|
[--- HOME --- HUBS --- SPECIALS --- ARCHIVES --- TODAY ---] | |
|
||
| Who rocks the music world in Chicago 1998 | BACK | |
| Nos. 19-27 | MUSIC 45 HOME | |
|
19
COREY RUSK
OWNER, TOUCH & GO! RECORDS |
Empire punk | |
Touch and Go! Records' genesis began near Toledo, Ohio, when Corey Rusk started the label to put out a seven-inch single by his own band at the time, the Necros. It wasn't meant to be a record label in the usual sense. But seventeen years later, Touch and Go! Records, alongside cousin Quarterstick Records (started by Rusk to facilitate bands that might not fit within T & G's framework), has been as important a medium for underground bands as any in the U.S., including Big Black, the Butthole Surfers, Meatmen and the Jesus Lizard. Rusk, now in his early thirties, continues to be a hands-on owner, a fact evident by the quality-and direction-of Touch & Go!'s current slate of bands.
|
||
| 20 LIZ PHAIR | Phair value | |
|
It's doubtful there will be any Rolling Stone covers this time around (though the mag did give her new record, "whitechocolatespaceegg" four out of five stars), but the media still eats Liz Phair up like ripe watermelon. It took four years-a time-out for marriage and motherhood that provided plenty of time for tongues to wag and start all kinds of wacked-out rumors about rejected demos, rejected friends and players, and Liz gone country-for Winnetka native Phair to release her third record, a much quieter affair that's no less personal than the debut that skipped to the top of critics' 1993 charts with a wink and a raised middle finger. (That would be, of course, the fantabulous "Exile In Guyville.") And during that time Liz seems to have gotten over her painful (for her and fans) stage fright; besides performing as part of this summer's Lilith Fair, she's scheduled a fall tour that takes her across the country, though a Chicago date has yet to be added.
|
||
|
21
SUSANNE MCCARTHY-TIM EDWARDS
OWNERS, FLOWER BOOKING |
Smell of success | |
|
Flower Booking, which McCarthy relocated from Boston four years ago, comprises the middle sibling of Chicago's three booking agencies. An eight-year-old agency with a staff of three, Flower books its bullpen of twenty bands strictly in North America. Flower's independent-minded clientele includes Tortoise, the Sea & Cake, June of '44, the Grifters, Trans-Am, Edith Frost and the Promise Ring. In fact, it's that same independent support that brought McCarthy to Chicago. "There were so many people doing similar things to what we were doing, Thrill Jockey, Touch & Go!, Drag City, that it just made sense," McCarthy says. "Besides, it's cheaper to run a business in Chicago than Boston."
|
||
|
22
ZARIN MEHTA
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR-RAVINIA FESTIVAL |
Symphonic starfinder | |
|
Executive director and chief operating officer of the Ravinia Festival since 1990, Zarin Mehta has helped lead the outdoor music institution to record-setting attendance levels by broadening the mainstream appeal of its performances. Instituting the Rising Stars series to provide an intimate indoor venue for newer classical and chamber music artists, as well as consolidating Ravinia's expansive jazz offerings into the Jazz at Ravinia mini-fest, Mehta has shown a knack for hitting specialized core audiences. Pop offerings from the Four Tops to the Cowboy Junkies complement the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's summer performance series, bringing the younger, classical-averse music audience out under the stars. Mehta has also proven to be a force outside Ravinia, starting the Jazz in the Schools mentor program between jazz artists and public school students while his staff also books non-symphonic events for the Symphony Center.
|
||
|
23
ERIC SELZ
OWNER, RED RYDER AGENCY |
Nut cracker | |
|
Rising from the ashes of Do Easy Booking, Eric Selz has maintained the smallish Red Ryder since 1992. Red Ryder's stable of eight bands-including The Squirrel Nut Zippers, Damon & Naomi, the Loud Family and the North Mississippi Allstars-is plenty to keep Selz and his lone assistant busy. "The Zippers take up a lot of our time," says Selz, who notes that he's actually had to scale back operations in order to keep pace with the Nutty ones. Red Ryder books throughout the U.S. and Canada, but the ambitious Selz is trying to expand. Having just completed booking a Japanese tour for Sub Pop's Damon & Naomi, the agency is currently working on a Latin America tour for Bio Ritmo.
