Why some Americans mix Christianity, Eastern religions

Worshipers are borrowing from Eastern religions and New Age beliefs. Open-mindedness or a dilution of faith traditions?

By MARK GUARINO Staff Writer | Christian Science Monitor

Chicago — Because she attends Catholic mass every Sunday and observes all the religious holidays of her faith, Angela Bowman may well exemplify the Latin root of the word “religion,” which is “to bind.”

But the Chicagoan also meditates several times each day and practices yoga every other week. She knows Catholicism, Hinduism, and Buddhism have contradictory elements but is unfazed by her multiple observances because, to her, “it’s all pretty much the same thing.”

“The biggest part of praying is opening yourself up to a connection with God, and I perceive clearing your mind in meditation as another form of receptivity,” says the 30-something textbook editor. Although she is a devoted Roman Catholic, she says she doesn’t “believe it’s the one true path and anything else is flirting with the devil.”

Ms. Bowman’s attitude tracks with those in a study released last month, Read more...

Buddy Guy: Ambassador to the blues

MUSIC | The faithful line up one last January before the legend moves to new digs

January 24, 2010

By MARK GUARINO | Chicago Sun-Times

Just before midnight on a recent Saturday, the temperature stops at zero. Snowflakes persist; sidewalks in the South Loop are abandoned. Into this kind of night, Buddy Guy decides to take a stroll.

His fingers flutter against the strings of his guitar as he steps off the stage, passes through the crowd, crouches to sing eyeball-to-eyeball with enthralled fans at one table — and then takes off. He leans against a post to say one last farewell, but it doesn’t take long: He’s out the door, the (wireless) guitar still at top volume. On the northwest corner of Eighth Street and Wabash Avenue, while his club, Legends, is packed with fans, Guy stands alone, playing to the night sky.

Days earlier, well before noon, Guy sits at the Legends bar reminiscing about learning that trick from one of his heroes, the Louisiana guitarist and singer Guitar Slim. Read more...

Lady Gaga not quite ready for arena circuit

January 9, 2010

By MARK GUARINO | Chicago Sun-Times

If there was a moment to sum up Lady Gaga’s first of three nights at the Rosemont Theatre Friday night, it was probably when she pulled a Tommy Gun off her piano and sprayed her audience with sparklers masquerading as gunfire.

“Do you like the show so far?” she snarled, and of course, the crowd gave her what she demanded: adoration at top volume.

The call-to-arms happened throughout the night, but in not so obvious ways. Lady Gaga, the persona created by 23-year-old Stefani Germanotta, is meant to be a confrontational, sexually affronting street diva, but on Friday she illustrated, intentional or not, she is also obnoxious, derivative and needlessly raunchy.

In-between songs she frequently struck poses, including yawning, to imitate she was bored with her audience — the same people who were forced to re-purchase tickets when her production team Read more...

In time for trial, a celebrity makeover for ex-gov Blagojevich

Illinois' ousted governor is all over the media, boosting his star power. Will that help Blagojevich when his corruption trial starts in June? It might, some analysts now say.

By MARK GUARINO Staff Writer Christian Science Monitor / January 8, 2010

Chicago — The continued celebrity makeover of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich may boost his star power, but some say another motive is at play: to influence potential jurors in a federal trial scheduled to start in June.

Since being charged in December 2008 with 16 counts of corruption, including racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, extortion conspiracy, attempted extortion, and making false statements to federal agents, Mr. Blagojevich has taken his case directly to the public. His is a bid to generate income for his family and to reshape his image from conniving play-for-pay politico heard on federal wiretaps to working-class populist who told reporters Friday he was “hijacked from office” by statehouse enemies. He is living, he says, “an epic story.”

Do you know where this weekend's Lady Gaga concerts are?

Three Chicago shows were moved and resold last week, leaving some ticketholders confused and angry

January 5, 2010

By MARK GUARINO | Chicago Sun-Times

“I’m ticked off. I’m very ticked off.”

That’s one of Lady Gaga’s Chicago fans, Gregory Scott Halpern, voicing the frustration of many trying to figure out where they’re going to be sitting at three sold-out concerts by the pop singer Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The ticketing snafu also is shedding light on how market dynamics in the concert industry may be damaging the trust of fans and, in some cases, distorting access to the best seats in the house.

Concert promotion giant Live Nation originally booked Lady Gaga this weekend at the Chicago Theatre; two additional dates were added due to demand following a high-profile appearance by the pop star at the American Music Awards, news that she received five Grammy nominations and the chart success of her new album, “The Fame Monster” (Interscope). Read more...

Schoolhouse rock: Tech, support makes teen rocking easier

The kids are all right, thanks in many cases to the involvement of their parents, whose influence is felt by a new generation of bands

By MARK GUARINO | Chicago Sun-Times

On a recent Thursday night in the Old Irving Park neighborhood, a group of Chicago parents huddle in a kitchen, enjoying conversation and drinks, as their kids -- three students from Lincoln Park High School, Whitney Young High School and Near North Montessori School, who collectively play as the Blisters -- run through their original songs in the basement.

The band formed six years ago through school and since has played shows around town from the Hideout to Lollapalooza. But the members remained together because the parents, who previously did not know one another, struck up friendships.

"We always thought of the band as our soccer. It brings our families together," says Leslie Schwartz, whose son Hayden Holbert plays guitar. "We had to be friends for it to continue. If we hadn't gotten to know each other and enjoyed each other's company, I think it would have gone away." Read more...

Number of full-body scanners at US airports to triple in 2010

Full-body scanners could have foiled the Christmas Day airline bomb plot, some experts say. In 2010, US airports will add at least 150 to the 40 already in use, the TSA says. But critics say the machines won't help.

By MARK GUARINO | Staff writer Christian Science Monitor

Chicago — In the wake of the failed attempt to blow up an American jetliner on Christmas Day, the number of $150,000-per-unit full-body scanners in US airports is expected to more than triple next year, the Transportation Security Administration says.

Many security experts have suggested that a full-body scanner – which allows screeners to scan a person’s body through their clothing – would have seen the explosive that the alleged would-be bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, had stitched into his underwear. But the sudden rush for full-body scanners has met with deep skepticism in some quarters.

Not only do civil libertarians call them “virtual strip searches,” but some security and industry analysts say the machines are easily foiled by hiding explosives in body cavities. Read more...

