Get the details here.
Read a Gapers Block interview with CHIRP founder and General Manager Shawn Campbell here.
See what Chicagoist had to say about the CHIRPRadio.org launch here.
Tag Archives: CHIRP
Do This: CHIRP Website Launch Party Tonight at Lincoln Hall
Filed under Events, Internet, Music, Music Video, Radio/Podcasts
Summer Sessions on the Square
The Whistler and CHIRP present Summer Sessions on the Square beginning tonight with performances by The Sweats, Guitarras de Espana and Serengeti. Go to there.
Filed under Events, Good Vibes, Music
CHIRP Softball 2012
The CHIRP softball team begins its defense of the 2011 Kup League title tonight against the Wall Street Journal. Evidently, we moved up a class. See you at 6:30 at Kosciuszko Park.
Filed under Dogs, Events, Good Vibes, Internet, Pete, Radio/Podcasts, Sports
Artist You Should Know: Alex Winston
One of the best things about working for CHIRP is that I am introduced to an amazing amount of new music. Each week I get to listen to at least 5, and often times 10, new records. Sometimes a record grabs me immediately and I can’t put it down. Other times I listen to a record once or twice and then make a note if I think it’s interesting enough to go back to and revisit another time. The debut LP by Alex Winston, King Con, is the former. When I first played the incredibly catchy “Medicine” about a month ago, I knew this was going to be a record that I’ll be playing a lot this summer. If you like the accessible pop music of Lykke Li and the vocals of Kate Bush, you should give Alex Winston some of your time.
Filed under Music, Pete, Radio/Podcasts
Help CHIRP Radio Get an FM Broadcast License
I started volunteering for CHIRP back in 2009, a few months before the actual station, chirpradio.org, went live. It was an exciting time as we prepared for the launch of a station that was built, literally, from the ground up. When I started the goal was, and still remains, to procure a Low Power FM (LPFM) broadcast license. Yes, we have a strong online presence. And you can bet we will be ubiquitous at the summer festivals that will be starting very soon. But now is the time to act if you wish to hear us on the FM dial.
I love volunteering for CHIRP. Over the course of the last few years I have met some amazing people who have worked tirelessly to keep the station running so smoothly. People who care so much about the station that they devote countless hours to keep the station sounding better than a lot of commercial radio stations for little more than pride. It definitely is a labor of love.
If you have seen CHIRP signs around town or if you happened to pass by our booth at the Pitchfork Music Festival but have never taken the time to listen, I implore you to give it a try. Each time I tune in I am astonished at the tremendous music that I’m introduced to by incredibly informed DJs. You can definitely hear the passion. You will hear the passion.
Listen to Mike Bennett on Saturday mornings and you will hear one of the best DJs in the city on any station. Or tune in to hear the incredible record collections of Kumar McMillan and Dustin Drase. Check out the infectious enthusiasm of Nicole Oppenheim and Jodi Root. Every Wednesday I am preceded by two of my favorite CHIRP DJs, Andy Weber and Kristin Marks. They not only are enjoyable to listen to before I start, but they make it a tough act to follow by the time I roll in at 3pm. A heartfelt thank you goes out to all of the other extremely talented DJs who have brought me joy since we started streaming back in January of 2010. Thanks to Karin Fjellman, Evan Chung, Mike Scales, John Lombardo, Bobby Evers, Caitlin Lavin, Stephen Dobek, Bonnie Page, Matt Garman, Robin Whitney, Lawrence Peters, Dave Staples, Blake Burkhart, Mary Nisi, Jason Zenz, Elizabeth Ramborger, Patrick Seymour, Micha Ward, Jodie Bargeron, Mike Pakowski, Jocelyn Geboy, Kyle Akerman, Jenny Lizak, Owen Harris, Matt DeRose, Carolyn Kassnoff, Mike Gibson, Jenna Murfin, Andrew Mall, Austin Harvey, Erik Roldan, Craig Bechtel, Dee Titel, Tony Breed, Scott McKenna, Alli Klein, Jim Davis, Dylan Peterson, Michelle Nadeau, and Brendan O’Neill. I’m sure I’m missing somebody, but just know that your work has been appreciated too.
And I can’t forget to mention the remarkable contributions of music directors Billy Kalb and Pat Masterson. The station would not sound as great as it does without the extraordinary efforts of these two guys.
