Tagged Music

Who doesn’t love a good music fest in the summer? Indie Pop, Rock, Electro, Hip Hop, Dubstep, Folk, you name it – Metropia has it!

Love crawfish? Love Louisiana? Love a good time? Well, you’re in luck! It’s that time of year again when the Louisiana Bayou comes to Lincoln Park! McGee’s Tavern & Grille is hosting their 23rd Annual Headsucker’s Ball; Chicago’s nal crawfish boil. Over 2,000 lbs. of crawfish, straight from the Louisiana Bayou, will be boiled with McGee’s secret blend of spices and herbs, corn, Andouille sausage and red potatoes. For just $20 in advance, ($25 at the door for you more spontaneous folks), you can enjoy all-you-can-eat crawfish, red beans & rice, gumbo and jambalaya! Also look for drink specials throughout the day, because who doesn’t need a cold one to wash down all those crawfish?

What does a local Chicago legendary rock venue and a thriving Texas arts festival have in common? After the Reggies SXSW Throwdown, quite a bit! Started in Austin in 1987 South By Southwest has grown into a week long music, film, and culture festival attended by nearly 20,000 people every year. Their lineup, consisting of musical acts, films, speakers, and others, features a great collection of current hot names but also tons of great up and coming artists.

I moved to Illinois from New Jersey a month ago with big plans of starting my young life in Chicago. Almost every day a Chi-town veteran asks me one question, why Chi? You would think that having been so close to New York City I would get sucked into its gravitational pull, but no, I found asweet escape from those filthy streets. Coming from the NYC area few peoplerealize how delightfully overrated NYC truly is. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking my tri-state, but I certainly had a few clear reasons to leave the city that never sleeps for its Midwestern equivalent. Here are my top ten reasons to move to Chicago!

Celebrate “The King” and what would have been his 77^th birthday on Sunday, January 8^th with Elvis Fest 2012! Elvis Presley was the top hunk back then and he still is to many today. Girls wanted him and guys wanted to be him! Honor who he was, what he did, and how he made people feel with his music by partaking in this event at The Original Mother’s.

Chicago Mixtape is a project that Casey Meehan started in February 2011. Every single Monday morning through Chicagomixtape.com, Casey sends out an email blast of free high-quality music from local musicians to all of his subscribers. The first track includes a personal message to all the listeners from the creators of the mixtape: Casey Meehan and Marisa Ruiz, who works for 24/7 Chicago & brokehipster.com. They candidly explain that the purpose behind creating this best of the best compilation is to promote talent coming out of Chicago!

Hungry for some new music to listen to? Then let me point your attention to the band Material Issue. Although technically not “new” per se, this amazing band formed in 1985 right here in Chicago. In 1991, Material Issue released one of the best pop albums ever, International Pop Overthrow, and broke on to the national music scene. Unfortunately, it seems as if the band had either arrived too early or too late with their fresh take on straight forward pop music. By the time they released their second (and equally great) album, grunge bands like Nirvana and new alternative sounds from the likes of fellow Chicago band The Smashing Pumpkins had taken hold. Sadly, the world never got to see Material Issue recover their popularity as frontman Jim Ellison committed suicide in 1996.

Hello Billy Dec blog readers! My name is Jenny McCarthy (no, not THAT Jenny McCarthy) and I am so excited to let you in on a growing musical movement around the world. On any given night of the week, you can find great music in Chicago. If you’re a dedicated fan, you know the downside: groupies talking over your favorite song, beer bottles clanking, fair-weather fans blocking your view. For music lovers and performers, the intense, sometimes frustrating experience of attending shows is underestimated. So why doesn’t the Chicago music scene offer something different and innovative?

As you know we throw the hottest parties in the city for Lollapalooza. In the past we've done performances by Katy Perry, Kanye West, Perry Farrell, Mickey Avalon, Snow Patrol, Kenna, Mike Posner & many more! We will be releasing our party info soon, but in the meantime wanted to share the lineup for the 20th anniversary of Lollapalooza…

Hey everyone! This is Feeny Fernandez from Billy's office! This week is just a ton of amazing stuff going on in Chicago! Thursday we've got President Obama's event going on at Navy Pier (still some...