Kevin Williams

Wayne Coyne leads The Flaming Lips during a performance at Riot Fest in Chicago's Douglas Park on Friday, Sept. 13, 2019.

Riot Fest makes its own way in ‘postponing’ the 2020 edition in the face of COVID-19, moving it to 2021 with many headliners already known

June 17, 2020 at 1:38 a.m.

There will be no Riot Fest for 2020, dashing hopes of outdoor festival music fans that the punk-focused festival might be able to find a way to continue, even after...

Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford, races during the NASCAR Cup Series Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway on June 10, 2020 in Martinsville, Va.

Column: NASCAR made the right call banning the Confederate flag — whether it was motivated by financial reasons or not

June 13, 2020 at 9:26 p.m.

Let's be very clear about something from the outset: Any contention that the Confederate flag is a symbol of pride, history or any other such bovine fecal matter people choose...

Tatyana Chante learned a lot from organizing a George Floyd protest march in one day, from the weight of responsibility to the joy of success

June 8, 2020 at 10:27 p.m.

Protests have energy, and the ones in honor of the late George Floyd are no different. What we forget is the astonishing amount of energy it takes to make one...

Milwaukee Summerfest canceled, will resume in 2021. Still no Lollapalooza news

June 5, 2020 at 10:19 a.m.

Citing "an abundance of caution," organizers for Milwaukee Summerfest have decided to cancel the major summer event, originally scheduled for June to early July, then moved to September. In a...

During the 2016 NFL season, San Francisco 49ers players Eric Reid, left, and Colin Kaepernick, distraught by the history of mistreatment against black Americans, particularly by law enforcement, kneeled in protest during the pregame singing of the national anthem.

Column: America wouldn’t listen when Colin Kaepernick and other famous black athletes spoke out. So what chance do the rest of us have to be heard?

June 10, 2020 at 3:30 p.m.

On Sunday in Germany, during a match in the top flight of that nation's pro soccer league, Marcus Thuram scored a goal. Before joining in the celebration with teammates, he...

Review: Chicago’s Retirement Party amaze with the noisy, blissful “Runaway Dog”

May 22, 2020 at 3:53 p.m.

As we hunker down in houses, apartments and other spaces, art and the arts have never mattered more. It's okay to lament not being able to partake of them, to...

Review: The amazing ‘Make A Shrine Or Burn It’ has the gift of timing, as mood music for these quiet, introspective times

May 4, 2020 at 5:15 p.m.

Ain't gonna lie, this VV Lightbody album came outta nowhere. It's like when you say to a friend, "You look really nice today," not really implying that they usually look...

D-Nice, here in a 2018 image from the Players' Ball, presents the hottest dance party in the country on Instagram Live.

DJ D-Nice has just the thing for your coronavirus isolation blues, in a viral dance party. Don’t miss shows coming up from Roy Kinsey, Ratboys, Tijuana Hercules

March 25, 2020 at 7:43 p.m.

Coronavirus and isolation has changed everything, even going to the club. But as we sit in our homes, united by the way a microbe has affected us all, a DJ...

Julia Steiner of Chicago band Ratboys is going live (stream) tonight, as her concert kicks at the door of isolation built by the coronavirus

March 26, 2020 at 1:52 p.m.

Everything was all set for Ratboys. The Chicago band had just released a great new recording, "Printer's Devil," that fans and critics lavished with praise. There were a couple of...

Maybe your favorite artist hasn't broken into the mainstream quite yet. Maybe he or she is taking the independent route to have more creative freedom. Either way, if you follow an artist who skips Apple Music or Pandora in favor of sites like Soundcloud, Youtube or Imusify, listening to and sharing his or her music via these platforms gives that musician greater exposure. Your listens and posts also help these artists make a living if they've chosen to monetize their tracks.

You’re probably trapped at home and wondering which music streaming service sounds the best. So were we.

March 19, 2020 at 7:00 p.m.

The good thing about being trapped at home due to the novel coronavirus is that you can play music while you work. The bad thing is that you can play...

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