Jim DeRogatis

Screeching Weasel... R.I.P.?

By: Jim DeRogatis | Mar. 24, 2011

Mar. 24, 2011
 
In the wake of his controversial outburst at SXSW, Ben “Foster” Weasel seems to be a solo act once again.
 
The other members of the current incarnation of the band—including Chicagoan and veteran bandmate Dan “Vapid” Schafer, plus newcomers Adam Cargin, Justin Perkins, and Drew Fredrichsen—released a statement Wednesday evening via PunkNews.org saying that they’re bailing on the band, two weeks after the release of its new album “First World Manifesto,” at least for the time being, and seemingly including the three sold-out 25th Anniversary “Weaselfest” shows at Reggies on May 27-29.
 
“The un-calculated act put forth by Ben Foster leading up to and including the violence that erupted on stage is seen by the band as shameful and embarrassing,” the group says in its statement.

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DeRogatis: New Music Monday returns to downtown

By: Jim DeRogatis | Mar. 23, 2011

Mar. 23, 2011

Despite the decimation of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs—a story well-covered in this blog—the much-loved Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays series will return for its third summer at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park starting on May 23 and running through July 25, with performers including Iron and Wine, Blonde Redhead, Low, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Ted Leo, Seefeel, and more.
 
By no means was this a given when the majority of Cultural Affairs employees were laid off late last year, and sources say the future of the program remains uncertain beyond 2011.

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Ben Weasel apologizes for SXSW altercation

By: Jim DeRogatis | Mar. 21, 2011

Mar. 21, 2011

With the videos going viral and punk message boards and Twittering fans almost universally condemning him for the fracas that ended Screeching Weasel's show at South by Southwest on Friday, frequently omitting the messy context as presented in this blog and the Los Angeles Times, Chicago native Ben "Weasel" Foster finally has broken his silence and issued an apology via the Weasel Manor Web site.

The short but seemingly heartfelt statement follows.

I want to apologize to both the club owner and audience member involved for my actions during our show at SXSW on Friday night. While their actions were outside of my control, my regretful reaction is wholly my responsibility. Whatever my feelings are about fans crossing the line like that, I wish I could have that moment back and deal with it in the same spirit as I did the preceding 60 minutes.

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SXSW 2011: Saturday night—and that’s a wrap

By: Jim DeRogatis | Mar. 20, 2011

Mar. 20, 2011

Wild Flag

AUSTIN—Though the energizing high of Thursday night’s set by Le Butcherettes still lingers, I feared the minute it was over that it would be difficult for anything else at SXSW 2011 to top it—and no, the sad spectacle of the altercation between Ben Weasel and two women Friday night certainly does not count.
 
The biggest musical rush I got in the last 36 hours of the festival came from parts of two sets I caught by Wild Flag, one at a club called the Parish after the Screeching Weasel show on Friday night, and the other at a club called Mohawk on Saturday afternoon.
 
This indie-rock supergroup brings together two veterans of Sleater Kinney, guitarist Carrie Brownstein (who

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SXSW 2011: Screeching Weasel show goes haywire

By: Jim DeRogatis | Mar. 19, 2011

Mar. 19, 2011

Screeching Weasel, 2011. Ben Weasel, foreground, hit a young woman in the face during an altercation at the band's SXSW showcase on Friday night.

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SXSW 2011: The Evil Empire shows its face

By: Jim DeRogatis | Mar. 18, 2011

Mar. 18, 2011

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”—Hunter S. Thompson

 AUSTIN—We can say this much for Nathan Hubbard, the CEO of the Ticketmaster division of the massive, recently merged monopolistic concert giant Live Nation Entertainment: At least he had the courage to put a public face on the most reviled company in the history of the music industry at the biggest annual gathering of people who represent pretty much the polar opposite of everything he stands for.
 

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SXSW 2011: ¡Viva Le Butcherettes!

By: Jim DeRogatis | Mar. 18, 2011

Mar. 18, 2011

 

AUSTIN—Following keynoter Bob Geldof’s rousing call to arms, much of the rest of day three at the South by Southwest Music Conference couldn’t help but seem anticlimactic, with one very notable exception.
 
Other stops on Thursday’s panel agenda included a session entitled “Serving Up Music News: Fresh, Reheated or All-You-Can-Eat?,” wherein some of the country’s biggest music news gatekeepers—Warren Cohen of VH1, Nathan Brackett of Rolling Stone, Benjamin Wagner of MTV News, and Scott Plagenhoef of Pitchfork Media—talked about how they approach the job of directing their platform’s news sections, with a special emphasis on the Net.
 
All agreed that the Internet is a voracious beast that demands to be fed constantly and instantaneously, whether it be for “news” of the new Britney Spears album or updates on the Dismemberment Plan reunion.

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SXSW 2011: Bob Geldof's stirring call to action

By: Jim DeRogatis | Mar. 17, 2011

Mar. 17, 2011

AUSTIN—I’ll admit it: My reaction to the news that former Boomtown Rat and Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof would deliver the keynote address at the 25th South by Southwest Music Conference was beyond skeptical. More like, “Well, they’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel now.”
 
The high-profile centerpiece talk once at least tried to set some broader agenda for the conference. But in recent years, it’s become more of a showcase for an admittedly legendary star, gleefully reminiscing about the high points of his past, with little acknowledgment of the present, let alone the future. (See my rundown of the 20 keynotes I’ve covered below.)
 
Geldof, like several of the acts at SXSW 2011 (Duran Duran? The Bangles? Really?) just seemed so...

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