Jerry Bryant has been a staple in my house every Wednesday night since I was a wee teenager discovering alternative music for the first time. Between his big bushy gray beard and signature chuckle, the man was like my own personal Santa Claus bringing the gift of this world of music of which I had been completely oblivious. I cannot even count the number of times I pestered him via email to play the latest Smashing Pumpkins video -- requests which he usually obliged until one day he responded, "Enough Smashing Pumpkins!"
Now in its 25th year, Jerry Bryant's "JBTV" is the longest-running independent music television show. This morning, the show has announced that former Q101 DJ Ryan Manno (pictured above) will be taking the reigns as the new host. Considering Jerry Bryant has produced and hosted over 3,613 episodes of the show, these are pretty lofty shoes to fill. Never fear -- we'll still be treated with a Jerry Bryant fix via a weekly segment highlighting Jerry's archived footage from the past 25 years. Here's to an exciting new chapter in an iconic Chicago television show.
Speaking of Ms. Melisa, her long-awaited album Ultraviolet drops tomorrow (finally!). She'll also be hitting up the House of Blues next Wednesday night (November 25th). The show is all ages and $16 - 18. She's made a habit of performing in Chicago the night before Thanksgiving, a time when this writer is never in the city. If you won't be off visiting the 'rents that weekend, pick up your tickets here and let me know how it goes.
I'm kicking myself right now for not having cable (or a working television, for that matter). Why? MTV Jams will be dedicating an entire day to the city of Chicago on Saturday, November 14th. Mark your calendars! The day will feature videos from the likes of Kid Sister, Lupe Fiasco, Common, R. Kelly, and Twista, among others, along with interviews with Chicago musicians and residents. Fake Shore Drive will be accepting submissions for any of you artists hoping to get involved. Very cool.
No, that's not a mistake -- I'm talking about vintage TV commercials for radio stations. Through the magic of YouTube, all sorts of embarrassingly bad commercials for stations of varying quality live on.
"If you haven't tried WXRT lately, give our rock a listen!"
"Q101. The Q stands for quality music."
You stay classy, WBMX.
The Loop presages the lip-syncing of the '80s.
The same actress returned a couple years later to lure people back.
This one from WMET is still pretty much in use today in one form or another.
"We're documenting artists and featuring them in ways we've never been able to," says Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber. "Pitchfork.tv is really an extension of the kinds of features we've been doing on Pitchfork for years—it's a new way to see these artists and get to know them better as people."
In addition to regular music videos, Pitchfork.tv will air full-length feature films, vintage concerts, and music DVDs free of charge, sharing a different feature every week. The channel will also include interviews with bands on the road and in the studio. For a dash of Beatles/U2 charisma, the channel is featuring "Don't Look Down", a series of New York and Chicago shows performed entirely on rooftops. The channel is set for a soft release on April 7th.
As you're watching (or Tivo-ing) the 50th Annual Grammy Awards this Sunday, keep this little bit of trivia in the back of your mind as they read out the nominees for "Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group" — it's all about the love of a 25-year old shoe. The song, "Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)", which features Chicago's Kanye West along with Nas, Rakim and KRS-One, was commissioned by Nike in honor of the 25-year-old Air Force 1 sneaker, is the first time that the company's commissioned work has received a Grammy nod. What's a nice change is that there's some philanthropic intent behind the tune. All proceeds from the sale of the track will be donated to the Nike Youth Sport for Change Fund to support two chapters of Baltimore's Boys & Girls Club of America — Jackson Unit Boys & Girls Club of America and The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of America.
For those of you who are paying for expanded cable, or those who built a homemade dish out of tin cans, an umbrella, and an inexplicable string of christmas lights - prepare for a good evening concert from your couch. Touch and Go's shiny new acquisition Ted Leo will have his 2003 concert documentary Dirty Old Town shown on Starz tonight at 10PM. Commercially released in 2004, it depicts a summer day in Coney Island with the band, both performing tunes and telling the camera about road life glamor and how the line-up has completely solidified since the mix-and-match accompaniment of the first Pharmacists albums.
Then again, tell us, Dorian and Ida: where have all the rude girls gone?
Local rockers Tortoise, who are reportedly set to release an album later this year, provide the soundtrack to this breakthrough Vaseline commercial currently airing overseas.
Some "making-of" clips can also be found here and here (Possibly NSFW).
My Kind of Tunes: A Celebration of Great Chicago Songwriters will showcase some of the people responsible for writing the music that has garnered Chicago's strong musical reputation since the 1920s. The performance is Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Chicago Cultural Center. Thursday's "Chicago Tonight" on WTTW will broadcast interviews with Saturday's performers, Audrey Morris, Tom Michael, and Beckie Menzie.
As a part of their live music Wednesday segment, the WTTW show "Chicago Tonight" will feature innovative South Side rapper Rhymefest tonight during its 7pm broadcast. I reviewed Rhymefest's 2006 album Blue Collar a while back, and it's still one of my favorites from last year. Check it out, and tune in later tonight.
Maybe watching kids shows can be something to add to your musical to-do list, especially in the case of Highland Park-born "Jack's Big Music Show," which runs on the Noggin channel. Jack, a music-loving puppet who entertains his pals at a rocking clubhouse, has already lined up a envious amount of A-list music and entertainment stars including Jon Stewart, Cheryl Hines, kids-music sensation Laurie Berkner and Chicago musicians Andrew Bird, Anne Harris and Justin Roberts. Spiffy Pictures, which created the show, also says that the Groundhog Day episode with Stewart will feature the debut of a video collaboration between the Flaming Lips' Steven Drozd and former "Blues Clues" host Steve Burns. Dang.
The tunnel musicians of Chicago can be heard amid the roar of trains. Depending who you ask, there are only four performance-permitted stops: Jackson and Lake on the Red Line, and Jackson and Washington on the Blue. Some will tell you about these four. Some will tell you there are only three. I'll tell you what time already has: where there are people, there is music.
I recently spent three nights walking through the tunnels for a closer listen. These are the sounds, and the people I heard.
Transmission is the music section of Gapers Block. It aims to highlight Chicago music in its many varied forms, as well as cover touring acts performing in the city.
Editor: Anne Holub, ash@gapersblock.com
Transmission staff inbox: transmission@gapersblock.com
Jerry Bryant has been a staple in my house every Wednesday night since I was a wee teenager discovering alternative music for the first time. Between his big bushy gray beard and signature chuckle, the man was like my own personal Santa Claus bringing the gift of this world of music of which I had been completely oblivious. I cannot even count the number of times I pestered him via email to play the latest Smashing Pumpkins video -- requests which he usually obliged until one day he responded, "Enough Smashing Pumpkins!"
I'm kicking myself right now for not having cable (or a working television, for that matter). Why? 
