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Chicago has grown into a full-on hub for summer music festivals. We’re home to some of the biggest and most beloved fests on the planet, and every weekend from late spring to early fall you can find outdoor music happening on city streets big and small. But why should the warm months get all the fun? Six years ago, the folks at the Empty Bottle had the genius idea to host some bands outdoors in the frigid cold of February, and what seemed like a surefire bomb has grown into one of their most popular annual events. This year’s Music Frozen Dancing features the biggest lineup yet, with a mix of bona fide indie-rock legends and excellent local acts. Headlining the show are Pennsylvania noise-rock mainstays Pissed Jeans, and also high on the bill are iconic posthardcore band Hot Snakes (keeping the momentum going on their reunion stint) and resurrected postpunk band Crash Course in Science. The locals include noisy industrial goth duo Hide (not a band you’d expect to see performing in broad daylight), prog-pop outfit the Hecks, and scuzz-rockers Hitter. The show takes place right next to the Bottle on Cortez–and in case it gets too cold out there, the inside bar stays open the entire time. v

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Amalea Tshilds is a familiar face to anyone who’s ever enjoyed a meal at Logan Square’s beloved Lula Cafe, but in the past few years she’s also raised her profile as a singer-songwriter. It’s a decided shift from running the neighborhood restaurant she’s co-owned for more than two decades, but her musical pursuits are hardly new. Tshilds has trafficked in warm, homespun Americana for years, singing and strumming around town with Girls of the Golden West and Pollyanna Vox (and before that with Jim Becker’s Paulina Hollers). More recently she’s taken the spotlight with her own music–dulcet and comforting, it’s rooted in folk and country traditions and grounded by the caress of her voice. Tshilds’s second full-length, Love on the Ground, is a thoughtful collection of carefully rendered love songs that soothe like a balm. It’s a more personal album than Painted Tiles, her 2006 debut–by her own description, it’s “confident in its vulnerability”–and on a handful of tunes it uses borrowed lyrics for inspiration. The title track pulls from Paul Verlaine’s poem “L’Amour par Terre,” which Tshilds says she was drawn to for its “beautiful imagery of a statue of Cupid blown to the ground,” she explains. If that visual is severe, Tshilds’s tender voice is disarming, and she elegantly contrasts the words with her gentle delivery. She draws on another French poet, Charles Baudelaire, on the haunting yet seductive “Sisina,” layering her vocals into a moody tapestry framed by Sam Wagster’s swooning pedal-steel guitar. The poetry of St. Francis of Assisi guides album highlight “Lemon Orchard,” which billows with gauzy harmonies that circle the cooling refrain “I have to wring out the light when I get home.” To celebrate her new self-release, Tshilds is joined by her band, which includes Wagster, Elise Bergman, Gillian Lisee, and Joe Adamik, as well as album guests Becker, Douglas McCombs, Marydee Reynolds and Holly Stevens. Local song man Tim Kaiser opens, joined by his Axis: Sova bandmate Jeremy Freeze as well as Josh Johannpeter, Dan Browning, Kent Lambert, and Jeanine O’Toole. v

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Illinois has seen surrounding states like Iowa and Indiana open up their sportsbooks throughout the state for the legalization of gambling. Meanwhile, residents here have been waiting for the day where it will finally be legal.

That day should soon be coming.

Illinois Governor J.B Pritzker expects that the sportsbooks in the state will be ready to open just in time for the start of March Madness which begins on March 17th. His press secretary, Jordan Abudayyeh, released this statement:

“The governor is pleased that Illinois sportsbooks will open for business by March Madness, generating revenue to rebuild universities, hospitals, and other facilities across the state,” said Jordan Abudayyeh, Pritzker’s press secretary, ahead of Tuesday’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules in which the Phase 2 sports rules will be addressed after their inclusion into the state’s registry.

“Illinois’ largest-ever capital plan, with investments in every part of the state, Rebuild Illinois was supported by Democrats and Republicans alike because it will create and support over half a million jobs over the next six years,” Abudayyeh added.

This is big news for bettors in the state of Illinois as it not only means that gambling will finally be legal but it will be ready for one of the biggest gambling events of the year as well as the start of baseball season.

Just last month, the Illinois Gaming Board received applications for sports betting licenses from three casinos in the state: Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, the Argosy Casino in Alton, and Elgin Riverboat Resort, which runs Grand Victoria Casino. Per USBets.com, it appears as if Argosy will be the first one to open with Grand Victoria and Rivers set to be ready for March Madness as well.

It sounds like it’s finally happening, folks.

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