What’s New

The bad news and the good news for those of us who “ain’t dead yet”on July 29, 2021 at 1:00 pm

Cheating Death

The bad news and the good news for those of us who “ain’t dead yet”

Read More

The bad news and the good news for those of us who “ain’t dead yet”on July 29, 2021 at 1:00 pm Read More »

Retooled Redbirds prepare to open fall campon July 29, 2021 at 12:38 pm

Prairie State Pigskin

Retooled Redbirds prepare to open fall camp

©2021 CTMG – A Chicago Tribune website –
Crafted by the News Apps team

Read More

Retooled Redbirds prepare to open fall campon July 29, 2021 at 12:38 pm Read More »

Cellar Dwellar: 2018 Hop Butcher FTW “Paris On The Prairie”on July 29, 2021 at 12:47 pm

Cut Out Kid

Cellar Dwellar: 2018 Hop Butcher FTW “Paris On The Prairie”

Read More

Cellar Dwellar: 2018 Hop Butcher FTW “Paris On The Prairie”on July 29, 2021 at 12:47 pm Read More »

Mourning Joe Cassidy of Butterfly ChildSteve Krakowon July 29, 2021 at 11:00 am

sh_joe_cassidy_magnum.jpg

Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place.

The Teddy Bears tune “To Know Him Is to Love Him” has been running through my head the past couple weeks. Phil Spector, who wrote the song, borrowed its title from the inscription on his father’s tombstone. Without knowing anything about his dad, I think those words might be even more apt for one particular fan of Spector’s work: incomparable producer, manager, arranger, and singer-songwriter Joe Cassidy.

Cassidy died on Thursday, July 15, and at the memorial the following Sunday, his old bandmate Aaron Miller said he could make a line of “I was Joe Cassidy’s best friend” T-shirts–it’s a true statement for so many people. Joe was my friend and collaborator for more than 20 years, and the loss of this kind superhuman and paragon of the Chicago music scene has been devastating to me and uncountable others.

I met Joe Cassidy at a Primal Scream show at Metro in 2000. He was introduced to me by former Mercury Rev front man David Baker, who thought Joe would make a good producer for my nascent, half-baked “psychedelic” music. I later realized Joe was the mind behind Butterfly Child–I already owned several of the band’s releases, including a 45 on Rough Trade–and we bonded over our mutual love of Syd Barrett, My Bloody Valentine, Scott Walker, Marcel Duchamp, and cartooning.

Cassidy did in fact produce several of my projects and collaborations throughout the aughts, including Plastic Crimewave Sound’s 2009 album with legendary guitar explorer Michael Yonkers. His skills were way out of my league, but he taught me so much about recording and arranging and indulged my mad ideas–all the while regaling me with great stories and hilarious dirt about any 80s or 90s band I could name.

When I was broke, Joe let me trade my childhood Star Wars figures for studio time–even though he was a big collector and surely didn’t need them. He later accepted artwork in trade, when I made a poster for his band the Assassins (Plastic Crimewave Sound opened for them at Schubas). Much more important, we became friends, and I loved Joe like the older brother I never had.

Joe was an actual older brother too, to sister Frances and brother Michael. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on August 31, 1969. His dad wrote lyrical poems, and his granny played piano. At the memorial, Frances told tales of harmonizing with Joe on “Frere Jacques” as kids, of being young goths together, and of a teenage Joe cranking up his bass till the whole neighborhood shuddered.

Handsome and charismatic, Cassidy started his first band, the Gift, in his early teens, playing with his mate Steve Craig, and their demo got airplay on BBC Radio Ulster. After Craig joined darkwave band BFG in the late 80s, Cassidy started commuting to Manchester to play bass with them. BFG had famously borrowed Peter Hook’s Oberheim DMX drum machine, which he’d used to create New Order’s iconic “Blue Monday,” and Joe liked to tell a great story of his hero Hooky showing him how to use his bass rig. Cassidy stayed with BFG through the two EPs they released in 1987, and earned his first writing credit by age 18.

