by Sharon Gissy

The origin of Sun Ra came about when Herman "Sonny" Blount had a transformative experience during a deep religious meditation: "My whole body changed into something else. And I went up...I wasn't in human form. I landed on a planet that I identified as Saturn. They teleported me and I was down on stage with them. I would speak [through music], and the world would listen. That's what they told me." Determined to fulfill the prophecy, Blount re-christened himself Le Sony'r Ra and began his decades-long creative output of experimental music. Combining elements of bebop, modal jazz, free improvisation, and otherworldly sounds, Sun Ra compiled one of the most unique and unclassifiable catalogs in recorded music.

Sun Ra was also known for his powerful and visceral live performances, and Modern Harmonic is soon to release a live event recorded at the Inter-Media Arts Center in New York on April 20, 1991. Recorded just two years before Sun Ra's "Earthly departure," the previously unreleased live recording showcases his proficient keyboard work as well as the stunning vocal work of the talented Arkestra he surrounded himself with. Featuring performances by June Tyson, Michael Ray, T.C. Carney, James Jacson, and John Gilmore, this recording by the NYC radio station WNYC captures the Arkestra at the height of its splendor. You can check out some of the music here.

by Sharon Gissy

You are invited to a special fundraising event at the Revolution Tap Room on November 10th  to celebrate CHIRP Radio's impending launch at 107.1. The independent station is very close to receiving their own broadcast tower, having faced the challenges and expenses of obtaining a construction permit from the City of Chicago, and now just playing the waiting game.

Tickets to the event will include an open bar, complimentary street food and small bites provided by restaurant partners, the opportunity to enter to win raffle prizes, and live music by Gerald Dowd. All proceeds from the fundraiser will go to expenses related to the launch of the station. Tickets can be purchased here for $50, however there is a special coupon code for buyers to receive $15 off advance tickets, and that is CHIRPEARLYBIRD.

The fundraiser will take place Thursday, November 10, 2016, from 7:00-11:00 p.m. at the Revolution Tap Room on Kedzie.

by Sharon Gissy

Soon Chicago will have the chance to hear the "lost" singer/songwriter the Houston Chronicle dubbed "the best country singer you never heard." Bob Woodruff cut his teeth in the mid-90s, using a blend of honky tonk soul and personal lyrics about life on the road to create gritty, critically acclaimed records. Now Woodruff is making a comeback with his new album, The Year We Tried To Kill The Pain, released earlier this year on Steel Derrick Music. You can stream the record here.

In the new record, Woodruff embraces more of a blend of rock, R&B, and country, but continues to pen personal songs about love, heartache, and redemption. Songs run the gamut from the re-recorded melancholic "The Year We Tried To Kill The Pain" to the '60s soul-inspired "There's Something There" to the anthemic sing-along "Paint The Town Blue." Chicagoans can expect to be treated to this variety if they see Bob Woodruff play live at Uncommon Ground on November 9th. Audience members who partake will surely witness an unforgettable show and learn why our very own Chicago Reader once said "Woodruff hews to the Hank Williams, Sr. school of songwriting, using intensely personal lyrics that occasionally come close to standing as poetry on the written page."

by Sharon Gissy

The once shocking LP "Love Is A Drag," a 1962 LP of love songs by men for men, bore no vocalist's name for fifty years. The Modern Harmonic reissue solves the mystery of who is behind the music.

JD Doyle, a historian and archivist of LGBT music and history, connected deeply with the record, which took standards like "The Man I Love" and "Mad About That Boy," songs typically addressed from a woman to a man, and changed the delivery to a man from a man. Doyle would play the songs on his radio show, Queer Music Heritage. However, despite knowing the songs were before their time, Doyle was baffled as to why there was no artist or producer credited on the album, but simply a line of subtext: "For Adult Listeners Only, Sultry Stylings By A Most Unusual Vocalist."

Soon Doyle heard from Murray Garrett, a Hollywood photographer through the late 1940s to the 1970s, who photographed such stars as Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra. Garrett partnered with Gene Howard, a Big Band singer, and the two worked with Jack Ames, the founder of Edison International Records. 