Chicago Sun-Times: Lofty Deeds 'good art, good storytelling'

Musical takes country singer to 'Lofty' heights

By Mary Houlihan | Chicago Sun-Times Staff Reporter

The House Theatre of Chicago's world premiere production of "All the Fame of Lofty Deeds" is built around a rambunctious visual and aural landscape.

Playwright/rock journalist Mark Guarino (a frequent Sun-Times contributor) hit on a gold mine of ideas when he partnered with Chicago musician-artist Jon Langford (Waco Brothers) to create this show. Using Langford's country-themed music and art as inspiration, Guarino weaves the story of a washed up honky-tonk singer who looks back at his life to fully understand the effect of his legacy.

Director Tommy Rapley has taken all these elements and melded them into a creatively edgy production.

Guarino based his characters -- Lofty and Lefty Deeds -- on country music legends the Louvin Brothers. As the play begins, Lofty (a sturdy turn by Nathan Allen) lives in a rusty trailer in the desert subsisting on a diet of whiskey and pills. Read more here.

Chicago Tribune Raves About 'Lofty Deeds'!!!

‘All the Fame of Lofty Deeds’ at House Theatre: the music of Jon Langford and the struggles of the last living cowboy

Is the story of popular music really the endlessly repeatable fable of fragile artistic purity exploited by commercial interests so the suits can make a buck? Read more here.

Chicago Magazine previews 'Lofty Deeds'

Rock and Role: Jon Langford inspires All the Fame of Lofty Deeds

By Robert Loerzel | Chicago Magazine

Since appearing on the scene in 2001, The House Theatre of Chicago has earned high marks for its imaginative musicals. Critics have praised the company for creating shows with the feverish excitement of rock musicians, and now it’s finally teaming up with one: the Chicagoan Jon Langford.

On November 12th, the House premieres All the Fame of Lofty Deeds, a play based on Langford’s songs and art. It has an unusual premise: a faded and forgotten honky-tonk singer named Lofty Deeds spends his time in conversations with a tumbleweed. And the tumbleweed talks back. In fact, it even sings. So do the paintings on the walls of Lofty’s ramshackle home. And when Lofty has a flashback about the time he signed a record deal, music-industry executives appear in the guise of a five-headed monster named Jeff.

Read more here!

Chicago Tribune Rock Critic Greg Kot previews 'Lofty Deeds'

'All the Fame of Lofty Deeds' puts Jon Langford's art and music centerstage

By Greg Kot | Chicago Tribune Rock Critic

The last living cowboy isn’t going out quietly. He certainly isn’t ready for any retirement home – the long, slow fade envisioned for him by his son-in-law. Instead, there are still pills and booze to be consumed, gasoline and matches to play with, and guns to fire. And there is still music, lots of music, doused in bile, poignance, sarcasm, and memory.

“The last living cowboy” is fictional singer Lofty Deeds, the title character in “All the Fame of Lofty Deeds,” a new play scripted by longtime Chicago music writer Mark Guarino based on the songs and paintings of Jon Langford, the U.K.-born, Chicago-based renaissance man and cofounder of the Mekons and the Waco Brothers. Produced by House Theatre of Chicago, it’s opening this weekend at the Chopin Theatre. But it’s not shaping up as your typical night out at the theater, or your typical “musical” either. Though Langford’s songs are a big part of it, they don’t so much stop the action as inhabit it, just another hallucination in Lofty’s world.

Read the rest here!!!

An Interview with ‘Lofty Deeds’ Writer Mark Guarino

From the House Theatre of Chicago website:

When and why did you become interested in writing for the stage?

The short answer is this: in high school I worked at the public library and used to shelve the theater section. I became fascinated with these slim volumes of plays and at first just liked the way the dialogue looked set against the white space. It was pleasing to the eye, and then when I started reading the plays, I was taken in at how the build-up of lines can create a mystery that isn’t inherent in the lines themselves. I was also drawn to the limitless theatrical elements of a stage, that it is just a black box that can become any dream world we can imagine. I found that honorable to explore and still do.

Do you approach your work as a playwright differently than your work as a journalist? If so, how?

I ran my university newspaper for two years while starting to read and write plays so there was never a border between the two. I see both as going after the same goal: To force the reader, or audience member, to pay attention. So much in our culture is designed for distraction, especially now. So that’s really it. I’m very curious about people and how they talk and how their dreams and actions Read more...

Tickets Onsale NOW For 'Lofty Deeds'!!

That's right — The time arrives for you and all others in your life to purchase tickets for the world premiere of ALL THE FAME OF LOFTY DEEDS, my play featuring the music of JON LANGFORD (Mekons) and directed by Tommy Rapley.

The show opens November 12 and runs through December 20 and already has garnered nice press in Chicago Magazine, the Beachwood Reporter, with more to come in the Chicago Tribune, WBEZ, and others.

I'm thrilled that THE HOUSE THEATRE OF CHICAGO chose to open their seventh season with LOFTY DEEDS, which features a seven-member cast, a five-member band and plenty of theatrical loop de loops. It will be presented at the Chopin Theater in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood at the intersection of Ashland/Division/Milwaukee —  home to the Nelson Algren memorial and a convenient Blue Line stop!

Founded in 2001, The House experienced breakout success in early 2007 with The Sparrow, which theater critic Chris Jones called, “Among the very best original theater pieces I've ever seen.” The House has been nominated for 45 Joseph Jefferson Awards (17 wins) and became the first recipient of Broadway in Chicago's Emerging Theater Award in 2007. Tickets are available here. Please make plans and support live theater.

Who owns an artist's legacy?

Digital media open the door to mash-ups, tributes, and other reinventions.

By MARK GUARINO | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the October 26, 2009 edition

Living in an age of infinite media channels, death is no longer the career ender it once was. The megawattage that Michael Jackson generated in his halcyon days, for instance, is not expected to wane. With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, his songs and performances, and even eccentricities, are expected to be the gifts that keep on giving for whatever party ends up with the keys to his estate.

This doesn't make Jackson any different from other marquee entertainers whose deaths have done little to prevent new products bearing their likeness and body of work from saturating the marketplace each buying season. But what is different in Jackson's case is that, unlike the deaths of pop-culture icons Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, or Tupac Shakur, advances in digital media threaten to unbridle the ironclad control that gatekeepers use to guard their ownership rights, tailor a narrative, and protect a legacy. Read more...

