Christmas Music Advent Day 18 - ‘Socks’ A Christmas Album by JD McPherson’ Another fairly recent album of all original songs, so fun and well-done that I’m going to see them performed live tonight—for the third time!

Christmas Music Advent Day 17 - Kelly Finnigan ‘A Joyful Sound’. I got a thing for artists who can write and record an entire album of good-great original Xmas songs. Kelly Finnigan mines the same psychedelic soul sounds of his band Monophonics to give his holiday tunes a hazy glow.

Christmas Music Advent Day 16 - Huey "Piano" Smith & the Clowns ''Twas the Night Before Christmas'. The Venn diagram of my love holiday music and love of New Orleans R&B is this boozy party of an album of mostly originals. But heck, even "Silent Night" is an original in this element.

Jesus, Joe Ely died? These are the bad times.

At Thalia Hall in a stretch of 5 shows in 11 days. Tonight it’s Protomartyr, one of my favorite bands of the last ten years playing one of my favorite albums of the last ten years, ‘The Agent Intellect’

Christmas Music Advent Day 15 - Various Artists ‘Christmas Party With Eddie G.’ It’s the Christmas collector mixtape as Christmas album (or CD)! TV and film producer Eddie Gorodetsky is legend for his mixes. This Xmas collection is delightfully schizo with a lot of cool songs and snippets.

Christmas Music Advent Day 14 - Various Artists ‘Christmas Dreamers: Yuletide Country 1960-1972’ More new-to-me country Christmas tunes, but far removed from the mainstream as befits a compilation from Numero Group.

Christmas Music Advent Day 13 - ‘Christmas With Buck Owens and His Buckaroos’. I was slow in my embrace of country & western Christmas music, but TWO Buck Owens holiday albums of mostly original material helped set me exploring.

Another year and 13 days change, here I go again, onward and upward. Inward and outward. My own anti-social media.

"The thorn beneath the rose" says a lot. But what a side of fantastic songs.

Christmas Music Advent Day 12 - Frank Sinatra 'A Jolly Christmas.' Tis the season to celebrate a very special birthday: yes, today would be Frank’s 110th. What better way to celebrate than to highlight the template for crooner Christmas albums. The baby Jesus-free secular songs are where it's at.

No apologies for seeing live music on a school night.

Christmas Music Advent Day 11 - The Kingston Trio 'The Last Month of the Year' Another one of my very favorites. I love how the shimmery quiet nature of the stringed instruments and voices carry the mostly unfamiliar traditional material.

Christmas Music Advent Day 10 - Joel Paterson 'Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar'. Speaking of holiday guitar instrumentals, Chicago's great Joel Paterson has not one but two helpings of his twanging, fingerpicking takes on Christmas tunes. Those recordings are still second best to seeing him perform them live

Christmas Music Advent Day 9 - ‘The Ventures’ Christmas Album’. If you know 60s guitar instrumentalists The Ventures, you might know what to expect when they take on a dozen holiday standards. But really you don’t as they weave in guitar riffs from the hits of the day.

Thank you corporate Asian fast food fortune cookie

Oh @numerogroup.bsky.social, as one of those CD lunatics screaming from the rafters, I can't quit you. numerogroup.com/products/mag...

Christmas Music Advent Day 8- Various Artists 'Yuletunes: A Collection of Alternative Pop Christmas Songs'. More cool holiday music from indie artists, this time curated by the band Shoes and their label, Black Vinyl Records. One of my go-tos this time of year.

Christmas Music Advent Day 7 Chris Stamey and Friends ‘Christmas Time’. I’m featuring the original 1993 East Side Digital CD, but this superb dB’s Universe holiday collection has been reissued a few times with different track lists and covers. Worth a listen in any incarnation.

Christmas Music Advent Day 6 - Various Artists ‘Santa’s Funk & Soul Christmas Party’ Thank heavens for the fans at Tramp Records compiling small label and private press holiday soul music to become a big part of my Xmas playlists. The first may be the best, but the others are loaded too.

What can me, an architect, say about Frank Gehry, a world-renown architect? I love Pritzker Pavilion and I’m glad it exists. It’s made Chicago a better place.

I worked for Frank Gehry. Because of him, I went to The Simpsons Halloween party, had a key to the Disney Concert Hall, met amazing artists. Frank was wonderful to me. When I left his office, he said you'll do big things, just try to stay out of politics. Sorry, Frank. Your memory is a blessing ❤️

Christmas Music Advent Day 5 - Lou Rawls ‘Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho!’. One of my very favorite Christmas records. Big shoutout to arranger H.B. Barnum who surrounds Lou’s always soulful vocals with brassy and inventive backing even on the holiday warhorse songs.

