Lollapalooza at 20: Highlights, lowlights, revolution and evolution
Lollapalooza wasn’t built to last two years, let alone intended to be around long enough to celebrate a 20th anniversary Aug. 5-7 in...
Get the full story >>Gatekeeper's classic industrial sound
Gatekeeper may have bailed on Chicago for the hipster climes of Brooklyn last year, but the electronic dance music duo still has its...
Get the full story >>Brian Wilson turns mind to Gershwin
To make his "Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin" album, the former Beach Boys singer listened repeatedly to more than 100 of the late pop...
Get the full story >>Christian rockers stuck running gantlet
Being a member of a Christian rock band is not for the meek.
Get the full story >>Winning hit TV show gives singer Javier Colon a 'Voice'
Javier Colon was almost the champion who never was. The first winner of NBC's hit series "The Voice" nearly backed out of the competition...
Get the full story >>Jill Scott is making music, starting conversations
Before she was a renowned R&B; singer, Jill Scott was working the boisterous poetry circuit in Philadelphia. So when she gave a spoken-...
Get the full story >>Which Paul McCartney show should you see?
Demand for Paul McCartney's first Wrigley Field show Sunday is higher than that for his second show Monday for obvious reasons:
Get the full story >>Amy Winehouse gets postmortem surge in record sales
Historically, pop stars’ albums soar up the charts in the wake of their deaths, and Amy Winehouse is no exception.
Get the full story >>Muti says he will stop doing opera in Salzburg
Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti has pointedly dropped Salzburg from his operatic outposts in future seasons....
Get the full story >>Muti book a compelling saga of a rich life lived in music
As he approaches his 70th birthday on Thursday, Riccardo Muti is entering a phase of his international career in which consolidation is...
Get the full story >>Chicago prepares to honor one of its own: saxophone legend Von Freeman
It has taken the National Endowment for the Arts three decades to recognize Chicago tenor saxophone legend Von Freeman with the country's...
Get the full story >>Bell, Grant Park Chorus soothe noisy Millennium Park with gentle Faure Requiem
Gabriel Faure's Requiem is not the first work that springs to mind when one thinks of choral music appropriate for performance at Millennium...
Get the full story >>Gillian Welch draws from the deepest wells of American folk
Gillian Welch was raised in California, the child of showbiz vets, and found her way to country and bluegrass only after a peripatetic...
Get the full story >>Wild Flag plays like they have something to prove
"I'm a racehorse," yelped Wild Flag guitarist/vocalist Carrie Brownstein like an enthusiastic underdog out to beat the odds Friday at a...
Get the full story >>Excerpts from Kot interviews with McCartney since 2001
On living up to the Beatles legacy (from 2001):
Get the full story >>McCartney's 9/11 documentary debuts Sept. 10
A documentary about Paul McCartney's experiences in New York immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks on the city is to debut the day...
Get the full story >>Taste of fame has Anvil focused on music
Years ago, Steve "Lips" Kudlow, lead singer and guitarist for the Canadian heavy metal band Anvil, had his tarot cards read.
Get the full story >>What Paul should play
Paul McCartney has been playing epic 35-plus song sets on his current baseball stadiums tour, and his July 31 and Aug. 1 Wrigley Field...
Get the full story >>Heart is back, even if it never left
This is Heart at the 37-year mark: Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, 61 and 57, respectively, are sitting on their tour bus, eating granola,...
Get the full story >>Pianist Lang Lang to play Lyric Opera next year
The Chinese superstar pianist Lang Lang may draw mixed reviews in Chicago but with sentimental regularity he keeps returning to the town...
Get the full story >>Marc Cohn went back to 1970 for latest album
Two years ago was the 40th anniversary of a number of things singer-songwriter Marc Cohn had been reading about: "Easy Rider," Woodstock,...
Get the full story >>Lollapalooza 2011 on way to sellout, record attendance
Lollapalooza is on its way to another attendance record when it lands Aug. 5-7 in Grant Park.
Get the full story >>Steve Earle transforms from bad boy to eminence grise
When it comes to outlaw country, there was a time when Steve Earle was the new bad boy on the block. At the Vic Theatre on Tuesday night, it...
Get the full story >>Dohnanyi, Ax and the CSO produce Brahmsian splendor at Ravinia concerts
With a couple of exceptions, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's residency weeks at Ravinia this summer are not notable for blockbuster events....
Get the full story >>Josh Groban charms his way through 18 songs at the United Center
It was telling how much time Josh Groban spent doing something other than singing during his Wednesday night concert at the United Center.
Get the full story >>For Grant Park chorus master Bell, it's 10 productive years -- and counting
Amid a hectic transatlantic schedule that has Christopher Bell shuttling each season between engagements in the United Kingdom and Chicago,...
Get the full story >>Jennifer Hudson's dramatic Ravinia homecoming
Jennifer Hudson's concert Sunday night, the second of two weekend performances at Ravinia, was part homecoming celebration, part self-esteem...
Get the full story >>Tech N9ne flying under the radar
Tech N9ne is one of the most popular rappers to have no media profile.
Get the full story >>L.A. jazz giant pays homage to Chicago
The most august composer in jazz has been living in Los Angeles for roughly 60 years, but – at 92 – he still can't get Chicago...
Get the full story >>Wild Flag: 'It just sort of exploded'
Carrie Brownstein is rolling on the stage while simultaneously trying to play her guitar and break it. The normally reserved Mary Timony...
Get the full story >>Krzysztof Penderecki's enticing program at Grant Park
The Ravinia Festival once offered "composer's evenings" on which such luminaries as Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copland presented their own...
Get the full story >>Ramsey Lewis unveils a few bright 'Colors'
The last several years have been signficant for Chicago pianist Ramsey Lewis, who has enjoyed a burst of creativity at an age when many...
Get the full story >>Soundgarden reunion continues strong
The reunited Soundgarden that played the UIC Pavilion Saturday night really had nothing to prove that it didn't already prove last summer at...
Get the full story >>Meet the omnipresent Chrissy Murderbot
Though Chrissy Murderbot transplanted himself from Kansas City, Mo., to Chicago, you'd never know that the DJ-producer was anything but a...
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