Steve Martin jokes and picks through banjo show

By MARK GUARINO | Chicago Sun-Times

That Steve Martin, he’s a wild and crazy … banjo picker.

Who knew? Thursday night at the Cadillac Palace, Martin took the stage, banjo in hand and in the company of a five-member bluegrass band from North Carolina. For the next 90 minutes he joked around while performing mountain music or played mountain music while joking around. No matter, the night ended up quite a hoot and a holler — or a hollow, if this was Appalachia and not the Chicago Loop.

Bluegrass bands don’t typically draw well-heeled concertgoers in large theaters usually home to Broadway musicals, but this tour is just another to add to the left-field resume of Martin, who in his later years is demonstrating he is not just a beloved film comedian but also a playwright, visual artist and novelist.

To be sure, this project, which includes an album of original banjo tunes released earlier this year, is part of a tenuous tradition. Namely, those Hollywood hobby bands fronted by Keanu Reeves, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner and a long horror list of others. Read more...

Tim McGraw aims to please at intimate Chicago show

By MARK GUARINO | Chicago Sun-Times

In case you don’t know, Tim McGraw is a pleaser.

To drive this point home, he waited until late into his special club show at Joe’s Bar to sign whatever got shoved his way — baseball hats, CDs, flesh — while singing “Real Good Man” without skipping a beat. Singing and signing is interchangeable for a country music star whose style is of a campaigner who knows he has no other fate but to win.

That McGraw chose to spend the evening of the release of his 10th album “Southern Voice” (Curb) in Chicago was met with approval by a real politico: Gov. Pat Quinn, who opened the show holding a plaque naming Tuesday in the singer’s honor. Quinn added he hoped to hear McGraw sing the Tracy Lawrence hit, “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” which sounds like good advice for anyone sitting in the Illinois governor’s mansion.

Once McGraw hopped onstage, Quinn, in rolled-up shirtsleeves and unbuttoned collar, was ushered off. But not before a local radio personality compared both men this way: “The governor’s ass looks as good as Tim’s!” Read more...

No Olympics in Chicago: How big a blow to Mayor Daley?

Daley devoted much of the past 2-1/2 years to Chicago's Olympic bid, and many see its failure as having a considerable effect on his legacy.

By MARK GUARINO | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

CHICAGO — Most Chicagoans couldn't help but view their city's bid for the 2016 Olympics with their mayor hogging the frame. Even though other public figures lobbied hard, from megastar Oprah Winfrey to President Obama, it was Richard M. Daley who became enshrined as the bid's public face.

But Mayor Daley's push to bring the Games to Chicago ended Friday, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) eliminated the city from contention and instead awarded the 2016 Games to Rio de Janeiro.

Following the defeat, Daley tried to make one thing clear to reporters in Copenhagen, where the IOC met: "This was never about Rich Daley. It was about [past Olympic greats] Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe. Not me."

Still, with Daley having devoted much of the past 2-1/2 years to Chicago's Olympic bid, many see its failure as having a considerable effect on his legacy. Read more...

Welcome ashore! Test tour pays off for Kylie Minogue

CONCERT REVIEW | Aussie icon finally makes her debut here after 22 years

BY MARK GUARINO | Chicago Sun-Times

The Cuban embargo aside, the United States has evidently had strained trade relations with Australia considering the 22-year absence of pop star Kylie Minogue on these shores.

Minogue was a teenager in 1987 when she had her first hit single, with dozens to come over the next two decades, yet despite her success, Minogue waited until now to tour North America, making her Chicago debut Wednesday at the UIC Pavilion.

She has her reasons. Despite her global success, Minogue has remained somewhat of a cult artist in the United States. Minogue, responsible for selling 40 million albums across the world, has had more difficulty here: Billboard reports that her 2004 album "Body Language" sold 171,000 copies in the United States, its follow-up, "X," sold just 36,000 three years later.

Mariachi music well on way to making bigger inroads in Chicago

With fiddles, trumpets and guitars, Mexico's signature brand of music is well on its way to making bigger inroads in Chicago, America's 'most Mexican city'

By MARK GUARINO | Special to the Chicago Tribune

Victor Pichardo offers students at Benito Juarez Community Academy the chance to learn mariachi music after school, but he has another, bigger, goal in mind — keeping alive a tradition that could be lost to hip-hop and rock.

Some of the youths have never picked up a fiddle or strummed a guitar, let alone blown through a trumpet. Yet after one month, Pichardo, a Grammy-nominated musician, expects them all to know how to play at least one mariachi folk song. "They start learning songs the first class," he said. "I really try to get the students to work hard. They have to want to be there because it's a challenge."

His efforts reflect the continuing evolution of mariachi music and culture in Chicago, a profile expected to rise in 2010, when the city will host a yearlong celebration to mark two significant events: the centennial of the Mexican Revolution and the 200th anniversary of Mexican independence. Read more...

How a little jam went global

'Stand by Me' YouTube hit started a cascade of interviews, a CD – and next month, a tour.

By MARK GUARINO | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

No explanation is sufficient as to why a cover of a Ben E. King chestnut from 1961, sung by a band of unknown street performers and indigenous musicians from all across the globe, would ever, in the remotest way possible, become a Top Ten hit.

But this is the free-for-all era of digital media, where your mother or your neighbor could become stars if struck with the right idea or confidence to reveal an undiscovered talent. Viral distribution is why "Stand By Me," sung by a group called Playing for Change, became a YouTube hit earlier this year, resulting in a bestselling album, a PBS special, several national television appearances, and, starting in late October, a national tour.

The phenomenon fell into place organically and with ease; however, getting to this point took Mark Johnson, a recording engineer in Los Angeles, four years of travel over 15 countries. Between stints working the studio console for stars such as Paul Simon and Jackson Browne, Mr. Johnson Read more...

Check out the latest No Depression bookazine!

You can order the latest edition of the No Depression semi-annual bookzine, published by the University of Texas Press. Clocking in at 144 pages, this issue's theme is "Family Style," and features lengthy profiles on musical brethern including The Carter family, The Woody Guthrie family, The Cash family and my profile of The Earle Family — Steve Earle, Justin Townes Earle, Stacey Earle and Earle mentor Townes Van Zandt and his son, JT Van Zandt.

