Photo by me. I had a great seat!It did not suck. Axl, Slash and Duff actually looked like they were having fun together!UPDATE: My review of the show is live! Read More

I spent yesterday doing nothing and largely staying offline, and then Mich took me out to a very nice steak dinner. Today we're spending the afternoon going on a ride on SEEEEEADOOOOG, a lon… Read More

Right about the 2:29 mark really stings because I remember feeling exactly that way in college and in retrospect I realize what an idiot I was Read More

Tomorrow is my birthday, so I took it off work. And since the 4th of July is on Monday I also took Friday off work. So now I have a super log weekend in which to chill. And celebrate me. Yay… Read More

This is where I hide out earlier in the day when my desk is being zapped by white hot beams of sunlight (but I refuse to give up my window seat so I have no problem traveling around the offi… Read More

Holy Fuck, photo by Nick WalterHoly Fuck's new album Congrats is dirty, grimy, sex music. It's the sound of lowered lights and sweaty dancing. It exudes danger, bad decisions and poor life c… Read More

The title is somewhat incorrect. I have been staying in a lot recently, and I have been lame for doing so, and I have really enjoyed it. I've been able to spend much quality time binge-watch… Read More

Mean JeansThere are times albums just sit in my queue and it takes me a while to get to them. I get a lot of music so this is natural, but sometimes I truly regret sitting on something a lit… Read More

Today was supposed to be stormageddon, yet I had a lovely midday walk outside with nary a cloud in sight or heavy breeze to be felt.Chicago weather-people just love to get everyone worked up… Read More

It was a good night. And her team won! I could do with more nights like this Read More

Media is in trouble. No secret there. But tronc—the dilution and reimagining of a once great media company—is a lovely distillation of just how much trouble journalism is in righ… Read More

Jon LindsayLuckily I seem to be stumbling over all the summer music at the right time. The sun has finally rediscovered Chicago and the heat has made a welcome arrival. This means windows ha… Read More

Kale Chips and friends, photo via my InstagramThe picture above is from when we attended a yoga fundraiser to help bring Kale Chips, a beagle who had grown dangerously obese before being sur… Read More

Photo by me, sorry for the fuzziness, I was trying to be discreet.Things have been a little on the darker side around these parts lately, so I figured it was time to share something a little… Read More

The Monkees just released their first album in 30 years, Good Times! It's full of excellent collaborations, including a beyond thew grave performance by Davey Jones on a Neil Diamond number… Read More

Seriously. Dark Read More

This is tough. I don't like guns. At all. Yet my wife's dad is a gun advocate. And you know why he is? Because he operates under the understanding owning a gun is a right that carries conseq… Read More

Photo by Clayton HauckWell well well, looks like I'll have to pick up a copy (as if I wasn't going to already) of the new book about The Empty Bottle! Can you spot me on the back of the book… Read More

If you dig early to mid-'60s Beach Boys albums, then Tennessee's The Explorers Club new album is going to be your summer jam. Heavenly vocal arrangements permeate every song, and summer sun… Read More

Photo of Ladyhawke playing oh-so-many years ago at Metro by me.It's been too long since Ladyhawke's last album. Four years? That's just too long. Luckily Wild Things was worth the wait.I've… Read More

I keep looking for streams of songs I’m digging because it’s Monday, and it’s been a bummer couple of weeks, and I could really handle feeling like I’m at least picki… Read More

The new Peter Bjorn and John album has quite literally saved my life a few times over the last few weeks. It's been too long since their last LP, but at least they spent the time between rel… Read More

I've noticed recently I rarely turn on the lights. My windows are all open and the shades are wide open, so as the sun goes down and my house adopts a twilight glow, I find I'm not really re… Read More

The kind folks at Dig Me Out had me as a guest on this week's podcast, which is a review round-up of 2016 albums from acts who also had a strong '90s presence. There are a bunch of smart fol… Read More

Howth photo by Bryan Bruchman from the band's Facebook pageI'm not sure how I got on Howth's Bandcamp mailing list—I must've' downloaded something of their at some point—but when… Read More

In times of great stress I often retreat into "comfort zones." Popeye's Fried Chicken, Bloom County, and movies from my youth that I thought reflected vital portions of my psyche. Real Geniu… Read More

...was, easily, the happiest day of my life so far Read More

I'm kicking off my holiday weekend in my pajamas in front of the TV. And it's not even dinnertime yet! This is about as wild as it's going to get Read More

There is a cat to my left. And another cat a little farther away to my left. They're sleeping and I'm watching TV. Earlier I made dinner and listened to podcasts and then NPR One. Earlier th… Read More

Figure 1Holy mackerel.Tonight I had meetings go a little longer at work than expected, so I didn’t even see the gathering storm clouds outside. By the time we broke to go back to our d… Read More

The Lees Of Memory, photo via their Facebook pageI was listening to the latest Dig Me Out podcast while making dinner earlier, and their guest was John Davis, currently of The Lees Of Memory… Read More

Last week was maybe the worst week of my adult life. But I made it through. I'm hoping to make this week much better. I have to mark some hard decisions, and really look inside myself, but I… Read More

I might be that thing you always assume is around until you realize I'm not there.  Read More

