Last month I traveled to Belfast to attend the Northern Ireland Music Prize, because this year’s ceremony included the debut of the Joe Cassidy Chrysalis Award—named for the late Belfast-born artist who’d become one of Chicago’s most important and beloved musical transplants. Cassidy, who led the group Butterfly Child, was an old friend of mine […]
Author Archives: Steve Krakow
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There’s still time to catch up with the Joy Poppers
When I started the Secret History of Chicago Music in 2005, I had a rule: no artists from the 1990s. Not enough time had passed, I figured, for them to be forgotten. It’s been 18 years, though, and the local scene is full of people who don’t remember the 90s—or who weren’t even born then. […]
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Downstate weirdos Max Load brought punk to Belleville
Secret History readers often ask about my criteria for including an artist. Sometimes they want me to cover an early-90s band, but I’m still reluctant—that’s when I started going to shows myself, so it seems too recent. I definitely felt that way when I launched this series in 2005, but I guess we’ll see. I’m […]
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Pastor Mitty Collier spent the 1960s as one of the great voices in soul music
The Secret History of Chicago Music may have my name on it, but it’s never a one-man show. I often consult experts, especially when I’m covering an unfamiliar genre or I hit a dead end in my research. Earlier this month, in fact, I turned to Chris Young of the excellent blog Downstate Sounds to […]
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The Rooks cut a hall-of-fame garage-rock single but broke up in obscurity
In August I said I thought the Secret History of Chicago Music might be running out of 1960s garage bands to cover. I’ve been a fan of the Rooks for ages, for instance, but I’d given up on writing a story because I couldn’t reach any former members to fill in the gaps in my […]
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All-girl garage band the Same got short-changed by the grown-ups in the room
Sometimes you have to play the long game. I’ve been trying for years to get the story of local 1960s girl group the Same. My interview requests didn’t lead anywhere, and I couldn’t track down much info about their only release—the 1967 single “Sunshine, Flowers and Rain”—or about the women who’d created it. Thankfully, Chicago […]
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The Reader’s guide to World Music Festival Chicago 2023
In July, I attended a community meeting at the Broadway Armory in Edgewater about the city’s plan to turn the Park District facility into a temporary shelter for asylum seekers. A group of protesters, angry that much of the armory’s programming would be relocated or otherwise disrupted, carried bright yellow signs reading “Don’t Displace Us.” […]
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Don’t call Brighter Side of Darkness one-hit wonders
I’ve never liked the term “one-hit wonder.” This is partly because it’s often misused; I’ve seen Americans describe T. Rex as a one-hit wonder because “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” was Marc Bolan’s only stateside smash, but in the UK he had 11 top-ten hits in three years. I also find “one-hit wonder” a […]
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Experimental musicians Bill Nace and Haley Fohr team up for two nights at the Hungry Brain
For more than a decade, Chicago musician Haley Fohr, who also makes music as Circuit des Yeux, has been honing and expanding her craft. She’s taken her transcendent vocal explorations, art-rock ensembles, and live film scores to far-off places around the globe. Just when I thought I’d witnessed her lend her powerful four-octave voice to […]
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Let’s make Marshall Vente a star
I discover subjects for the Secret History of Chicago Music lots of different ways—I might see an unfamiliar artist mentioned in passing during an interview with somebody better known, or spot a name I don’t recognize in the credits of a well-loved local LP. Sometimes a musician simply contacts me directly, or a friend or […]
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The mightiest double bill at the Chicago Jazz Festival
When I looked over the lineup for this year’s Chicago Jazz Festival, the first thing that leaped out at me was the pair of sets at Pritzker Pavilion on Thursday—saxophonist Chico Freeman celebrating the centennial of his famous father, Von Freeman, followed by bassist Ron Carter leading his group Foursight. Freeman came up in the […]
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Soul singer Garland Green couldn’t quite turn luck and talent into stardom
I know I’m indulging in nostalgia for the “good old days” before the global consolidation of the entertainment industry, but it sure seems like it used to be easier for a talented artist to luck into a shot at fame—something more lasting than 15 seconds of Internet virality. In the 1960s, the workings of the […]
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London chamber-pop group the Clientele return to the U.S. in support of a new double LP
London psychedelic chamber-pop outfit the Clientele have been making their hushed, literate songs for 32 years, evoking peers such as the Go-Betweens, the Left Banke, and Felt while maintaining their own baroque and brainy mystique. Earlier this year, they released an ambitious double LP, I Am Not There Anymore (Merge), which lead singer and guitarist […]
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Society’s Children had a combo unheard-of in 60s garage rock: mother and son
Long ago, an early fan of the Secret History of Chicago Music stopped me at a grocery store. Not only was I surprised that this gentleman had recognized me—I tend to think of myself as a faceless columnist—but I was also taken aback by his first question. “You do that garage-band column in the Chicago […]
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Local guitar heroes Ryley Walker and Bill MacKay reunite onstage for the first time in five years
When Bill MacKay told me it’d been five years since he played with Ryley Walker—something they used to do all the time—it reminded me once again how badly the pandemic era has shaken our collective grip on time. Getting back to real life, relationships, and projects has been slow going, and on top of that […]