Order it via Amazon or find it at any independent bookstore, record store or chain.

Whose art is Katrina art?

In hurricane's wake, local artists found themselves competing with outsiders to record the event.

By MARK GUARINO | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the August 17, 2009 edition

New Orleans — Four weeks after the levees broke, submerging her city under 10 feet of water, Susan Gisleson sneaked back into the city to rebuild her house. The New Orleans native waited for her neighbors to show up and do the same. But at the end of each day, she and her family were still alone.

"Nobody came back. Nobody came back for weeks. It was looking for a while that nobody wanted to come back and rebuild the city. We felt the shock of thinking, 'What would happen if the city should not come back?' " Ms. Gisleson says. "That's why we had the impetus to start creating things."

Under the collective name Antenna, she and other artists staged art shows and literary events, published books, and hosted free workshops, all in the spirit of breathing new life into New Orleans, a city that many in the wake of hurricane Katrina, had left for dead. Read more...

Illinois corruption includes state’s largest school systems

The University of Illinois and Chicago's best public schools are charged with granting admission to children of donors and the well connected.

By MARK GUARINO  |  Christian Science Monitor Correspondent/August 7, 2009 edition

Chicago — The two largest public school systems in Illinois are under scrutiny, with federal prosecutors investigating links between important admissions decisions and political clout.

The University of Illinois and the Chicago Public School system are involved in separate cases that involve possible manipulation of the admissions process by state power brokers, which in the university case, includes disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich and convicted influence dealer Tony Rezko.

A report published Thursday by the Illinois Reform Commission said unqualified students were accepted to the University of Illinois’ most elite programs including law, business, and medicine as the result of a “shadow admissions process.” Between 2003 and 2007, for example, the college of law wrongly admitted about 24 politically-connected applicants in exchange for scholarship money, according to the report. Read more...

Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant starting production on new Taurus, SHO

Plant at 130th and Torrence is often overlooked

By MARK GUARINO Special to the Chicago Tribune

When Nick Rutovic is asked where he works, he knows what's coming.

"When I say Ford, they always ask, 'Oh, are you a dealer?' " Rutovic said. "When I tell them I work the assembly line, they say, 'I thought Michigan had all the plants.' "

Not so. The Chicago Assembly Plant, bounded by railway lines and tucked against the banks of the Calumet River, is the longest-running automotive plant in the history of Ford Motor Co. And it's being counted on this year to produce new versions of two vehicles — the Taurus and the fuel-efficient Taurus SHO — that Ford hopes will help turn around profits. Production starts this week.

"With the industry being in survival mode right now, failure is not an option," said Larry Moskwa, final assembly manager. Read more...

Jackson Browne finally settles with his younger self

By MARK GUARINO Chicago Sun-Times

Somehow, the hair on Jackson Browne’s head still flops over one half his face before curling down to hang just above his shoulders. At 60, his boyish looks are not just evidence of good genes, they also give credence to the adolescent undercurrent of his best-known songs.

Thursday night at Ravinia — a sold-out show so sold-out every blade of grass seemed to have vanished — Browne performed songs with themes that in other hands would probably sound piped from a time capsule buried under a field of wilted roses. His early work deals with the wonderment and big hurts of early romance, so much so that when he performed them Thursday, it was as if he was reading old love letters he wrote when he was 21. Which should have been really awkward.

But what prevented that from happening were songs written by a young man that, at the time, were saddled with an old man’s insight. Singing them now, Browne imbued them with poignancy but also a cool confidence that mellowed their regrets.

A middle portion of the show was dedicated to “Late for the Sky,” Read more...

Where Credit Is Due: Jay Bennett

A trio of reissues prompt musicians to pay quiet homage to an ex-Wilco member, Jay Bennett

By MARK GUARINO Chicago Magazine

When Edward Burch thinks of Jay Bennett, he remembers discussions about music that went all night. “I would ask a question like, ‘What is this crazy chord?’ and not only would he teach me how it was and why it was but he’d get into why the note changes its name,” says Burch, a collaborator on two albums. “He’d obsess over it in a way that showed he loved knowledge.”

In 2001 Bennett told me, “There’s a certain joy in exploring pure noise. . . . Just getting the instruments to do things they weren’t intended to do. The feedback, playing an eggbeater, playing an out-of-tune piano by banging on it.” His philosophy was that dissonance could “make the prettier parts of the songs sound prettier.”

That hyperfocused attention to detail led Bennett to become one of the chief creative forces behind Wilco—though by the 2002 release of the commercial breakthrough Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, he had been fired from the band. There was little mystery as to why: His clashes with frontman Jeff Tweedy were caught in I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, a documentary that friends say misrepresented Bennett. Read more...

The Internet as online confessional

As the number of sites inviting anonymous confessions grows, what do all these revelations achieve?

By MARK GUARINO | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

from the July 27, 2009 edition

Mom was right: Television is no good for us. Even if you forgo the content and just focus on the activity, there's little doubt that staring at a screen inside your home is not as healthy for a community's well-being as sitting on your front stoop and getting to know your neighbors.

That is, unless your neighbors are inside, too. In the 2000 bestseller "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community," public-policy thinker Robert D. Putnam blamed the boob tube, among other factors, for disconnecting us from one another, leading to a crisis in American life that is making us more fearful, stressed, unhappy, and less willing to look over the fence to understand the dynamics of who lives next door.

But if television made us hermits, the Internet is making us hermits with access to a fabulous social life. The immediacy of online media coupled Read more...

Make way for the micro mobiles

US automakers think small in a downsized economy.

By MARK GUARINO  |  Christian Science Monitor Correspondent/ July 21, 2009 edition

In a crippling recession, McMan­sions, Hummers, and supersize are jargon from the recent past.

But for the US automotive industry – damaged by foreign competition, rising gas prices, and hesitant consumers – “small” might be getting even smaller. Microcars loom large on the horizon, as many companies are investing in, or at least considering, lightweight, economical, and quirky vehicles that are most often associated with zigzagging down European side streets – not keeping pace with semi trucks as they barrel down US highways.

