In 2010, Lollapalooza is introducing a new & improved Chow Town. This year Lolla offers more dining options than ever. Chow Town is now two different food courts on the Northside and Southside of Grant Park. Look for about 15 new restaurants at the park, along with returning favorites, which together will offer a culinary line-up to match the festival’s hyped headlining musical acts.

Each week, our friends at Foodie will be showcasing these local culinary favorites, as well as tips and deals for dining around Chicago during Lolla weekend. Today’s feature is a preview of the menu items for the 2010 Chow Town. Cheers!

Check out the latest “Recommends” list below from our friends at Foodie. They are giving away a handful of three-day passes here, so go get ‘em!

With all this talk about Chow Town and the amazing food that will be on-site at Lollapalooza (check out the full menu), we haven’t talked at all about drinks(what’s a summer music festival without a few drinks?). We’re not just talking at the festival – there’s no shortage of local watering holes in this town. From beer bars and lounges serving handmade prohibition-style cocktails to rooftops and dance clubs, here are our recommendations of places to hit after the fest to extend your Chicago experience.

ROOFTOP SPOTS

C-View | Great views of the skyline through a wall of glass. Late-night chillin’ with tasty small plates.

Roof | A sprawling space atop the Wit hotel reminiscent of South Beach, with a wood-burning pizza oven and tasty cocktails.

Epic | A couple of cabanas, great couches and a kick-ass cocktail list are just a few of the reasons to go. Another? Amazing food downstairs.

Vertigo Sky Lounge | Stop in earlier for dinner at Aja to sample incredible pan-Asian cuisine. Stay later for a hot vibe and cool DJ.

COOL COCKTAIL LOUNGES/SPEAKEASIES

Drawing Room | Adjacent to Le Passage; culinary cocktails made tableside and make-you-go-mmm small plates.

J Bar | Chill music and dark nooks to canoodle, bottle service and a cool vibe.

The Bluebird | Whether you want a global wine list, top-shelf spirits, dozens of beers or some of the city’s best French fries, head to Bucktown.

The Whistler | Laid-back hipster vibe with less-expensive handcrafted cocktails. And maybe live music.

The Violet Hour | As speakeasy as they come. Elegant and refined. Strict no-cell-phone policy. All cocktails $12 and worth every penny.

Bar DeVille | Vintage, laid-back vibe. Pool table. Huge local craft beer list and classic cocktails.

Tiny Lounge | Floor-to-ceiling windows with a relaxed setting to drink global brews and spirits. Hungry? Don’t miss the minced lamb pizzetta or Tiny burgers.

BEER BARS

Hopleaf | Hike up to Andersonville and you’ll be rewarded with one of the city’s most revered collection of Belgian brews.

Map Room | More than 200 unique brands and 36 brewing styles. If you can’t find it here, stay home.

Small Bar | With three locations (Wicker Park, Lincoln Park, Logan Square), you’re likely to fit in. Order a beer and you definitely will.

WINE BARS

Rootstock | One of the coolest finds in the city. Nestled in Humboldt Park with an incredible selection of drinks, upscale late-night small plates, no dress code, no attitude.

Webster’s Wine Bar | On the Chicago River. Two floors and feels like a cool old house. Number of wines by the glass to choose from? 35. Bottles on the list? 500+

Volo | Dark and mysterious with one of the city’s best backyard patios (read: semi-private cabanas!). Plenty of flights to help ease that decision.

The Tasting Room | At the end of Randolph Street’s Restaurant Row with sweeping views of downtown and an award-winning wine list.

GAY BARS

Second Story | A Downtown gay dive with a Northwoods Wisconsin feel. It gets cramped, but it’s always a blast.

Sidetrack | Chicago’s grande dame of Halsted Street. Strong slushies, dance videos and a friendly crowd.

Big Chicks | Head to Uptown to dance, enjoy cheap vodka lemonade and get cruised by the pool table.

DIVES & DANCE JOINTS

Rainbo | Liz Phair shot the cover for Exile in Guyville in the photo booth. Need we say more? Fine: cheap PBR.

Smart Bar | When it comes to house music, there’s no better spot in Chicago then Smart Bar, which sits below the Metro. Rock out then dance till 5 a.m.

Gold Star | Cheap drinks. Rough around the edges. Bring plenty of Purel.

Debonair Social Club | This hipster dance spot plays music from all your favorite Lolla artists. Many bands often drop by to spin after their shows.