Cassidy then started his own band, Fringe Mistress, and after he switched to guitar it became Butterfly Child (named for a character in a story he’d imagined in his parents’ overgrown garden as a wee lad). The group started with a drum machine, Willy Sharpe on second guitar, and Michael “Pace” Paisley on bass, though Sharpe was soon replaced by Tony McKeown. When Butterfly Child played their first London gig in October 1991, Cassidy’s close friend Gary McKendry (of the band Papa Sprain) also played guitar, and McKeown moved to bass. Within a couple months, Butterfly Child and Papa Sprain had both put out their debut EPs, which were also the first releases on the H.Ark! label run by the members of A.R.Kane, a proto-shoegaze band Cassidy loved.

By the time Butterfly Child dropped their second EP in 1992, Cassidy had grown into a wizardly songwriter, his ethereal tunes easily competing with the best the dream-pop era had to offer. Unfortunately H.Ark! turned out to be a short-lived endeavor, and Butterfly Child’s next two labels both tanked too. Rough Trade released the album Onomatopoeia in 1993, just as it was struggling through a bankruptcy, and Dedicated followed two EPs with The Honeymoon Suite LP in 1995, then folded by ’98.

But as Cassidy’s music-biz prospects foundered, his songwriting flourished. His first full-length, the aforementioned Onomatopoeia, was a modestly budgeted production that nonetheless created an entire alternate universe of lush, immersive tunes. (Cassidy adeptly described his sound as “big intimacy.”) His bandmates in Butterfly Child came and went, and the name came to be synonymous with Cassidy himself, kind of like “T. Rex” turned into shorthand for “Marc Bolan.”

Cassidy was tired of hassles with his various UK labels, so he jumped at the chance when Chicago-based HitIt! Recordings, which had licensed Butterfly Child in the States, invited him here to make use of a studio in 1997. “I just fell in love with Chicago,” he recalled in a 2015 interview for XS Noize. “I recorded eight tracks in a week, and then the label asked if I wanted to make an album. So I went back, and stayed for ten years! I’ve always gone where the chance to make music has been afforded to me.”

Cassidy hired seasoned local players, including John Herndon of Tortoise and Nick Macri, for 1998’s classic Soft Explosives. That album expanded his vision even further, approaching Brian Wilson-esque levels of divine anguish, but for many years it looked likely to be the final Butterfly Child release.

In 2001, in need of a new outlet, Cassidy started electro-punk unit the Assassins with future romantic partner Merritt Lear (already a frequent Butterfly Child collaborator), Alex Kemp from Rhode Island group Small Factory, and two members of Chicago band Marvelkind, Aaron Miller and Dave Golitko. They tore up the local scene, landed opening slots for the likes of Hard-Fi and New Order, and signed to Arista in 2003. Alas, label exec L.A. Reid, who’d brought the band aboard, was let go along with his staff, and the Assassins found themselves orphaned. It took the band a couple years to get out of their deal on terms they could accept, and in 2006 they finally released the album You Will Changed Us themselves, after rerecording most of its songs to cut down on the share of sales they’d owe Arista.

“The musical landscape had changed drastically, and the music industry was starting to collapse,” Cassidy told XS Noize. “I needed somewhere mellower to live and work.” In 2007 he moved to Los Angeles, where he transitioned into production and management work. You might’ve seen his credit on the 2009 collaboration Cottonwood Farm, by great American songwriter Jimmy Webb and his sons Christiaan and Justin of the Webb Brothers (whom Cassidy had befriended in their Chicago days).

In 2015, when Cassidy released Futures, the first Butterfly Child album in almost 18 years, the sun-kissed vibe of LA permeated its music. The Webb Brothers played on it too, alongside stalwart Chicago drummer Ryan Rapsys, and it received rave reviews for songs that elevated heartache to still greater sonic heights.

