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Thomas Conner biography

Pop Music Critic Thomas Conner has worked in music and features journalism for nearly 20 years. At the Sun-Times, he's been Music Editor since arriving …Read More

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Jail time for rapper might not hurt sales

Lawyers for Chicago rapper Chief Keef sparred with Cook County prosecutors Wednesday over whether to jail the Chicago rapper for probation violations stemming from three earlier delinquencies. Following a meteoric rise and a successful single (“I Don’t Like”) through Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. label, Keef was …

Post-punk funk — Johnny Lydon, Public Image Ltd. living for live music on stage, albums

You hear about John Lydon, but you think Johnny Rotten. Who could blame you? In their few short years together in the late 1970s, Rotten’s squawking snarl made an indelible cultural impression as leader of British punk band the Sex Pistols. The quartet crashed music’s …

Pumpkins’ leader Billy Corgan still smashing conventions

THOMAS CONNER: Billy Corgan is as busy as he was 20 years ago, maybe busier. He recorded another album with the Smashing Pumpkins, “Oceania,” released in June. This week, the band launched a North American tour, which stops Friday at the Allstate Arena.

Reviews of new albums by Donald Fagen, Martha Wainwright

THOMAS CONNER: Latest releases add depth to both musicians’ previous albums.

Max McElligott’s exploration of love develops into his band Wolf Gang

Before he chucked it all, Max McElligott was a student at the London School of Economics (like Mick Jagger before him), studying social anthropology and writing a thesis titled, “Is the Notion of Romanticism a Western Construct?” “Capital-R Romanticism and the different ways of seeing …

Lupe Fiasco speaks to his new normal

THOMAS CONNER: Lupe Fiasco has been watching the news of Chicago’s escalating street violence with alarm. Calling them “these heartbreaking times for the city” he adds, “I’m distraught and destroyed by it. It’s terrible, terrible to see the city still operate like everything is normal. There’s no outcry as a whole. That kind of frightens me.”

Thomas Conner reviews this week’s music releases

Fresh off the summer festival circuit, Tame Impala and Birds of Chicago release new albums in advance of their fall shows.

Earl Klugh right at home in all kinds of music genres

Earl Klugh is a jazz guitarist — one of the greatest, no doubt, with a sweet, signature style on the nylon-stringed acoustic guitar — but don’t think less of him just because his initial inspiration to the craft was a TV Western. “The first exposure …

The world according to Prince

THOMAS CONNER: Throughout a two-hour show Monday night at the United Center, Prince, his five-piece band, his three backup singers, his 11-piece horn section and his in-the-round, Prince symbol-shaped stage jumped to a nearly nonstop beat. His multitasking as bandleader, singer and all too infrequent guitarist resulted in an erratic show, one that eventually boiled over with energy and gusto — and then went suddenly cool.

Deep in the zone with the Dirty Three

One of my all-time favorite concerts was the Dirty Three opening for Beck in 1996 in an Oklahoma ballroom. The trio’s instrumental rock is haunting enough on record, and in concert, the players crackle with intensity. This particular night, violinist Warren Ellis sawed at his …

After Lollapalooza delay, Empires lives the dream at last

When a storm pummeled Lollapalooza last month, Sean Van Vleet watched his dream go down the drain. After much anxiety and near despair, this story ends with a kind of Shawshank-level redemption. Lollapalooza, Day 1: The sun is shining, the heat is on, Grant Park …

John Cale takes each project to ‘diametrically opposite’ corners

That vision has led the Velvet Underground cellist, who performs Friday at the Brilliant Corners of Popular Amusements festival, into collaborations with artists as varied as Brian Eno, the Stooges and LCD Soundsystem. “I need different points of view,” Cale says.

Kanye West’s own songs stand out on G.O.O.D. Music compilation

THOMAS CONNER: The long-awaited album by Kanye West and his crew features worthy contributions from Chief Keef, Kid Cudi, R. Kelly, John Legend and other stars.

Bob Dylan, tangled up in blues on ‘Tempest’

Curse his pedigree. Bob Dylan — the irascible genius, the living legend, the reclusive wunder-coot — has been making truly stellar music this century, but the requisite galaxy of four- and five-star reviews is blinding and off-putting to many mere mortals who might really dig …

Northlight Theatre adds ‘Woody Sez’ to list of singer’s centennial events

Woody Guthrie, despite his aw-shucks Okie persona, was no fool. He knew how the fame game worked — it hasn’t changed much, even since his 1940s folksinging heyday — and he seemed to know exactly what would happen to his own musical legacy. “The hungrier …

Not so quiet Riot Fest — Promoters want annual event to be last big bang of summer

Another year, another expansion of Chicago’s Riot Fest. Last year the annual punk and indie-rock festival had grown to five venues over five days. They’d even expanded outside the city, launching the first Riot Fest in Philadelphia. For this year’s eighth event, Riot Fest is …

Billy Corgan wants his tea house steeped in the aura of salons past

THOMAS CONNER: Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan opens his Highland Park Madame Zuzu’s Tea House Thursday. It’s an idea he said he’s had for a decade, one that’s finally budding with the venture housed in a former post office storefront at 582 Roger Williams Ave. “I’ve never had coffee,” the rocker says. “I’ve always hated the smell,”

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