About eight or nine years ago my friend Ajar brought a used 1995 Jeep Wrangler. While he took it for a test drive Ajar tried out the radio. It had a cassette player. And there was a cassette in it. Ajar didn’t know if it was from the previous owner, someone from the dealership, or maybe somebody else who test drove the car and wanted to try out a tape. Cruising down Chicago’s Western Avenue, Ajar turned up the volume. It was a mix tape. During the drive Ajar heard the Pixies’ “Wave of Mutilation” (the slower, better version), some Shellac, The Jesus Lizard, and the Sparks’ “Armies of the Night.” “I still don’t know if that tape played a part in me buying…
Essays, Interviews, Observations, Pop Culture, Stories, and other Dodginess
Posts from the “music” Category
Last week we decided to get together at Chicago recluse author Clive Javanski’s new Bucktown apartment and have “a sort of a housewarming” during which we would engage in another go-around of our Asshole Book Club. This time it was myself, Aidan, Clive, Cookie Roy, Depressed Johnny, Spider, and our lone female guest, Kyna – pronounced key + na. In Irish it means love and affection, although she offered neither on this particular night. The book list this time included Clive’s original essay, Road Pants. I brought an Irish play, The Cripple of Inishman. Spider brought an old copy of the Chicago Reader, Cookie Roy something about the Chicago polka scene, Aidan had with him linear notes from an R.E.M. album, and Kyna brought…
Aidan, he of the Depeche Mode Facebook covers, attended the Depeche Mode concert in Chicago Aug. 24 and is here to give a micro review. We’ll start with the set list and comments following some of the titles. The songs performed from the new album Delta Machine are in bold and Aidan says they chose the right ones and were to be expected. “Welcome to My World” “Angel” “Walking in My Shoes” “Precious” “Black Celebration” “Policy of Truth” “Should Be Higher” – amazing “Barrel of a Gun” “Higher Love” (sung by Martin Gore) ~ could do without this acoustic slowed-down version of a song with a majestic build-up in its original form. “Shake the Disease” (sung by Martin Gore) – enjoyed his “aaahhh-aahhha” parts…
The Dodgy 