Christmas Music Advent Day 4 - Various Artists ‘Christmas Cocktails’. Part of Capitols ‘Ultra Lounge’ CD series that repurposed the swinging tunes of the 50s and 60s for a new generation. They did three physical volumes of these; the first two are pips. “Hi-Fi Holiday Cheer From Santa’s Pad” indeed.

Fare thee well, Steve Cropper. What a life! Guitarist on countless great records, yes. But also songwriter, producer and A&R for Stax Records in its prime, especially with Otis Redding. I could dive in with any of the records here, but it’s probably going to be ‘Otis Blue’.

Christmas Music Advent Day 3 - Various Artists ‘Hipsters’ Holiday: Vocal Jazz & R&B Classics’. By 1989, the CD revolution was in full flower, and few did it better than Rhino Records. They curated a bunch of holiday collections of different genres, and this one had my name on it.

Christmas Music Advent Day 2 - Various Artists ‘Mr. Santa’s Boogie’. In the 1980s, listening to Steve Cushing’s late night ‘Blues Before Sunrise’ holiday program on WBEZ expanded my Christmas music experience way beyond the standards. This LP is a bite-sized version of that.

Christmas Music Advent Day 1 - Johnny Mathis ‘Merry Christmas’. The origin story of my love of holiday music is from the era of crooners crooning carols over meticulously arranged strings. Every bit as indelible as ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ and the Rankin-Bass specials.

I’m thinking about doing an Advent calendar of holiday music in the lead up to Christmas Day. I hope I can find 25 albums that I like.

Happy to be 190 miles south where the total snow forecast has been reduced to 1-3”

Happy Thanksgiving from the very young and very British Fairport Convention. youtu.be/qVTQ_VkGsjk

Family food pr0n. Forget the Thanksgiving feast. The night before is where it’s at.

Fare thee well to Jimmy Cliff, who was my first, largest entry to reggae music. ‘The Harder They Come’, both the soundtrack and the movie, meant a lot to the eighteen year old me away at college and gobbling up new-to-me music.

This is a great read on a great album that I don't play often enough. Fixing that right now! pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...

Starting my week at a client with low sun illuminating Streeterville highrises. Wish I could stare out the windows all day but I’m here for work.

I will say that every time I go to see and hear art of any sort from any point in history, A.I., or at least the sort that is stealing and appropriating the work of human imagination, just shows its ass as a bankrupt, empty and soulless ripoff.

Hey Chicago people with an eye for and an interest in art and architecture, you should see these exhibitions while they are here. Attempt at a thread with pictures to follow.

Mostly I took pictures today, but I was at a few too many places selling books, and the MCA double discount days was enough for me to take home these two recently released titles from my list.

Amazing day off today with visits to AIC, CAB, CAC, MCA and a few non-acronymic places. I’ll have a few more things to say and some photos of cool art and architecture at point, but I’m mostly spent. In a good way.

Feeding my head, heart and soul with art and architecture downtown on a gorgeous fall day.

How long has this been going on (Brian Eno on Apple Classical)?

I am very much looking forward to this. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/12/c...

I’m loving everyone’s northern lights photos from a somewhat darkened lakefront. But even through the West Loop light pollution it’s pretty cool.

Meanwhile tonight on the UIC campus…🎇

There goes my work morning... 80 Artists Pick Their Favorite Neil Young Song - stereogum.com/2476602/80-a...

Somehow I've purchased tickets for six shows in ten days in mid-December, a predictably busy time even without live music, and with predictably unpredictable weather.

The NWS Chicago forecast for the West Loop now has snow totals of 4-8". On top of tonight's Senate sellout, I'm not gonna get any thundersnow am I.

Bluesky is not good for my mental health. At least not the Bluesky that feeds me the play-by-play of the Senate Democrats sellout.

I can’t get over this forecast discussion from the National Weather Service in Chicago regarding the lake effect snow event overnight tonight into tomorrow morning. 3-5” per hour snow rates! And one of my favorite weather phenomena, thundersnow! forecast.weather.gov/product.php?...

I ordered a physical CD copy of this which I will have in my hands tomorrow. And I streamed this today, and my god, “miracle” only hints at the glorious melding of fury and melody and intensity at a particular point in time. 40 years on, I can’t believe how good Hüskers were/are.