Just Another Summer Fest In The City
This weekend is West Fest. There's the Main Stage with 1900s, Red Red Meat, Aliminum Group and others. West Fest DJ Stage is really where it's at. Fashion shows, Derrick Carter, Zebo, Mano, Craze, Willy Joy and many more.
Best Way To End The Week - Musically
Well free music Friday is back after a week off. Listen to New Releases and Free Music CDs from the likes of Tiny Vipers, Son Volt, Kiss Kiss, Bowerbirds and more.
Back Once Again (And Better?)
Magnolia Electric Co. Album/Tour with 2 nights in Chicago this weekend. All in support of their first LP in 3 years. 'Josephine' is also an experiment in MEC's songcraft, introducing some real lessons in brevity as they whittle a handful of tracks into well-under three minutes, all while taking cues from great songsmiths like Willie Nelson and Warren Zevon.
Fourth Annual Fest Celebrates The State Entertainers
Great Performers of Illinois is a weekend full of music and art. Entertainers inlcude Giving Tree Band, Dennis DeYoung, Dylan Rice and on Saturday afternoon Daniel Knox and the Fiery Furnaces. At Millennium Park through Monday.
Greenpeace Strikes Big Again - Stop Global Warming
Enviro group draps Mt. Rushmore to call needed attention to global warming action. Check out a video here.
The Gifts Weren't As Plentiful But This One Was
Last year at Rothbury the free schwag was flowing like gravy over Oprah's potatoes. This year it was a little more tame. While the food wasn't dished out as freely in the media area, the booze was still pouring in all corners of the Fest. Which is fine with us. One special treat made it back home to Chicago. Late in the night as we enjoyed the sounds of STS9 from the sidestage area, we went back to grab a beer out of the cooler. As we got to the tent, we ran into one of the roadies from Toubab Krewe. The night before we had hung out with some of their gang extensivly (again) because Lotus and them shared the same stage. The next night he (Drew) was just chillin', enjoying the music. As we grabbed a beer, he pulled out an almost untouched bottle of Cuervo from the cooler. He offered me a swig. Of course. He then took one and handed us the bottle. We weren't quit ready for another. So we declined. He told us to take the bottle. "I don't want it anymore," he insisted. Well, this would surely be a perfect gift to share with our fellow Rothbarians, so we accepted. As the night wore on, we wore out. The bottle ended up back in the truck. As the weekend progressed no one needed free drinks, where it runs like a river. So the bottle traveled home with us. And now it's sits on our shelf. A strong reminder of the fun and friendship of Rothbury.
Passing Along The World - Bit By Bit
Our Pix Of Rothbury - First Half
If you're a fan of the site, you know we like to get down and dirty on some music photos. Major festivals are a great oppurtunity for this with throngs of peeps and music galore. This year's Rothbury was full of both. But from the Avant/Chicago perspective we didn't focus in too much on pictures because we were directing a film crew the whole weekend. Running around all over the Fest grounds shooting the Rothbury action for both Lotus and Van Ghost took up most of the weekend. Beside not getting to examine the whole Festival from both the geographic and musical ends, we also took fewer pix then normal. (we only made it into the photo pit once) The filming was fun and energizing, but being on a specific assignment changes your focus. So in the near future we'll have video of the weekend. But for now here are the photos of the first day and a half or so. Mainly they involve the two Lotus sets. The next half of the Fest coming soon.
Certainly Bringing Us The Mellow Gold
Beck Launches Web Interview Series With Waits as First Guest. Once again, Beck has been busy playing with the Internets. In June, the eclectic musician started the Record Club series, where he and his friends cover classic albums as well as Planned Obsolescence, where you can listen to Beck's sound experiments. His latest Internet foray is an interview series known as Irrelevant Topics, "featuring conversations between musicians, artists, writers, etc. on various topics, without promotional pretext or editorial direction." Has our interest.
Old Time Chicago is a new site hoping to become a valuable resource for fans of old time music in the Chicago area. Site owner Paul Lucas has put out the call for submissions: events, music reviews, links, musician contact info, whatever. More info at the Old Town School's Website. (via Gapers)
Just Another Way To Create/Pass Time
Gameplay in Auditorium is centered on a flow of "audiovisual particles" that you can direct by moving/resizing objects that are available. The goal is to direct the flow across musical audio containers using special tools that pop up. The audio containers each represent a different piece of the music, and they get louder the more you fill them up with flow. Auditorium is a gorgeous musical puzzle/time waster.
