Back in May, I cleaned my room. It was a strenuous, detailed undertaking, and I was better for it. Now it’s time to take care of my desk and the greater desk area.
While I do so, I’ll leave you with some Good Tunes for your Saturday afternoon, assuming, of course, that you aren’t hearing your own bevy of good tunes at Lolla. Click on the artists’ names for my interviews.
Cheers,
JACK
Rubblebucket — Came Out of a Lady
Melee in Bucktown * July 22, 2011 at Debonair * Free Show
Spotlight on: Young General
“This was the moment. This was why I do all this stuff, to hope that these moments happen. When they do, you feel great. I wish I could capture that more often. That’s the disappointing side to it. It’s like when your website gets a thousand hits, and you’re like “I wish I could get 100,000.” You always want more as an artist. You hunger to get it out there.”
— Young General, February 23, 2009
The Melee is four days away! So we’ll be taking this week at ReadJack to promote our artists day-by-day. First up, our fantastic headliner, Young General. Got your White Sox Fitted on?
White Sox Fitted, feat. Mikkey Halsted, Twone Gabz, Lee England Jr.
Continue reading “Melee in Bucktown, spotlight on: Young General”
Time to Settle Accounts
May 29, 2011: Good tunes and two macs.
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NEXT: And the living is easy. (5.30.11)
PREVIOUS: White girl rappers and the moving net. (5.29.11)
And, because you deserve it… Continue reading “Good tunes and two macs.”
Tomorrow, I unveil a new feature at Lists That Actually Matter: Three Music Videos You Haven’t Seen. This feature will run every other week; readers will get to vote on the best video, with the winner getting a People with Passion interview. To be eligible, a video must be under 5000 views on YouTube. To nominate a video, email me at jack@readjack.com, or tweet me a link @readjack.
This week, we’ve got “Fresh Air Syndrome” by Que Billah, directed by Da Visionaryz; “Ooh U Got Me” by Akasha, directed by Josh Kalven; and “Vision Vision” by Loyal Divide, directed by BBGUN. (Videos below and Chicago music news below!) Continue reading “Three Music Videos You Haven’t Seen (NEW FEATURE!)”
Very excited to be a weekend away from this Monday’s show at Double Door. MC Rota of the Nocturnals; Jason Gatz, Ashley Good, and Whammy; and FiveSTAR — Young General, Marcus Rezak (guitar), Matt Longbons (bass), Greg Fundis (drums). And if you want to stay late, DJ Tank will be on the ones and twos.
Doors open at 8:30 PM… show at nine… I will be co-hosting with Young General… and we will be shooting footage during the FiveSTAR performance for an upcoming video. Five bucks at the door, CD giveaways, White Sox Fitted tees, women’s wallets from J. Gatz, Blue Russians at the bar. Find me and say hello!
Best,
JACK
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Lineup card and writeups from Jack M Silverstein below… Continue reading “Double Door, 3.14.11: FiveSTAR, Young General, Jason Gatz, MC Rota”
ReadJack.com’s Good Tunes for Two Bucks
“Tinted Glass” by FiveSTAR
Free download of Good Tunes for Two Bucks!
WHY IT’S ON THE CD: This is one of the rare instances in which the sum of the parts may well be, at least for now, greater than the whole. FiveSTAR is among the least known of the artists on Good Tunes for Two Bucks, and yet its five members are as accomplished as anyone on the CD. At the front is Young General, a fabulous solo artist building his brand and opening ears with singles “White Sox Fitted” and “Never Love You.” Guitarist Marcus Rezak, best known from The HUE, is part of new studio/live project Digital Tape Machine. Keyboardist Jeff Leibovich comes from Great Divide, track 3 on Good Tunes for Two Bucks. Bass player Matt Longbons is an accomplished studio artist who plays regularly around the city with various acts. And Greg Fundis is the drummer for 56 Hope Road.
For their inclusion on Good Tunes for Two Bucks, I’ve selected “Tinted Glass.” Originally a Young General track produced by longtime collaborator Letter L (responsible for the “Whammy” beat), “Tinted Glass” benefits from FiveSTAR’s lush instrumentation, particularly the guitar work from Rezak. Along with being a good tune, “Tinted Glass” is the only track on the CD that cannot be found any place else. Enjoy! Continue reading “Good Tunes for Two Bucks, focus on… FiveSTAR”
People with Passion: Marcus Rezak
Interview September 22, 2010
We are at Rezak’s West Loop apartment. The windows look down upon the Lake Ave. El line. The room is filled with guitars and books of sheet music. Rezak is mindlessly picking at a sun burst fender telecaster, his fingers working independent of our conversation. He sits in a chair across from me. I set my tape recorder on the arm of his chair for my usual sound check. “Sound test for Marcus Rezak, September 22, 2010,” I say. Before I can give further instruction, Rezak begins a guitar jaunt of simple amusement. It lasts one minute and five seconds…
“Digital Tape Machine started a year ago as a studio project, which was intended initially to do video game music, licensing, stuff like that. The project was started by Dan Rucinski from Land of Atlantis. I was asked to play guitar and compose a bunch of guitar parts. That was my initial role. Other people were brought into the project to help influence things – over the last year it’s been getting refined and developed into a finished project, which it is now, and will be pressed into an album in the coming month. But uh, only over the course of the last couple months have we assembled a live group. Taking it out of the studio. We’ve wanted to make it a live thing. Dan and I, at least. Continue reading “People with Passion: guitarist Marcus Rezak”
Debuting four original People with Passion interviews this week at ReadJack.com. Two on Tuesday, two more on Thursday. Full PWP archives listed below. Enjoy!
— JMS, 10-18-10
TUESDAY
Rob Ager, film analyst and Kubrick expert
Marcus Rezak, guitarist
THURSDAY
Jenn Gibbons, ocean rower
Don Gordon, activist and author
PEOPLE WITH PASSION and 3 QUICK MINUTES archive Continue reading “Four new People with Passion interviews at ReadJack.com”
Two new music stories up this week (and a third being delayed for reasons unknown), and a shout to some upcoming shows. Continue reading “New stories on Mikkey Halsted and The HUE”
On the John presents…
An evening of hip-hop with Chicago’s Young General
Part I published, May 27, 2010
IT IS 10 P.M. AND DARK when I arrive at the corner of 26th and Scoville. As usual, I can’t quite believe that this soft residential intersection opposite an elementary school is the site of a recording studio. But that’s exactly where Horse-Drawn Productions sits, and that’s exactly what it is, and there we are. Continue reading “An evening of hip-hop with Young General (PART I)”
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