“The advantages are many: They’re inherently low-cost in terms of upfront costs, they’re very simple so they can be affordable, and they can be extremely energy-efficient,” says Christopher Borroni-Bird, director of advanced technology vehicle concepts at General Motors. Dr. Borroni-Bird is helping develop the Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility (PUMA), a two-wheeled electric vehicle based on the Segway scooter.

“Because cities are struggling with how to provide people Read more...

Kirk’s Senate bid a crusade against Illinois corruption

The Republican congressman and Afghan war veteran is a moderate who has worked across the aisle.

By MARK GUARINO  |  Christian Science Monitor Correspondent/July 21, 2009 edition

Chicago

The US Senate seat once held by President Obama will enter the national spotlight in a campaign expected to focus on cleaning up Illinois corruption.

US Rep. Mark Kirk (R) launched his bid for the seat Monday from the 10th Congressional District of Illinois, which he has represented since 2000.

Mr. Kirk said political reform will be “the center of the campaign,” and he wants to work to correct the state’s “reputation for being the most corrupt state in the country” due to the recent scandals involving former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and current senate seat holder Roland Burris.

Mr. Blagojevich was impeached in January after being indicted for 19 counts Read more...

Pitchfork even rocked ... the fork itself

By MARK GUARINO The Chicago Sun-Times

Midway through the set that ended the Pitchfork Music Festival Sunday, Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne had a word to say about the food.

“Even the food you get at this festival is [expletive] top notch!” he said.

That endorsement must have had the ears of the festival organizers ringing, because the lifestyle component has become one of the major factors that was designed to make Pitchfork stand out from many of its competitors, from city street fairs to more corporate-oriented destination festivals like Lollapalooza or Coachella.

A large swath of Union Park was absent of music; instead of stages were booths housing local artisans, non-profits, record dealers and independent labels, all selling their wares. Flatstock, a traveling show featuring original poster art from printmakers and artisans from all over the country, stretched almost a full city block. Nearby were food vendors ranging from Whole Foods to Big Bite catering to the Abbey Pub.

Pitchfork director Mike Reed said the organization tapped vendors Read more...

Less is more for the Pitchfork faithful

THE FANS | It's a major fest, but not so huge that you're left 'exhausted'

Kim Schifino of the synth-pop duo Matt and Kim announced she was taking her Beyonce moment at the Pitchfork Music Festival Saturday when she left her drumkit and proceeded to get low, pushing pelvis to pavement.

That Beyonce herself pulled off the same move steps away from where Schifino was standing — Friday at the United Center — is not just kismet but is also representative that the two worlds are today, not so far apart on the spectrum of music commerce as it might otherwise seem.

Pitchfork Media, the music website once responsible for breaking bands like the Arcade Fire, is today one of multiple platforms on a cluttered media landscape promising reviews, features and insider access to a consumer base that sales data shows is shrinking by the day.

By not purchasing the same music in mega-numbers as they did in the past, consumers have sharply fragmented thanks to midwifery of sites like Pitchfork. Read more...

A short Senate tenure for Illinois’s Burris

Democrats stand a better chance of retaining the seat in 2010 now that Burris – tarred by the Blagojevich connection – has bowed out, analysts say

By MARK GUARINO  |  Christian Science Monitor Correspondent/July 10, 2009 edition

Chicago

The US Senate seat held by Roland Burris of Illinois will be up for grabs in 2010 with the announcement in Chicago Friday that Senator Burris will not run for reelection.

Burris, a Democrat and former state attorney general, was nominated to the seat under the cloud of controversy that engulfed former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Mr. Blagojevich faces 19 counts of federal corruption charges that include allegations he sought to sell the seat formerly occupied by President Obama.

“I have returned to the place where my political journey began back in 1978 – back to the South Side of Chicago – back to my community and my constituency – to announce that I will not be a candidate in the 2010 election Read more...

Lagoon near science museum a respite from city life

Anglers cast lines, buffered from sounds of traffic, museum-goers

By MARK GUARINO | Special to the Chicago Tribune

July 15, 2009

The science of finding fish and the industry of catching them is on exhibit this summer on the banks of the Museum of Science and Industry.

"Here, fishie," Maceo McBride says to a bluegill, which heeds the call as it lifts out of the water and reels to land on the 7-year-old's line.

"There you go! You're keeping us in the game," says his father, Fred.

Hidden from traffic on South Lake Shore Drive and largely from museum-goers confined to the front doors, the museum's south side opens to the interlocking lagoons of Jackson Park Read more...

A blow for Illinois’s Blagojevich in corruption case

Under threat of lengthy jail time, his former chief of staff agreed on Wednesday to be a prosecution witness.

By MARK GUARINO  |  Christian Science Monitor Correspondent/July 8, 2009 edition

Chicago — Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign to clear his name of corruption charges suffered a major blow Wednesday when John Harris, his former chief of staff, entered a plea agreement with the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago.

Mr. Harris pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, and he pledged cooperation with prosecutors in exchange for a lighter sentence if convicted.

Mr. Blagojevich is charged with 16 counts of corruption including racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, extortion conspiracy, attempted extortion, and making false statements to federal agents. He has insisted he is innocent of all charges.

Harris served as Blagojevich’s chief of staff from late 2005 until last December. He and the governor are among six people charged in April with 19 counts of “pervasive fraud.” Read more...

THE HUMAN ELEMENT St. Vincent

By MARK GUARINO Blurt Magazine

Annie Clark made the right decision to get born in 1982.

Now 26, she skipped the travails of corporate radio and the one-dimensional MTV star machine, landing in the era of digital populism that is newly opportune for the type of music she makes: shape-shifting, melodic pop for sensibly dressed smart people with or without advanced educational degrees.

Not so long ago, Clark was still a largely unknown but ambitious multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who stacked her resume with day jobs playing with both indie rock footnotes (the Polyphonic Spree) and respected savants (Sufjan Stevens). For six years she spent her odd hours poring over the songs that would become Marry Me (Beggars/4AD), her 2007 debut that would eventually sell about 30,000 copies, positioning her officially as an emerging artist the Starbucks demographic might pick up while waiting for the foam to form on their venti latte.

The album was released under the stage name St. Vincent, which both has literary weight (it is the name of the hospital where Dylan Thomas died) and a touch of self-knighted benevolence. Clark, who was born in Tulsa, Okla. but who now resides in Brooklyn, says, looking back, the years she spent making Marry Me were luxurious. Read more...

