Greg Dulli and The Afghan Whigs are all set for a summer tour that includes a stop right here in Chicago at Lollapalooza.  The band hasn’t played live in 13 years and hasn’t released an album since 1998.  A free download has just popped up on their website (embedded below), a song originally recorded in 1970 by Marie “Queenie” Lyons.  Download below and prepare for their set on August 3 in Grant Park.Click here for “See and Don’t See.”

Joe.

Seven installments already?  Damn.  That was fast.  Again, every Wednesday I post a few shows/events for the coming weekend that I’m excited about.  Stuff that I’ll most likely be attending and hopefully you’ll feel like doing the same.  This week it’s Chicago’s own Joe Pug, Puerto Rican garage rockers Davila 666 and the legendary Bonnie Raitt…Click here for the when & where.

Plants and Animals

It’s been almost a month in the brand new Prius and trips to the grocery store have never been so enjoyable. I get into the car and whatever song was last playing on my smartphone starts playing through the car’s speakers. Nuts. And when I get out of the car the song stops, and picks right up again where it left off once I get in again. Oh, and it gets 50 mpg. There’s that too… Early May. We wait, and wait, and wait some more for a nice long string of warm and sunny. The outdoor shows are right around the corner, but have no fear, Chicago’s music clubs are always there for you. Need a few live music ideas for the weekend? Go on.Click here for the picks.

Santigold (formerly Santogold) is back with her second full-length album, Master of My Make-Believe.  How is it?  Well, it sounds a lot like the first one and I’m more than okay with that.  It’s been four years since she’s given us an album, so it’s not like we just heard it, knowwhatimsayin?  It’s more like, “Oh, damn!  I really enjoyed her first album back in ’08 and this reminds me of it.  She likes ’80s pop (so do I) and if her Wikipedia page speaks the truth, she loves Devo (so do I).  I’m in on this one too.”  Good to hear from you again, Santi White (a.k.a. Santigold).Click here for “Pirate In The Water.”

The Boxer Rebellion

What to do this weekend?  It never takes too long at all to come up with a couple of solid picks and this weekend is no exception.  I’m pretty excited for M83 at The Riviera on Friday night but that show’s sold out and there’s really no point in giving you the heads up on a show that you probably can’t attend, so we’ll look elsewhere.  Lincoln Hall produces as always and I also need to mention one of my favorite bars/nightclubs in my old neighborhood of Uptown.  Not just my favorite, either.  I’m pretty sure a fair number of folks would have The Green Mill on their top 5 list…Click here for the weekend picks.

I happened upon the new Yppah (pronounced “Yippah”) album Eighty-One earlier in the week and I’m really liking a couple of tracks.  Joe Corrales Jr. is the man responsible for the music you’re about to hear.  He’s originally from Texas but now calls Long Beach home.  How to describe the tunes?  Electro shoegaze-y dream-pop rock?  Does that make any sense?  Probably not.  Listen to “R. Mullen” for yourself and see what you think.  Read more about him on the Ninja Tune site and follow him on Twitter here.Click here for the “Electro shoegaze-y dream-pop rock.”

Pretty sure I landed that one clean...

It is an XRT 4D Flashback Weekend and for the next few days we celebrate the music and the memories of the 1980s. A few staff members have asked what I was doing in the 1980s these past few days… I was building jumps. That’s a sweet jump I threw together in the backyard in 1984. That was a few years before I discovered Run DMC’s “Raising Hell” and GNR’s “Appetite For Destruction,” but not before I’d purchased “Thriller” at a local Toys ‘R’ Us. They had that record everywhere, I’m telling you.more

Just starting to figure out all of the features...

Looking for some quality tunes this weekend in your favorite Chicago nightclubs?  You’re in luck!  I know, like that’s is ever really a problem, right?  We have a couple of Chicago’s finest taking the stage on Friday night, and the borough of Brooklyn continues their musical takeover of Western civilization on Saturday night at Lincoln Hall…Click here to see what you’re doing this weekend.

How I'll be getting to many of the events listed on the RTR page...

The third installment of the Prius Route to Rock is here, and what do you have to choose from this weekend?  Saturday is one of the most important days of the year for music lovers, the Cubs have a chilly series coming up at Wrigley, and if you need some live music, Subterranean is where you might want to be on Saturday night.Click here to see what’s up.

There's my brother on the edge of "The Visor."

If you’ve been lucky enough to climb to the top of Half Dome at Yosemite National Park, you’ll know that there’s quite a drop from up there.  How much of a drop?  It’s just shy of 4800 feet from the top of Half Dome to the valley floor and looking down from up there it seems like it’s straight down.  Take the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) and stack two more on top of it and you’re almost there.  Perfect spot for a BASE jump, right?  Are the actions in this video completely legal?  Ah, probably not, but if you’re someone like me that can only get a few feet away from that ledge without freaking out, seeing this guy in action is pretty impressive.  Oh, and you should really look into the hike.  You’ll never forget it.  If you leave the valley in the middle of the night and hike the trail with headlamps, you’ll arrive at the base of Half Dome at sunrise without the crowds.  That’s the way to go, IMO.  Anyway, on with the show…Click here to see something you’ll probably never do.

No, really. Was the entire project created just so it could be released on the 20th day of the 4th month of the year 2012? Is it just a coincidence? Probably not, but who cares? We get a Bob Marley documentary showing at one of my favorite spots in all of Chicago, the Music Box Theatre.

The theatrical release is on 4/20, and you’ll also be able to stream the film online for $6.99 through the Facebook page.Click here for the trailer

No Buddy on this track, but I wanted to get his picture in there.

John Mayer recently covered the beautiful Lana Del Rey track “Video Games.”  John was forced to cancel his upcoming tour because of a throat condition and he’s going to be resting his voice for a while, but no voice needed on his version of “Video Games”  because it’s guitar only.  Anything that reminds me to watch Lana’s brilliant video again is OK by me.  Oh, and are the two of them dating?  I don’t know and don’t really care, but it wouldn’t shock you would it?Click here for the instrumental “Video Games.”

Ceremony (image via MySpace)

Another Wednesday, another Route to Rock post.  Get used to it, man!  They’ll be coming at you for a while and hopefully you’ll be able to make use of them.  I’ll be in a Toyota Prius of my own very soon, and before I know it, my phone’s gonna be blowing up with designated driver requests because my friends are not only responsible drinkers, they’d also prefer to be chauffeured around in the most fuel-efficient way possible.  Environmentally-conscious party people, right?  I’ll also be using the Prius to get me to many events posted here on the Route to Rock page…Click here for this weekend’s picks.