By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. Peter and the Test Tube Babies at Reggie’s on Thursday night.
Posted on March 30, 2012
Remembering Earl Scruggs in Chicago
Recording At WBBM And Performing At The Old Town
“Earl Scruggs, the bluegrass banjo player whose hard-driving picking style influenced generations of players and helped shape the sound of 20th-century country music with his guitar-playing partner, Lester Flatt, died on Wednesday in a Nashville hospital. He was 88,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Scruggs and Mr. Flatt probably reached their widest audiences with a pair of signature songs: ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown,’ which they recorded in 1949 with their group the Foggy Mountain Boys, and which was used as the getaway music in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde; and ‘The Ballad of Jed Clampett‘ the theme song of the 1960s television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. (Mr. Scruggs and Mr. Flatt also appeared on the show at times.)
“But he also helped shape the ‘high, lonesome sound’ of Bill Monroe, often called the father of bluegrass, and pioneered the modern banjo sound. His innovative use of three fingers rather than the claw-hammer style elevated the five-string banjo from a part of the rhythm section – or a comedian’s prop – to a lead or solo instrument. What became known as the syncopated Scruggs picking style helped popularize the banjo in almost every genre of music.”
Let’s take a look at Scruggs’ Chicago connections, including video from his performance at the Old Town School of Folk Music in 2009.
Posted on March 29, 2012
Then And Now: Bob Forrest
By Steve Rhodes
Bob Forrest may be known to most of America who knows him as Drew Pinsky’s drug counselor sidekick on Celebrity Rehab, but he was once the frontman (and prodigious drug-taker himself) of cult favorite Thelonious Monster.
Forrest played and spoke at Harper College in Palatine earlier this month. Here are some clips of Bob back in the day followed by Bob now.
1. Fuck you, Jesus.
Posted on March 27, 2012
The Weekend in Chicago Rock
By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. Night Beats at the Empty Bottle on Saturday night.
Posted on March 26, 2012
The Week in Chicago Rock
By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. High Contrast at The Mid on Wednesday night.
Posted on March 23, 2012
South Side 16-Year-Old Gets Shot, Blows Up
Meet Chief Keef, Possibly Rap’s Next Big Thing
“Before he was arrested last December, Chief Keef, a 16-year-old hip-hop star, was almost completely unknown outside of Chicago’s South Side,” local freelancer David Drake writes in a long, fascinating piece for Gawker. “He had a song called ‘Bang,’ which had more than 400,000 views on YouTube, and he had a mixtape, and a dedicated following amongst Chicago high school students. But he was not a rapper who was known outside of the local high schools. His Facebook profile indicated that he worked as a sales rep for ‘Selling Dope.’ He lived with his grandmother.
“But last year, on Dec. 4, Chief Keef’s rap career changed. That afternoon, gunshots were fired from a Blue Pontiac Grand Prix in the Washington Park neighborhood of Chicago, just South of Hyde Park, and when police arrived at the scene, a suspect allegedly pointed a gun at them. The officers fired a shot back. Two young men, including Chief Keef, were apprehended; a third escaped. Rumors swirled that Keef had been killed in a shootout with police; in fact, he’d been arrested and charged with aggravated UUW, or unlawful use of a weapon. He was released sometime around New Year’s Day to live at his grandmother’s apartment for 30 days under house arrest, followed by another 30 days of home confinement.
“When his house arrest ended, on Jan. 2, WorldStarHipHop – a website that hosts hip-hop-related videos for an estimated two million unique viewers per day – posted a video of a young child in a hysterical fit of excitement. Keef had just been released, and the young boy was celebrating. He bounded around the room, rapping along to ‘Aimed At You,’ one of Chief Keef’s biggest songs. The earliest comments from the site’s largely hip-hop-oriented readership were marked by confusion: ‘Chief who?’ ‘Who the fuck is cheif Keef?’
“Keef was an entirely unknown outside of certain corners of Chicago’s South Side, but he had been thrust suddenly onto the national stage.”
Posted on March 20, 2012
The Weekend in Chicago Rock
By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. Nokies! at the Double Door on Sunday night.
Posted on March 19, 2012
The Week in Chicago Rock
By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. Bob Forrest at Harper College on Wednesday night.
Posted on March 16, 2012
Politics, Gangs & House: The History Of Hip Hop In Chicago
By Mr. Davey D
“This is a great interview we did with Jitu the Jaggernaut, a pioneering emcee who was down with the group Ten Tray. He clears up the myths about the Chi being late to the Hip Hop game. He says things were popping off in the 70s. He talks in great detail about how the influence House Music, Gangs, Black migration and the political turmoil in the Windy City helped shaped Chicago Hip Hop.”
Posted on March 14, 2012
The Traveling Kings of Chicago
Most Are Now Home With The Lord
“The Traveling Kings of Chicago was one of the first gospel quartet groups to tour the country in a black Cadillac limousine,” their Facebook page says. “They were part of African-American history from 1951 to 1961.”
The Traveling Kings of Chicago joined YouTube this week and got right down to posting audio from what they describe as the Gospel Golden Age. Let’s take a listen.
1. I Know A Man Named Jesus.
Posted on March 13, 2012