His Final Drive Home

Got a call from the vet yesterday that Otto was ready to come home. Yes, Otto is gone. But we had him cremated and put in an urn. I couldn’t fathom bringing him home and burying him. My dad did that with my childhood dog Klaus, but I just couldn’t. I mean, what if we […]

Complex Distractions Presents : Favorite Albums Of 2024(25-16)

I can’t believe I’m typing this, but we’re a mere couple weeks before 2024 makes like a tree and leaves. A year that began with the hope that it would stay on track, offer up new and exciting things, and see us all making the most of those 365 days. I’m sure that was the […]

The Hubners And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year

There are days when I just want to yell at the universe, “Give me a break!” A series of events take place that snowball into a dumpster fire of epic proportions, leaving you to put out that dumpster fire before your life is overtaken by burning trash. That’s sort of how I feel about the […]

McCoy and Henderson, Forces Of Nature : Live At Slugs’, 1966

I was never much of a live album guy. Growing up I had a few that stood out and I would listen to more than once, as opposed to relegating it to the shoebox of shame in my closet. The shoebox was where unloved albums went to die, making room for the bangers and regular […]

Sitting In The Sadness

The first weekend without our Otto was rough. My wife and I got out of the house Saturday despite my wife dealing with a cold and my occasional trip into anxiety. The emotions come flooding into my brain like someone opening a faucet. It feels like my head starts spinning despite feeling like it weighs […]

Out Of/Into : Motion I

Jazz quintet Out Of/Into – formerly known as The Blue Note Quintet – makes it perfectly clear that there are some exciting things happening in the world of jazz still. Following in the footsteps of the giants of jazz that came before, the band that consists of pianist Gerald Clayton, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, drummer Kendrick […]

RIP Mr Pooch McGooch: 2010-2024

This has been one of those things I’ve been dreading for months. So I suppose you could say that deep down I knew it was coming. Yesterday morning we had to give our goodest boy Otto some final peace. Standing around a small table with a warm, fuzzy blanket covering it my wife, my son, […]

A Place To Bury Strangers : Synthesizer

Coming into a new album from Oliver Ackermann’s A Place To Bury Strangers you pretty much know that it’s going to be loud, abrasive, and sprinkled with melodic ear worms under all the aural debauchery. Ackermann is a bit of a sound wizard, creating effects boxes with his Death By Audio effects company. His effects […]

Time Waits For No One

I turn 51 today. December 2nd, 2024. Going in to 50 last year I felt perfectly fine with it. I honestly feel like I truly came into my own when I turned 40. Sure, my body started the old breakdown with worn out joints, snap crackle pop sounds every time I went up stairs(or got […]

Jeff Parker ETA IVtet : The Way Out of Easy

Jeff Parker is one of those unsuspecting musical geniuses. He’s been a figure in the Chicago underground music scene for years, having played in Tortoise, Chicago Underground Quartet, Chicago Underground Trio, and Isotope 217 to name a few. He’s also worked with Makaya McCraven, Rob Mazurek, Joshua Abrams and Hamid Drake. That doesn’t include his […]