutors and police... more ›

Sometimes we fans of a good malt can get so wrapped up in talk about filtering, centrifuges, fermentation, specific gravity and modern brewing techniqes, we forget that some breweries were in existence long before an iron maiden was associated with a rock band. Such was once the case with the Affligem Abbey, in Belgium's predominantly Flemish Brabant province. Records of the abbey's beer production date back to 1574. Today the Benedictine monks of Affligem take a decidedly free-market approach to brewing: they outsource it to the Op-Ale brewery in nearby Opwijk, which itself is owned and marketed by Heineken. Truth be told, we wouldn't be surprised if the monks had a tax shelter in the Cayman Islands. more ›

This week there isn’t much out there to go on a spending spree and use up that Ticketmaster gift card we received for Christmas. If it’s necessary for us to buy tickets before we watch Iowa get their asses handed to them by Texas on Saturday afternoon at the Alamo Bowl, these are a couple shows that piqued our interest. more ›

We know there’ll be a resounding chorus of “Who cares?” in the comments on this post, but we’d be remiss in our music coverage if we didn’t acknowledge those Chicagoans who pulled down Grammy award nominations this week. Continuing to build hope for the future of hip-hop, West Side hip-hopper Lupe Fiasco picked up three nominations (best rap solo performance, album and song). Lupe celebrated the nomination by signing 256 new endorsement deals, including one... more ›

The Third Coast Audio Festival begins doin’ it in your earhole tomorrow with its annual conference. more ›

Where can we spend, spend, spend that paycheck? Perhaps a few of these shows going on sale this weekend will empty out that wallet. Well, the presale is happening today at 10:00 a.m. for Wilco. Don’t be a “turkey” and miss out on this, or Jeff Tweedy just might punch you in the face. Wilco will be at the Auditorium Theatre once again for a pair of shows during the biggest party weekend of the... more ›

Now that the weather is turning cool, it’s time to start catching up on your reading and taking a few self-improvement classes. For some of us, that means finally learning to play a musical instrument. We’ve had a ukulele gathering dust in the corner for a while, so we’re finally going to head to Old Town School of Folk Music and hit up some of their classes. But this season, we’re also planning on checking... more ›

It seems obvious now, but if you were an avid rock music fan in 1992 and someone told you that of the four standard bearers of the Seattle sound (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains whose current Phil Anselmo-William DuVall-fronted incarnation isn’t fooling anyone), Pearl Jam would be the one to survive over a decade later, you would have been forgiven for thinking they were high. Yet all the signs were there. Consider... more ›

When we head out of the Chicagoist offices tonight, we’re totally taking a disco nap. There’s just too much going on this weekend. First, if you’re not getting enough “playful sex” in your life then allow us to recommend Asobi Seksu. No, it’s not the name of a boner pill, it’s an indie rock band from NYC with a name that’s colloquial Japanese for the above. If you like Sonic Youth but wish they were... more ›

Chicagoist has watched as a string of our favorite artists have played Practice Space residencies at Schuba’s. This month is no exception as Canasta spends the month of April giving us a reason to leave the house on Monday nights. more ›

Tomorrow is April Fool’s Day. We’re a bit sad that it falls on a weekend this year as we’ll be unable to play childish pranks on the people in the Chicagoist offices. Guess the doodie-shaped-brownies-in-the-elevator trick will have to wait until 2008. Still, most pranksters give no quarter to the whims of the Gregorian calendar. So be on your guard tomorrow. In fact, you’d better start paying attention now because some people are already sowing... more ›

While out of town this week, Chicagoist wandered into a piano bar. The gent behind the keys asked us where we were from. “Chicago,” we replied. “I love that band,” he said. 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 ›

The House Theatre has become the “it girl” of the local theater community by following a very familiar playbook, a story that never seems to get old: core members meet in their college drama program, produce their first Chicago play in some out-of-the-way black box, repeatedly outdo themselves to become a cult favorite and, as word spreads, are deemed the Company Everyone’s Talking About. That moment for the House came in 2004 when they produced... more ›

If only they’d had iPods in Spinal Tap’s heyday. more ›

* Chicago’s Victory Records announced this week that it will release a live CD and DVD from legendary Chicago rock band The Smoking Popes on February 26th. Thanks to a successful (and sold-out) reunion show last November, a headlining tour is planned from February 22nd to March 12th. The tour will kick off in St. Louis with the band playing an all-ages show at Creepy Crawl. More cities will be announced soon. more ›

Last Tuesday, Chicagoist went down to the Landmark Century Theater to check out the 2005 awards for the Midwest Independent Film Festival. (See our earlier interview with the founders.) The evening kicked off with a social that included a rock band made up of cats, free drinks, and a drawing for screenwriting software. Around seven thirty, everyone piled into the theater to watch the ceremony. Half the awards show was spent announcing the winners... more ›

Interview: The Changes more ›

Last night Chicagoist headed over to the Double Door for a night of eclectic and cheap music. Not knowing what to expect, except that our friend The Rich Experience (look him up at myspace.com) would be playing a couple of his classics as an opener, we went in with an open mind to hear some of Chicago's lesser known bands. more ›