When it comes to hometown heroes and proving that the Midwest is the best bet, Flosstradamus is one of the strongest examples for Chicago. The DJ duo of Autobot (Curt Cameruci) and J2K (Josh Young) first popped up on the Chicago music radar in 2005, when the duo formed and hosted the “Get Outta’ the Hood” parties at local joint Town Hall Pub. The event was a huge success, a no frills affair where the one guarantee was the night would end in a massive dance party. The Town Hall Pub days might be long gone, but Flosstradamus has kept Chicago moving with their FlosstraPROMus, a yearly event, and the long running Oldies Night that just wrapped up after two successful years. Besides throwing party after party, the duo found time to tour all over the globe with the likes of Chromeo and Kid Sister (J2K’s sister), release a slew of mixtapes and singles, and play massive festivals including Coachella, South by Southwest, Pitchfork Festival, and Lollapalooza, where they’ll return to the stage this year to keep Grant Park moving Lolla 2010 weekend.

Despite logging long hours on the road, Flosstradamus are hometown boys at heart. Chances are you can find them behind the decks somewhere within the city limits. A typical show is a packed dance floor, sticky from jostled drinks, a thumping bass beat, and the heat of a usually at capacity room moving in time. Chicago is a city that loves to party until the lights come up, whether it be hip-hop, house, juke, soul or a mix of anything (and everything) else, and Flosstradamus’s set usually contains all of these aspects. As J2K told Gapers Block in a 2007 interview, their performance has “a lot to do with family and where we came from.” J2K stated “we didn’t have much, but my parents were really into music,” and that “we play stuff that our families has around the house,” which included a mix of ’80s funk, bluegrass, ’90s rap and R&B, and metal. As any music fan knows, a steady diet of an eclectic mix of genres and sound is the perfect recipe for a good DJ set, so given their background it’s no surprise the success of Flosstradamus.

I first heard of Flosstradamus when I moved to Chicago to attend college. They went to the same school as I did, so their sets around campus and at local parties were pretty common. I was spoiled in a way, having the pleasure of seeing Flosstradamus multiple times, like a resident DJ to my college year soundtrack. So clearly I’ve got a soft spot for the boys and beam like a proud parent when I see them on television. Same goes for Kid Sister, another alumni of my college, the Chicago music scene, and the Lollapalooza stage as well. Chicago sticks together, and whether you personally know the bands are just recognize each other from numerous last calls at local clubs, everyone feels like a family in a way. I’ve seen Flosstradamus at my local bar, even been to their garage sale, and have some friends in common. This is the nature of the beast here, where the degrees of separation in the Chicago music give the six degrees of Kevin Bacon a run for its money.

Whether Flosstradamus mans the booth at Burlington or headline a huge festival stage, they’ll always be one of my Chicago acts, because if the Chicago music scene is one thing for sure, it’s fiercely allegiant to the locals. The last time I caught Flosstradamus was their yearly prom this past February, and it was familiar yet fresh as always. The remixes might be different, a new sample or two might pop up, but overall I know what to expect. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is a perfect mantra to follow when it comes to building a following, and Flosstradamus has done just that. I know they’ll pull out some classic and hidden tracks that will me make me nostalgic, show me something new, and make sure that I work up a sweat and curse my aching feet the next day. And always leave the dance floor with a smile on my face. They’re the perfect Chicago soundtrack to a quintessential Chicago night.

Written by Lisa White. Photo courtesy of Clayton Hauck.

The theme? Being outdoors and listening to great music. Toss in a little Windy City pride, and you’ve got a fitting tribute to an incredible weekend. Pick from three color combos. But don’t wait – this limited edition tee will be gone soon.

Get It Now!

Speaking of freshening up your look, here’s a sneak peek of MEGA, the newest shoe concept from adidas Originals that will be launching at Lolla.

Swing by the adidas MEGA shoe box in Grant Park and be the first to get an up-close look and fitting of these new kicks.

Are you coming to Chicago to see the return of the mighty Soundgarden for Lollapalooza 2010? If so, you may be in luck. Soundgarden has announced that they are playing an intimate show at the legendary Vic Theatre in Chicago on Thursday, August 5th…and here’s your chance to get a couple of tickets.

Let’s review:

Sign up or login here (it’s free and you’ll be on the ground level of SG’s official fan club). During the registration process you will be given the option to enter the drawing. Be sure to check this box! Drawing registration will end the night of Thursday, July 29th at Midnight CDT (Chicago time).

Drawing winners will be randomly selected and emailed a unique ticket code the morning of Friday, July 30th. Winners will be able to purchase tickets that same day Friday, July 30th at 2 PM CDT.