Wow, it's been 11 years? And over 2,700 posts. And my first one was about Assassins (back in the days when images weren't exactly uniform on the site).Quite a bit has changed since that… Read More

Ye olde tankPHONE 5S bit the dust yesterday and wouldn't function at all, forcing me to get a new phone. I was really hoping it would hold out through music festival season but it just wasn'… Read More

This is definitely one of those days Read More

Some weeks you just look at the approaching coup,e of days and want to throw your hands up in the air, right? Read More

Upon initial listens I find the new Chance The Rapper album > the new Radiohead album. But that's just a quick first impression. Not a review. Luckily there seems to be a budding movement… Read More

Annual physical completed! And after four decades by body appears to still be functioning mostly well. I was worried going into my appointment that my age was finally catching up to me, but… Read More

I was thumbing through the ten-years-old Act Like You've Been Here Before: The Chicagoist Guide To Chicago the other day and came across this passage that made me laugh out loud.Recentl… Read More

Sorry, that headline is terrible. The song is "Moon Man" and the band is Aloha. the group is splintered across a couple different states, but you wouldn't know it from the cohesion in their… Read More

We saw Captain America: Civil War last night and earlier in the day I was griping about the fact that superhero toys now are so much cooler than when I was a kid.Mich looked at me and said… Read More

Things got off to an especially rocky start. The past rushed in to consume me and remind me of things I miss so badly, nut have absolutely no power to do anything about any longer. This led… Read More

Welp, you can't blame me for not being young at heart. Funny story, when I started working at Edelman Digital in 2008 it because quickly very apparent that people there thought is was in my… Read More

If you're in Chicago and want to celebrate Prince with a great big, outdoor dance party and parade, Friday is your chance to do so.Loss is hard, but I'm happy to see tributes to both David B… Read More

I still think that the man could have done with the help of a good editor to help him pare down albums in later years, but the net result—even including the less spectacular songs&mdas&hell…Read More

I also remembering taping this off MTV onto my stereo hi-fidelty VCR (???!!!!) and then copying it onto a cassette tape because I thought the Kerplunk! material sounded so much better live.Y… Read More

This makes me feel really old Read More

There have been a couple late nights at work. And I just told a co-worker how happy I was that it is Wednesday and that the week is half over.She stared at me and said, "Jim, it's Thursday."… Read More

The Darkness is a band I've seen at every step of their career, beginning with a sold-out show at Double Door during their first U.S. tour.They have always brought their A+ game to the stage… Read More

Creation is truly a marvelous thing. Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself what amazing things we are all capable of Read More

I'm not sure who did this, but came across it here. It's adorably sweet Read More

Is there anything Prince wasn't the best or near best at doing, musically? The answer is no Read More

...but I'll never forget seeing him live. Ever Read More

Yeah, yeah, yeah—it's April 20. Let all the Beavis and Butthead "heh heh heh"-ing commence. Wake me when it's safe to go back online Read More

This has nothing to do with the post, I just like the photo I took.As I left the office today I realized i'd only left my desk 3 times over 9 hours, and each of those 3 were only for a few m… Read More

Things getting hectic? Then let this incredibly convoluted musical instrument that employs many, many marble to augment its sound soothe you.I am aware that sentence might lead you to believ… Read More

Here's a PSA—due to various holidays, tax day in the U.S.A. is actually this coming Monday and not today! So if you procrastinated again this year, you have a whole two extra days to c… Read More

Yes, How I Met Your Mother should have ended a few years earlier, but the ending was always going to be the same. I mean, jesus, they filmed it 9 years ago, so the writers were always workin… Read More

Somehow, Stephen Colbert managed to address every facet of the issue of #CancelColbert intelligently and hilariously, without resorting to throwing the poor Comedy Central community manager… Read More

Photo via RAC's Facebook pageI'm going to see RAC play Lincoln Hall tonight. I am rather excited. You see I've been following his remix work for YEARS and I'm excited to see his original com… Read More

We've been busy lately—both personally as a couple and socially  / professionally with all kinds of previous commitments—and a peek at next week's calendar shows me that the… Read More

I fly right after christmas to get home so I can work as much of the week between the holidays. And every year the airport is bonkers, even though I get there at 5 a.m. At least I've flown s… Read More

I hope Santa brought you everything you asked for; you deserve it! Read More

I was an early opponent of "political correctness" as the term rose to become dogma while I was in college in the early '90s. And I am a LONG time liberal. I had multiple piercings. I kissed… Read More

It's been a bust week, but that just means I'll be able to truly enjoy the looooong holiday weekend. I hope you do too! Read More

Photo via The Classic Kids Facebook pageI'm still trying to decide if my 2015 favorite albums list should be 20 or 25 entries, and already good 2016 music is piling up. Actually, it started… Read More

We're in fifth place! Team Chicagoist is doing pretty decently this year. Though we may slip a spot next week since we lost to Touchvision tonight. Sadface. We rolled a good game but they ro… Read More

Pickle the Kitten has the right idea.I realize I've been  a little quiet over the last two weeks, at least in this space, but c'mon! Give me a break! It's the holidays! All I've wanted… Read More

Last night Mich and I had an excellent dinner, partied with some good friends, had the good sense to get home at a reasonable (post-midnight) hour, woke up sans hangovers or bad moods or any… Read More