What's Going On For The Weekend - Filming The Festival
Rothbury is here. The Fest that was the talk of last summer, is back, bigger and better. Last year we tagged along with the Lotus guys for 2 of the 4 nights and it was amazing. We got to rock the VIP, back stage experience with all the perks. We're doing the same this year - with a little twist. We'll be documenting the experience via video for (at this point) future webisodes. We're cruising up with some festival musicians as well as a crew (2 cinematographers and an assistant) So look for these in the near future. If you want more immediate insight on the Fest, the behind-the-scenes looks and the filming process, check in via Twitter. (we'll be updating often) As for this site, it's been a little slow due to the pre-production phases of this film project and will continue to be as we roll into Rothbury. By early next week, we'll be back to full speed.
New Tunes From A Newish Producer
Check out some new beats from our boy Joey (Myspace) Good stuff from the young buck.
Take Your Trip To Another Level
From the masters like Alex Gray to gangs of up-and-comers, beinArt Surreal Art Collective is a great visual source and stimulus.
One Of The More Interesting People
Björk doesn’t just make art—she lives it. Her creative world is a multifaceted operation, filled with records, films, books, clothes, and experimental multimedia concert shows. Her latest release is sort of an homage, a best of if you will. Bjork Interview in Interview.
Words To Live By - Chicago Style
Chicagopedia is one of the sweetest things the Sun-Times does. Dropping local words that you may not know or may not know the meaning of, where they came from, etc. Some favs include Jeet?, Nodjew? and Fifth Floor.
The Skinny On New Albums
The Low Anthem, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin- A nice surprise from the multi-instrumental band, their third album is certain to get them lots of buzz. On the Fleet Foxes' label, similar, maybe better. 87
Mos Def , The Ecstatic- We're not going to pretend that we're too familiar with Mos Def's catalog. He's a helluva an actor and very well respected, but we've never dug too deep into his musical works. Worked with Slick Rick, Talib Kweli, J. Dilla, Mad Lib and the Neptunes on this one. 3 years in the making, it's got lots of good hip-hop throughout. 85
The Legends, Over and Over, - This is a easy to listen to album ala Air's Moon Safari. Has all the elements of the chill-out and lounge techno style. Well produced, with hints of 80s pop and driving drum grooves. 89
The Honey Brothers, Demonstration EP -Labeling themselves as new wave folk, the band's popish take on Americana doesn't always jive, but when it works, it works well. The band, which met at a ukulele fantasy camp, plays happy and smooth. 83
Info For The Internets, From The Internets
While most of Facebook and Twitter continues to be posts about the 'King of Pop', here's a few that aren't.
Friday Music Madness Is Upon Us
From Tortoise, Deastro, Patterson Hood, Pete Yorn, The Phenomenal Hand Clap Band and more. Listen to New Releases and Free Music CDs nothing says Friday like free, new music.
Best Value Show Of The Weekend
Platform One presents 3 bands - Brighton, MA, Hotel Ahead and Appleseed Cast. $12 at the Sub't. Music starts around 9.30.
Mourning The Lose Of The Greatest
There is no point writing about Michael Jackson's death. If you are or have you are wrong and have wasted our time. Nobody can capture in words the meaning of the moment or what the man meant to our time. No matter what you say someone can do you one better, no matter what you think there is more then meets the eye. MJ was bigger then life, bigger then words or thoughts and definitely bigger then memorial articles, tweets and blog posts. Thank you Michael.
It's Gonna Get Swanky
Sometimes a Myspace bulletin says it all - below is the one we just posted.
Ok, so our meeting for the film got pushed back. So tonight is open like the Bible on Sunday. Going to the Elbo Room for free - thats right FREE - beer to shove off the A Friend Called Fire boyz on their 1st big tour. No music though just FREE BEER. (7-9 21+)
Then Daniel Knox at the Whistler for free too. (Music starts at 10) No charges tonight!
If you're a Lotus fan and gonna be at Rothbury stayed tuned for some cool info about how you can be part of the bands new film project which kix off at the Roth! (but dont trip if you're not there, we'll beshooting at some other Fests as well!)
See what's good tonight if you aint cruisin' - our Twitter updates - the orginal Chi Lifecast!
Stay cool
Lots Of News From Chicago's Favorite Sons
Last night you might have caught Wilco playing a cut of their new album on Conan. (if not here it is) There's also news that this Saturday's show in Berkeley is going to be webcast at 10PM Chicago time via Wilco's Website. And front man Jeff Tweedy is playing an intimate, benefit show at his synagogue this August. Tickets are $200-$54. That's all the Wilco news for the day. Carry on.
Making An Easy Green Investment
There is no such thing as local vs. organic. When it comes to consumer choice, we should be buying local and organic, though for mostly different reasons. Great info here - There's No Such Thing as Local vs. Organic Food
What's The Best Way To Handle All This Info
With sites like Twitter making sharing great stories and links so easy, blogging can become even more of a drag. So every now and again, we'll just throw what we Tweet into a post and leave it at that.