In Case You Missed It: Jack White Releases Children’s Book

November 26, 2017 | Eric

I know more and more of you are becoming parents…or plan to in the future.  Give a piece of alternative love to your spawn in the form of this nifty story:  Susie Lee goes to school, does some show and tell, and even….[wait for it]…even makes a new friend.  We’re Going To Be Friends, the children’s book from Jack White!

Beats another….whatever from Doc McStuffens.  — [eric]

Chicago Restaurant Will Go All Tech: Zero Human Interaction

November 26, 2017 | Eric

When Wao Bao opens its newest Chicago location on December 1st, it will be quite a departure from fast-serve restaurants:  no human interaction, thanks to technology first implemented by the chain Eatsa…and now being applied elsewhere.

According to Eater magazine, you will enter the restaurant, order your food on tablets, and then pick up the grub from a bank of shiny glass-windowed doors.  Like this:

Number of intentional interactions with another person: 0.0

Despite a handful of this style restaurants closing already, Wao Bao says it’s pushing forward with the concept in all of the new stores they open.  A number of food establishments are also pushing forward with “self order and pay” technology at restaurants.

This isn’t new technology by any means:  automat restaurants were popular for decades, and likely went by the wayside when the nuisance of coin-only payment and the rise of drive-in restaurants drove the popularity into the ground.

So, is this a passing phase?  Or does this spell the end of an era?  — [eric]  

Rise Against & Chicago have ‘electricity’ when the power goes out

November 24, 2017 | Kevin

To say we are excited to see Rise Against come back home to headline Night 1 of the Nights We Stole Christmas on November 30th at the Aragon would be an understatement, we are electrified for this show. The bond between RA and Chicago is real. This is where they started, and they have grown into a worldwide success. This connection was very evident in 2015 when the band was crushing it on stage at the Hunnington Bank Pavillion at Northerly Island and the power went out mid-song. Right as ‘Give it All’ was building to a crescendo, the power went kaput but the crowd, the CHICAGO crowd kept the proverbial power on by singing every word, sustaining the spiritual momentum until the band fired back on with full power.

 

Lauren and I watched this in the crowd. She caught the video of it and it is still something that I recall as one of the best moments in a rock concert I have ever witnessed. It’s things like this that make the hair raise on my arms as we wait for the 30th to see our hometown heroes take the stage under that majestic hand-painted sky of stars above the ballroom floor of the Aragon.

When Tim McIlrath of RA was in the LOUNGE this past summer, Lauren asked him about that moment and how when they seemed down the crowd bounced them back.

Check out Tim’s LOUNGE performance here

Derrick Rose could be done in the NBA

November 24, 2017 | Kevin

Former Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose whose currently with the Cleveland Cavaliers is reportedly contemplating his future in the NBA. ESPN reports today that Rose has missed 11 of the Cav’s games this season so far with a sprained left ankle, and his continued streak of injuries is making him question whether or not he wants to continue playing according to sources in the league.

“He’s tired of being hurt and it’s taking a toll on him mentally.” one source told ESPN.  The article also details how Rose is no longer with the team on an excused absence, and has not been communicating with the Cavs or others close to him.  K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune also reported those close to Rose are not sure what he’ll do.

Rose suffered two serious knee injuries during his time with Bulls including a critical setback during the 2012 Playoff campaign, after he won the league MVP honors in 2011. Many Bulls fans were behind on the hometown hero on his multiple roads to recovery, but unfortunately with the constant shake-ups in pro sports, Rose had to leave town to be with a potential contender.

Last year Rose jumped to the New York Knicks where he missed a game without permission from the team and was fined. He later cited a family issue as the reason. Now with the Lebron James lead Cavaliers, Rose was looking for another reboot to the emotional roller coaster that has been his pro basketball career. He signed a one-year deal.

Still who can forget this….

Our Country’s Greatest Internal Battle: Thanksgiving Sides

November 23, 2017 | Eric

82% of the United States will get down with the bird on Thanksgiving.  Poultry is the one thing we can all agree on, over ham and beef.

