Some of you may have noticed that we added a new feature to the site recently in the form of a page that allows readers to submit their own tracks for review. We added this in hopes of uncovering even more new music for our readers that we may not have otherwise found through our [...]

It’s been a long time since I last wrote one of these Friday columns, and I was debating whether or not to start it back up again after such a long absence, but I figured this might break up the monotony of our Singles Club installments. And who knows, maybe some of you even missed [...]

I need to start out today by apologizing for leaving you all without a Hodge Podge to wake up to last week. I know how much many of you look forward to our time together on Friday mornings, and I feel terrible about leaving you hanging. The only excuse I have to offer is that [...]

I’m going to start off the day by jumping right into a quick review of The Drones show at Schubas Tavern that I mentioned last week in this space. In the interest of full disclosure, I went to the bar this past Tuesday woefully unprepared. Though I was fully aware that The Drones have been [...]

Today marks the beginning of a much-anticipated long weekend for me.  I am headed to the airport this morning to pick up a certain reader for a four day visit, the Buckeyes kick off the college football season tomorrow, and there will be a lot of heavy drinking taking place.  As such, things are going [...]

I hope that everyone else’s weekend is getting off to a better start than mine.  Not that 99.9% of you likely give a shit, but I have a blog and you don’t do I’m going to tell my story anyway.  When I went to my car for a trip to the grocery store last night [...]

Without the anticipation of Lollapalooza, the outlook for the looming weekend ahead may seem a bit bleak.  But fear not fellow Chicagoans, there are actually plenty of interesting live music events on the horizon over the next few days.  The Air and Water show means that there will be no notable street festivals offering shows [...]

Alright kids, here’s the deal.  As I’ve mentioned before, I write this Friday column for your reading pleasure sometime late Thursday night.  Unless you’ve been living under a cultural rock, you are aware that this weekend is Lollapalooza here in my fair town of Chicago.  As such, I’m not going to bother telling you about [...]

Before I say anything else today, I want to apologize for over-hyping last Sunday’s Elvis Perkins performance at Wicker Park Fest.  If you were there, you know what I mean.  Elvis and the boys all did their thing, no doubt, but the sound people at the festival really dropped the ball and let an otherwise [...]

Now that the Pitchfork Music Festival is but a distant memory in our collective rearview mirrors and I am completely settled into the new pad, I can finally get back to using this space for my free music recommendations for the weekend in Chicago.  This time around only one festival comes to mind as worthy [...]

I’ve been ready for the Pitchfork Festival to hurry up and get here for the last two weeks, but now that the weekend has finally arrived my anticipation has reached a fever pitch.  In a few short hours Kevin will be rolling in from Cleveland and the weekend will officially be underway.  We are skipping [...]

Our regular readers, which we hope is all of you, are probably aware that I have been slightly MIA over the course of the last ten days or so.  And if you have really been paying attention, you are also aware that my absence has been due in large part to my recent move to [...]

James is good at this post.  I’m just losing my Hodge Podge virginity, so bear with me.  I know that you wish Diamond Jim was easing sounds into your ear right now, but he’s got critical business in the Antilles to attend to, so I’m filling in.  With any luck, this won’t be a total [...]

In light of yesterday’s events, It is impossible to start off the day with anything other than a tribute to the King of Pop.  Michael Jackson may have never been considered an indie artist by any stretch of the imagination, but his brilliance and stature in the musical universe makes him one of the few [...]

It’s been a pretty hectic week for me here at Citizen Dick’s Chicago outpost.  Between cracking down on the job search, scrambling to find a new apartment before the first, and preparing to get my birthday on this weekend I haven’t had a whole lot of time to listen to new music.  As such, today’s [...]

Just like last week, I want to open today by giving all of you Chicagoans out there something to do this weekend.  In fact, given the sheer quantity of festivals throughout the city this summer and the surprising quality of music at many of them, this may become a regular feature on Fridays for the [...]

Before I jump into the mp3’s this morning, I want to let all of my fellow Chicagoans know about a great street festival coming up this weekend that will be featuring one of the better music lineups of the Summer.  The inaugural Metronome Celebration runs Saturday and Sunday rom noon to 10pm along the stretch [...]

I’ve always been a big fan of the music video, probably because when I was growing up MTV actually played them on a regular basis and at that time my beloved glam metal dominated the airwaves.  Yes kids, long before there was Carson Daly and TRL, there was Adam Curry and Dial MTV.  Back when [...]

Memorial Day weekend is finally here.  Hopefully all of you have plenty of parties and BBQ’s to attend to this weekend, and it’s likely that everyone reading this today has already checked out mentally and is ready for the weekend to arrive.  In observance of that, and due to the fact that I have a [...]

In case you missed it somehow, the new Wilco album, creatively titled Wilco (The Album), leaked earlier this week and is now available for streaming on the band’s website.  As a result, I’m going to take a few minutes to hop up onto my (mildly) anti-Wilco soapbox and preach about my thoughts on the band.  [...]