It’s one thing to understand the sound of rock ‘n roll, but it’s another thing to understand the look of rock ‘n roll. Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz manages to capture both. more ›

Win Butler joins Mavis Staples to duet on a song from The Band that's been Staples's since The Last Waltz. more ›

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The relationship between a website and its readers is one that is both sacred and profane. Most of the profanity comes out in the comments section while the sanctity is realized in the trust you, as a reader, put in Chicagoist to do what we say we will do. Way back in March, we promised to never do another post about The Band Whose Name We Dare Not Speak. And we tried, Internet, we really tried. But we’re about to fail you here to bring you our Governmental Quote of the Week. more ›

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. more ›

Since all eyes in the entertainment world were focused on the Oscars this weekend, a piece by Tribune freelancer Allison Stewart on the quasi-autobiography from Tori Amos might have been unjustly ignored. In a fairly short span of time, mentioning Amos’s stint with Y Kant Tori Read has gone from the mark of the wise to rock writer cliché and Stewart smartly chooses not to dwell on it. Instead, she acquits herself as a true fan (of music, if not Amos herself) in being able to spot the good (the freeform conversational style with New York Times critic Ann Powers) and the bad (no backstory on “Me And A Gun”) before dovetailing into a quickie review of Tori’s latest album. more ›