Now, when it comes to sides?  The battle wages on…

Here in the Great Lakes region of the United States, we disproportionately get down with rolls & biscuits versus other tables across the country.

Here’s where it gets weird.

From almost the Rockies and west…salad?  SALAD?  And then check out New England.  56% of their population demands squash as a side.  That is more than half the people demanding that a gourd takes up valuable real estate that could be used for stuffing, mashed potatoes, or the age old staple of any holiday meal…green bean mushroom casserole!  Finding a yearly use for those french fried onions, people!   

If you are a numbers kind of person, enjoy scrolling through the rest of what FiveThirtyEight offers up.  And Happy Thanksgiving, turkeys.  — [eric]

People are not happy about the real life version of Spongebob Squarepants

November 23, 2017 | Kevin

Spongebob Squarepants: the Musical is currently on Broadway in New York, and is common with today’s Thanksgiving Day parade the cast from noteworthy musical tend perform a number on the parade route for the massivetelevision audience. For most people this is the first time they are seeing the ‘real life’ versions of the beloved Nickelodeon animated characters who have been cartoon staples for Millenials and beyond but when the internet turns on you, they turn hard. That was the case today with the unfortunate fella who spent his whole life hustling to get a big role on the big white way only to be lambasted by a savage troll wave.

Here is some of the worst from Twitter.

Watch a Barney Balloon Die during the 1997 Thanksgiving Day Parade

November 23, 2017 | Kevin

New York City’s Thanksgiving Day parade is a cherished tradition with the holiday just like arguing with your relatives about politics and lying to your grandmother about her cooking being good. It draws millions of people to downtown area of America’s biggest city with even bigger character ballons featured in the parade, which delight children who can see their favorites in a massive way. In 1997, it was a different story with a failure that is hilarious for sheer scale of disastrous it was.

The New York Times reported that day on the windy conditions and challenges faced by the huge character balloons.

“At times, the balloons were not gliding but instead were careering as their handlers on the ground struggled to keep control in winds that reached as high as 43 miles an hour. For a while, the balloons seemed to be falling like flies. Barney suffered extensive damage and had to be removed at 51st Street. The Pink Panther succumbed at 42d Street. Quik Bunny and the Cat in the Hat limped away at 36th Street.”

That’s the most annoying yet beloved purple dinosaur in TV history got ripped open, deflated, and stomped out by the NYPD in front of millions of people.  Barney the Dinosar’s humongous balloon got ripped open with soaring winds and in the raw uncut video above you can see over the course of a few minutes the friendly dinosaur gets flattened out on the street. You can hear the person filming say “this is going to give kids nightmares.”

Esquire did a detail report about the balloon problems that year during the NYC parade and how one women was injured in a similar accident during the same parade with a different balloon. You can read that here. 

Watch Football Coach deliver wedding advice: “The women lose their mind”

November 23, 2017 | Kevin

Photo: WeTV

Washington State football coach Mike Leach has become a viral sensation recently ranting on the record with hilarious results about a lot of non-football related topics. A reporter this week asked the wise and grizzled Leach for advice on his upcoming wedding and how to handle it. Leach delivered probably the most epic and bitterly funny diatribe against the feminine mania over weddings. Now, before you run and call me sexist, I am just quoting this guy who seems delivers his opinion with a very thorough and circumstantial outlook  on the wedding process. And yes, it will make your fiancee angry or at least I think so or maybe it doesn’t, or whatever she wants just go with that. 

Here is the full transcript below.

“The women lose their mind. Your fiancee’s gonna lose her mind, your mother-in-law is gonna lose her mind, your mom is gonna lose her mind, several of your sisters, and female relatives are gonna lose their mind. And, they’re gonna barrage you with constant questions — ‘what should we wear?’ and of course my answer was ‘I don’t care.’ And then ‘what color should the invitations be?’ ‘I don’t care.’ ‘What should we have for dessert?’ ‘I don’t care.’ ‘Should we sit this way, or that way?’ ‘I don’t care.’”