The great sell-off: Chicago auctions city assets

The city is auctioning private assets to the highest bidder. But private ownership of parking meters stirs a backlash.

By MARK GUARINO  |  Christian Science Monitor Correspondent/ June 24, 2009 edition

Chicago — No city in America beats Chicago when it comes to selling public assets - garages, bridges, even parking meters - and contracting with private companies to supply traditional public services.Over the past five years, the Windy City under Mayor Richard M. Daley has sold or leased out public institutions such as the Chicago Skyway ($1.83 billion), underground garages beneath Grant and Millennium Parks ($563 million), and, more recently, city parking meters ($1.15 billion).

That’s not exactly chump change, especially for a city still grappling with a $469 million budget shortfall from last year, not to mention an estimated $300 million deficit this year.

But the privatization onslaught is under fire - and the barrage is intensifying amid complaints about a parking-meter deal between the city and Chicago Parking Meters LLC, a Morgan Stanley company. Read more...

Despite differences, Obama and medical community vow reform

Many doctors want to see caps on medical malpractice awards – something the president did not endorse in his healthcare speech on Monday.

By MARK GUARINO  |  Christian Science Monitor Correspondent/ June 15, 2009 edition

Chicago — President Obama said he knew he was addressing a skeptical audience at the American Medical Association Monday, which is why he made a point to connect the issue of healthcare reform to the rebuilding of the nation’s troubled economy.

“If we do not fix our healthcare system, America may go the way of [General Motors]: paying more, getting less, and going broke,” Mr. Obama said in Chicago. His keynote address at the AMA’s annual meeting not only offered a broad-brush outline of his plans to curtail spiraling healthcare spending, but also addressed critics far and wide who suggest the president is advocating a single-payer system.

“When you hear the naysayers claim that I’m trying to bring about government-run healthcare, know this: They are not telling the truth,” Obama said. Read more...

Women dominate Chicago's annual blues festival

MUSIC REVIEW | This year's Blues Fest no boys club

By MARK GUARINO Chicago Sun Times

An old man with a guitar, harmonica and complaint about being done wrong: This is an archetype of the blues that is repeated virtually every night in every city in every club that promotes the blues.

But at the 31st edition of Chicago’s annual blues festival, the gender role was distinctively reversed. Headliners at the Petrillo Music Shell stage this year were predominantly women. And they were not just from different generations, but also from different points on the map: Shirley Johnson (Chicago), Trudy Lynn (Houston), Bettye LaVette (Detroit) and Sharon Jones (Brooklyn), the headliners each night, create an impromptu sisterhood bonded by songs that underscore how cheating and heartbreak isn’t gender specific.

Another voice added to the chorus despite not being there in person was Koko Taylor, the presiding vocalist of Chicago blues. She was put to rest Friday, the same day the festival opened its gates. The iconic singer died earlier this month, almost one year after headlining last year’s festival. Her voice and spirit became an indomitable part of this year’s fest. Read more...

Bedroom, kitchen, art gallery

Homes, gas stations, hair salons house art exhibits and musical performances in hard times
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By MARK GUARINO | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

After years of training at the School of the Art Institute, Edra Soto Fernandez of Chicago never imagined a show of her new work would be exhibited in a small bedroom that requires walking up four flights of stairs and passing through a kitchen and by the living room couch.

Yet despite having her work exhibited in commercial galleries and museums in Puerto Rico, Chicago, and New York City, Ms. Soto Fernandez says she would have it no other way. "It seems easier and easier for artists to open their living rooms and people are excited by that," she says. "It's idyllic in a way."

Unexpected gallery and performance spaces are popping up in apartments, vacant storefronts, living rooms, gas stations, hair salons, and anywhere else artists connect with a landlord anxious for a tenant in a housing market crippled by foreclosures and a credit crisis.

Alternative art spaces are, in their quiet way, running in reverse of thecurrent economic downturn. Read more...

Groups try musical chairs

Band-jumping leads to some bright, sometimes unorthodox, pairings.

By MARK GUARINO | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor May 20, 2009 edition

Middle age is an inevitable job hazard most applicants for the role of rock star never think they'll face.

But when they do, they have one clear choice: Parody your former self on reality television and the nostalgia circuit or stay relevant with challenging new collaborations that may be creatively rejuvenating and, if the timing is right, result in a few new hits.

This summer's concert season is stocked with these kinds of unexpected partnerships between musicians from alternate worlds – whether it's Tinted Windows, a new pop band featuring members of The Smashing Pumpkins and Hanson; Dead Weather, featuring members of The White Stripes and Queens of the Stone Age; or Chickenfoot, a rock band roster that includes players from Van Halen and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

There are also entire tour packages featuring unlikely combinations on the same bill Read more...

At a shuttered GM plant, frustration, confusion…and flowers

The Willow Run Transmission plant in Michigan will close in late 2010, bringing uncertainty to the people and the places that built their lives around America's largest automaker.

By MARK GUARINO  |  Christian Science Monitor / June 2, 2009 edition

Ypsilanti, Mich.

The flowers that keep appearing on Don Skidmore’s desk were not sent in celebration. They arrived to mourn a loss.

“Lots of love today. I’m blessed,” says Mr. Skidmore.

He would rather not be so fortunate. As president of the United Auto Workers Local 735 in Canton, Mich., Skidmore helped deliver the news Monday morning to 1,100 workers at the Willow Run Transmission Plant: They would lose their jobs in December 2010. General Motors would close the plant after operating it for 56 years. Read more...

Michigan leaders give Obama deputy an earful over GM plans

Cabinet members are touring auto country to offer the administration's support. Michigan stands to be hit hardest by GM's bankruptcy plans.

By MARK GUARINO  |  Christian Science Monitor / June 2, 2009 edition

Ypsilanti, Mich.

Many of Michigan’s most influential state- and local-level leaders gathered in a college boardroom Tuesday to welcome their guest of honor: US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

Then the interrogation began:

Why did General Motors choose to close the plants it did?

When will more federal help arrive for a state that leads the nation in unemployment with a 12.9 percent jobless rate in April? Read more...