There are a bunch of rules here so READ CAREFULLY!

• Must be 18 to attend this show. This is not an all ages show. IDs will be checked at point of entry.
• There will be no hard tickets to this show. All tickets are paperless and will be distributed at will call the day of the show. All ticket sales are final.
• NO EXCHANGE, REFUND, OR TRANSFER of names for these tickets.
• The SoundgardenWorld member must show government issued photo identification to collect their paperless tickets. No exceptions.
• Tickets are purchased in pairs (2) only. No single tickets sold.
• ALL SALES ARE FINAL. Sorry, but in order for us to insure that these tickets are all used by REAL FANS, we must make this rule.
• Please enter your chance only if you can realistically attend this show. (For example, if you live in Slovenia and really, really, really want to go, but there’s no frickin’ way you’re flying all the way to Chicago for the show, don’t make it harder for someone who can attend by putting in a request.)

Please direct all ticket related questions to tickets@soundgardenworld.com.

Good luck to you all!

My first experience with Frightened Rabbit, a short set caught on a whim at Do Division 2008, was uncomfortable. It was partly the band. They didn’t seem at home outside on a hot June afternoon, the tension of living in a van in a foreign country was visible in some of their onstage interaction, and frontman Scott Hutchison isn’t exactly the picture of cocksure Scottishness we’ve all grown up with over here. A little bit of my unease had to do with the crowd, if you could call it one. Despite a couple of nice write-ups in the local music press (A.V. Club’s inclusion of the video for “Head Rolls Off” with their review of the band’s revelatory The Midnight Organ Fight was what did it for me), the steady stream of passersby remained mostly that. It was really hard to see a band as good as they were struggle so mightily to hold the attention of so few – even an onstage collection of stuffed animals won from various Bear Claw machines (yes, really) and multiple reminders by Hutchison that the band was playing a free show in Chicago the following week didn’t seem to have much effect.

Problems onstage and with the setting, though, were peripheral. Most of my unease was due to the fact I’d overdressed for my first Chicago street festival. It had been an unseasonably cool May, even for the city, where nighttime temperatures had routinely dipped into the forties and every day seemed a wink and a bad angle away from rain or a bitter wind. And so, this first weekend of June, I’d worn a long-sleeved button-up shirt for the afternoon bike ride. With an undershirt, and warm socks, and it was miserable. To make matters worse, my fiancée began making fun of my “boating outfit” as soon as we were out of the apartment building, and we argued most of the way there. Getting to the point, my problems were silly, and mundane, but they were mine. And as I stood in front of the stage, half-engulfed by my self-obsessed little drama, I stayed quiet. And marveled, as the part of me that wasn’t checking my armpits was witnessing what grand things could come of someone else’s seemingly insignificant personal struggles.

Like a bedroom U2, I thought. The songs were raw and confessional; Hutchison’s portrayal of his attempts to deal with love, loss, and self-doubt brutal and brutally honest. Smart, yet unpretentious, sad but with no hint of the weepy screech of the canned radio-emo you couldn’t escape in 2008. At the same time, the band’s sound was huge. Over building arrangements and drummer/brother Grant’s primal, pounding backbeat, the personal became universal. The songs were Hutchison’s cries to be loved and his fears that he wasn’t worth it; they were my sweat-stained shirt, fight with my fiancée, the anxiety of fitting in in a new city. Hutchison shouted to the heavens, baring his soul for all that would listen. That day, there were only a few dozen of us. That, however, would quickly change.

Only seven months later, on the eve of President Obama’s inauguration, I saw Frightened Rabbit give a stellar performance at Washington, D.C.’s famed Rock n’ Roll Hotel. The club was small, but it was undeniable that people had caught on to the band. Packed like sardines on a Monday night when the entire city had someplace to be the next morning, the crowd sweated, swayed, and hung on Hutchison’s every word. The singer remarked that it was a good time to be in America, and the band was noticeably happier than the last time I’d seen them. Another summer came, and FR (as they’d come to be called by a rapidly expanding fan base) traded up from Do Division to a slot at the sold-out Pitchfork Music Festival.

Cut to 2010, and Frightened Rabbit are ready for the big leagues. Their new record The Winter of Mixed Drinks, a stirring set about the process and hang-ups of moving forward, is among the year’s very best. The wide-open setting of Grant Park, expansive Chicago skyline, and throngs of music fans at Lollapalooza are an ideal backdrop for FR’s rousing sound. At the same time, the songs cut so deep as to make you feel as though they’re yours. Yours, and everyone’s. Grab your beer, wander, do your thing, but whatever that is, do not miss this band. And, just in case, dress light.