When Ames asked Garrett and Howard for recording ideas for Edison International, Garrett recalled a night in Greenwich Village where he saw a man singing love songs addressed to another man in a serious manner. Howard then agreed to sing on the record with an array of Los Angeles session musicians, and it was recorded under a "fake" label called Lace Records to avoid Edison International gaining a reputation as a "gay record label." The record sold well in Hollywood, and Frank Sinatra, Liberace, and Bob Hope were all fans.

Now with the mystery of the record's origins solved, "Love Is A Drag" will be released on gold vinyl and CD, with original liner notes and new notes by JD Doyle just in time for Record Store Day on November 25.

 by Sharon Gissy

Gary Rossington, founding member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and his wife Dale Krantz-Rossington are slated to release the record Take It On Faith November 4th on Loud & Proud Records. The duo has been making music together for over 35 years, since Dale first opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1977 singing with .38 Special.

Take It On Faith contains 12 songs backed up by a studio band composed by the record's producer and engineer, David Z (Prince, Etta James, Buddy Guy). The stellar lineup includes Ben Fowler providing extra mixing and production, Richie Hayward on drums, Jack Holder on guitar, Bruce McCabe on piano and keyboards, and David Smith on bass. The record also includes an array of special guests, from ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons to Grammy Award-winning producer, hit songwriter, recording artist, and session guitarist Gary Nicholson. However, one of the true stars of the records is Gary's accomplished guitar work, whether driving as on "Highway of Love" or gritty as in "Shame On Me," and the chemistry between Gary and Dale.

The Rossington Collins Band disbanded after the death of Collins' wife Kathy in 1982. Gary and Dale went on to form The Rossington Band, which released records in 1986 and 1988, but had no plans for future releases. However, they relented after several fans approached them. "Right now, we consider it a gift to the fans," says Gary. "We did it for them, and I hope they like it." 

by Sharon Gissy

Beloved Irish band Bell X1 is releasing their seventh studio album, Arms, on October 14th. The Irish Times is currently streaming the entire album and you can listen here.

In the sparse nine tracks on the record, the band lays out a melancholic yet somehow hopeful map of heartache and recovery. Paul Noonan's gentle, soulful vocals croon poetic lyrics like "A glint in the sand, it's fool's gold" ("I'll Go Where You Go") while bassist Dominic Phillips provides soft backing grooves it all hangs on and guitarist David Geraghty adds catchy melodic hooks (though it seems odd to have nuggets like "fail again, fail better" stuck in your head). The general malaise of the songs, constant electronic beats and synthesizer, and repetitive anthemic phrasing recalls Radiohead at times, though Bell X1's lyrics are much less abstract and more accessible, expressing sentiments about being on an upswing after a push in the right direction and to "take your sweet time" recovering. In fact, the band's heart on its sleeve approach to the material is probably closer to The National if they were more upbeat and dance-able, and Glenn Keating who had recorded Jonsi and The National was involved in the recording.

Overall, Arms is a record that pleases with both its rhythmic beats and its sensitive, soul-searching melodies and lyrics. "The title Arms is about the idea that, as the world feels like it's becoming a harsher place (maybe there's just more damn noise?) we seek out the comfort of the familiar and the familial....arms," says singer Paul Noonan. This seems like a perfect summary of the record, which seems to gently offer comfort to the afflicted. The band has released videos for standout tracks "The Upswing," a meditation on slowly climbing up out of a rut due to the influence of someone, and "Out Of Love," about losing the thrill of a relationship. You can watch them here and here.

by Sharon Gissy

Long-running Austin/San Antonio, Texas-based cowpunk band The Hickoids will release their new mini-album The Out Of Towners on Saustex Records on CD/digital October 21st and vinyl on November 18th. The Out Of Towners is the final recording to feature late Austin guitarist Davy Jones (1954-2015), a punk legend who played with The Next, Bigfoot Chester, and The Dicks in addition to playing with The Hickoids.