After a brief stint back home in Ireland, Cassidy moved back to the Windy City in 2018. He stayed productive through the pandemic: he remotely completed the dreamy January 2020 album Our Life in the Desert, by a new project with McKendry called My Bus; he finished a second Assassins album that’s yet to be released; and he started another project called Batbirds with Aaron Miller of the Assassins. Knowing what a supreme multitasker Joe was, I’m sure he’d also recorded about a million other brilliant projects that we might never hear. He passed away suddenly and unexpectedly after being diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia, which led to a coronary.

Joe and I chatted often, but the last time I saw him was while DJing at a neighborhood bar the winter before the pandemic. He came in and I rushed over to hug him, and it turned out he was trying to meet other people and had walked into the wrong bar. He stayed awhile, though, and uplifted the whole place before going on his magical way.

That was Joe–he always made time for his friends, despite his consistently insane workload, and he made you feel special, even in offhand moments. Before he left that bar, I remember seeing the famous sparkle in his eyes and hearing his adorable Irish pronunciation of “Chir-car-go.” Everyone who knew Joe was convinced he was an invincible and benevolent force of nature, and that he’d be that best friend to all of us forever. I already miss his beautiful, irreplaceable soul to an impossible degree. v

The radio version of the Secret History of Chicago Music airs on Outside the Loop on WGN Radio 720 AM, Saturdays at 5 AM with host Mike Stephen. Past shows are archived here.

?

Read More

Mourning Joe Cassidy of Butterfly ChildSteve Krakowon July 29, 2021 at 11:00 am Read More »

Torres writes big happy rock love songs for the end of lockdownNoah Berlatskyon July 29, 2021 at 11:00 am

Brooklyn singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott, aka Torres, is a master of insular, languid indie pop. But after making it through lockdown and finding inspiration in her partner, visual artist Jenna Gribbon, Scott is in an expansive mood. Her new album, Thirstier (Merge), graced with a glam cock-rock cover painted by Gribbon, features a big, snarling, exuberant arena sound courtesy producer (and Garbage drummer) Butch Vig. Fans may miss the unhurried melancholy elegance of Scott’s powerful 2017 album Three Futures, but there’s no denying the Liz Phair-flavored crunch and cheerful guitar solo of album opener “Are You Sleepwalking?” Even better is “Don’t Go Puttin Wishes in My Head,” whose surging wall of raunch frames its frank, starry-eyed lyrics: “If you don’t want me believing that you’re never gonna leave me, darlin’ / Don’t go putting wishes in my head.” The song’s video features Scott and Gribbon in happy domestic canoodling–cooking root vegetables, boogying while brushing their teeth together, and cuddling in bed. “Hug From a Dinosaur” mixes straightforward love-song lyrics with cosmic goofiness (“Truth is ancient and eternal and surreal as a hug from a dinosaur”), accompanied by psychedelic swirls and a hook you couldn’t get out of your head with a backhoe. COVID-19 and Trump are both still wreaking havoc on our society, and there’s certainly no shortage of reasons to despair. But it’s precisely because misery hovers so close that Thirstier is such a welcome celebration of love, joy, and rawk. v

Read More

Torres writes big happy rock love songs for the end of lockdownNoah Berlatskyon July 29, 2021 at 11:00 am Read More »

1 killed, 7 wounded — including 16-year-old — in shootings in Chicago WednesdaySun-Times Wireon July 29, 2021 at 11:38 am

At least seven people were shot, one fatally, in gun violence across Chicago Wednesday.

The fatal attack occurred on the West Side. Two men were in a salon in the 3900 block of West 16th Street when someone walked in and fired about 2:20 p.m., Chicago police said. Robert Hannon, 50, was shot in the chest and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. He lived in the neighborhood, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

Other attacks:

  • A man was shot and seriously wounded early Wednesday during an argument on the Northwest Side. The man, 39, was arguing with another man in the 5400 block of West Lake Street when he was shot multiple times in the upper body around 1:05 a.m., police said. The man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition, according to police.
  • Two people, including a 16-year-old boy, were shot on the West Side. They were outside about 8 p.m. in the 400 block of North Springfield Avenue when someone fired from a passing black SUV, police said. The teen was struck in the neck and taken to Stroger Hospital in fair condition, police said. A 23-year-old man who was shot in the foot took himself to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was in good condition.

