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KEXP Equalizer Chicago June recap & Jackie Greene

July 2, 2009

kexp_blog

New Equalize blog here.

In other news I saw Jackie Greene last night at Schubas, in my cherished role as a Rolling Rock rep.  I gave  beers to fans so cool they bought me a Rolling Rock later.

Jackie Greene sits among the artists tapped for the honor of playing with Phil Lesh and Friends, and his show last night explained why.  An amazing talent, with a powerful band and songs that mainline to the heart as if you’ve known them forever.  (Side note: Is he the next Tom Petty?)   He threw in covers of “Shakedown Street” and The Beatles’ “Taxman.”  He also played “Sugaree” as a birthday dedication, honoring the pre-show request of a fan in the crowd.  What a guy.

This good vibes fest came at the end of a long, tiring day for me too, with Chicago weather pulling its old tricks and crazy people acting rude on the El.  But  . . . say it with me . . . don’t tell me this town ain’t got no heart.  You just gotta look around.

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Equalizer tonight at Darkroom (KEXP.org blog)

June 26, 2009
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Alla at Hideout on MJ Day

June 26, 2009

I stopped by the Hideout for Alla’s set last night on behalf of Rolling Rock.

I’ve seen the band at Equalizer and edited the video of their interview at that event as well.

They were fantastic.  It was a fun crowd who of course enjoyed the Rolling Rocks.  Alla opened for Cordero, who played a great set as well, complete with brass and more strong female vocals.

Right now I just want to say how great it was to hear Alla break into “Wanna Be Startin Something.” People clapped and sang along, and personally I needed that moment.

Mama Say Mama Sa Ma Macusa, MJ.  Thank you for the lifetime of sounds.

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Ha Ha Tonka and SushiSamba

June 26, 2009

Here’s are two new pieces I wrote for Cheeky this week:

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A review of Ha Ha Tonka’s Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South (Bloodshot Records).

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An article on SushiSamba’s new Wednesday night music scene, including an interview with the restaurant’s Musical Director, Franco-Brazilian DJ Tchiky Al Dente.

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Piven article on Cheeky

June 23, 2009

I attended a packed benefit for the Piven Theatre Workshop on behalf of Cheeky on Saturday night.  Here’s the article.

It felt good to witness such an outpouring of time and money and effort for the arts in this economy.  And not just the arts, but arts education in particular.  On that note, I’m off to teach camp at Second City to some incredibly smart, funny, and motivated kids.

It’s shaping up to be a great summer!

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Robbed blind, more conveniently

June 16, 2009

There’s been plenty of talk about the Parking Meter “Pay at Box” Machines malfunctioning.

But I haven’t seen anything about the fact I noticed today: It’s impossible to add time to them!  To add time to your car’s “meter” before it expires, you have to pay again for whatever time you have left!

It’s true.  At an old-fashioned, coin-operated meter, let’s say I put in enough for 2 hours, the maximum time.  Let’s say I get a break from work, or whatever I’m doing, when that time is down to 45 minutes.  I need another hour, so I run outside and add enough quarters to bring the meter — my car’s own personal meter — back up to an hour and forty-five minutes.  Duh.

Take the same scenario with these new box machines.  Say I pay for two hours, the maximum time, at 12:00 noon.  The machine (if it’s working) prints a little piece of paper for me to place on my windshield, which reads “expires at 2pm.”   Perk: I didn’t need any quarters!  It took my credit card.  Problem: This little piece of paper is a final document.

Let’s say I happen to get a break from whatever I’m doing at 1:15pm.  This is my only break — I can’t leave my job/meeting/kids/doctor/interview/MRI again until 2:15pm.  But the little piece of paper cannot be amended to “tack on” time.  The machine, once it spits out that paper, holds no record of my car or what I’ve paid.  It’s not an individual little meter, assigned to me.  It’s a big, block-encompassing machine, and it knows nothing of my vehicle.  If I need to stay until 2:15pm, I must pay for another hour from scratch, as if the machine and I never met.  So even though I’m paid through to 2pm, and need only 15 more little minutes of time: I must pay for another full hour in order to stay parked.

Now, sure, if this is an everyday scenario I can budget my time better so that the little piece of paper’s expiration time will coincide exactly with my predictable break.  But life is not predictable.  And, yes, technically the reason for “maximum times” is that no one should stay at a metered spot for more than 2 hours.  Ha ha ha.

Consider the implications here.  Anyone in this city who wants to add time to their “meter” must start from scratch at the time they are able to make it out to the car.  Once more: You can no longer add time to a meter.

Forget, for a moment, the hike in rates.  Forget the host of Chicago parking injustices. Forget, too, the fact that (in their favor) the machines do add the convenience of credit card use.   Forget all that.

The city has taken away our ability to add time to meters until our time has expired!  Am I wrong?  Somebody tell me I’m wrong.  Somebody show me the button you push so that the machine remembers your credit card and knows how much time you have left.  I’m pretty sure that magic button doesn’t exist.

But hey.  What’s an extra pile of quarters on a credit card anyway, right?

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Outdoors, outdoors, please please please!

June 9, 2009

Here are two new Cheeky pieces — one about Movies in the Park, one about Theatre on the Lake.

See, Chicago?  I’m trying to work with you here.  I want to go outside.  I know you’ve been acting out lately, and maybe the problem is that you’re a little embarrassed by your behavior this Spring.  Maybe you’re doing that thing where you try to justify your inappropriate outbursts by staying angry and reiterating your point.  “I meant to be cold in June.  Rain and unpredictably chilly nights are all part of my plan for you!

Is that what’s happening?

Chicago, listen.  It’s time to break the cycle, and to start spending time with some of the more positive, ambitious weather patterns in your region.  Downstate is happy and sunny — why can’t you be more like him?   It’s time to at least try.  And hey, I’ll put April, May and the beginning of June behind me if you will.  Then we can move on to things like this and this. It’ll be as if Spring always existed.  Deal?

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The Modern Wing

May 19, 2009

modern wing

Phenomenal, breathtaking, inspiring, refreshing . . . and a hell of a foot bridge.

Free through this Friday 5/22!  Free Thursday & Friday evenings through Labor Day.

My rough top five:

- Steve McQueen’s Tricky video

- Cy Twombley Exhibit

- Robert Gober’s room with the 9/11 silkscreens and the tissue box and sink

- The entire top floor with its sky-lit European collection of Picasso et al.

- The interactive web in the architecture & design gallery

My write-up will be in Cheeky this Friday.

UPDATE: Here’s the article.

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Video on KEXP.org

May 18, 2009

Yes, I posted it below already.  But now check out our April Equalizer video on KEXP.org!


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Maxed Out

May 16, 2009

A co-worker understandably laughed today when I told her I wept while watching a documentary about . . . consumer debt.  No Katrina, no Taliban, no Holocaust.  Credit cards.

Maxed Out’s effectiveness lies not only in the mind-blowing facts it reveals about predatory lending and our national deficit, but in its many well-told stories.  Every character, from the first-hand sufferers to the academic talking heads, has a story arc.  You grow to care for the people and understand them long before the most devastating aspects of their stories are revealed, and all the while well-timed facts and figures bolster the point.  It’s just a great film.  And Elizabeth Warren is my new hero.

maxedoutmovie.com