Rewind

Monday night my friend Susan and I went to see a preview of a new play called 'Rewind' at The Side Project Theatre in Rogers Park. Susan and I used to own a music club called Lounge Ax. Some of you may remember it, but most of you are probably too young to have actually gone to the club. The play is set in the 90's, which was the heyday of Lounge Ax. It's about a band that almost made it big. It's really interesting and fun for anyone who is into the live music scene. Side Project is a tiny little theater, but they have done a great job. Go see it if you get a chance.

The Mouse that Roared

Carrie Brownstein's almost always more interesting than most Monitor Mix blog hosted a roundtable on the state of the record label within what's left of the music industry.

Taking part were folks from Kill Rock Stars, Matador, Merge, Saddle Creek, Secretly Canadian, and Sub Pop. Enjoy.

Roundtable Discussion: The Role Of The Record Label

What if the state turns out to be just a small town?

Them Crooked Vultures listening party 11/17 @Debonair

So a few of us here @ the CTD compound has been digging on the release "Them Crooked Vultures" - a collaboration by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters/Nirvana and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin. The group sounds like the rockin monolith you would imagine them to sounds like. IT ROCKS. The US street date is tomorrow, 11/17. Debonair will be hosting a record listening party tomorrow evening. AND if you RSVP at info@debonairsocialclub.com - you can participate in FREE PBR from 9-10. Free beer. Rockin' tunes. That's a good tuesday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ6arQ-qK34&feature=player_embedded

Spirited Life Tour @ Weegee's Lounge

On Nov. 16th, Weegee's Lounge (3659 W. Armitage Ave) is looking forward to hosting the Spirited Life tour which will premier New Holland Artisan Spirits to the Chicago area. Beervangelists and spirit advisors will be here to sample the Knickerbocker Gin, Freshwater Rums, Zeppelin Bend straight malt whiskey, and the Dutchess Vodka. Weegee's bartenders have ceated some new innovative cocktails and Belmont Bulesque Revue will be performing.

Chicago Humanities Festival Starts Now

For the next eight days, The Chicago Humanities Festival is going to fill sites around town with over 70 lectures and talks about this year's theme, laughter. Got a current student ID? You get in free!

Jimmie Dale Gilmore likes to tell a story about when "After Awhile" was nominated for a Grammy for Best Folk Album. That categorization shocked him at the time, until he had the realization that folk just means "all of us." Humanities is just the smarty pants academic way of saying the same thing. This festival is about and for all of us folks.

Last night's talk at UIC with Linda Barry and Matt Groening, who are both also speaking elsewhere this week, enlightened me in a few unanticipated ways. I hope for the same from the other events, which include talks and/or performances by Dick Gregory, Chris Ware, Robert Reich, Harold Ramis, Jules Feiffer, and Don Byron. Lectures on laughter and Romans, Jews, Lenny Bruce, subversion, writing, insects, Keaton and Wittgenstein, and the Not So Funny Situation of Alternative Comics. Seats are even still available for the 50th Anniversary of Second City performance on Saturday night featuring unspecified "accomplished Chicago actors."


See you there.

All I Want Is Calm

"All I Want Is Calm" by Chicago favorites Zelienople, off of the upcoming album Give It Up (12/8 release on Type Records)

Talk Normal in Chicago

Gamera, Godzilla & Baby Godzilla take on the Great Pupkin

Every year our friend Dawn busts out an awesome Halloween costume for both girl and beast. This year is no exception.

Wow Dawn. Click the photo or post title to be taken to the whole set from 2009.

Stricken City at the Fader Fort

"Light: On the South Side" photographer on WTTW tonight!!

Hey kids,

Check out WTTW Ch. 11 "Chicago Tonight" tonight (Thursday Oct. 29) to see an interview with Michael Abramson, the photographer behind the amazing book put out by Numero Group.

Michael is an old friend of mine and his dog Hazel is a friend of my dog Caine. Last year, someone from Numero called Michael after they saw a feature on him and his photos in the Chicago Tribune magazine. I ran into Michael in the park the next day and he asked me if I had ever heard of Numero. Of course I told him how cool the label is, and he called them back and the rest is now history.

There is also a release party at the Chicago Cultural Center on Sunday. Here are the details:

The Numero Group presents: A Light On The South Side Release party, Discussion, and Social

Sunday November 1st,  2pm – 6pm Chicago Cultural Center
Discussion with Michael Abramson and Rick Kogan in the Claudia Cassidy Theater.
Reception in the G.A.R. Rotunda

Following the talk there will be a book signing and reception where Intelligentsia Coffee will be serving a special Numero-inspired creation, the 24-Carat Blend, and the Numero staff will be playing South Side classics in the G.A.R. Rotunda.

Oh, I almost forgot, the book is beautiful. And it would make a perfect Christmas or Hannukah gift for your music loving friends and/or family.

Textura / Simon Scott - Navigare

Simon Scott put together a nice track-by-track insight into the ideas behind Navigare's compositions & the production approaches he brought to the recording. Navigare is available now on Miasmah!