And of course, I could not write about CHIRP without talking about the great Shawn Campbell, who started the whole darn thing. It’s because of her super-human efforts that you are able to hear a tremendous station that continues to bring you the best music anywhere.
A lot has happened in my life since 2010 and through it all the one constant has been CHIRP Radio (and baseball). I can’t imagine my life without it.
And now to the plea:
Want to help CHIRP get a low-power FM broadcast license? The FCC is accepting public comments right now about whether to allow new stations in big cities. There’s an easy tool you can use from Prometheus Radio Project. You can use the copy they provide, or you can write your own. Either way, it would be great if you could mention that you are a supporter of CHIRP Radio in Chicago. Here’s the link: http://prometheusradio.org/takeaction
See you at chirpradio.org and hopefully, with your help, on the FM dial soon.
image courtesy of LaFamilia Green.
Filed under Good Vibes, Local News, Miscellaneous, Mollie, Music, Pete
Weekend Whirlwind
Pete may have lost his job on Friday, but we still had a great weekend!
Hit the Wall, performed by The Inconvenience at Steppenwolf’s Garage Theater, was loud, intense, emotional, and SOLD OUT. We were lucky to have scored tickets for Friday night’s show.
Saturday was spent record store hopping. We began with our traditional tacos at Big Star.
Then headed into Logan Square to check out Cains & Abels at Saki. Saki featured an amazing in-store performance line-up, sponsored by CHIRP and BrooklynVegan Chicago.
I was also looking for a few RSD exclusives. No luck with the Feist/Mastodon collab. But we did score The Numero Group’s yacht rock compilation, The Flaming Lips/Mastodon joint, Cains & Abels’ very exclusive cover of Harry Nilsson’s ”Turn on your Radio” put out by Whistler Records, and the talented and prolific Ryan Duggan’s cute Saki RSD poster.
The good ol’ Fullerton bus took us to Logan Hardware, where I leapt across the store when I spotted the “Tebowie” 7″. YES!!!!! Pete picked up Patterson Hood’s 7″ release of “After it’s Gone” and some words of encouragement from a former co-worker. We also enjoyed a few games of Mario Bros. and Frogger in the arcade and got a kick out of the “record butcher” wrapping up pounds of sound in the back room. After a stop at our beloved Quenchers for two pints, a perfect baseball game, and a photobooth session, we jumped back on the bus back to Saki to enjoy The Hollows‘ performance.
Pete and I rounded off the night with a couple more pints at Cleo’s and a stroll through Permanent Records. Five bus rides and three train rides. Quite a day!
Sunday began with our weekly stroll with the Sociabulls. Stickers braved the wind, waves, and geese with her buddies Mia and Tiger. I’m not gonna lie…it was really cold and windy. I think I just finally warmed up.
Our friend Linda kindly gave us her Cubs tickets for the day, and we met our wonderful pals Stephanie and Mary at “The Friendly Confines”. Yes. It was cold. But sunny! We made it through five innings and finished out the game at a nearby bar. It was so great to finish the weekend with those lovely ladies!
Perfume Genius at Schubas
Tuesday night Mollie and I went to Schubas to see a show by artist Mike Hadreas, who performs under the name Perfume Genius. I’ve been listening incessantly to Put Your Back N 2 It, the most recent Perfume Genius record, since it arrived at CHIRP a couple of months ago. The songs are sparse, often times with little more than piano accompaniment, but have so much heart and raw emotion running through them that you can feel the heartache when Hadreas sings “I will carry on with grace, zero tears on my face” as he does on the haunting “No Tear.” Hadreas, who is gay, sings accessible songs containing universal elements like love, loss, hope, and fear that are familiar to any person no matter their sexual orientation. Schubas has long been one of the great places in Chicago to see live music and I can’t think of a better place to see Perfume Genius. The sound was pristine and the nearly sold-out audience was so attentive that you could hear a pin drop.
After a wonderful set, Hadreas announced that instead of leaving the stage and coming back out for the obligatory encore he would just duck under his piano for 10 seconds. And that is exactly what he did. He then proceeded to sing two more songs, and as tears streamed down his face after the last song (the unreleased “Katie”), he said, “Thank You” and briskly walked off stage leaving the audience alone with memories of a truly magical evening.