|
||
|
24
BRUCE IGLAUER
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, ALLIGATOR RECORDS |
Cool lizard | |
|
Twenty-seven years after starting Alligator Records to release an LP by Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers, Bruce Iglauer finds himself head of what he proudly describes as "the world's largest and most active contemporary blues record label." From his early days working at the Jazz Record Mart, where he was mentored by Delmark Records impresario Bob Koester, Iglauer has gone on to release about 150 albums and cement Chicago's reputation as a still-important center of blues innovation. The 50-year-old Iglauer has bolstered the careers of an impressive artist roster, including Albert Collins, Koko Taylor, Robert Cray, Johnny Copeland and Lonnie Brooks. And lest you think the name Alligator Records came from the mind of a rapacious businessman, let Iglauer set you straight: "Alligator was my nickname," he has said. "When I was listening to music on the radio I was always clicking my teeth together. Later on, I learned that in jazz slang an alligator in the 1930s was somebody who hung around musicians. He was a good guy, but not a musician himself. That's me. I'm very much a non-musician."
|
||
|
25
DAN KORETZKY
PRESIDENT, DRAG CITY RECORDS |
Midwest connection | |
|
You've got Matador on the East Coast. Sub Pop on the West Coast. And the indie rock trinity of Drag City, Touch and Go! and Quarterstick Records here in the windy heart of the Midwest. The smart and slyly smart-assed middle brother, Drag City has a little black book of a roster/back catalog that says it all. Royal Trux. Pre-Matador Pavement. Jim O'Rourke. Smog. Gastr Del Sol. Will Oldham. Silver Jews. King Kong. Founded by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn in 1989, Drag City weathered the nineties hype of grunge, Chapel Hill slacker rock and cheeky Boston power pop by releasing records that both sold big (relatively speaking, of course) and became indie rock touchstones: Pavement's "Westing By Musket" and "Sextet," Royal Trux's "Cats and Dogs," the Palace Brothers' "There Is No One What Will Take Care of You" and Stereolab's "Refried Ectoplasm." Besides cranking out records (look for new releases by USA, Chestnut Station, Will Oldham, Plush, and Royal Trux), Drag City is also venturing into licensing deals with UK labels, distribution deals with smaller indies and even publishing.
|
||
|
26
BETTINA RICHARDS
OWNER, THRILL JOCKEY RECORDS |
All the horses | |
|
Thrill Jockey, the label that broke Tortoise. That's what Bettina Richards' company will most likely be remembered for in the long run (especially since Tortoise's last record, "TNT," is the best-selling Thrill Jockey CD to date). Richards was a welcome addition to Chicago's music scene when she moved herself and her label from New York four years ago-in part because of the cost of running a record label in Manhattan, and partly to be closer to her distributor, Touch & Go! Records. With a slew of critic's darlings putting out records on Thrill Jockey, including the Sea & Cake, Freakwater and Trans Am, the last year has seen Richards' staff balloon to four people; until last year, she was the only paid employee. What sets Richards apart is a dedication to putting out records she wants made, regardless of commercial viability. "Bettina's great," says a member of the punk-rock Nerves. "She just said, 'Make the record you want to make,' and left us alone."
|
||
| 27 TORTOISE | Exploding records | |
|
The band that producer Steve Albini once called "the greatest Chicago band ever," Thrill Jockey recording artist Tortoise became the swords of what critics dubbed "anti-rock." Originally a collaboration between John Herndon and Doug McCombs called Mosquito, the music world was set on its ear upon the release of Tortoise's self-titled LP in 1994. Adding John Mcintyre, Dan Bitney and Bundy K. Brown, Tortoise broke the boundaries of musical texture, incorporating as many elements from jazz as from rock as from the then-burgeoning electronic music form. The band's three records have sold consecutively more, with 1998's "TNT" being Thrill Jockey's biggest seller yet. Brown has since dropped out of the band, replaced by David Pajo, and jazz player Jeff Parker, but member changes didn't change Tortoise. Marked by a captivating live show, during which band members rotate instruments between songs, Tortoise is Chicago's best, truly alternative band to date.
|
||
|
|
[--- EMAIL --- HELP --- HOUSE ---] | |
|
copyright 1998 New City Communications, Inc. |