Man, Pitchfork is having some ridiculous technical difficulties this week.

Dan the Man

As mentioned previously, Dan Deacon continues to step it up with each subsequent live show, most recently performing in Brooklyn with a full band. Now he's taking that full band on the road, with a stop at the Metro on May 7. This I gotta see.

Burlington Fun

Radio Free Chicago is hosting a DJ night and a record release party this Wednesday. Check it out.

Secretary of the Arts

From the inbox today:

Dear Artist:
Quincy Jones has started a petition to ask President-Elect Obama to appoint a Secretary of the Arts. While many other countries have had Ministers of Art or Culture for centuries, The United States has never created such a position. We in the arts need this and the country needs the arts--now more than ever. Please take a moment to sign this important petition and then pass it on to your friends and colleagues.
http://www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html

Bird

Andrew Bird Month continues as ABCNews gets on board the Bird bus with an interview with Andrew Bird called- yes- "Bird Is the Word".

Return to the Air

After an extended holiday hiatus, I'm back on the radio starting tonight. I've temporarily given up on trying to record the show for podcasting purposes due to rampant technological difficulties, so if you want to listen and aren't typically in a car on Monday nights, I suggest listening online at wluw.org.

Flight

Check it out, an interview with Bret and Jemaine on the AV Club.

Another one bites the dust

Sad, LA's Indie 103 is shutting down and going online, probably to be replaced by hispanic or religious programming.

Will Oldham

Bonnie "Prince" Billy is one of those artists I've been wanting to see forever, yet every time he comes to Chicago (not often), I have a conflict. So it goes again, as he comes to the Vic on March 14th in support of his new album, and I will be out of town. Fate does not want me to see this man, for some reason.

In the meantime, I'll just read this New Yorker profile on him and cry into my hot chocolate.

Songs in the Key of Blago

Whoa- this is awesome. The Red-Eye had a songwriting contest inspired by Rod Blagojevich's claim that he likes to jog because it "keeps love in your heart". They picked their six favorite original songs out of 36 entries, with the top songs posted on the website and the winning entry set to a video montage of Blago running. The winner, "Bla-Go", by the Keith Harrison Band, is a pretty clear standout over the other five if you ask me, though John Garvey's "Blah Blah Blah" also has its moments.

You can see the Keith Harrison Band play the winning song on WGN tomorrow, January 14, during the WGN midday news.

Awdio

I guess there's a new website that broadcasts live music from clubs and concert venues called Awdio. Smart Bar and Sonotheque shows are available live on the site if you're ever at home and in need of some hot beats.

Jeffrey Lewis

So last year I saw this guy Jeffrey Lewis open up for Super Furry Animals and Times New Viking. Only caught a couple minutes, but he did this pretty funny singing + comics routine. Turns out he, like Andrew Bird, has a Measure for Measure blog on the New York Times website. Find out what his 2008 was like in comic form through his most recent posting. Awwww- cheer up Jeffrey, at least you played with some pretty awesome bands all year long!

More Andrew Bird

The Andrew Bird promo push continues with this great article in the New York Times Magazine that looks back at his career and the expectations for him going forward. I got my pre-order for Noble Beast in this morning (along with my pre-order for Animal Collective's new one, which apparently if it had been released a couple weeks earlier would have topped everyone's best of 2008 lists. C'mon guys, it's only five days into the year!).