The Beachwood Reporter

Chicago - Feb. 20, 2019

Beachwood Rock
Our monthly music archive.

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Chicago In Song: Hobo Hub

By Don Jacobson

If you go by popular song lyrics, there is no one in Chicago who is not a drunken, miserable wreck.

Posted on February 1, 2010

Chicago In Song: Truckin' and Druggin'

By Don Jacobson

Chicago's reputation as a drug-infested city of broken dreams has hardly ever been put so succinctly into a song lyric.

Posted on November 15, 2008

Chicago In Song: Leader of the Lame

By Don Jacobson

Thanks for driving me into the arms of punk.

Posted on May 20, 2008

Chicago In Song: Algren Holds Steady

By Don Jacobson

Nelson Algren channeled through Midwestern punk.

Posted on November 19, 2007

Chicago In Song: The O'Hare Blues

By Don Jacobson

While I've never given Chicago many props for being cold, I will forever doff my hat to its ultimate supremacy in the field of crappy airline experiences.

Posted on October 1, 2007

Chicago In Song: Street Signs

By Robert Pruter

The 63rd Street Stroll was the South Side's new "sin strip." The attraction was "the forbidden": Jazz, rhythm and blues, smoking, drinking, dope dealing and women.

Posted on August 13, 2007

Chicago In Song: Cubs 'N Roses

By Don Jacobson

Funny. Izzy Stradlin says you need to pack a piece while hanging with GNR. But not in Chicago. Now that's a riot.

Posted on June 4, 2007

Chicago In Song: Good and Violent

By Don Jacobson

Normally I'd go on about how this tune fits into two Chicago sub-genres: Using the wintry city as a metaphor for the cold emptiness one feels from a love gone wrong, and the skyline representing the hubris of human striving against the ultimate reality of the blackness of eternal night. Yeah, normally I'd do that, but not this time.

Posted on April 17, 2007

Chicago In Song: Self-Inflicted Wounds

By Don Jacobson

DuPage equals death. Wicker Park is warped.

Posted on March 16, 2007

Chicago In Song: Rock and Fire

By Don Jacobson

Daniel Lanois provides an artsier take on Chicago than the usual poverty-stricken, gangster-haven imagery. Hank Williams takes us back to traditional Great Chicago hellfire.

Posted on January 2, 2007

Chicago In Song: Dino and the Stewbums

By Don Jacobson

Dean Martin hanging with the Outfit in Wheeling, and the Handsome Family hanging with the stewbums on Ashland, both evoke the gritty side of Chicago in beautifully stirring ways.

Posted on November 16, 2006