Most of my favorite bands are those that I get to see live on a regular basis. Thanks to my old friends Sean and Jamie Burns, that means I have had the privilege of seeing Robbie Fulks a number of times over the years. From local honky-tonks, hotel bars out…

Sometime in the late aughts, I discovered Last.fm, which in turn led me to a genre they referred to as twee. For me this was, basically, awesome pop music from Sweden, sung in English. …

It was Wednesday, March 10th. I was at the Old Town School of Folk Music, with my wife and son, to see the opening night of The Tallest Man on Earth’s spring tour. A big thanks, by the way, to all the Chicago fans that sold out four additional shows…

The importance of Tom Irwin in my life can not be overstated. As a child of Illinois prairie, his songs have lived with me for 30 years like no others. I first heard Tom in 1992 on back-to-back nights, first at George Ranks and the following night downstairs at On…

March 1, 2025 Vachel Lindsay writes: Of the Singapore adventure, there is a song to be sung, some day, but we cannot, by taking thought, sing of battles. …

November 1, 2018 Vachel Lindsay writes: But Confucius is not the patron saint of the lady Avanel. It all comes as a clouded vision before me as though I were half in the vision, and through it beginning a new and more desperate destiny of my own. It is the…

October 30, 2018 Vachel Lindsay writes: The Amazons of the city, and the Horseshoe Brotherhood have taken possession of the city, and until the day of their going, they will police the city and none shall hinder them, and they ride down the boulevards with little consideration or patience for…

October 29, 2018 Vachel Lindsay writes: The body of Crawling Jim was found in a shadow, near the tree where Boone was hanged, by the group of young Boone's who came to take away the body of their kinsman. No one is in serious peril of being brought to justice…

July 26, 2018 Vachel Lindsay writes: About the beginning of July, four men come to town, who took part in the burning alive of a negro in Chicago. The burning was provoked by a yellow journal’s account, giving hear-say evidence against the negro. Disturbing their minds not at all over…