It was like Black Friday all over again at the USTORM Umphrey's McGee Garage Sale, held just prior to Brendan and Jake's 8th Annual Holiday Show.  The Garage Sale was an opportunity for Umphreaks to pick up some vintage merch.  It was also a good way for Umphrey's to clear out the warehouse, and ...view article

Wintertime in the windy city is a rough experience for the residents, one positive that comes from the snowfall and bitter cold can be the opportunity to groove to the amazing music that stumbles through the city. This notion proved to be so when the Kinetic Playground sported a 3 night run of spectacular ...view article

Waking up getting everything in my car takes way longer than I had planned in my drunken state the night before. Or maybe its because my body is wracked y pain from dancing so hard the past to nights. I am thankful the roads look clear of snow as I start up my car begin the long drive back towards ...view article

The appreciation for the genres encompassed into electronic and experimental scene is certainly one that can be hard to come by and accepted for some. Yet one major feeling which cant be denied is the way it gets a crowd moving. Something about the beats, the buildup and the flow which are all combined ...view article

When I first heard of The Contribution and who was in the band, I nearly wet myself with excitement. How could such a band made up of members of The String Cheese Incident, Railroad Earth and New Monsoon be anything except absolutely stellar? Featuring Tim Carbone, one of the best fiddle players ...view article

Rocking the hip Wicker park neighborhood as winter came to a close in Chicago was the band 7 Walkers. Each participating member in this band is renowned for their individual projects besides this band which brought a variety of music styles together. The band was fuzzed together by the former Grateful ...view article

Although the newest offering from Del McCoury offers a few surprises in the songlist, it offers a treasure trove of   flawless musicianship from one the world’s tightest and  most talented groups.  At this point in history The Del McCoury Band is, and has been for quite some time, the benchmark ...view article

Umphrey’s McGee has graced almost every stage of significance in their hometown of Chicago.  So when the opportunity arises to see them in a new venue there is a palpable sense of excitement and expectation. Such was the mood when guitarists Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger followed up their ...view article

Few would argue that listening to decades-old recordings of the Grateful Dead's Tuesday, May 9, 1978 show at the Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse, New York, is a viable substitute for having attended the actual concert. That being said, Dead Heads and music fans of all ages got a rare ...view article

A studio album from a band that thrives on live performances can cut both ways.  On the one hand, they’re chock-full of tight, compact songs that benefit (for good or bad) from multi-layered studio production values.  (What would the Grateful Dead’s “Terrapin Station” be without its eerie, ...view article