Three someone-just-got-paid-and-you-know-what-that-means-yep-time-to-pay-bills reasons to to make sure that wine is a twist off and head on over to Millennium Park tonight…
1. Summer’s not going to last forever. Sure, we just spent a record 45 straight days in the 80’s and above, but if they’re playing football you know the end is coming soon. So, take advantage of yet another free Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz concert at the park we call Millennium. Tonight Alfonso Ponticelli and Swing Gitan, Chicago’s premier Gypsy jazz band are celebrating the face of Gypsy jazz, Django Reinhardt, with a night of his music on what would be his 100th birthday.
Back in late July, we clued you in on the Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz kick off event featuring Tortoise performing alongside some of Chicago’s top jazz musicians. Luckily for us, a brief video is now available thanks to youtuber JA77BO. The 2:48 clip gives us a sample of the sweet jazz-meets-post-rock sounds that hovered over Millennium Park the evening of Thursday, July 29, and will no doubt leave us salivating for more. Enjoy:
Lollapalooza 2010 and Pitchfork Music Festival 2010 came and went, but if the massive festivals were just too much for your feeble little body and out of your price range, don’t stress. Many Lollapalooza and Pitchfork acts have already booked return trips to the windy city.
1. I love Tortoise for many reasons, one of them being that they love their hometown. Either they’re playing incredible shows in Chicago like the one last February at Lincoln Hall or they’re playing with other incredible musicians such as when John McEntire joined Broken Social Scene at Pitchfork Music Festival. Well, tonight is no different as the band joins some of Chicago’s top jazz players including cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, multi-reedist from 8 Bold Souls Ed Wilkerson Jr., sax player Greg Ward, flautist Nicole Mitchell and pianist Jim Baker to kick off the Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz series.
Coming off an exciting yet controversial performance at last week’s Downtown Sound concert at Millennium Park, Chicago’s hip hop heroine Kid Sister has released a new video for “Big N Bad”, the latest single from her long awaited debut, Ultraviolet. She’s definitely repping Chi-town hard in this Rik Cordero-directed clip as it looks like a fun summer day complete with a trip to the roller rink and a stop at local favorite Superdawg. Check out the full video below:
IT’S HERE! Pitchfork Music Festival 2010 starts TODAY! Who’s excited? Of course, you’ll probably be sweating yourself silly in Union Park this weekend, but there are some other shows worth checking out this weekend.
And before we go, we’re going to have some really cool Pitchfork Music Festival coverage right here all weekend long beginning today with the first of three live blogs! Oh yeah! It should go up around 3 p.m.-ish this afternoon. Before you hit up the fest, check out our Pitchfork Music Festival 2010 Preview, where we dish about all our must-see acts.
Here are three reasons to say “Screw You!” to your 4th of July holiday hangover and firework your way on over to Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion this evening…
1. Monday Night…in the park…or something like that anyway. Now that July 4 is done we’re officially heading into the dog days of summer, which means your chances to see killer acts at Millennium Park’s Priztker Pavilion for the Downtown Sound Music Series are numbered with only three shows remaining after tonight. But tonight’s bill might just be the best as Chicago lofi garage-y psych rockers Disappears plan on making quiet a bit of racket. Their most recent release, Lux, has pushed their sound to the sonic extremes with epic guitar crashes and pyshchedelia-tinged walkers that stay on course but change just enough to remain engaging. It’s really good – in fact, you will probably see a review of Lux on Loud Loop in the very near future.