At least three other people were wounded in shootings across Chicago.

One person was killed and 14 others — including a 16-year-old in shootings in Chicago Tuesday.

Read More

1 killed, 7 wounded — including 16-year-old — in shootings in Chicago WednesdaySun-Times Wireon July 29, 2021 at 11:38 am Read More »

14-year-old boy shot twice in the head in parked car in Morgan ParkMohammad Samraon July 29, 2021 at 11:17 am

A 14-year-old boy was in critical condition after he was shot twice in the head while sitting in a parked car in Morgan Park on the Far South Side Thursday morning.

The attack happened around 12:10 a.m. when someone in another car opened fire in the 1600 block of West Waseca Place, Chicago police said.

The teen was taken to Roseland Hospital by a family member and then transported to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. He was listed in critical condition.

The man, 29, was grazed in the head and refused medical treatment. No one was in custody.

A few hours earlier, a 16-year-old boy and a man in his early 20s were shot on the West Side. They were outside in the 400 block of North Springfield Avenue when someone fired from a passing black SUV about 8 p.m., police said.

The teen was struck in the neck and taken to Stroger Hospital in fair condition, police said. The 23-year-old man was shot in the foot and went to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was in good condition.

Read More

14-year-old boy shot twice in the head in parked car in Morgan ParkMohammad Samraon July 29, 2021 at 11:17 am Read More »

Chicago Bulls NBA Draft: 3 Giannis-like players to take in the second roundRyan Tayloron July 29, 2021 at 11:00 am

(Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
(Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
Next1 of 4Prev post
Use your (arrows) to browse
zach lavine, chicago bulls

Chicago Bulls (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

The Chicago Bulls are going into the 2021 NBA Draft with the 38th overall pick. With today’s NBA following the trend of having an athletic, positionless big man on the roster, can the Bulls pick someone up similar to Giannis Antetokounmpo?

Giannis is coming off an incredible Finals performance, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to victory over the Phoenix Suns on an injured knee. He averaged 35.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game in the six-game series. Not to mention, putting up 50 points and 12 rebounds in game six to seal the Larry O’Brien trophy.

The Bulls are without a big that is as athletic as a guard and can defend all five positions on the court. A player like that could transcend the defense and be a large asset to Billy Donovan‘s cutting offense.

Do not sleep on the Chicago Bulls, who are without a first-round pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.

While it seems unlikely to the casual fan, the second round of the NBA draft can hold the NBA’s future superstars. The Bulls’ vice president of operations, Arturas Karnisovas, drafted an MVP out of the second round — Nikola Jokic — when he was with the Denver Nuggets.

The Bulls should be able to capitalize off of the deep draft class this 2021 group of players has to offer. The Ringer podcast agrees that the league is heading towards “athletic seven-footers” in the future.

Karnisovas & Co. should have their eyes set on improving the roster with an athletic big man that can run the floor and protect the rim. The point guard position is a high priority for the Bulls, but that can be left for free agency.

Next: Western Kentucky’s Superstar

Next1 of 4Prev post
Use your (arrows) to browse

Read More

Chicago Bulls NBA Draft: 3 Giannis-like players to take in the second roundRyan Tayloron July 29, 2021 at 11:00 am Read More »

Lollapalooza teams up with Ingenuity to donate $2.2 million to CPSCheyanne M. Danielson July 29, 2021 at 10:00 am

Lollapalooza rolls into the city on Thursday, bringing concert-goers from all over the country, some of music industry’s biggest names — and millions of dollars for the city.

This year, though, it’s bringing something else: money for Chicago Public Schools’ arts programs.

The music festival’s organizers on Thursday are launching the Lollapalooza Arts Education Fund, in partnership with Ingenuity, an arts education nonprofit. Over the next five years, the program will invest $2.2 million to support arts education in CPS schools.

“Part of the mission of Lollapalooza is the youth of America,” said Charlie Walker, founding partner of Lollapalooza promoter C3 Presents. “We were looking for an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the community and to the city of Chicago.”

