To celebrate 55 years of Lego, the company created fifty-five posters depicting popular culture vis a vis the reliable, interlocking toy brick.  The complete list includes movies, stories and other elements, but I wanted to single out the nineteen music related ones here.  They cover the gamut from bands to albums to songs, mostly playing [...]

Contributed by GeeForjay (@312mrg) I was jolted into a harsh reality during my work commute this week, suddenly realizing that the calendar has unofficially flipped from summer to autumn. Fall brews are on tap, the sun’s rising later in the morning and going down earlier in the evening. While fall is unequivocally my favorite season [...]

Whosampled.com is an interesting new site that claims to “explore the DNA of modern music”.  The makers have assembled a massive database of sampled music — allowing users to explore where songs have been used, by whom and where — as a means to create a rich web of music exploration. What to know where [...]

We’ve got Beastie Boys on our mind this week… From the AVClub:  170 Beastie References explained and the 23 minute Beastie Boy Megamix And from its sister publication, The Onion:  a Beastie Boys History InfoGraphic

Saturday night’s show had a little of everything we love about Mr. Blotto: some old chestnuts and some newer jams, some tunes that felt squeaky clean out of the rehearsal room and a few numbers that seemed spontaneous and fresh. Brixie’s provided an exceptional venue  and a was fine gathering place for the first Barn [...]

Mr. Blotto bassist Mike Bolger considers himself a very lucky man.  “If you’re lucky, you get to really enjoy and connect with music,” he tells me.  “Luckier than that, you are able to play it.  Even luckier you get to be in a band… and write your own stuff.  Still luckier you get to play [...]

Once again, The Barn turned up the heat in La Grange, transforming The Mambo Room into an island paradise on a chilly Winter night.  Combining The Ark Band's dramatic backdrop with The Barn's full scale light show, the crowd got a chance to leave behind the outside world and let the power of reggae music [...]

Lest we make this next event all about the honoree, we wanted to add a few words about our featured performers:  The Ark Band.

I wanted to write a little something for the blog that explored the connection between Bob Marley and the great city of Chicago.  A man of the world, Bob did some seriously globe trotting in his years and spent time living in Europe and touring the world over.  I was curious if there was any [...]

As one of the most recognizable popular music icons and the first superstar from the third world, there are certain things that virtually every informed music fan knows about Bob Marley.  We celebrate him as the rare individual who could represent the disadvantaged and downtrodden while still communicating a message of empowerment and positivity, wrapped [...]