Written by Miguel Harvey

Enjoy, and check out the rest of our Artist Discovery Series to get hip to Lolla 2010.

Last fall, a friend at MTV suggested we at The FiveThreeSix check out Mumford and Sons. While an MTV employee garners more respect than others who send us suggestions (mainly 60-year-olds and spam bots), we’re both a little surprised that we actually typed their band in to the Google search tab. It’s fair to say that on a daily basis, whether it’s through blog-hunting, twitter-stalking or personal submissions, we hear a hundred different band names. We cannot listen to them all and therefore usually the rule of repetition works: if we hear it a few times, we scope. Yet, destiny intervened this time, and for some miraculous reason the Mumford and Sons suggestion wasn’t taken lightly. Before iTunes could confirm that we did in fact want to buy the album, we were in love.

The music of Mumford and Sons falls into the world of folk-rock that is emerging as the newest almighty genre. Our moms like it, our “Kesha or Taio Cruz only” sisters like it, and we like it. That’s a trifecta that very few other bands have ever been able to engage. Mumford and Sons could line themselves up with bands such as The Avett Brothers or The Punch Brothers and no music god would even look twice. (Note: Would all bands find success if they had a familial word in their name? Possibly.) Look, if we had to sum up our thoughts on this band in one full-swooping dramatic statement, we’d say: “Mumford and Sons are about to take over the world”.

They have the talent and personality to give their audience a perfectly composed live music experience. With a powerhouse sound, English accents and hilarious stage fodder, we are having a hard time trying to find anything we do not like. We were lucky enough to catch them at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall this past May. To say that the crowd was entertained is an extreme understatement; it may be more appropriate to use the word “entranced”. Fairly new to the American scene, we assumed superiority for ourselves because we knew the words to all their songs -super fans amongst tragic wannabes, if you will. Well, the US tour sold out, the venues filled up and the rarity quickly became not knowing every word. Yet again, we are not as cool as we thought.

You will have a hard time peeling your eyes away from the stage because while all the members are captivating, Marcus Mumford is a show in himself. From the moment we heard his voice we knew it was nothing short of love. Not only is he incapable of singing a sour note, but he strums the guitar, hits the kick drum and shakes the tambourine while he does it. Frankly it wouldn’t matter if he could barely play said instruments, it would still be impressive.

Look, we can’t tell you what to do. What we can do is make you a bet to get your competitive juices flowing. Go to the Mumford and Sons show at Lollapalooza. If you don’t fall in love at their performance, email us and we’ll reimburse your ticket. No we don’t have unlimited financial resources, in fact if we have more than $50 between us that’s considered a good day. We can place this bet solely on the notion that it is an impossibility to not adore Marcus Mumford & Co. In the unlikely event you don’t like them, you’re clearly an idiot and we don’t answer the emails of idiots anyway. We’re not being rude, we’re just being honest.

Go. Fall in love. This will be a simple kind of love. Nothing wavers, nothing ends, no unpleasant surprises, no disappointments. Later, when you’re forced to turn down your boyfriend’s marriage proposal because he cannot offer you what Mumford and Sons can, play him their CD. We promise he’ll understand.

Written by Nora Silver & Bridget Luehrsen

Each week, our friends at Foodie will be showcasing these local culinary favorites, as well as tips and deals for dining around Chicago during Lolla weekend. Today’s feature is a preview of the menu items for the 2010 Chow Town. Cheers!

There’s something to be said for going into something – a movie, a concert, dinner – and not having any expectations because you know absolutely nothing about the flick, show or menu at any of the places. There’s an element of surprise that, when you’re generally in the dark about something, leaves the level of expectation low so that when you find yourself loving whatever it is you’re watching, hearing or eating, you like it that much more.

Well, we’re not letting that happen with Chow Town – because this year, the food is going to blow our minds and we want you to get excited for the food as much as the music. Foodie did a little scoping and we’ve obtained the menus for all the restaurants that Graham Elliot Bowles rounded up for Lollapalooza weekend. We know from last week’s interview that Bowles will serve up lobster corn dogs, truffled Parmesan popcorn and a vegan watermelon gazpacho. Want to know what else you get to eat? Read on to find out. We’ll post half the restaurants this week and the other half next week.

