Joe Shanahan founded sister venues Metro and Smart Bar in 1982, inspired by the adventurous punk and no wave he’d seen in the late 70s at New York venues such as the Mudd Club and CBGB. Shanahan was in his 20s at the time, but the Wrigleyville building his venues occupied had been built in […]
Tag: Chicago Independent Venue League
Posted inMusic
From the husk of the old Morton Salt factory, a new music venue rises
For as long as Bruce Finkelman can remember, the Morton Salt factory has set his heart racing. It’s not that he gets salt cravings any worse than the next guy. Rather, he remembers that when he was 12 years old, in the car with his parents on the Kennedy, the sight of the umbrella-toting girl […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best Chicago venues for the COVID averse
For a few relatively blissful weeks in July 2021, Chicago’s COVID-19 infection rates dropped far enough that it was possible to believe that the worst of the pandemic was over. Then the Delta variant hit. The city didn’t lock down again, but Delta posed a dire threat to public health as well as to the […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best concert for a cause
On Wednesday, October 13, 2021, the Old Town School of Folk Music’s third annual Indigenous Peoples’ Day Concert shook the rafters of the auditorium with Opliam’s rock-tinged blues, Huguito Gutierrez’s Andean pan flute, and the NuFolk Rebel Alliance’s mishmash of folkloric music, acoustic Americana, and tropical punk. Artist and activist Opliam (aka Liam McDonald, who’s […]
Posted inMusic
COVID kept on complicating our relationship with music in 2021
In September, a local collective of house DJs threw a party at Podlasie Club, an Avondale Polish bar with a distinctive L-shaped neon sign out front. The members of the Humboldt Arboreal Society usually spin under a tent in Humboldt Park, but for that one-off with veteran local DJ Rahaan, they’d made an exception—in part […]
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The Roadburners bid farewell to their charitable Bring It Up High Festival
Hi Fi & the Roadburners were among Chicago’s most ferocious live acts for more than 25 years, melding rockabilly, gutbucket R&B, and punk rock into blue–collar anthems that landed them on the Victory Records roster during the label’s 1990s heyday. Lead guitarist Jeff Schuch passed away in 2009, and singer Erik “Hi Fi” Kish died […]
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How DCASE helped Chicago music survive the pandemic shutdown
When COVID-19 swept the country, music venues were among the first to shutter, throwing tens of thousands of live entertainment professionals out of work and sidelining artists who depend on touring income. The National Independent Venue Association formed in April 2020 and currently represents more than 3,000 performance halls, promoters, and festivals; it’s done much […]
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The Pine Valley Cosmonauts make Tom Waits’s 1973 debut feel relevant for our times
Led by Jon Langford of the Mekons and the Waco Brothers, Chicago alt-country band the Pine Valley Cosmonauts have covered plenty of ground in their quarter century or so of existence: they’ve made tribute albums for icons such as Bob Wills and Johnny Cash, spearheaded a series of death-themed covers compilations called The Executioner’s Last […]
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Chicago comp says we’re still in the same Situation, still caring for one another
Last July, local arts and music nonprofit Quiet Pterodactyl put together a sprawling compilation called Situation Chicago to support local music venues struggling during the pandemic. Almost a year later, with another few hundred thousand Americans dead and live music as we once knew it still mostly impossible, the organization has put together a sequel—this […]
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Chicago music venues lean on grassroots fundraisers as they wait for federal aid
COVID relief grants are taking their time arriving, but the compilation Situation Chicago 2 benefits CIVL’s SAVE Emergency Relief Fund right now.
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Hollyy raises moneyy on the gig poster of the week
This week’s featured gig poster was created for a CIVL and Skateistan benefit by Chicago designer Emily Burlew (also of the band Late Nite Laundry).
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Elastic Arts ramps up its bookings and launches a transatlantic collaboration
Elastic Arts ramps up its programming, CIVL opens grant applications for its SAVE Emergency Relief Fund, and more.
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Music workers’ jobs disappeared, but their bills didn’t
With federal aid to venues only now arriving, how are tour managers, stagehands, bookers, and their colleagues in the concert business making ends meet?
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A new Chicago punk and metal compilation benefits local music venues
A new two-disc compilation from Angry Peasants hopes to help “save CIVL-zation.”
Posted inMusic
Hideout talent buyer Sullivan Davis steps down
Hideout talent buyer Sullivan Davis steps down, and CIVL launches a virtual concert series to push a new benefit fund.