Watch the Video for “Hood” by Perfume Genius:
Weekend Review
It was an extra busy weekend for Team ZimmerGreen starting with a Friday night viewing of 21 Jump Street. We’ve been wanting to see this since it was released because we were both fans of the original TV series and were interested in seeing if we agreed with all of the positive reviews of the film adaptation. The movie stars the skinny version of Jonah Hill and an extremely likeable Channing Tatum. It also features an excellent supporting cast that includes Ice Cube, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, Ellie Kemper, Chris Parnell, Nick Offerman, and the guy who plays Nick on New Girl. And the movie is often hilarious. Keep an eye out for a couple of terrific cameos too.
After the movie we headed down to Lincoln Park to try out a new restaurant called Forza. The restaurant is nice with exposed brick, tables on one side and a long bar on the other side. The bar has large TV’s that were all tuned to sports until 9pm when the lights dimmed and for some reason all the TV’s switched over to a Karl Lagerfeld fashion show featuring Florence minus The Machine. We started off with a couple of cocktails (Manhattan, Martini) that were decent and competitively priced. We shared the Sicilian Rice Balls which were really good and the Mascarpone Polenta which we thought was a little too runny. We also shared the Campagna di Campofelice (mushrooms, artichokes, olives, truffle oil, topped with an organic egg) pizza which was very good and a bargain at 10 dollars. Overall, the drinks were average, the food was good and fairly priced, and the service was exceptional.
After dinner we walked down the block to Lincoln Hall to see Swedish duo First Aid Kit. We arrived early enough to see the openers Peggy Sue and I really liked their A cappella version of Ray Charles’ “Hit the Road Jack” and their cover of “Heatwave” by Martha & The Vandellas. First Aid Kit took the stage and played an inspired set of music featuring songs from their excellent new record The Lion’s Roar. Highlights included the sweet “Emmylou,” the lovely “Blue,” and a great version of the Patti Smith classic, “Dancing Barefoot.”
On Saturday morning we woke up early for our weekly visit with SocialBulls, a local dog walking group. Stickers led the pack with two other white pitties, Questifer P. Doggins and Lacy. It was a beautiful sunny morning to spend with cute dogs and other dog lovers.
Saturday night we ventured down to the Ukranian Village for the Outer Minds record release party at the Empty Bottle. Before heading to the show we decided to check back in with the recently renovated Bite Cafe. The good news is that the space is still great and the food is even better. Mollie had the Falafel which she didn’t share but it looked really good. I had the fish fry dinner which I didn’t share and was also really good. We shared a lovely chocolate brownie with pretzel ice cream, pretzel crunch, and peanut butter caramel drizzle.We washed it all down with a couple of cans of Shiner Bock. It doesn’t get too much better. After dinner we headed to the show. I was excited to see Summer Girlfriends, which features the amazing Kristin Marks, an excellent CHIRP DJ who precedes my show on Wednesday afternoons. Summer Girlfriends played a nice set of catchy guitar rock that had me anticipating a proper release. Next up was Radar Eyes who really impressed me with their combination of garage rock fire power and punk rock energy. We wanted to stay to see Mannequin Men, who put out one of the best local records of 2011, but we were tired and had to be up early for Easter services so we left having already seen Outer Minds a few weeks ago at the The Hideout for the SXSW send off party. With Mannequin Men scheduled to play Do-Division and Outer Minds playing Pitchfork, we hope to catch both of those bands in the very near future. The show was recorded and you can watch the archive here.
On Sunday morning we woke up early to attend Easter services at Holy Covenant Methodist Church. Having been to Catholic School most of my life I wasn’t sure what to expect at this service. But within the first 10 minutes I was singing Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” along with a smiling choir. If I went to mass at St. Patricia in 1985 and had to sing along with something from Born in the U.S.A., my Catholic career might not be as stalled as it is today.
After church we headed down to Pilsen to Nightwood, one of our favorite restaurants in the city. I had an amazing bagel sandwich while Mollie had a grilled asparagus and cheddar omelet.
The next few hours were spent either napping or watching Chicago sports teams until our Pete’s Pizza arrived in time for Mad Men.
This week we are scheduled to see Perfume Genius at Schubas, Expo ’76 at Simon’s, while also checking out the CIMM Festival and the awesome CHIRP Record Fair this weekend. Stay tuned for updates.
