08/06/07
It wasn’t as stylish a crowd as Pitchfork, but the young ‘uns did do a few trends well. Here were some of the highlights.
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08/05/07
Before I lose my wireless signal, I’m shooting off the best and worst of Sunday at Lollapalooza.
BEST
1. Eddie Vedder pulling Ben Harper up on stage for “Body of War.” Vedder did a lot of politicizing—taking on the war in Iraq and BP Amoco. “Think of it as a boyfriend or girlfriend who never brushes their teeth,” he said, of BP Amoco, and its potential dumping in Lake Michigan. “You wouldn’t kiss them. Don’t show BP any love until they clean up their act."
2. My Morning Jacket pairing with a local children’s chorus...
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08/04/07
Keeping with yesterday’s theme, here’s the good, the bad, and the occasionally unfashionable from Saturday. While we’re at it, write in with your bests and from Lolla in the comments box.
THE BEST
1. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs! Finally, I got to see them live.
2. Finally finding all the 30-somethings. They ARE here! They’re all at Roky Erikson! ...
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08/04/07
THE BEST
1. The Black Keys, an Akron, Ohio, duo that’s been touched—no, gifted—with a sound reminiscent of dirty Mississippi blues I heard growing up and unprocessed rock ‘n roll.
2. Daft Punk! My generation’s Peter Frampton
3. The sign language volunteer for the Polyphonic Spree; most of the interpreters just sign and kind of sway, but this lady rocked out, particularly during the “yeah, yeah, yeah” part of the Spree’s cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit."
4. The hipster T-shirts. My favorite: A purple one with a picture of Kurt Vonnegut. It said, “Vonnegut With This?” If you have a shirt like that, then yes. Yes, I do...
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08/03/07
With an event the size of Lollapalooza (120 bands; 200,000 attendance expected), there’s sure to be a wealth of pre-parties, after-parties and after-after-parties. After jamming to Dave Specter Thursday night at Millennium Park, good Southern girl that I am, I headed over to Subterranean for Paste magazine’s pre-Lolla party...
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08/02/07
I love a good smackdown. Except when it comes to bands. Every year of Lollapalooza, I’ve lost my friends during the pivotal afternoon time slots. Last year, I stood alone at Andrew Bird when my friends headed over Matisyahu. I didn’t find them again until several hours later (thanks, text messaging!) If you’ve ever been to Lollapalooza, you know that the planners have ESP. They somehow can sense which bands are on your must-see list. They then manage to put them at the same time slot at stages umpteen miles apart. This means that you must either (a) sacrifice Cold War Kids to Rhymefest or (b) run like hell to cross the great divide between the two fields. It is the concert world’s cruelest joke.
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08/01/07
Here we are, the best no-brainer date night I’d had in a while.
First, the no-brainer date night, defined: Easy, not too pricey. Does not require reservations. Entertaining, but not a time sucker.
The no-brainer date night, handed to you on a platter: Summerdance, followed by sushi outside at Bob San on Division Street (or gelato at Caffe Gelato at Division and Damen), followed by some romantic action of the “Oh, he’s so cute, he took me to an outdoor dance festival” kind.
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07/27/07
Spoiler alert: we're about to tell you which local indie designers got the nod from Macy's.
So, let me just get this out of the way. I could never do the whole fashion design thing. I can’t sew together a paper bag. I don’t have the patience to dry my hair in the morning, much less affix tiny little buttons or adjust hemlines. My favorite article of clothing is a T-shirt from high school that says Planned Parenthood of Alabama. It has a picture of a rabbit popping out of a hat. My mother always tries to throw it away when I visit.
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07/26/07
Even I could feel the intensity. Thirty or so local clothing designers (when you count accessories, there were 70 in all) had trucked their wares up to the 9th floor of Macy’s in the hopes that they’d get picked up by a major department store. By "picked up," I mean that Macy’s had set aside budget money to add pieces by local designers to their collection. This is huge, seeing as how Marshall Field’s (and later Macy’s) used to buy on consignment only. Now they were going to buy entire “lots” up front—a purchase that could make an indie designer’s year...
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07/23/07
 Wilco is coming to Millennium Park!
I know, I know; like you, I just crowded into the park to see The Decemberists, and it stunk because there were too many people. But consider this: Like the Tori Amos show a few years back, they are going to sell tickets, which will control the crowd. I can attest that the Amos show was pleasant—even on the lawn—and way more fan-friendly than The Decemberists show last week. So, here are the details...
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56.0F
Coda is a blog by arts and culture editor Cassie Walker, who, love it or hate it, always has an opinion. During the course of her weekly culture hunting, she reviews high art and pop culture events so you'll know what you need to check out and what you can miss.
