Gearing up with Team Sound Ops for today's taping of one our periodic excavations of buried treasures -- recordings that are flying pretty far under the radar (though that's all relative in the age of Internet ubiquity), but which we think deserve to be much more widely heard -- I've been utterly captivated by two albums that take different paths to creating alien worlds all their own"¦ and it isn't only because the bands are based in Stockholm and Reims.
Robservations on the media beat:
Howard Stern
"Even if you hate what I do, you couldn't discount what I've accomplished. It's laughable. The idea of having a Radio Hall of Fame is ridiculous because there aren't enough guys in radio that are good enough to even have one. The radio dial is just an abomination. There's such a lack of talent, it's sickening."
Her long dark hair is streaked with grey and collected in a braid down her back. Debbie Hillman has brought handouts.
I always bring a lot of handouts for people because sometimes it just does help. So I will tell you what I have, and in the process I’m also telling you what I’m doing.
Five years ago, I co-founded the Evanston Food Policy Council.
I’d always been active in the community. I’ve lived here in Evanston 32 years. I was a professional gardener for 25 years, and was always interested in sustainability, although when I was growing up we called it the environment, not sustainability. Some of us five years ago in Evanston, and then other people across the country, had this realization that if you only work on food, you’re basically addressing all of the other issues that are in the headlines, because our food system—the fact that we need food and we have farms and we have grocery stores and restaurants and waste management, sewage treatment plants—it’s all because we need food.
We begin a multi-part look at key turning points in the political career of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich:
1980: Blagojevich meets Richard Nixon 
During the summer before law school, Blagojevich and a friend awake at 4:30am on their first visit to New York so that Blagojevich can stand watch outside the home of former President Richard M.
Masu Izakaya
Just when I thought Aldino's had set the record for the quickest closing on record, Metromix reports that Masu Izakaya closed last week, barely four months into its run in Lincoln Park. Before it opened, owner Steven Song told me "Edamame is not going to cut it. We really want to push the boundaries, and we feel the consumer is more accepting these days of new dishes." But the entire concept is based on a convivial, post-work, hearty-drinking crowd, and the dishes should reflect a Japanese aesthetic - hamachi collar, donburi (rice bowls), grilled and fried yakitori. I had a pretty good meal there before they got their liquor license, but noticed plenty of Lincoln Park moms ordering spicy tuna rolls, and knew that wasn't a good sign. I'm still waiting for Chizakaya to open up on Lincoln Avenue - I hear they've assembled a killer sake list - but construction/permit delays keep pushing back the opening. Oysy and Izakaya Hapa downtown claim to be true izakayas, but they're not even close. For the real deal, gotta head to Vancouver or New York City I'm afraid.
Be A Pal week, continues... I'm going to skip the introductory prose-y meanderings and cut right to the chase. Watch this. It's likely to be the most well spent four minutes of your day:
Wow, right?
I was about 21 when I first began really exploring the "being alone" terrain. I mean, exploring beyond the obvious: being alone in one's room, in one's space, in one's journal, in one's head, etc. I remember the first time I went out to dinner by myself, something that seemed weird and unfathomable one day, and then thoroughly awesome the next. How empowering it is to dine by oneself. And how humbling it is to realize that not only do other diners not stare, they pretty much don't even notice.
Look out, Dairy Queen. ‚ Lots of restaurants are now making their own soft serve; I just had an olive oil version last week at The Purple Pig, and since it opened, Belly Shack has had a beguiling vanilla (with a hint of coconut) topped by caramel sauce and an aromatic shaving of Saigon cinnamon. This stuff is so good, I don't need to wait until warm weather to dig in. The chocolate-bacon is a close second, but after you try the caramel cinnamon, you'll never look at soft serve quite the same way again.
I’m off getting married and honeymooning and all that so, in my absence, some good friends are filling in. Today’s look at Palm Springs comes from Kemi Adeyemi.
There are plenty of things to say about LA when comparing it to cities like Chicago: there’s too much driving, the buildings are ugly, everybody’s fake, everybody looks fake, everybody’s trying to make it. And while for the most part these observations are true, the only thing truer is that Palm Springs is worse. It’s hotter, the people look crisper, they’ve already made it and look at you askew, knowing that you are just a transient.
When you leave LA you drive through the desert, past Windmill Alley and, eventually, on the horizon there comes an oasis. You see the palm trees and the fresh-paved roads and you can just feel the elderly vibe. It’s mad special.