Nine Inch Nails, Reznor show deeper textures

By MARK GUARINO Chicago Sun-Times

Trent Reznor’s voice made an appearance before he did Friday, thanks to cascading white fog that engulfed the stage at the Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island. Just as the sun disappeared, he started the show, starting with “Somewhat Damaged,” which perfectly summed up the sound he’s honed for over 20 years in Nine Inch Nails — densely processed guitars, drapes of keyboards, urgent despondency and plenty of black attire.

Having just announced this tour as a swan song of sorts — he’s letting the Nine Inch Nails name go on hiatus for an indefinite length of time — Reznor is hardly showing signs of creative or even much physical wear and tear. Unlike many of his peers, he has sustained commercial trends and the recording industry collapse with flying colors: Fans had a choice to pay for or download for free “The Slip,” his latest album, and many chose to pay: Amazon named it one of its best-selling albums of last year.

Additionally, the community he’s been effective in grooming through Internet marketing and interactive outreach has successfully resulted in this sold-out tour and a continued relevance despite operating outside the traditional media channels that once helped shape his career.

Read more...

RIP Jay Bennett

Dischord With Wilco: Jay Bennett helped create one of pop’s most mythologized albums. Then he left the band. Now whose album is it?

Tuesday, November 20, 2001

By MARK GUARINO Chicago Daily Herald Music Critic

Jay Bennett sits in the basement of his home in downtown Arlington Heights. Guitar in hand. Cigarette in mouth. Eyes on the TV. Staring.

And waiting.

Sometime next year, Wilco, the Chicago-based band he was in for almost seven years, will release what is already being called not just its greatest album, but one of the all-time great albums ever by one of the all-time great American pop bands.

Greg Kot book signings in Chicago

My friend and respected Chicago colleague has just published a timely book that examines the digital generation of music consumers/artists and how the post-Napster era might actually be a good thing for creativity and a swing back to reconnecting artists directly to fans. Read more about "Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music" (Scribner) here.

It's available via AMAZON or any fine independent book retailer. If you are in Chicago this week and next, he is signing copies and talking music on the North Side and Hyde Park:

Wednesday, May 20th: 7:00 PM
Borders
2817 North Clark Street

Wednesday, May 27th: 6:00 PM
57th Street Books
1301 E. 57th Street

New Orleans' 'Katrina Generation' struggles with drugs and depression

Suicides are up and hard drugs are more prevalent – trends that are both linked to the hurricane's legacy, experts say.

By MARK GUARINO | Correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor
 
New Orleans — Months before her death, 16-year-old Madeleine Prevost was hard at work on a high school art project, a self-portrait she did not share because it, like the subject, was a work in progress.

The painting now hangs in her mother's New Orleans home, and in some ways it is a portrait of more than just a single girl. It is a portrait of an entire generation of young people here commonly labeled "the Katrina generation." Instead of childish features, the girl inside the frame "looks like a 40-year-old woman," says Mary Prevost, Madeleine's mother. "It's definitely not a child."

Catholics astir over Obama’s speech at Notre Dame

Opposition to his appearance at Sunday's commencement puts new attention on Catholic sensibilities – and on the president's stance on abortion and stem-cell research.

By MARK GUARINO  |  Correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor/ May 15, 2009 edition

Landing the president of the United States as commencement speaker is like grabbing the brass ring on the graduation-day carousel – usually. But for the University of Notre Dame, President Obama’s scheduled appearance Sunday as commencement speaker has touched off a gargantuan flap among Roman Catholics, not only about his policies on abortion and embryonic stem-cell research, but also about the role religion should or should not play in political life.

For a president who has taken care to embrace religious inclusivity, the vehement objections among some Catholics to his appearance at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., would indicate that being included may not be enough to keep certain values voters in Mr. Obama’s column.

It's official: The House Theatre of Chicago producing ALL THE FAME OF LOFTY DEEDS

I'm happy to announce that The House Theatre of Chicago is kicking off its 2009-2010 season with my full-length play ALL THE FAME OF LOFTY DEEDS, based on the artwork and music of Jon Langford of The Mekons.

This project is turning into a fruitful collaboration: I've long been a Langford fan, stemming first from standing stage-side at many Waco Brothers shows going back ten-plus years.

Plus, I've been an admirer of the House for several years and consider the company's creative vision and way of producing work inspiring — They value heightened theatrical storytelling and making plays that travel to otherworldly places.

Production starts in June. The world premiere is November 2009 in Chicago.

Read about it here and here.

More? Here you go.

Neko Case's unique style won't be confined in Chicago Theatre show

By MARK GUARINO Chicago Sun-Times 2009-04-26

Who knew there was still a place in modern life where tweets do not reference a certain over-hyped Internet platform but an actual live critter decked out with feathers, a beak and two clawed feet?

That certain place is whatever theater Neko Case is performing her songbook, a kind of arboretum of odd, spooky fables populated by magpies, tigers, fauna, sharks, elephants — a kind of cross-pollination between indie rock and Richard Scarry.

A sold-out show at the Chicago Theatre Friday gave Case and her band the opportunity to pursue these instincts on a grander scale. Projections of animals scrolled behind the music while high above, a giant-sized owl gazed out at the audience with stern, yellow eyes.

Bubbly Creek: Environmental advocates want to transform waterway on Chicago's South Side

Current sewage drain was a stockyards waterway bubbling with rotting animal entrails, and some see it as a wetland with walking trails

By MARK GUARINO | Special to the Chicago Tribune
April 22, 2009

In the 1906 novel "The Jungle" that documents the perils of Chicago's Union Stock Yards, Upton Sinclair famously called a waterway in Bridgeport "a great open sewer." He was not far off.

Thirty-eight years after the stockyards closed, the days when a foul odor fills the air or bubbles ripple across the creek's surface are reminders that Bubbly Creek used to serve as a repository for stockyard waste—animal entrails and blood scraped off the killing floor. "It's stinky, bubbling, unattractive and physically out of reach to most people," said Donald Hey, executive director of the Wetlands Initiative, a non-profit advocacy group.

Gypsy music finds a home in 2 hearts

Chicago artists forge a student-teacher bond, strengthened by a jazzlike musical genre that can be as elusive as the culture it sprang from

By MARK GUARINO | Special to the Chicago Tribune
April 22, 2009

Ruth Margraff traveled the world to learn gypsy music, only to discover that a master player lived just blocks away from her Albany Park home.

