Greg Kot

Co-host @soundopinions. Former music critic at Chicago Tribune. Author of 7 books, including "I'll Take You There." Teaching music and democracy at U of C.

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

@J_Edward65 I liked the early EP's. "With You" a cool track -- some R.E.M. influence in there.

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

Jeff Conolly (RIP) led Boston garage-rockers Lyres, whose "On Fyre" LP remains a classic. He's gone but the image of Conolly singing "Help You Ann" while playing Vox riffage with his right hand & banging a tambourine with his left was burned into my DNA in the '80s & never left.

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

@1443Maki Yes

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

Glen Hansard gone at 56. Motorcycle crash in Dublin. Shocking stuff. Street busker-turned-Oscar winner. As a songwriter, he captured the bittersweet moments of life, and our interviews inevitably circled back to how his approach to songwriting evolved. Link in comments.

[U2 @U2]

Sometimes I would wonder if Glen Hansard really existed….

Seriously, he was such an angelic presence… not otherworldly…in fact, very present this presence…
A smiling rascal if you needed him to be… this most musical and mischievous archangel of Ballymun… no airs, plenty of graces...

Of course, Glen was the shining star of the Christmas Eve busk… sometimes the only one reminding the rest of us that Christmas began with a refugee born in a manger, which is hardly a step from living on the street.

To be utterly yourself by being more interested in others - a clue for any of us trying out different personas. He really was who you thought he was. He could never walk by a person living rough without checking they were OK… and more than that, he worked very hard so that less people had to live on the streets in the first place.

When the crowds got bigger and for safety’s sake Glen had to agree to move the busk to a stage kindly provided outside The Gaiety Theatre, he would say 'we’ll give it our best but it’s not a busk if we’re not on the street!’ …because that’s who he was - a performer at eye level in any situation. The stage was a separation he wouldn’t recognize. Of all the grand and gigantic venues he and The Frames played, you sensed the street was his most favoured place to perform. And street people, his favourite audience.

Voice of the streets. A choir of angels in one man. The rest of us blessed to stand there beside our very own and very earthed Angel Gabriel… All of us welcome in his choir, whatever shape or form.

….and I’m telling myself this morning that if he never existed, then he can never cease to exist. For me, he will always be everywhere I see a coin spinning into an open guitar case.

May you rest in the peace you gave to so many.

Bono

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

Glen Hansard on songwriting:
https://t.co/1n26omWyrY

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

25th anniversary of "Southern Rock Opera," the breakthrough album for the Drive-By Truckers. Its themes continue to resonate in today's political and social climate. Patterson Hood dishes on how it came to be on @soundopinions: https://t.co/GipDhWMlfS

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

@Culo_Kelly Thanks for your interest. Reading list should be finalized by next week.

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

I'll be teaching "Bob Dylan and America" at U of Chicago's Graham School (for adult learners) in the fall. We'll look at the people and events who influenced Dylan, the contemporaries who challenged him, and the new artists he inspired. Registration open: https://t.co/VUWEBZ47Dj

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

@MadManMtn @soundopinions They never made a bad one.

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

This week, we kick off the 1st of 2 shows on @soundopinions celebrating one of our favorite bands: the Feelies. We give the classic-album-dissection treatment to the 1980 debut, “Crazy Rhythms,” and in week 2 to the 1986 follow-up, “The Good Earth.” (Link to ep. 1 in comments)

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

@sammykohn Thanks, and re: Dero, there is a world beyond whatever this joint has become …

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

Mary Morello never shied from a battle ...
https://t.co/S0N22ITSuZ

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

Sad to learn that Mary Morello -- teacher, activist, mother of Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello -- has died at 102. In 2000, I wrote about Mary & Tom after spending a day with them at her home in Libertyville, IL. Link in comments. RIP, Mary, and condolences to Tom.

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

Happy 87th to Mavis Staples, the gift that keeps on giving.

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

@semibuttnoid Yes! Can confirm.

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

Got to see Husker Du perform this album in its entirety before its release on July 1, 1984. The band was on an incredible roll as songwriters and performers during this era (1984 through early 1986) and “Zen Arcade” has been required Independence Day listening ever since.

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

@MikeCarinelli93 Soul Asylum was quite good for a few years, but Husker Du was in my opinion the best band of the ‘80s in terms of songs, innovation, live performance, consistency, then imploded before any staleness set in.

[Greg Kot @gregkot]

@TheBonnieFrank1 West End in Chicago