Results tagged “ryanadams”

Rhett Miller is as poppy a dude as you'll find, but he's mastered the art of knowing when to hold back and when to let the whole symphony out to play. As leader of the seminal-turned-name-checkable insurgent Americana band the Old 97's, Miller culled a rep for giant, hooky melodies and had one of the sharpest tongues on the independent rock scene. As a solo artist, he's replaced much of the whiskey and vinegar of the 97's with melodic flourishes of strings and piano on 2002's The Instigator and 2006's The Believer. With the 97's touring again, perhaps on the strength of a kinda bizarre cameo (filmed at the Riv) in a certain Chicago-set Jennifer Aniston movie, now is the time to catch Miller alone and in an intimate setting where the real sweetness of his songs can shine through the snarkiness of his lyrics.

Did everyone have a great time at our birthday party last night? It sure is great to be three! There are a lot of great shows going on sale this weekend. We decided to focus on shows that are happening in venues one might not normally associate with music.

We admit we were stoked earlier this week by the news that Ryan Adams would be doing a show at The Black Orchid. However we thought it was a little weird that ticketing information for the show seemed spotty. It was listed on WXRT's site ... and then it wasn't. And on Ryan Adams' own website, it was the only show with no info on how to get tickets, and now it has completely disappeared. Phone calls to The Black Orchid only met with a message saying they had no information on the show. What's up?

We have a huge case of the giggles today. It all started when we tried to type “jagoff” and it came out “jagoof” and we could not stop laughing at ourselves for five minutes. Then we decided to be productive and write up this edition of EOYW, which only proved that the Ticketmaster gods were laughing along with us with their offerings for this week’s ticket sales.

Ryan Adams just announced that Chicago is included in a brief string of dates next month to promote his latest, Easy Tiger. This is not so surprising in itself, although we doubt Jim DeRogatis will be in attendance, but we admit we're a bit taken aback by his choosing to play at The Black Orchid. The Black Orchid is easily the smallest room he's played in Chicago in years, and it's lush environs should prove the perfect counterpart for the introspective songs that seem to be Adams' recent fare.

This week we have some bands in town to do good, make us take our panties off, and give us a reason to get out from under our blankie in this cold weather. Buck up, Chicago – it’s only January!

Our friends at Glorious Noise are celebrating their fifth birthday this weekend with music, costumes and a new album by the band Riviera.

Bloodshot Records has been up to some fun stuff as of late. First, they dropped an advance copy of the Old Town School of Folk Music Songbook Vol. 1 in the Chicagoist mailbox and it's full of gems. We usually like more rock in our folk but damn if we aren't suckers for any version of "I Know You Rider." Linda Smith turns in a fine turn here as does Robbie Fulks on the following...

We survived the first day of Lollapalooza! We got to see some amazing acts like The Raconteurs, duh! Saw some legends - Sleater Kinney, of course. And we saw some promising bands - The Subways! Learned about egg discrimination from Ryan Adams. But, the main thing that we learned is there is a lot of walking to do at Lollapalooza. Wear some comfortable shoes when heading out the rest of the weekend and if crowds aren't your thing - check out some of our photos on Flickr from Day 1 of Lollapalooza.

It wasn’t that long ago that everyone was buzzing about Sufjan Stevens latest installment in the 50 state series, Illinois. Everyone loved it. It had to be listened to, or else. How quickly Sufjan has slipped from that mountain of acclaim with his latest release, The Avalanche. Originally slated to be part of Illinois as a double album, these are the songs that didn’t make the cut when it was pared down. The Avalanche boasts...

Shanghaiist probably knows a little more about China than the Chicago Sun-Times. Giving them the benefit of the doubt on that one. The city does to have a music scene. Don't even front like they don't. They also have Dorito bananas and white guys shopping for wives. What they don't have is any more tolerance for jaywalkers. Bostonist sees Boston and Somerville each whip out their art and face off. A plagiarized novel is the...

Well, the Lollapalooza line-up is out, and we have to admit we're a little confused. Sure, we're excited that groups like the Flaming Lips and Sybris are on the bill. Sure we can't wait to see if Ryan Adams provides us with the meltdown that Anton Newcombe cheated us out of last year. And, yes even we can admit, we can't wait to see Kanye's halo appear as he drifts upward into the heavens at...

Rhett Miller has spent quite a bit of time in Chicago. Between his band The Old 97's recording albums with local engineer Chuck Uchida, and constant touring that always seemed to treat Chicago as more of a home base than his native Dallas, we could be forgiven for viewing him as a bit of a homeboy. In recent years old homeboy has made a few grabs at pop stardom spending a decent amount of time growing a solo identity apart from the band that made him famous. And who could fault him? Wouldn't you trade in country licks for Gap ads and mainstream adoration? We probably would, especially if a supermodel wife was thrown in to sweeten the deal.

The second album from both Chicago rock quintet Riviera and its label Glorious Noise Records gets the big-time release party treatment this Saturday. We’ve been grooving on a preview copy of At The End Of The American Century... for the last couple weeks and it should come at little surprise to those who’ve been following the story that it's a pastiche of the various cultural touchstones that get hashed out on the GLONO bulletin boards every day.

The mythology of The Day The Music Died hangs heavy over the world of rock music; it immediately evokes the tragedy of missed opportunity and loss. Few artists who have died in the midst of still relevant careers are able to escape its grip as commentators note that the artist was “turning their life around” or “on the verge of stardom.” True or not, it’s a generally accepted precept that we not speak ill of...