The mini-album is a collection of covers written by Texas artists including Willie Nelson, Roky Erickson, Terry Allen, and Doug Sahm and was to have been recorded in Berlin during a tour break, when Jones was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and could not make the trip. The collection was instead recorded with Cris Burns in Austin at the Tape Shed in fall 2014, and even though Davy was ill it showcases his unique guitar stylings and the band's rough but charming sound,  and stands as a document to Texas underground music.

The Hickoids are set to embark on a three-week tour, and tour dates are listed below:

THURSDAY OCTOBER 13th                         HILL COUNTRY LIVE - WASHINGTON DC
FRIDAY OCTOBER 14th                                THE BOWERY ELECTRIC - NEW YORK, NY
SATURDAY OCTOBER 15th                          ONCE BALLROOM - SOMERVILLE, MA 
SUNDAY OCTOBER 16th                               CAFE NINE - NEW HAVEN, CT
MONDAY OCTOBER 17th                            
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 19th                        ADM - AMSTERDAM, NL
THURSDAY OCTOBER 20th                            S.W.A.F. - HOORN, NL
FRIDAY OCTOBER 21st                                   MALOE MELO - AMSTERDAM, NL
SATURDAY OCTOBER 22nd                           DE ZWARTE RUITER - THE HAGUE, NL
SUNDAY OCTOBER 23rd                                ALTSTADT - EINDHOVEN, NL
MONDAY OCTOBER 24th                                TBA
TUESDAY OCTOBER 25th                               TBA
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 26th                         TBA
THURSDAY OCTOBER 27th                            DE ODEON - ALKMAAR, NL
FRIDAY OCTOBER 28th                                   THE PATRONAAT CAFE - HAARLEM, NL
SATURDAY OCTOBER 29th                             LITTLE DEVIL - TILBURG, NL
SUNDAY OCTOBER 30th                                MUKKES ROCK CAFE - LEEUWARDEN, NL
MONDAY OCTOBER 31st                                WHITE TRASH - BERLIN, DE

by Sharon Gissy

Platinum-selling hard rock group Kix will release "Can't Stop The Show: The Return Of Kix," a two-disc documentary DVD and CD set, on Loud & Proud Records October 21st. The 71-minute film provides an in-depth look into 2014's Rock Your Face Off, which was the band's first album in almost 20 years. The DVD features the making of the album from bassist Marh Schencker's studio and interviews with the band as well as notable rock stars such as Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme, Izzy Hale of Haelstorm, Jeff LeBar of Cinderella, and more. Key music industry veterans such as radio personality Eddie Trunk, Don Jamieson of That Metal Show on VH1 Classic, and Luc  Carl and Keith Roth of Sirius XM, as well as producer Taylor Rhodes (Aersomith, Ozzy Osbourne, Kix's Hot Wire) also make appearances on the DVD.

The CD, Can't Stop The Show (Live) contains never-before released Kix tracks recorded over the last three years. A bonus Kix logo sticker is inside the first manufacturing run, and each band member offers a special contribution to the package's booklet, including vocalist Steve Whiteman's exercise routine, cartoons by guitarist Brian "Damage" Forsythe, an essay by bassist Mark Schencker, a gear rundown by guitarist Ronnie "10/10" Younkins, and a recipe from drummer Jimmy Chalfant, aka "Chef Chocolate."

“KIX is proud of the band's legacy, but equally proud of our new chapter,” says Schenker.  “We had an opportunity to work with some great film makers, so we just let the cameras roll everywhere, and had so much fun putting the project together. There was a true outpouring of love and admiration from our fans and our peers after the release of Rock Your Face Off and luckily, we had documented the recording sessions on film. Now we are excited to share the process of making the new album with our loyal fans.  KIX thanks everyone involved and hopes everyone loves it as much as we loved making it!”

You can watch the trailer for the film here. Kix will be playing select shows in the near future in support of the new release, and a full listing of dates is available on their band website here.