Chicago Lifestyle Podcast & Video Blog
Podcast episodes and video related to musical theater, musical film, music performance and musicians in Chicago.
Includes classical, traditional, folk, reggae, jazz, blues, theater, pop, rock, current, and avant-garde styles.
On one level this is a joyous expression of the Irish people through song but it is also a reminder of pain and struggle but with a wink and nod because Frank McCourt wants us to see the absurdity of life and the humor in …
February has started out with a mix of interesting one-off events which I did not include as a podcast episode because I try to reserve those for events that run awhile, giving listeners a chance to see them based on my comments.
However, there are often times when one-off events deserve a mention so that performers can get recognition for their efforts and alert others – – not to what they’ve missed – but to artists they should be paying attention to and looking out for in the future.
Beginning in the 1950s and ending in the 1970s Mr. Kelly’s on Rush Street was the premiere Chicago nightclub featuring some of the most popular entertainers of the period. The documentary film, “Live at Mr. Kelly’s” directed by Ted Bogosian is about 90 minutes long …
In this podcast episode I present my film review as well as share some personal recollections of the Maxwell Street and Halsted shopping district where the music known as Chicago Blues sprang to life. If you want a glimpse at a piece of the not …
The Chicago premiere of Amélie the Musical by Kokandy Productions based on the popular motion picture is a highly recommended musical mosaic, composed by Daniel Messe, whose colorful jagged pieces eventually come together into an enjoyable if not perfectly clear image. Not a musical in …
On the heels of the success of The Beatles and Rolling Stones, another group of four working-class lads from the outskirts of London called The Kinks made their mark on the history of Rock and Roll. This energetic jukebox musical, “Sunny Afternoon,” enjoying its North …
Puccini’s popular opera La Bohème at Lyric Opera of Chicago is a story of youth, passion, love and loss where idealism comes face-to-face with life’s realities such as poverty, illness and death. Yes, this is the opera where the young lady with the bad cough …
In this “Cracking the Code of Spy Movies” podcast, Raymond Benson (author of 12 post Ian Fleming, James Bond books) joins Spy Movie Navigator hosts, Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzatto in an enthusiastic conversation with John Morris Russell (a/k/a JMR), conductor of the Cincinnati Pops …
May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. In this podcast we do a quick overview of some of some ways you can experience the Eastern Asian, South Asian, South-East Asian, Central Asian, Western Asian …
A podcast interview with Mark and Sarah Good Mosley the co-directors of the Windy City Winds Chicago community orchestra. They share segments from a few of the band’s recordings, talk with Reno Lovison about music and their life, then enjoy a little Chicago music trivia. …
Jersey Boys features 30 musical numbers while walking us through the life and times of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons a New Jersey based rock and roll quartet that appealed largely to blue collar teens nationwide in the 1960s with songs like “Sherry” and …
“Aida” by Giuseppe Verdi under the direction of Francesca Zamnello, and conducted by Enrique Mazzola is opera in the grand tradition at Lyric in Chicago for the first time in more than a decade. [*Please note there was confusion in the names on the podcast. …