raping my writer's block.

words have been difficult to come by lately. the motivation and drive to pummel out material has been dried up and nonexistent. ramblings and reviews have been trickier to knock out than convincing my roommate to do the dishes. in other words, it sucks. in efforts to make a change, i've been stepping up and agreeing to additional obligations beside my norm monthly load. i joined CHIRP. CHIRP is cool. it gets me free tickets to shows and excuses to write as i knock out reviews for albums in rotation. for those of you who don't know what CHIRP is, it's the chicago independent radio project, a volunteer grassroots effort for a noncommercial radio station. currently we're streaming online at http://www.chirpradio.org/ and are fighting legislative powers to pass a motion for low power fm stations to have power in major cities. its a struggle, but hopefully one we can win.

CHIRP has been a great way to meet and connect with new people, and in addition to having even more access to new music, i get the opportunity to attend interviewing workshops to strengthen my current skills and have dj training this saturday with a possibility of being on-air once again after a 5 year hiatus. radio roots. its' a good thing. finally, 5 years after college graduation i'm doing something halfway relevant with my journalism and radio/tv/film degrees. too bad i can't get paid for it. . .

regardless. in addition to chirp, my gigs with venus, chicago innerview, i recently started contributing to another local blog, secret note. so far, i've only contributed one assignment but the editors seemed happy enough with my excerpt and have expressed interest in additional pieces. to try and keep myself on track, i sought out confirmation for some upcoming chi shows. here's what i've got on the books thus far. i still need concert attending buddies, so if yer planning on attending any said shows or would like to, gimme a shout. i could use some music pals.

10/22 - deerhunter/real estate - metro
10/28 - the vaselines - lincoln hall
10/29 - the books - vic theater
11/17 - dresden dolls -vic theater
11/21 - no age - lincoln hall
11/23 - wolf parade - house of blues

i'm also thisclose to shelling out the monies (a mere $15) for junip (jose gonzalez) & sharon van etten at lincoln hall on 11/6 - anyone interested in being my date? i'll hold your hand and lean on your shoulder.

having one's cake and eating it too.

needing to compose a preview of sharon van etten's pitchfork performance. re-visiting her debut effort, 'because i was in love.' i was a fucking tool to volunteer to write about this. at least, considering the timing. truth be told, this woman is amazing. her soulful vocals channel old school heather nova. her folk guitar abilities are genuine. watching her perform is like spying on pure heartbreak. you can't help but be moved by her raw, gutteral sincerity, both musically and emotionally.

the lyrics to consolation prize couldn't ring more true. jesus. well, here's to taking one for the team of professional penmanship and like mya, i'm moving on.