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- Music, Music Feature May 19, 2021
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Bob Koester leaves a colossal legacy in Chicago jazz and blues
For nearly 70 years, he owned the Jazz Record Mart and Delmark Records—and though his businesses could be “crazy town,” they helped nurture thriving communities.
- Best of Chicago, Music & Nightlife Mar 17, 2021
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Billie Barrett Greenbey of gospel legends the Barrett Sisters left us in 2020
Chicago played an outsize role in the birth of modern gospel music, but few artists remain from that foundational era.
- Best of Chicago, Music & Nightlife Mar 17, 2021
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A personal remembrance of DJ Kwest_On
The Promontory’s favorite DJ died last spring, but his soulful music can still bring life.
- Music, Music Feature Jan 26, 2021
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Rest in peace to Chicago drummer Joe Camarillo
The beloved musician and collaborator extraordinaire built a long resumé, which includes decades playing with the Waco Brothers and Hushdrops.
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Jan 14, 2021
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A memorial to Alejandro Morales
His death doesn’t just leave a hole in Chicago’s DIY music scene—it’s a loss to community activists, to affordable housing advocates, and to countless friendships.
- Music, Gossip Wolf Jan 5, 2021
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Chicago’s DIY rock scene mourns Alejandro Morales
With his generous spirit and boundless enthusiasm, Running’s drummer was the beating heart of a vibrant community.
- Music, Music Feature Oct 26, 2020
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Remembering Benji Espinoza, champion of Chicago house music
His work for Quantum Distributors and the D.J. International label helped boost house into its exalted place in the global pop pantheon.
- Music, Music Feature Aug 20, 2020
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Remembering Chicago jazz anchor Joe Segal
It's not such a bad thing to be set in your ways when your ways are worth saving.
- News & Politics, Feature Aug 19, 2020
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The toll of coronavirus
Loved ones reflect on the loss of partners, parents, siblings, joy givers, caretakers, and secret keepers.
- Music, Music Feature Aug 14, 2020
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Dave ‘Medusa’ Shelton was a fairy godmother to Chicago’s club scene
He didn’t just found the legendary Medusa’s—he also helped everyone in his orbit shine like a star.
- Music, Gossip Wolf Apr 28, 2020
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Rest in power to hip-hop activist Jamie ‘J. Milla’ Sevier
Plus: Well Yells drops a new darkwave album that trafficks in the sonics of isolation.
- Music, Music Feature Apr 16, 2020
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Remembering Chicago music champion Christen Thomas
She booked shows for a decade with the Empty Bottle and Metro teams, but that work was just the beginning of the love, joy, and support she showered on the local scene.
- Music, Music Feature Apr 8, 2020
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Did John Prine die for Donald Trump’s sins?
The cruelty, ignorance, and incompetence of the federal pandemic response have cost the life of a beloved singer-songwriter who stood against all those things.
- Music, Gossip Wolf Dec 23, 2019
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Rest in peace to Chloe the punk-scene pug
Plus: Online ecology publication Mid Magazine launches with an Ariel Zetina mix, and Thalia Hall hosts a benefit for pediatric brain tumor research.
- Music, Music Feature Dec 9, 2019
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Chicago rapper Juice Wrld died just as his career was beginning
The MC born Jarad Higgins became a commercial juggernaut in less than two years, and passed away just days after turning 21.
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Sep 10, 2019
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Pedro Bell made art to embody Funkadelic’s revolutionary grooves
The underappreciated genius behind many of Funkadelic's most famous album covers died last month after nine years in a nursing and rehab center.
- Music, Gossip Wolf Jun 17, 2019
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Local producers Tensei create an electronic canvas of astral soul
Plus: Chicago house producer Derrick “Sleezy D” Harris passes away, and Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind & Fire plays two shows behind his new solo album.
- Blogs, Bleader Dec 11, 2018
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Buzzcocks front man Pete Shelley grappled with metaphysical questions as eloquently as he wrote about physical desire
He most perfectly captured this dichotomy between the carnal and the philosophical on the 1979 B side "Why Can't I Touch It?"
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Oct 9, 2018
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Otis Rush and his searing guitar immortalized the west-side Chicago blues sound
Rush is hardly obscure, but the Secret History of Chicago Music couldn't let the death of such a powerful and influential artist pass in silence.
- Music, Gossip Wolf Jul 31, 2018
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First-wave drill producer LeekeLeek dies at 27
Plus: Veteran Chicago rapper Longshot celebrates his collaboration with Lazerbeak, and Drum Corps International hosts a world championship in Michigan City.
- Music, Gossip Wolf Jul 17, 2018
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RIP to beloved Chicago house DJ and producer Sean Haley
Plus: Punk Rock and Donuts throws a Pilsen Reads! benefit, local pop-rock band Bike Cops celebrate their debut full-length, and more.
- Music, Music Feature Apr 19, 2018
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Entertainment lawyer Jay B. Ross fought for the people who made the music he loved
An expert negotiator, he went to bat for stars as big as James Brown and Muddy Waters, but he also clawed back royalties for countless forgotten artists who’d never gotten their due.
- Blogs, Bleader Jan 24, 2018
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Mark E. Smith, the acerbic voice of influential Manchester postpunks the Fall, dead at 60
Mark E. Smith's inimitable sneer was a lacerating antidote to mediocrity for more than four decades.
- Music, Gossip Wolf Sep 19, 2017
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RIP Trey Gruber of promising young Chicago band Parent
Plus: New recordings on the way from the Father Costume—and a new album already here from Dan Whitaker & the Shinebenders
- Music, Gossip Wolf Aug 1, 2017
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Beloved underground rapper Mic One passes on too soon
Plus: Donnie Biggins of Harmonica Dunn takes over as booker at FitzGerald’s, and Pilsen’s Dvorak Park hosts the We Are Hip-Hop Youth Festival.