ZOMBIE DOUG'S

From the Time Out Chicago blog: Lula Cafe has earned a cult following for its brunch, but even more so for its Halloween transformations. Each year for the holiday, the restaurant gets in costume by dressing up as an entirely different restaurants—one year it became Olive Garden, complete with all-you-can-eat breadsticks and servers in loud ties; another year Houlihan’s took over, bringing its tacky fake ferns and stained glass table lamps with it. We just learned that this year the Lula crew will team up with Hot Doug’s to turn Lula into “Zombie Doug’s,” with an undead Doug Sohn manning the counter in his usual order-taking mode and zombie servers delivering signature haute dogs rechristened with classic zombie names—basically Doug’s sausages and dogs topped with Lula’s product for gourmet Doug’s-style dogs. Given the typical popularity of Lula’s Halloween night festivities, we expect the line to look eerily similar to that at Hot Doug’s, so at least they’ll win points for realism.

Speck Mountain on BTR

Listen now to the Speck Mountain Interview on Break Through Radio!

Or come see them live TONIGHT at Schubas Tavern. They go on at 9PM.

Look who scored a gear sponsorship!

Speck Mountain, on the Carrot Top Records label,...exhibit a maturity in style and delivery that is quite impressive and all too rare for relatively new bands; ultimately, comparisons don't do them justice. --Kelly Holsten, Swart Amps

 Come see Speck Mountain play live at Schuba's Tuesday October 20. They're going on early, so be prompt!

Curing Cancer with Carbon, Gold and Steely Dan

My mom's amazing MD Anderson doctor, Steven Curley, will be featured on 60 Minutes tomorrow (Sunday 10/18) talking about his ongoing research into cancer treatment with RF/radio waves and carbon nanoparticles. He told us at mom's appointment that it has cleared every research hurdle so far and is now in the design phase for human-sized versions. Once the FDA approves the design and the machine is built, it will move into further animal studies with large, pig-sized animals.

Check it out and don't forget to set your device to record an extra 60-90 minutes because of the football game!

Here is a link to the preview of the story, which looks like an update on the story they did about two years ago.

Who knew Dr. Curley was also a radio wave expert?!? Mom has complained about hearing strange transmissions ever since her liver surgery in 2004, but we always thought she was just hallucinating! :-)

Here's the webpage for his research project.


Edit: Here's the link to the full story on the CBS site.

17 Cool and Oft-Overlooked Things About MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX

I've spent a lot of time at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston over the last six year. It is a place that you hate to have to visit but are eternally grateful for its existence when you have to. It is a huge complex of eight buildings and can be quite overwhelming even to the experienced visitor.

Along with the excellent care that the center provides, they have made an extraordinary effort to make it a friendly and comfortable place to be for long periods of time, with the newer buildings sporting wide open waiting areas, flat screen TVs, aquariums, fountains, and even a sprinkling of recliners.

Here are some of the cool and overlooked features that we have come to appreciate.

• Patient Advocates. They can mediate between you and the friendly but overwhelming leviathan. 
• Cancer Prevention Building and Smoking Cessation Help
• Care for Caregivers lunch
• Complimentary/Integrative Medicine Education and Resources (CIMER) and online resources
• DVD and VHS machine and movie checkout for inpatient and outpatient rooms.
• Food Court/Commons in the Mitchell Building
• Sushi, Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian, Mediterranean, Mexican, coffee and a place to sit down
• Free Wifi, which is usually clogged during the middle of the day, but super-fast ethernet access if you can find an RJ-45 outlet somewhere. (shhh)
• Beautiful landscaping, gardening, and even balconies with a view in the Mays building  for a breather or a book. My favorite is the butterfly garden across from the Place of Wellness at the main building.
• Indoor exercise. The long connecting tunnels are a great place for a brisk walk, especially after 5pm. Raining? 90% humidity? 105F? No problem.
• Kids and teen areas.
• Learning center library and classes
• A wealth of information here and helpful librarians who can help you find the most current research on any type of cancer in less than thirty minutes.
• Classes on dealing with practical aspects of cancer treatment.
• Lectures on all sorts of cool stuff.
• Meditation Room
• Over thirty aquariums scattered all over the hospital, including three salt water tanks, of which we've only found two, in the radiation lab areas.
• Beautiful landscape photography in hallways and most rooms. It turns out that patients with a window or a nice landscape use about 20% less pain medication, and those in a well-lit room get out 22% faster! 
• The Place...of Wellness is a part of the Integrative Medicine Program at MDA, but deserves its own entry. With a location in the main hospital and another one in the Mays Building, there is almost always something cool happening at one spot or the other, and there is always a welcoming smile and a quiet place to sit down and have a free cup of green tea, have a friendly chat, hang with the fish, and check out or read a book. They also offer a full schedule that includes massage and acupuncture, talks and lectures, and free classes in tai chi, qigong, meditation, Hatha and Kundalini Yoga, mindfulness, tea, feldenkrais, painting, music therapy, laughter yoga, and tons more. All of these have been shown clinically to help reduce inflammation, which helps your body fight cancer, and recover from it after it is shown the door.
• Cool water wall and chill out area just outside of the food court at the Mitchell Building.

And jeez, Houston's not so bad either.