Results tagged “gregkot”

Our friends over at WBEZ got creative and had a little fun. For a recent review from Sound Opinions - the new Fiery Furnaces album - the crew got Arthur Jones of Post-it Note Stories to animate Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis. Check out the WBEZ Blog for more information. It's a pretty entertaining twist for a program we quite enjoy. But animating music critics? It's been done!

Sound Opinions’ co-hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot are presenting A Hard Day's Night at The Music Box tomorrow night. The first, and in our opinion best, Beatles film is required watching for any fan of either music or cinema. It's the kind of film you watch, jaw dropping as you realize just how many movies have ripped off its style, and just how fabulously and caustically witty the Beatles are. It's loopy story will reel you in, um, no pun intended, and we think it's swell there's a chance to see it on the big screen since we've only ever viewed on out telly.

Downtown Owl is the latest book from fellow Midwesterner Chuck Klosterman, a journalist and former writer for Spin magazine. A dark comedy set in a small town in North Dakota, the story focuses on the population of Owl, which consists mostly of hard-working people that hate the government, impregnate teenage girls and lack an understanding of pop culture.

We know that Sound Opinions hosts Jim Derogatis and Greg Kot have some staunch viewpoints on popular music. But how would they fare if they veered out of their comfort zone? Say, at a dinner?

The Smashing Pumpkins finally returned home last night and were predictably panned by both DeRo and Kot (were they sitting together in the balcony one wonders?). One of our readers wrote in to tell us the crowd was the problem though, including folks "playing with picture templates on their camera phones, screaming horribly at the most inappropriate times, and worst of all the whiny girl who sat behind us and spent the entire show talking." Were you there? What was your take? Is Billy Corgan off his rocker or are the fans really to blame?

O.K., not really, but he did sort of join the band during their set in Grant Park last week.

Early-bird cheapie 3-day passes for Lollapalooza went on sale this morning and, unsurprisingly, sold-out almost immediately. Since the bill has yet to be announced, folks who got the tickets are putting their faith in the promoters to not screw them over with lame-o acts. We're still reasonably convinced Radiohead will be headlining one of the nights, so in our estimation the $60 would be worth that alone.

We've been hearing about director Kevin McAlester's disturbingly intimate look at Roky Erickson's life for quite some time, anticipating the documentary's arrival in the Midwest. And tonight we don't have to wait any longer. "You're Gonna Miss Me," is a documentary that outlines the story of Erickson, who made his name as lead singer from the 13th Floor Elevators. As the story goes, Roky was arrested in 1969 for carrying one joint. He entered an...

One of the most revealing things Wilco's leader Jeff Tweedy says on this week's Sound Opinions (airing on WBEZ 8 p.m. tonight, 11 a.m. tomorrow, and available as a podcast after that) is his answer to Greg Kot's question of what stood in the way of Wilco being truly collaborative in the past. Tweedy answers, "Well, I probably stood in the way of that a lot of times, to be completely honest." We've been following...

When it rains, it pours. Greg Kot has some line-up information and ticket prices on his blog over at the Tribune for the Pitchfork Music Festival July 13-15, 2007. Tickets don't go on sale until Monday, so if you missed the cheap Lolla tickets like the rest of us, put that money towards this little festival. Cat Power, Clipse, Of Montreal, and Iron and Wine are a few of the bands that Greg lists as...

Greg Kot drops two scoops in today's Tribune. The Pitchfork Music Festival will return to Chicago's Union Park July 14th and 15th. In addition, Girl Talk will be on the bill. As someone on the Sound Opinions message board said: "Finally, a Girl Talk show I can get into." Girl Talk last appeared in Chicago for a much-anticipated, much-talked about New Year's Eve show at Empty Bottle. Last year's Pitchfork Music Festival was a first...

Chicago sure seems conducive to fostering public relationships between critically abrasive duos. We produced one of the most famous teams in movie criticism with Siskel and Ebert, and who can ever forget the headline-shattering team of Marin and Mancow? We think it’s time to add DeRogatis and Kot to that list as well. Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis head up Sound Opinions, what they claim to be the world’s only rock 'n' roll talk show....

Though our Christmas holiday was lovely enough (thanks for asking), the death of James Brown cast a pall over its early morning hours. He was a conflicted man with his share of personal and legal troubles, but in a genre that too often fails to recognize those who paved the way, James Brown’s influence over hip-hop may still be underrated, despite all his renown. The AP story on Brown’s passing is poorly written and researched,...

We knew it was coming. The sophomore slump. The uninspiring live tour. Who is it this time? It’s the Killers.

