I'm currently holed up, fighting a nasty head-cold. It didn't creep in like it normally does. Usually there's a day or two of sore throat, some little hint of what's in store for me for the next week. Not this time. I returned from work Saturday night and thought my slight sniffles and heavy head [...]
Well, those Oscars sure did suck, didn't they? Long and boring. Highlights included a beautiful homage to the late Marvin Hamlisch, a man who picked my mom up in a Las Vegas elevator when she was 21 and took her out on some dates. They probably boned. My mom said they "just kissed" but you [...]

I was only the fourth person at the L&L Tavern around 7:15 p.m, but Angie Mead was already sitting down at the bar sipping a drink. She apologized for being a little maudlin: When she walked into the bar, School Of Fish's "3 Strange Days" was playing on the jukebox. Years ago while Mead spent some time in LA, she briefly dated Josh Clayton-Felt, School Of Fish's lead singer who was "just the nicest guy." He died suddenly of cancer in 2002 at the age of 32. Mead is now 35, and she told me she hadn't heard that song in [...]
Monday Afternoon Quick Fix runs every Monday afternoon to showcase the best of Chicago music news, views and stories from around the interwebs and blogosphere that we might have missed. • A.V. Club Chicago has assembled a list of Chicago-inspired songs they enjoy more than the new song commissioned by Chicago's tourism board. • The Reader's Luca Cimarusti has the deets on this year's Do-Division street festival , which includes the return of indie rockers Pinebender. • Windy City Rock's Andrew Hertzberg shares [...]
A lot of times when I run I listen to full albums. I try to choose albums I know well so I can sing along in my head and pay less attention to the fact that I'm (usually) bored shirtless. I rarely compile elaborate mixes of songs intended to spur speed bursts or keep a [...]
At least one man - maybe scores of men - once said that music is not your friend in the immediate aftermath of a negative life-changing event. I don't know who said that (Thomas Hobbes? Kierkegaard? Sirhan Sirhan?) but he made a good point. Pretty much every song ever penned was done so to remind [...]
From: Things Are About to Get Weird (Ohio Gold, 2007) Download Learn Home MySpace Last.fm

My antibiotics are working, and by "working" I mean they are causing more bodily harm than good. At least my throat feels better. I guess an inability to even think about stomaching food is a small price to pay for the rapid decrease in soreness and fever that were keeping me down all week. One thing this process has taught me is that I'd make an awful doctor. I mean, I went to the urgent care center yesterday complaining of flu-like symptoms but really only had two symptoms: sore throat and fever. There wasn't much weakness, [...]

I get a ton of promo emails these days and don't always go through them very thoroughly. So, putting a post up with a few of these promo's will at least get some exposure for these bands. Let me know if you like any of them. Soular: mp3 Love Crash Heal Soular Website Soular Myspace The Race: [...]
Riot Act Media is an online promotions outfit that represents it's fair share of good upcoming musical acts, here's a sample of what's hot for them now. baby teeth the simp Find more mp3s minus the bear drilling - p.o.s. redo Find more mp3s ben davis gorilla bot Find more mp3s the subjects i could never tune Find more mp3s [...]
Before we get started here, I'd like to mention that I'm a little jealous this time around. Why? Simply because the last picks from Jeff and Jeremy have been brilliant. If you haven't done so, get hip to Jeff's post on Secret Mommy - Kool Aid River and Jeremy's on Bang Gang - Find What You Get ; both are spectacular songs. Now, with the feelings of inadequacy out of the way, let's do this shit (bitches). I picked out this tune while sifting through submissions in our suggestion box. The email [...]
This is it...the last cd-length gand of songs for you to download, burn, and groove to. Make a disc of these, give it to a friend as a holiday gift, and include a note that says, "Here, now you are as hip as me and my nerdy blog-reading friends! Happy Holidays"! Or not. The Photo Atlas - ?Handshake Heart Attack? mp3 Clinic - "Harvest" mp3 Robert Gomez - "Closer Still" mp3 [...]

Pittsburgh 27, Cleveland 7 I don't like these Thursday night games. I'm sorry, but Thursday is the best night of television and I don't need one more thing messing with my TV show decision making. Willie Parker, despite a fumble, ran all over Cleveland and put together a 223 yard showing with a touchdown. Parker is the first player in Steelers history to have two 200-yard games in a season. Ben Roethcheesburger threw for a touch and ran one in as well. Cleveland has only managed one touchdown in [...]
Ketchup? Catsup? Anyway, playing a bit of that right now...First off, a track from the new Architecture in Helsink remixed album. Haven't purchased it YET, but every track has been good so far. Architecture in Helsink - Wishbone (Franc Tetaz Remix) Sweetness and light! Kama Aina has a video they recently posted...sublimely simple... [...]

Considering how crucial it usually is to hook a listener from the get-go, it takes a lot of balls to start an album off with a song that is close to 14 minutes long, but Pinebender has those cahones. Their latest release, Working Nine To Wolf , only runs 8 tracks long, but the band really packs a punch in those tracks, with the album running over an hour long. Formed in 1997, Pinebender is a trio hailing from Chicago that uses a fairly simple formula to make some pretty good music: [...]

Bummer that game 4 of the World Series got rained out last night. I had planned on that entertaining me for the majority of the night. I find myself rooting for Detroit even though I know I should be rooting for St. Louis since I live in Missouri, despite the I-70 rivalry and whatnot. I don’t even think that’s a big deal anymore since the Royals are pretty much worthless for the time being. I can’t really figure out why I dislike this Cardinals team so much. In the past I’ve usually always liked the [...]
Owen - Bad News The End Of The World - Last Cast These Arms Are Snakes - Horse Girl Young Widows - The Charmers Snowden - Anti Anti Page France - Junkyard Titles - Pink Pair Of Shoes Make Believe - A Song About Camping Chin Up Chin Up - This Harness [...]
congratulations are in order for my man rich at cable and tweed for snatching up the readers choice for best local music blog in atlanta's creative loafing . way to go rich! fucker! hopefully he can pull himself away from them damn learning books to start posting again at least on a semi regular basis. at this point in the day i am sure you guys have taken a gander at the hot carl/filthy sanchez that was unleashed by screech powers in his porno debut - via stereogum . lets all pray [...]
Chicago's Pinebender is set to release their second disc for Lovitt Records this fall, called Working Nine To Wolf. The band has gone through a bit of a line-up change, but regrouped to record the new record in Chicago with Greg Norman. They reportedly crammed in the recording over two days in March at Electrical Audio and another three days in April at Studio Greg Studio in Chicago. That is some
Pinebender has released some material their upcoming full-length entitled Working Nine to Wolf . It is the first recording made with the bandÂ’s new line-up. After the departure of Matt Clark in 2002, Stephen Howard moved from behind the drums to take over on baritone guitar and Dennis Stacer joined the group, replacing Howard in the rhythm section. Chris Hansen represents the only original member of the band in his original role as guitarist and vocalist. The label had this to say about the 8-song, hour plus album: [...]