“But see, I don’t care’s not satisfactory at all, and you’re going to get caught in a catch-22 — and I’m certain that you already have — and that catch-22 is, ‘Well I want you to be a part of this too, so what color invitations?’ ‘Alright, the blue ones.’ ‘Well I kind of like the tan ones’ — ‘OK the tan ones then.’ ‘Oh you’re jut saying that because you want this over, you’re not even thinking about it’ — which is, of course, true. ‘What do you want for dessert?’ ‘I was thinking strawberry shortcake.’ ‘Oh, OK, strawberry shortcake would be good. Well, what about the blueberry pie?’ ‘Well I like the blueberry pie, we could have the blueberry pie’ — ‘Well I thought you wanted to have the strawberry shortcake?!’”

“And it’s just gonna go back and forth, and they’re just going to play keep away from you until after you’re married. There’s no answer that you give that’s going to be satisfactory or correct. And if you successfully please a few of them, a few others will be ‘Oh, well I just don’t feel like he’s that interested.’ So you need to work late, go in the back room and read a lot of books, take the groomsmen out so you make sure that they march in just right, and they know exactly, you know these swell outfits that you picked out, or however you’re doing it. And in the end, you’ll wish you eloped. You need to find excuses that they’ll buy to be as far out of harm’s way as you possibly can.”

I do not agree with Leach here, but there has been a very successful female-focused reality show on WeTV that ran for 10 seasons called ‘Bridzillas’ which documented the painful freak-outs over dresses and inter-family ceremonial messes. He’s referencing a generalized and much exploited sense of the self-imposed madness that couples put themselves through to prepare for the big day. 

ESPN collected more outrageous quotes from Coach Leach including his thoughts on aliens, joining a band, and throwing sharks into people’s beds. Yes, he talks about all of these topics at the podium during press conferences.

OOOO WE! Be Thankful & watch the new ‘Rick & Morty’ short

November 23, 2017 | Kevin

Rick & Morty give you something to be thankful for this year with a short giving you a look into what side-character Mr. Poopybutthole did before he became the Sanchez family’s best pal. Old PH finishes watching the Season 3 finale (how meta of him) and pulls out an regal looking scrap book entitled ‘the Poop in my Pants’ and the good times of his oddball life gone by come rushing back.

It’s another gem online from the funniest and most engaging show on TV. This video has been up on Youtube for less than 24 hours and already has nearly 2 million views with the the #1 trending spot.

WATCH: Finn Wolfhard from “Stranger Things” Covers The Pixies

November 22, 2017 | Eric

This band out of Vancouver — Calpurnia — has a little advantage over others trying to make their way:  their frontman is starring in one of the hottest shows on Netflix.

Finn Wolfhard plays Mike Wheeler in the show Stranger Things.  But when he isn’t filming, he’s working on the debut EP with Canadian label Royal Mountain Records.  Watch these kids rip through “Where Is My Mind” from the Pixies:

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen him show off his musical chops for 101WKQX music.  Like, Nirvana:

I’ll be interested to see how his originals turn out.  Enjoy the ride, kid!  — [eric]

 

Blackout Wednesday: The Origins of the Night Before Thanksgiving

November 22, 2017 | Eric

Welcome to Blackout Wednesday.  It’s also known as Black Wednesday, Drinksgiving, and Thanksgiving Eve.  So, how did we get here?

The first Google searches recorded for Blackout Wednesday date back to only 2014, but this celebration has been going on for years.  Think about it:  many people return home — (college aged especially)  — and it’s a chance to get together with old friends, avoid old family issues, or…BOTH, maybe?

According to this article from VinePair, 20% of the United States plan to head out to a watering hole tonight, making it the second busiest bar night of the year behind New Year’s Eve and ahead of Halloween.  But Chicago should be especially…umm…proud?  The Sun-Times reported in 2012 that in the suburbs, tonight usually finishes first over all others.  And Urban Dictionary says the origins of the “holiday” started right here — for whatever that is worth.

That same survey detailed what people’s drink of choice will be tonight:  43% go with beer, 33% choose cocktails, 29% go with wine, and 14% hit spirits straight from the bottle.