The Southern
o Hushpuppies with buttermilk ranch
o Chilled Shrimp Cocktail with peach cocktail sauce
o Sweet Potato Fries with spicy ketchup

Bleeding Heart Bakery
o Fresh Fruit Parfaits featuring Seedling Farms Fruit (fruit TBD) with housemade vegan granola
o Cakeballs (cake and frosting mixed together, scooped, rolled in a ball, dipped in chocolate and covered in cake crumbs, nuts or sprinkles.)
o Vegan and Gluten-Free Cupcake Flights

Franks ‘n’ Dawgs
o Dirty Dog (andouille sausage; cherry tomato relish; dirty rice and chives)
o Cheese Head (Sheboygan brat with caramelized onion, grilled portobellos; smoked gouda and chives)
o Chili Cheese Dog (like your mama makes it. Not my mama, your mama)
o Grilled Cheese with shredded cheddar

Metropolis Coffee Co.
o Iced Coffee with Metropolis Prospero blend from toddy brewing method
o Hot Coffee brewed with the special Lollapalooza blend, likely made from Central American and East African beans. It’ll be available only Lolla weekend and they’ll also sell bags of this special blend at the festival and in their Edgewater coffee shop.
o Espresso! The Metropolis baristas will have two machines going to make iced or hot lattes, mochas, macchiatos and, of course, straight up espresso using their own Red Line blend.

Big Star
o Pork Belly Tostada
o Grilled Corn with queso fresco, sour cream, lime and chili powder – a pretty classic Mexican-style corn.

Elate
o Spicy Popcorn Shrimp
o Vegetarian BBQ Seitan Potato Skins
o BBQ Pork Belly Potato Skins

Rockit Bar & Grill
o White Bean Hummus, Pita and Vegetables
o Rockit Truffle Fries
o Bourbon BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich

Hoosier Mama Pie Company
o Pie Shakes (Pie a la mode blended up and served in a cup.) Flavors?
o Chocolate Cream Pie
o Strawberry Pie
o Peach Pie

Enjoy, and check out the rest of our Artist Discovery Series to get hip to Lolla 2010.

My first experience with Frightened Rabbit, a short set caught on a whim at Do Division 2008, was uncomfortable. It was partly the band. They didn’t seem at home outside on a hot June afternoon, the tension of living in a van in a foreign country was visible in some of their onstage interaction, and frontman Scott Hutchison isn’t exactly the picture of cocksure Scottishness we’ve all grown up with over here. A little bit of my unease had to do with the crowd, if you could call it one. Despite a couple of nice write-ups in the local music press (A.V. Club’s inclusion of the video for “Head Rolls Off” with their review of the band’s revelatory The Midnight Organ Fight was what did it for me), the steady stream of passersby remained mostly that. It was really hard to see a band as good as they were struggle so mightily to hold the attention of so few – even an onstage collection of stuffed animals won from various Bear Claw machines (yes, really) and multiple reminders by Hutchison that the band was playing a free show in Chicago the following week didn’t seem to have much effect.

Problems onstage and with the setting, though, were peripheral. Most of my unease was due to the fact I’d overdressed for my first Chicago street festival. It had been an unseasonably cool May, even for the city, where nighttime temperatures had routinely dipped into the forties and every day seemed a wink and a bad angle away from rain or a bitter wind. And so, this first weekend of June, I’d worn a long-sleeved button-up shirt for the afternoon bike ride. With an undershirt, and warm socks, and it was miserable. To make matters worse, my fiancée began making fun of my “boating outfit” as soon as we were out of the apartment building, and we argued most of the way there. Getting to the point, my problems were silly, and mundane, but they were mine. And as I stood in front of the stage, half-engulfed by my self-obsessed little drama, I stayed quiet. And marveled, as the part of me that wasn’t checking my armpits was witnessing what grand things could come of someone else’s seemingly insignificant personal struggles.

Like a bedroom U2, I thought. The songs were raw and confessional; Hutchison’s portrayal of his attempts to deal with love, loss, and self-doubt brutal and brutally honest. Smart, yet unpretentious, sad but with no hint of the weepy screech of the canned radio-emo you couldn’t escape in 2008. At the same time, the band’s sound was huge. Over building arrangements and drummer/brother Grant’s primal, pounding backbeat, the personal became universal. The songs were Hutchison’s cries to be loved and his fears that he wasn’t worth it; they were my sweat-stained shirt, fight with my fiancée, the anxiety of fitting in in a new city. Hutchison shouted to the heavens, baring his soul for all that would listen. That day, there were only a few dozen of us. That, however, would quickly change.

