#WXRT

[fuzzyghost]

[oldshowbiz]

SoundStage Stereo Simulcast

[pinkfloyd-musicartnaturelove]

David Gilmour at the radio station WXRT in Chicago, Illinois, 1984

[chaunceyandchumleysdad]

Lin Brehmer (1954-2023)

This weekend’s kick off is dedicated to Chicago radio personality Lin Brehmer who passed away earlier this week at age 68. He was an excellent disc jockey and outstanding morning drive personality on WXRT, a passionate fan of all things Chicago, and your best friend in the whole world. Borrowing from a Frank Zappa song, he regularly used the catch phrase, “Its great to be alive!”

In memory of Lin and the many years of joy he brought to Chicago listeners, I’m kicking off the weekend with The Mothers of Invention and their live version of Call Any Vegetable.

(If you choose to skip around on the song, Frank’s “great to be alive” is at 5:43. Also, don’t miss Frank’s awesome guitar solo at 3:40.)

[raspberryconverse]

I have no words. Now the two people who made my experience interning at XRT so good are gone and my heart is broken.

— Coley 💗💜💙 Bisexual people exist (she/her) (@raspberrychucks) Jan 22, 2023 January 22, 2023 at 01:57PM via Twitter https://twitter.com/raspberrychucks

[gummyartstradingcards]

[sinceileftyoublog]

Matthew Sweet Live Preview: 4/5, Metro, Chicago

Photo by Evan Carter

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Tonight, at Metro, power pop aficionado Matthew Sweet returns to Chicago after over 5 years away. Though his most recent album was 2021's underrated Catspaw, and he is purportedly at work on a new studio record, it's actually a different recent item he shared that has me excited. Earlier this year, Sweet released his July 4, 1993 show from Grant Park, recorded by Metro Mobile Recording for WXRT. The show consisted of songs from his 1991 breakout Girlfriend, yes, but also much of Altered Beast, which would come out weeks later.

You can tell from the recording why it's considered one of Sweet's best-ever shows. Though you can imagine the crowd melting on a hot day as two of the first four songs played were slower in tempo and likely unfamiliar, yet to have their studio versions drop, it's clear concertgoers ate up the band. Television's Richard Lloyd, who lent his axe to Girlfriend, plays lead guitar, while Tony Marsico's (Cruzados, Bob Dylan) on bass and Will Rigby's (the dB's) on drums. They add dynamic riffs and meaty fills on "The Ugly Truth", and their mammoth breakdown on "Evangeline" generates applause from an audience charmed by the song's otherwise bright, buoyant melodies. And even the slinkier, more psychedelic tunes like "Do It Again" and "Reaching Out" are crystal clear. The whole collection was remixed and remastered from the original DAT source by engineer Brian Kehew, and you can hear not just Sweet's banter but even moments of crowd chatter. At one point, someone says, "Nice to see you, bro, let's get lunch," like it's an outtake from "Undone (The Sweater Song)".

Of course, though devoted fans were probably foaming at the mouth hearing so much new material, the Girlfriend songs were the unabashed highlights of the set, from the Rolling Stones strut of "Does She Talk?" to the epic, cascading "Divine Intervention". When Sweet introduces the title track, he says, "If there's any song of mine you know, this might be the one," and for good reason: He never wrote another earworm quite like it. Funny enough, Lloyd did not play lead guitar on the album version (it was Robert Quine), but his distorted solo here absolutely rips. By the time Sweet plays the final two songs of the afternoon, covers of John Lennon's "Crippled Inside" and The Troggs' "I Want You", you get a true sense of his appreciation for pop music and songwriting, and at the moment he was on stage, he was the one on top.

Not to say he won't be great tonight! Sweet should deliver an excellent set. Singer-songwriter Abe Partridge opens. Doors at 7:00 PM, show at 8.

[jimflanigan]

A Tale of Two Concerts

How in the bloody hell did I end up at this show over the weekend? Some say it’s because I’m Father of the Year. I volunteered to take my 15-year-old daughter and her friend to see the feminist punk band Destroy Boys. You may remember them from their haunting ballad “I Threw Glass at My Friend’s Eyes and Now I’m on Probation.” Anyway, I took these two lovely young ladies into Chicago to Metro to…

[frances-baby-houseman]

We're slowly watching The Bear season 1 and it's the episode with Lin Brehmer and it was so good to hear his voice again.

[chaunceyandchumleysdad]

I have good memories of the Grateful Dead in the 1980's. I saw them twice in the 70's and ten time in the 80's. Most of those 80's shows were at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. I also taped a few their New Year's Eve shows that you use to air live on WXRT radio in Chicago. I'm quite sure I have this show on tape. It is no doubt buried somewhere the the hundreds of cassette tapes that I have not listened to in decades.