Tonight isn’t all fun and games either:  the Wall Street Journal reported in 2012 that tonight is one of the biggest nights for drinking and driving in some cities.

So, it goes without saying…don’t be stupid.  Don’t binge, & don’t drink and drive — go with public transportation, ride share, or designate a driver.   Set yourself up to enjoy life tonight.  — [eric]

 

Relive The Night ‘Max Headroom’ hijacked Chicago TV

November 22, 2017 | Kevin

Media student Charlie Curran,produced this documentary covering what happend on a crazy night in 1987

It is one of the weirdest and scariest things to ever happen in Chicago TV history and it took place on November 22nd, 1987: The Max Headroom Incident.

Thirty years ago today, someone interupted the broadcast transmissisons of WTTW Channel 11 and WGN Channel 9 several times while wearing a mask of 80’s scifi TV character Max Headroom, spouting off insults  towards a local news reporters, making fun of soda commercials, and giving the camera the bird. The whole vibe of it was sudden, and apparently clear to everyone watching that this was not a part of the regularly scheduled shows they were watching. The broadcast pirate appeared again to get smacked on the butt with a fly swater. This bizarre scene played out on TV screens across Chicagoland and northwest Indiana, but the person (or persons) behind have never been caught.

This is the first interruption which affected WGN during a news broadcast. Note, the hijacker on camera references WGN in a critical manner during the second intruption.

Here is video of the secondl broadcast takeover as viewers saw it in real time. It occurred first during an episode of ‘Dr. Who’ on WTTW. This one is must longer and you can actually hear his looney tirade throgh muffled audio.

In 2010, a post on Reddit was last known online discussion of who might have been behind this whole thing, but if you read through the thread you will see the lead grow cold.

Thanks to Riot Fest for reminding us about this incredibly odd story.

Happy Thanksgiving, Ya Filthy Animals! Riot Fest dates set for 2018, Pre-sale starts

November 22, 2017 | Kevin

Does this pre-sale ticket video from Riot Fest rule or what? Is there any clues here towards who could be on the 2018 lineup?

Riot Fest has set their dates for 2018 with September 14-16th in the calendar. This keeps the alt music festival and carnival in the great pocket between the summer and when people start treating ‘pumpkin spice’ like it’s a special thing.

The pre-sale tickets for RF2018 launches today at 10AM CST at this link. You know your fest is tops, when you can do pre-sale before you even announce a band.

Yes, this teaser is just like that one movie within the movie ‘Home Alone’ which stars Kevin McCallister who wishes his family away right before Christmas. I did something similar with 101WKQX the past two Christmases and it did not go well.

 

Linkin Park Kicked Out Of The AMAs

November 21, 2017 | <3 Lauren

Linkin Park was honored with the “Favorite Artist – Alternative Rock” award at the 2017 American Music Awards, which was held Sunday night (November 19) at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. They beat out other nominees in the category Imagine Dragons and Twenty One Pilots.

Linkin Park members Rob Bourdon, Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson took the stage to accept the award and honor frontman Chester Bennington, who passed away this summer.

“First of all, thank you so much to all the fans here and around the world who voted for the band, who have supported the band through thick and thin,” Shinoda said.

Acknowledging his fellow nominees, Shinoda added: I got a chance to talk to those guys … who said really wonderful things about Chester. And they were similar to the things that our fans said all around the world about him, and we wanna dedicate this award to him, to his memory, to his talent, to his sense of humor, to his joy. “Remember, you guys — all of you, tonight — whether you’re a fan or an artist, I want you guys to take a moment to appreciate what you’ve got and make Chester proud. Thank you guys so much,” he concluded.

Despite winning the award, the boys were eventually ejected from the awards ceremony. An apparent mix-up with artist credentials led the band to engaging in a cat and mouse game with venue security it would seem, as documented by  Mike Shinoda on his Instagram story:

Shinoda also made mention of the apparent issue while accepting the award for ‘Favorite Artist: Alternative Rock’, stating: “they didn’t know we were gonna be here you guys.”

I have the same issue EVERY YEAR with my Lollapalooza passes.  <3 @laurenoneil

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