If you are looking to catch some live music tonight I recommend you head on over to Metro for a great double bill featuring two great local bands. JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound’s most recent record, Want More, was my favorite local release of 2011 and Gold Motel’s last album, Summer House, was one of my favorites from 2010. The Uptown Sound play high energy soul music that should have the Metro crowd in a frenzy while Gold Motel will make you wish it was sunny and 80 degrees with their brand of summery pop music. While I expect JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound to perform songs from Want More, I’m looking forward to hearing Gold Motel play songs from Gold Motel, their sophomore record that is due in July. See you at Metro tonight.
Tag Archives: Metro Chicago
John Sayles is a Badass
Last night, Pete and I attended Literary Rock & Roll: American Dreamers, part of Story Week, at Metro. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Heidi Durrow read from her book, “The Girl who Fell from the Sky”. I’m putting it on my to-read list for sure. And I enjoyed hearing about her creative process, publishing woes, and charming Barabara Kingsolver story—one of my favorite writers. I love hearing that people I admire are nice.
After Durow’s reading, it was John Sayles‘ turn. He was there to share from his novel, “A Moment in the Sun”. John Sayles is MASSIVE. He’s like eight feet tall with sharp facial features, huge Popeye forearms, and a tuft of white hair protruding from his barely buttoned black shirt. Sayles looks like he could knock out a younger man with one punch. He looks like a comic book hero that fights alligators in the Amazon. But I could also picture him buying art in Taos. I’m a big fan of his films, especially “Lone Star”. However, I don’t really know what his book is about. Boy stuff—war or something. I’m sure it’s amazing—he’s definitely a passionate (and prolific) storyteller. But I obviously prefer stories about people and families and personal experience.
JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound at SXSW
If you are a music fan and have spent any time online this week you undoubtedly have seen many of the dispatches from SXSW. I actually ended one of my recent conversations about the music festival by saying “hashtag SXSW.” Highlights for me included watching Bruce Springsteen’s Keynote Address and seeing the return of the enchanting Fiona Apple. But besides seeing some of the big stars at SXSW, I always enjoy following the many great Chicago bands that are playing at the festival. One of my favorite local records of 2011 was Want More by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound. They are playing a show at Metro on Friday, April 27th with Gold Motel and you can now check out their terrific set from SXSW (Skip Ahead to 4:22:15) below:
And Gapers Block has an excellent SXSW Tour Diary from JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound. You can find that here.
