. My journalism school, at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, is changing its name from The Medill School of Journalism to The Medill School of Journalism, Media and Marketing Communications. This development culminates several years of changes instituted by the new journalism dean, who has shifted the focus of the school from news writing and …
West Coast residents never understand the brutal sarcasm making up the everyday humor vocabulary in Chicago. Only in Chicago could perky morning news hosts make bitter wisecracks about osteoporosis and then make fun of themselves when they miss the bridge implosion. Here in the eternally optimistic West, it’s the osteoporosis joke and the hosts’ general …
In 1977, the Jersey sound was getting hot. Some guy named Bruce Springsteen had put out a record called Born to Run in ’75 and while everyone waited for the next album (and then waited some more), the word was there were more bands out there in the “flats of Jersey”. The Sugar Miami Steve …
If you love the Chicago Blues, you’ll count yourself lucky that Hubert Sumlin is still alive and playing guitar. His stunningly original and powerful technique, structured unlike any other in recorded blues, has many admirers but no successful imitators. As the lead guitarist for Howlin’ Wolf, he helped create a body of work that formed …
Things are tough all over. Even legendary recordist Steve Albini, the famed audio technician behind classic releases from Nirvana, Liz Phair, Bush, Bedhead, Built to Spill, Bottomless Pit, Cheap Trick and dozens of others is having trouble paying the mortgage on Electrical Audio, his impeccably designed analog studio. Tim Midgett, guitarist, bassist and songwriter for …
Although this clip looks as if it had been filmed at a Chicago Blues club, it actually took place at the Newport Folk Festival in 1966. The folklorist Alan Lomax had set up a faux juke joint where he could film blues players in a “realistic” club setting. Performers included Skip James, Bukka White, and …
Here’s a gem of an understated “Mojo” from 1963. Any videos of Sonny Boy Williamson II are scarce indeed, since he died in the summer of 1965. That’s the American Folk Blues Tour again, with Otis Spann, Matt Murphy, Willie Dixon, and Bill Stepney (very rare to see him) on the drums. Locale? Britain or …
This just in from the great John Siscoe: “The two guys dancing offstage, and Muddy’s ballroom duet with James Cotton during the encore are highlights, but the whole thing is a wonder and a joy.” ********************************************************************** East Portland Blog confesses to the following: “I had heard Muddy’s version of “Got My Mojo Working” and countless …
Muddy wasn’t a big man, but he had a natural stage presence and an unforgettable voice. he also had the knack of conveying the impression that however much he was giving you he always had something in reserve. This 1971 clip of Mannish Boy shows a Muddy no longer young and still recovering for a …
From: Kipp, Thomas J Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 10:02 AM To: Everyone Subject: FW: Bottomless Pit–Blood Under the Bridge 2×12″+CD preorder Welcome news from the ex-Silkworm boize in Chicago! Tom ________________________________________ From: Bottomless Pit Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 8:04 AM To: Bottomless Pit Subject: Bottomless Pit–Blood Under the Bridge 2×12″+CD preorder If you …
This Rollin’ Stone clip is extraordinary for several reasons. It gives us a Muddy Waters on film that’s as young as he’ll ever be, dressed to the nines, performing one of his signature tunes before a completely new audience, mostly young and largely white. It’s a warm summer afternoon fifty years ago. As yet there …
Yaz’s “Don’t Go” synth riff lives on in: ********************************************************** And here’s a link to a report from Change.org about discriminatory practices at hip hop concerts in Chicago’s Millenium Park, the first of which was a Kid Sister show: Hip Hop Prompts Discriminatory Security Practices – Chicago’s Millennium Park is a local, national and global treasure. …
From the Huffington Post: “…In addition to describing James Carville as “a space alien,” Beck said of [Urlacher,] the 2005 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and frequent Special Olympics volunteer, “I think this guy’s a neo-Nazi…” For the full story, click here or on the photo below.
Here’s a great blog post from Frances Archer about the neighborhood up in which I grew, North Park, in Chicago: A few weeks ago I told you I grew up in what amounted to a shtetl, an Old World Jewish town, on Chicago’s Far North Side. That’s not quite the whole story. A single point …
“I moved to Chicago for Major League Baseball, I might leave for the same reason.” – Jethro Burns I skimmed The Original Curse: Did the Cubs Inspire the Black Sox by throwing the 1918 World Series against Babe Ruth’s Red Sox? by Sean Deveney in the library and it’s fabulous, a well told sports story …
Here’s is John Siscoe‘s take on Koko Taylor and “Wang Dang Doodle“: “Despite the antiseptic setting and lackluster backing, this is a valuable clip. Any blues performance from the ’60s is a relative rarity, and this gives us a look at Koko Taylor when she was young and in her prime, plus a fleeting glimpse …
“I moved to Chicago for Major League Baseball, I might leave for the same reason.” – Jethro Burns A recent communiqué from BernardStreetCred: If you spy a copy of the rather expensive magazine Fretboard Journal, there’s a lovely, long article about Jethro Burns in it. Good stories from Sam Bush and Don Stiernberg, among others. …
By Bradfordboy60 Transferring from the University of Pittsburgh to North Park College [now North Park University] was a difficult adjustment. It was a hard and lonely first quarter singing the Lord’s song in a foreign land. But, once negotiated, North Park became the place where I made some of my dearest friends and most treasured …
From WSJ Online: “Sometimes the outcome of a game seems so improbable that it defies belief—or easy explanation. Take Super Bowl III (1969), in which the upstart New York Jets of the AFL beat the NFL’s seemingly unstoppable Baltimore Colts. To explain the Jets’ victory there was, among much else, the abysmal quarterbacking of the …
This little Youtube clip is a national treasure. Click on the photo above or view here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1__zadGXR3A