We have no beef with The Chicago Tribune’s primary rock critic, Greg Kot. We’ve never accused him of exactly being cutting edge, but we do believe he writes insightful and honest critiques for the most part. Unfortunately, since Matt Lurie left the paper, the Trib had been pretty devoid of anything approaching decent music coverage. They’re consistently behind the trends and most of their freelancers would be better used to compose press releases instead of...

Usually we’re not big proponents of the whole, “hey, look, here’s a cool link!” mentality, but this is an exception to the rule. While everyone was (rightfully) going ga-ga over the whole kick-off to the Clusterfest Season 2006 (and no, we’re not talkin' 'bout MOBfest) Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis snuck a hell of a score past the goalie.

Though Chicago venues for genuinely soulful jazz and blues are dwindling, city denizens could always count on Chicago Public Radio’s WBEZ for their fix of these American art forms. But come 2007, none of the three CPR stations will carry blues, jazz, or any other music programming thanks to a switch to an all-talk format.

If you look at this weekend’s music listings, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s nothing more than a typical winter weekend of local and national acts hitting Chicago’s stages. But the significance of this weekend is far greater than the bills would suggest. For the first time, Chicago’s music venues are working together to ensure their own survival. Last week, we told you about the 2006 Hawk Winter Music Festival. Today, Greg Kot and Jim...

In one of the biggest upsets at last night’s Grammys, one of Chicago’s most talented artists was robbed of the top honors for his stellar work in the past year. As unbelievable as it might seem, Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones didn’t win the Grammy for Best Polka Album. And Kanye West is gonna have a problem too, ya'll. Unlike last year, we chose not to subject ourselves to the Grammy awards so we’ve been catching up...

We’re not sure if you noticed, but Greg Kot was a busy guy at the end of last week. On Friday, Kot reported that the Smashing Pumpkins will not be reuniting at Coachella this April. Over the last couple weeks, published reports created a veritable Hokey Pokey of information: you had your Pumpkins in, you had your Pumpkins out. Whether Corgan backed out or was never in it to begin with remains a cause for...

A couple of things caught our attention yesterday and we thought we’d share them. First off Ike Reilly will be on NPR’s World Café today. Now this would be easier if Chicago’s WBEZ carried the show, but it doesn’t so we all have to continuously check the Archives in order to see when they have that up to hear the stylings of Libertyville's finest. And far be it from us to not break news...

Last week saw the release of local pop critic Greg Kot's Top Ten List for the last year's entire recorded output and it was a tad -- okay, a lot -- on the safe and predictable side. At least he tried to mix it up a bit in today's Tribune with his Top Ten Local Releases from 2005.

Call it a case of Joni Mitchell’s Disease. Imagine you’re a folkie singer-songwriter from the 60s. In your genre, Bob Dylan is the standard-bearer and is the first name spoken when discussing those who’ve left their mark on it. But you’ve made great contributions too and can hear the influence of your work even today. After 30 years of waiting to be recognized and lauded for your contributions, what do you do? You do it...

Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis are unusual. They have been long-time Chicago critical stalwarts in the rock and pop vein. They have pioneered the idea of written rock criticism expanded into a talk-show format on both radio and television. Instead of merely being pasty music dorks hiding behind a keyboard they have both been brave enough to be pasty music dorks reflecting the white glare of the public eye.

Last night, some of Chicago’s best-known music writers and editors got together to answer a simple question: how does an unknown band get nice things written about them? The discussion, presented by the Chicago Music Commission was titled “Pitching Your Story: Media and Local Music” with Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot serving as moderator. In attendance were Scott Plagenhoef of Pitchfork Media; Peter Margasak of the Chicago Reader; David Jakubiak, with the Chicago Sun-Times;...

Chicagoist looks for any excuse to put off doing actual work. Unseasonal temps certainly fit the bill. So we're spending our day staring out the window and letting ourselves get distracted by:

Ah, road trips. Fluorescent lights and prefab office furniture are no good for anybody and our favorite cure for office blahs is a few hours on the road. With Columbus Day approaching, now’s the time when we start thinking about getting out of the office for a long weekend. Summer road trips are where it’s at for some people but it’s hard to commune with the road with the windows rolled up and the A/C...

Attention, lovers of live music! We’re not really sure how to put this delicately so we won’t: if you end up staying home this weekend, you’re a fucking poseur. We say this not because we are looking down from our hipper-than-thou mountain and proclaiming that WE are true music fans and YOU are not. Nay, it is the eclecticism in this weekend’s offerings that demand you get your homework done, dip into your savings, bring...

As the temperature is expected to hit 90 degrees again today, we’re having a hard time getting into the sweater-weather mindset of fall that usually hits us around this time. Luckily, the Tribune and Sun-Times have some fall arts previews to get us in the mood. We’ve already given you the lowdown on the upcoming fall seasons at various theaters around town. But two shows out in the ‘burbs have pushed our fey and geek...