The ten best trumpeters of all time

Like sax players, any discussion of the best trumpeters is likely to involve some of the same names. And that’s not happenstance. It’s because the playing of those greats is so distinctive, prodigious and influential that it truly stands out among countless other horn players. Keep reading for a rundown…

Death reported at Gathering of the Juggalos

Daniel Hill and Drew Ailes are covering the annual Gathering of the Juggalos in Cave-in-Rock, Illinois for our sister publication, The Riverfront Times. Daniel HillThe now-closed “drug bridge” The Gathering of the Juggalos’ infamous “drug bridge” is closed today, following reports of a fatal overdose last night. Ambulances were on…

Camping with Juggalos: Ten must-have items

Daniel Hill and Drew Ailes are covering the Gathering of the Juggalos in Cave-in-Rock, Illinois for our sister publication, The Riverfront Times. We hope to see them again! At some point in your life, you may find yourself sitting in a minivan in rural Illinois, stressed out as you wear…

Here’s what the Bluebird looked like in 1933

The Bluebird Theater. You know it. You love It. You’ve been to hundreds of shows there, and have probably driven past it ten times that over the years. You’ve probably heard the folklore about how at some point the theater apparently used to show dirty pictures sometime before it hosted…

The ten worst collaborations in metal

Magic can certainly happen in the recording studio, but with some collaborations, a witch’s brew with a horrid stink can also boil over. Huge, lottery-sized paychecks evidently blinded the poor fools involved from seeing what truly awful things they were creating. Where’s Marty McFly when you need him? If only…

The ten best metal videos

Music videos are the artistic representation of a band’s music, a visual extension of muscle from the shoulder to the fist, jarring a deeper emotion in your brain. If music videos were never created, who knows what would’ve happened? Well, actually a couple things are certain: We would have been…

The ten best metal reunion/revitalization efforts

When musicians reconvene, it can often be as unpredictable as a high school reunion, but at least when band dudes get back together or merely rediscover their original inspiration, it’s something to look forward to rather than dread. Keep reading for a rundown of the ten best metal reunion/rivitalization efforts…

The ten heaviest metal deaths

Unless you’re the Highlander, death is simply inevitable. Be that as it may, the untimely passing of these metal men left us all in shock, defying the natural order of things. From Jeff Hanneman and Chi Cheng, most recently, to Randy Rhoads and Cliff Burton, all of these revered metal…

Terence Blanchard on the state of jazz today

In this week’s Rough Mix with trumpeter Terence Blanchard, who is due at Dazzle this Saturday and Sunday, we spoke with him about recruiting younger players and how composing for film has rubbed off on his jazz playing. In this extended Q&A, he talks about new Blue Note effort, Magnetic,…