12.05.2005
Sound opinions
Music fans who don't live in Chicago may soon be able to hear the Sound Opinions show without the need to sit in front of their computers. The weekly show, which features Sun-Times music critic Jim DeRogatis and Tribune music critic Greg Kot discussing music and music-related issues, has aired since 1998 on WXRT in Chicago. The pair recently moved the show to Chicago public radio station WBEZ, and aired their first show there on Saturday.
According to a press release from the station, the new home also means new features. The show will be podcast, and also will feature "broader access to live performances and interviews with fascinating artists from the top of the charts and the cutting edge of the underground." There also are plans to distribute the show nationally to public radio stations starting early next year. That's good news for those of us not in Chicago who have missed out on this show to date.
The first WBEZ episode, which should be available by podcast either here or at iTunes later today, features DeRogatis and Kot talking with John Cale from the Velvet Underground, and reviewing records from Madonna and a System of a Down.
In other news, I mentioned here a while back that I had pitched a book for the 33 1/3 series from Continuum. I proposed a book on the Jayhawks' Hollywood Town Hall. More info about the pitches is available on the blog series editor David Barker keeps. The final list of proposals is daunting/intimidating/energizing. I figure I'm in the middle somewhere in terms of potential. David says they'll likely pick between 15 and 20 books, and there are 163 if I count correctly. Some, like the Arcade Fire, seem too current, others, like Avalanches, a bit too obscure, and still others like Brian Wilson and Bob Dylan a bit over covered. That still leaves a couple dozen books that I'd like to read, so I know the competition will be fierce. They'll keep several factors in mind in terms of determining what books to greenlight, including sales of the album, continued interest in the band and the appeal of the proposal itself. I pitched a fairly straightforward book that would look at the album in the context of the alt-country movement that rose and crashed in the early- to mid-90s. Past books in the series have varied from Joe Pernice's novella about The Smiths' Meat is Murder, Colin Meloy's treatise on how the Replacements' Let it Be changed his life, and other, more traditional looks at albums like the Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society and Neil Young's Harvest. I'll update as events warrant.
According to a press release from the station, the new home also means new features. The show will be podcast, and also will feature "broader access to live performances and interviews with fascinating artists from the top of the charts and the cutting edge of the underground." There also are plans to distribute the show nationally to public radio stations starting early next year. That's good news for those of us not in Chicago who have missed out on this show to date.
The first WBEZ episode, which should be available by podcast either here or at iTunes later today, features DeRogatis and Kot talking with John Cale from the Velvet Underground, and reviewing records from Madonna and a System of a Down.
In other news, I mentioned here a while back that I had pitched a book for the 33 1/3 series from Continuum. I proposed a book on the Jayhawks' Hollywood Town Hall. More info about the pitches is available on the blog series editor David Barker keeps. The final list of proposals is daunting/intimidating/energizing. I figure I'm in the middle somewhere in terms of potential. David says they'll likely pick between 15 and 20 books, and there are 163 if I count correctly. Some, like the Arcade Fire, seem too current, others, like Avalanches, a bit too obscure, and still others like Brian Wilson and Bob Dylan a bit over covered. That still leaves a couple dozen books that I'd like to read, so I know the competition will be fierce. They'll keep several factors in mind in terms of determining what books to greenlight, including sales of the album, continued interest in the band and the appeal of the proposal itself. I pitched a fairly straightforward book that would look at the album in the context of the alt-country movement that rose and crashed in the early- to mid-90s. Past books in the series have varied from Joe Pernice's novella about The Smiths' Meat is Murder, Colin Meloy's treatise on how the Replacements' Let it Be changed his life, and other, more traditional looks at albums like the Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society and Neil Young's Harvest. I'll update as events warrant.