The arts education gap in Chicago is significant, and falls along racial and economic lines. Ingenuity’s State of the Arts Report from the 2018-2019 school year found that 35% of CPS students were enrolled at schools without consistent access to high-quality arts education.

Those students were disproportionately Black and economically disadvantaged.

“Lollapalooza is one of the most notable, successful, creative events in our city each year,” said Paul Sznewajs, executive director of Ingenuity. “The opportunity was very ripe to connect that terrific experience that occurs every summer in our city to what happens in our schools.”

For 10 years, Ingenuity and its public private banking entity, the Creative Schools Fund, have allocated $15 million in grants to CPS schools.

“We know that we have incredible talent, not only in our students and in our schools, but in community arts organizations that partner with us,” said Julia deBettencourt, executive director of arts at CPS. “We hope that we can continue to strengthen (students’) creative capacities and envision themselves on the Lollapalooza stage someday.”

.

C3 conducted its own study of Lollapalooza’s economic impact, and according to the company, the festival has brought in $1.7 billion for the Chicago economy. The 2020 event was canceled by the pandemic, but the 2019 event grossed more than $247 million. Of that, nearly $7.5 million went to the Chicago Park District.

The Lollapalooza Arts Education Fund will use Ingenuity’s Creative Schools Certification rating system to decide which CPS schools are most in need.

So far, the program has identified 220 schools, although the list is not public. This year’s portion will be distributed in August.

Grants from the fund range from $1,000 to $10,000. The money can be used for an array of items, including materials, instruments, and even performances and field trips.

Arts liaisons at each school will help decide how to best use the funds, deBettencourt said.

Studies have shown arts programs have a beneficial impact on students’ social, emotional and academic development.

In 2019, the Brookings Institute found that increased art educational experiences reduced disciplinary infractions in schools, improved standardized writing scores and increased students’ compassion for others.

“Music is meaningful to us,” said Walker. “It changes a lot of people’s lives, whether it’s just listening or making it or playing it. Knowing how important it’s been to all the people that touched my life, and the fans, we realized that that’s where we wanted to make our impact.”

Lollapalooza’s donation is one of the largest Ingenuity has received, Sznewajs said, calling it a “transformational gift” for students.

“At a time when our kids have lost so much over the past year, the arts are a tool for recovery and reconnecting, and I think it’s a great symbol for what we can aspire to going forward in our schools for our kids.”

Along with the grant, next week C3 and Lollapalooza will present CPS with a bass drum from the festival. Throughout the weekend, the drum will be placed behind the main stage in the Artists’ Village to be signed by performers.

Cheyanne M. Daniels is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South and West sides.

Read More

Lollapalooza teams up with Ingenuity to donate $2.2 million to CPSCheyanne M. Danielson July 29, 2021 at 10:00 am Read More »

Two wounded in South Side shootingMohammad Samraon July 29, 2021 at 9:08 am

Two people were wounded Thursday morning following a shooting in Park Manor on the South Side.

A man and a woman, both 20, were sitting in a parked car when someone approached on foot and opened fire, striking both victims, Chicago Police said.

The male victim suffered wounds to the abdomen and was grazed in the waist, while the female victim was grazed in the leg, police said.

The victims took themselves to St. Bernard Hospital, police said. The female victim was released, while the male was transfered to Stroger hospital where his condition was stabilized.

No one was in custody. Area One detectives are investigating.

A few hours ago, two people — including a 14-year-old — were shot and wounded in Morgan Park on the Far South Side.

The two was were sitting in a parked car around 12:10 a.m. in the 1600 block of West Waseca Place when someone inside of another vehicle fired shots, Chicago police said.

The teen was struck twice in the head, according to police. The man, 29, was grazed in the head and refused medical treatment.

The teen was taken to Roseland Hospital by a family member and then transported to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. He is listed in critical condition.

Read More

Two wounded in South Side shootingMohammad Samraon July 29, 2021 at 9:08 am Read More »