Chicago
The New Emo: It’s back, living underground and thriving in Chicago | Newcity Music
Joking aside, Castevet’s success is a big deal. For a band that plays basement shows as often as Castevet, the opportunity to release an album on a foreign label like Japan’s Stiff Slack Records doesn’t happen every day. Castevet is doing something big. And that big thing is emo. via The New Emo: It’s back, … [Read more…]
The Love Parade tragedy: 19 deaths and live music in limbo
Germany’s Love Parade, an annual dance music festival, was the scene of a terrible tragedy this weekend [via the L.A. Times]: At least 19 people reportedly died at the Love Parade, a well-known dance event in the German city of Duisburg, and more than 340 were said to be injured as the apparent closure of … [Read more…]
Bad movies that are hard to resist
This week, Newcity published an article I wrote on Chicago’s bad movie scene. “So-bad-it’s-good” movies have been getting a lot of press lately. There’s “Birdemic: Shock and Terror,” “The Room” and “Troll 2,” which is finding even more approval due to the recent documentary on the B-movie,”Best Worst Movie,” making the rounds on the critical … [Read more…]
Horrid Shows: What, and who, is behind our bad-movie obsession? | Newcity Film
In the trailer for the new movie “Birdemic: Shock and Terror,†the film’s hero celebrates a million-dollar deal with a high-five from a co-worker. That money is an achievement, a goal people think about endlessly. It’s something recent DePaul University graduate Patrick Dowell ponders from time to time. And Dowell knows just what he’ll do … [Read more…]
Can 11,000 Zooey Deschanel fans be wrong?
Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion fits approximately 11,000 people. That is, unless there is a free She & Him show. The Pavilion has 4,000 fixed seats, and the lawn fits about 7,000 people. When She & Him performed at Millennium Park’s concert pavilion Monday, the number of people that can fit in the area grew … [Read more…]
The longest trek for a piece of candy: The Sweets & Snacks Expo 2010
I haven’t had a morsel of sweets pass my lips since the middle of February. That is until today, when I attended the National Confectioners Association’s Sweets & Snacks Expo 2010. With more than 450 companies rolling out products new and old, this is where anyone who wishes they could be Charlie Bucket would want … [Read more…]
Metric at the Vic, May 20
Metric is a band made for the big stage. You wouldn’t know it from their background, as a term like “Canadian indie rock group” often equals total obscurity when crossing the border. But, somehow Metric has found success outside their home country. As their set at Chicago’s Vic Theatre on Thursday showed, they can not … [Read more…]