WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Throughout his long and distinguished discography -- five studio albums with British folk-rock pioneers Fairport Convention, six extraordinary efforts with his then-wife Linda, a strong five-album solo run on Capitol from 1988 through 2001, and several consistently rewarding indie efforts since -- Richard Thompson has been the rare '60s musical legend whose powers have never diminished: not as a songwriter with a novelist's eye for social observation, not as a rich baritone vocalist who can move you to tears with the homely beauty of his voice, and not as one of the most melodic and inventive guitarists the British Isles ever have produced.

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I was late getting to the "Lost" party --gotta confess, being strung along week after week by smoke monsters, time shifts, and glorified soap opera romantic triangles never have been my things -- but like many people, I eventually got sucked in by reruns when there was nothing else to watch, and after that I was eager to visit the island for every new episode through the last two years of the show's celebrated run. Also like many viewers, I found that a primary joy of watching was Hurley's "Dude" count: keeping tally of how many times in each episode the character portrayed by that incredibly sexy actor Jorge Garcia would utter his catchphrase. (This chart of Hurley's DPE -- Dudes Per Episode -- puts his all-time high at 17 in episode 10 of season 3, and his grand total throughout the show at 328.)

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After kicking off with the great guitar maestro Rhys Chatham at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Wednesday, the "Adventures in Modern Music" series sponsored by the Empty Bottle and the Wire magazine -- and taking place this year in collaboration with Sƒ³nar as its first U.S. festival -- continues starting at 9 tonight with cutting-edge sounds from Rangda, the magnificent Efterklang, Michael Zerang/the Jim Baker Duo, and Buke & Gass at the club at 1035 N. Western. (The cover is $15.)

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Though his percussive partner Klaus Dinger died in March 2008, Neu! co-founder and guitarist Michael Rother is touring in an ensemble called Hallogallo 2010 with Steve Shelly of Sonic Youth and Aaron Mullan of Tall Firs, performing the music of that pioneering Krautrock duo as well as some of his solo material at Lincoln Hall tonight. (Tickets are $20, and the mighty fine Disappears open at 9 p.m.) This comes on the heels of a thorough and well-done new series of reissues of the group's extraordinary recordings.

In honor of these auspicious events, here is my sub-chapter on the band from my history of psychedelic rock, Turn on Your Mind.

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