Juliano Milo, 56, a virtuoso gypsy accordionist and former soloist in the world-famous Orchestra Romalen, has been in exile from his Serbian home since 1990.

How the two met reflects the romantic intuition associated with the music—which has risen in popularity in recent years—and their ensuing mentor-student relationship continues the music's tradition of oral instruction. They will share a Chicago stage for a concert later this month.

Blagojevich case: Will it seal Illinois’ reputation as most corrupt state?

Ousted governor pleaded not guilty to federal charges on Tuesday, as political watchdogs tally cost of state's long history of graft and cronyism.

By MARK GUARINO  |  Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor/April 14, 2009 edition

Chicago — The arraignment of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday was an all-too-familiar scene for Illinois residents: another state or local public official appearing in court to answer corruption charges.

Like many, Mr. Blagojevich pleaded not guilty, meaning he moves a step closer to trial on 16 federal counts of corruption and conspiracy. And, like three former Illinois governors in the past 35 years, he faces prison time if convicted.

With Illinois’ ignominious record (and that’s only part of it) comes the bald question: What is it about this state that makes it such a long-standing hotbed of political corruption?

RURAL FREE DELIVERY Neko Case

With her hotly-anticipated new album, Neko Case lends cinematic grandeur to rock swagger.

By MARK GUARINO Blurt Magazine

Shaming gold diggers in sexy synth-pop is what keeps the Hall & Oates legacy vibrant.

Yet until Neko Case came along, the term “Maneater” referenced women who metaphorically ate men alive, hollowing out their wallets until tossing them in a back alley like useless humps of flesh.

Twenty-six years later, Case doesn’t beat around the metaphorical bush. She hacks it to twigs with a chainsaw like 1982 never happened.

“I’m a man-man-man, man-man-maneater/ but still you’re surprised-prised-prised/when I eat ya,” she sings. “People Got a Lotta Nerve,” like many new songs on Middle Cyclone (Anti-), her fifth studio album, are sung from the perspective of, or in the advocacy for, animals.

Blagojevich indictment outlines more pay-to-play schemes

Illinois' ex-governor asserts his innocence, saying he'll 'fight in the courts' to clear his name.

By MARK GUARINO  |  Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor/April 2, 2009 edition

Chicago

Federal indictments handed down Thursday against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and five associates present a picture of an administration that, at its very inception, sought to trade official actions for personal enrichment – in direct opposition to Mr. Blagojevich’s campaign promise to clean up government corruption.

The indictments by a federal grand jury point to a “wide-ranging scheme to deprive the people of Illinois of honest government,” according to a statement from the US Attorney’s office in Chicago. Government prosecutors did not make any public appearances upon the return of the indictments, which are part of an extensive government corruption probe.

Gay marriage ruling has Iowans weighing their values

Calm deliberation marks the reaction, for the most part, to Friday's landmark court decision.

By MARK GUARINO | Correspondent of The Christian The Science Monitor/April 6, 2009 edition

DAVENPORT, IOWA - In the two days since the highest court in her state ruled to allow same-sex marriages starting in late April, Sheila Engel of Davenport, Iowa, found herself rethinking an issue about which she had assumed she'd made up her mind.

"One part me says it's against my Christian beliefs. Another part of me says they should have equal rights," Ms. Engel said Sunday while paused in a grocery aisle of her local Wal-Mart. "There has to be a middle road here."

Band's harder edge robs Morrissey of sweetness

BY MARK GUARINO Chicago Sun-Times

Ever since Chuck Berry wrote “School Days” in 1957, modern pop music became the natural channel for the despondence, agitation and self-absorption of youth culture. But it took Morrissey to give the bummer years their literary flair.

The debonair, single-named British singer, best known as the suffering saint behind The Smiths in the 1980s, is now a 49-year-old adult singing about the same things he always has: how the world is full of bores, how there is no one on this earth who will ever love him, how serenity will never happen in this life and how he’d like to go out tonight but he doesn’t have anything to wear — and really, what’s the point anyway?

The difference between then and now is presentation. Saturday night at the Aragon Ballroom, Morrissey and his five-member road band played a perfunctory 80-minute set designed to refashion the songs with a tough punk edge at the expense of their former sweetness and subtle humor.

Franken tightens grip on Senate seat, but lawsuit looms

The counting and recounting ends in Minnesota, with Democrat Franken leading Republican Coleman by 312 votes. But Coleman can still appeal the outcome.

By MARK GUARINO  |  Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor/April 7, 2009 edition

Chicago

A winner was finally tallied Tuesday in Minnesota’s US Senate contest between Democrat Al Franken and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman. But that does not yet mean there’s a final victor.

The two candidates’ battle to win the seat began in November and has already involved a 47-day ballot recount and a subsequent eight-week contesting of 350 formerly rejected absentee ballots. The counting of those ballots, finished Tuesday, resulted in Mr. Franken capturing 198 ballots to Mr. Coleman’s 111, boosting Franken’s lead to 312.

Blagojevich is still everywhere – and some can smile about it

Illinois' ex-governor, the subject of a hit musical, is relentlessly seeking the limelight. Will it help him if he ends up going to trial?

By Mark Guarino | Christian Science Monitor Correspondent

Chicago

The wig gets the first laugh.

The mighty mane, atop the cranium of comedic improviser Joey Bland, is revealed under the blaze of red stage lights. Upon catching a first glimpse, the Chicago audience howls, knowing before even a word of dialogue is spoken what that coiffure means: Gov. Rod Blagojevich is back.

Simple pleasures gain ground

In tough times, people are increasingly turning to activities such as board games and musical evenings with friends.

By Mark Guarino | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Every Sunday morning, as most people line up outside neighborhood breakfast spots, watch TV news shows, or head for church, Chloris Noelke-Olson is tuning up her fiddle. She's preparing to enjoy bluegrass music the old-fashioned way: with friends, at home, for free.

Fleetwood Mac offers a love affair to last

BY MARK GUARINO l Chicago Sun-Times

The grab-n-go revenue stream of aging rock bands is the greatest-hits tour. You spend the first half of your life creating groundbreaking hits; then you spend the second half performing them each time a new wife requests alimony or Bernie Madoff made off with your fortune.

Fleetwood Mac's current revival on the tour circuit has those hallmarks -- it is the Anglo-American band's first since 2003, when core members Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood reunited for a new album that was surprisingly very good.