Results tagged “vanhalen”

We know you're nursing that hangover from last night's Happy Hour that went a few hours longer than planned. And now you're sitting at your desk, staring at the screen, trying to muster up the energy to make it through the next few hours. Well, my friend, we are here to help.

Marnie Stern may look like a bookstore clerk or a Starbucks barista, but this Brooklyn guitar virtuoso has little else to do with lit or lattes. She's a metalhead through and through, having mastered such thrash-god techniques as finger-tapping, shuddering time-signature shifts, and balls-to-the-wall shredding that would make Eddie Van Halen blush. So what's this obvious shred-head doing on venerable punk rock shock shop Kill Rock Stars Records? She's carefully bridging the gap between the colorful, technical, and often posturing world of metal, and the guttural vocals, minimalist production, and eff you attitude that "punk" has come to inspire. It's a tenuous position, given that punk set out to destroy all the egotistical excess and arrogance of the metal scene, but maybe the old adage is right -- it just takes a woman's touch.

Here are some things in the news while we do spit takes at the ticket prices for the upcoming Van Halen tour. A $300-a-year parking permit created for realtors, home health care providers, and social workers to plug a $2.4 million hole in the city's 2007 budget only generated $15,900 in revenue. Facing increasing criticism in allowing BP to increase the amount of pollution it can discharge into Lake Michigan, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels...

Author John McNally

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...

How long have the world’s entertainment editors been waiting to use the headline “Van Halen ‘Jumps’ Into Rock Hall?” Probably forever.

Now’s your chance to vote for who will Lollapalooza’s battle-of-the-bands-style contest called Last Band Standing. Last year’s winning band was some Cincinnati outfit called The Cathedrals and we were really disappointed when we found out they were not a Van Halen cover band. That would have ruled. This year, Chicago acts are dominating the top 10. A Birdsong Valentine, Hey Champ, The Cankles and Long Story Short are holding down spots 4, 5, 6, and...

When Chicagoist was a little girl, there were only two prizes we wanted to win at the summer carnivals: goldfish and those mirrored pictures with the band logo etched over them. While we always did well with the goldfish, and brought tankloads of the damn things home every year, our luck was not as fortunate with the mirrored pictures. Which is probably just as well. No eight-year-old girl should have an etching of the Van Halen logo hanging from her bedroom wall.

We had a little bit of an obsession over Rock Star: INXS because of local talent Marty of the Lovehammers. We want you to be our next obsession. Head on over to the Elbo Room at 2871 N Lincoln Avenue this Saturday (March 11th) between 10 am - 4 pm to be the lead singer of a rock "super-group". Rock Stars in the making must be able to sing three songs performed to a track...

May Or May Not, Ctrl-Alt-Rock band