Song Review: Grateful Dead - “Hell in a Bucket” (Live, Dec. 31, 1987)

The Grateful Dead must’ve felt some foreboding about 1988, for as the clock struck midnight signaling the end of ’87, the band launched the New Year’s party with … “Hell in a Bucket.”

But at least everyone seemed to enjoy the ride.

The song is out as the latest entry in the Dead’s “All the Years” video series and despite the balloons, the iconography and the obviously festive spirit inside the Oakland Coliseum, this is a fairly standard rendition for the era, replete with In the Dark sound effects complementing, or, depending on one’s perspective, bastardizing, the music.

Jerry Garcia’s final guitar solo has a bit of New Year’s spirit to it and Bob Weir’s screaming-falsetto outro is about as fierce as they come. Instead of yelling, Yeah!, Weir signals the end of the tune with a raised arm and feigns some windmills - but doesn’t touch his guitar strings in the process - as the song crashes to a close.

There wasn’t much better than the Grateful Dead on New Year’s Eve. But there are a ton of songs better than “Hell in a Bucket” for the Grateful Dead at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

But then, the Dead often missed expectations in big situations such as this.

Grade card: Grateful Dead - “Hell in a Bucket” (Live - 12/31/87) - B

Read Sound Bites’ previous “All the Years Live” coverage here.

5/27/24

[himikochan]

reblog for sample size and all that

[derangedrhythms]

It’s definitely the bad side. It wasn’t the one that won. My point of view was not the side that won in this song. I think where it shows up on the record, and the whole reason Sneeze is where it is is because, well, obviously, it was definitely malaria. It’s one of those things where you know this isn’t good for you. You know that anything any of your friends say to you just doesn’t mean anything. ‘Don’t do this Tori. You’re crazy. Don’t do this. Why are you doing this?’ You just look at them and say, ‘Oh, I know exactly what I’m doing. Don’t worry. Everything’s just fine.

Tori Amos, on ‘Caught A Lite Sneeze’ from WXRT Chicago (1996)

[chaunceyandchumleysdad]

In anticipation of their appearance at Riot Fest, I listened to Spoon's album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. I couldn't believe it when this song came up. I've heard it played on WXRT countless times and never knew it was Spoon. So in anticipation of Spoon's upcoming Riot Fest show, I'm kicking off the weekend with The Underdog.

[raspberryconverse]

Spouse and I were cleaning up what will eventually be our office (if we ever get our shit together) and in a box with a bunch of printer paper we're a bunch of my old journals. I started reading one from when I was 21-22, but I wanted to read the previous one because I wanted to read about a particular exboyfriend. I started out writing about how we met, then my next entry was a bad day while I was interning at WXRT. I ended the entry with this:

I miss Lin so much. He was one of the best people I've ever met. He was one of the best people on this planet.

[projazznet]

Herbie Hancock feat. Jaco Pastorius – Live In Chicago ’77

“Herbie Hancock featuring Jaco Pastorius, Live at Ivanhoe Theater, Chicago Ill. on February 16th 1977. By 1977 Herbie Hancock was firmly established as America’s leading purveyor of jazz-funk. This superb performance finds him playing with Weather Report’s legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius, as well as Bennie Maupin (tenor sax, bass clarinet) and James Levi (drums). Broadcast on the local WXRT-FM, it offers a setlist anchored in his Head Hunters era, but also offers a track from Maupin’s superb Slow Traffic To The Right album. With “Hang Up Your Hang-Ups” and band intro’s at the start.” – Rick Ransom/AllMusic.

[nice-bright-colors]

It’s odd to see, yet still touching to read all the heartfelt FB posts from many friends back in Chicago, about the passing of Lin Brehmer.

Between all the XRT events, concerts for the kids, St. Patrick’s Day parades (north & south), dying the river green, opening day broadcasts for the Cubs at Yak-Zies, countless new restaurant openings (he was a foodie), Lin’s Bin mini rants, when he would play ‘Dear Prudence’ every year on my friend Prudence’s birthday (she worked at the station in 90’s), yearly ski trips with listeners to Breckinridge and Telluride, the Oyster & Guinness festival every year, Old St. Pat’s Worlds Largest Block Party near the church, and every single time The Rolling Stones came to Chicago…he was all over it.

Quite odd to read all the condolences on all social media platforms. The amount of lives he touched by not being that “whacky morning dj guy” is clearly amazing. I had to do the math from when I first started listening to him to when I moved to Colorado. Just over 31-1/2 years.

I can honestly say that I haven’t had consistent friendships that have lasted that long. Then again Lin was ‘everybody’s best friend in the whole world.’