Only seven months later, on the eve of President Obama’s inauguration, I saw Frightened Rabbit give a stellar performance at Washington, D.C.’s famed Rock n’ Roll Hotel. The club was small, but it was undeniable that people had caught on to the band. Packed like sardines on a Monday night when the entire city had someplace to be the next morning, the crowd sweated, swayed, and hung on Hutchison’s every word. The singer remarked that it was a good time to be in America, and the band was noticeably happier than the last time I’d seen them. Another summer came, and FR (as they’d come to be called by a rapidly expanding fan base) traded up from Do Division to a slot at the sold-out Pitchfork Music Festival.

Cut to 2010, and Frightened Rabbit are ready for the big leagues. Their new record The Winter of Mixed Drinks, a stirring set about the process and hang-ups of moving forward, is among the year’s very best. The wide-open setting of Grant Park, expansive Chicago skyline, and throngs of music fans at Lollapalooza are an ideal backdrop for FR’s rousing sound. At the same time, the songs cut so deep as to make you feel as though they’re yours. Yours, and everyone’s. Grab your beer, wander, do your thing, but whatever that is, do not miss this band. And, just in case, dress light.

Written by Miguel Harvey of HEAVE Media.

Each week, our friends at Foodie will be showcasing these local culinary favorites, as well as tips and deals for dining around Chicago during Lolla weekend. Today’s feature is on the Lolla Culinary Director himself, Graham Elliot Bowles. Cheers!

In an era of rock star chefs, there are few emerging faster than Chicago’s Graham Elliot Bowles.

He’s the youngest chef in America to ever receive four stars when he helmed the kitchen at Avenues at the Peninsula Hotel. Then Bowles went on to open his eponymous River North “bistronomic” spot to raves two years ago, where he creates his signature “foilipops” encrusted with Pop Rocks alongside inventive dishes like hushpuppy-style sweetbread and deconstructed Caesar salad with a brioche twinkie while an array of indie, head-banger and classic rock flow from the kitchen’s iPod. He’s working on launching an upscale sandwich shop, Grahamwich, and will appear as a judge on Gordon Ramsay’s new show, Masterchef.

In 2009, he cooked at Lollapalooza for Perry Farrell and introduced the world to his lobster corn dogs as the first more-upscale chef to sell food to the festival’s masses. This year, Bowles is Lollapalooza’s culinary ambassador, where he gathered some of the city’s best chefs and restaurants to take Chow Town, the festival’s food court, to a higher level. We chatted with Bowles to see why he chose the restaurants he did and who he’d want to rock out with on stage.

Foodie: What excites you about Chow Town – and why did you want to be part of that and Lollapalooza?
Graham Elliot Bowles: We did Lolla last year and had such a great time with the crowd, C3 Presents team, bands, etc. To be part of something this massive, coupled with the memories that come with it, like having gone to Lolla in my younger years, was a no brainer. We’re just excited to be cooking alongside some of Chicago’s best restaurants in such a great setting. Where else can you get this food, hear this music and have such a beautiful cityscape to take in, all simultaneously?

Foodie: Why did you select the restaurants you did?
GEB: We wanted to showcase local independent restaurants and chefs that shared in the belief that food and music go hand in hand.

Foodie: What’s going to be on your menu for the festival?
GEB: Lobster corn dog with lemon aioli, truffled Parmesan popcorn and [a vegan] watermelon gazpacho.

Foodie: What does each restaurant bring to the table or what makes this group special?
GEB: Each restaurant has their own style and approach toward cooking … we have someone who specializes in homemade pie, someone who does amazingly fun and unique hot dogs, etc. We feel this food festival truly shows off the breadth of creativity that is alive and well in the Chicago food scene.

Foodie: Were there any other restaurants on your dream list that couldn’t commit to Chow Town?
GEB: Not really; I won’t say any names but we asked a few people that we thought would be a good fit, but for their own reasons they couldn’t commit to doing it this year. Maybe next time…

Foodie: Any other restaurants that haven’t yet been announced that we can talk about?
GEB: I’d say the list is 99 percent complete, however I wouldn’t rule out that there could be someone that gets in the game at the last second.

Foodie: What bands are you excited to see during the festival?
GEB: Soundgarden, Social Distortion, Lady Gaga, Chromeo, Arcade Fire, Hot Chip, The Temper Trap…

Foodie: Since you also play guitar [Bowles spent time in a band in his youth], if you had the chance to jam with anyone playing Lollapalooza, who would it be?
GEB: Probably Soundgarden; Chris Cornell is about as badass as they come.

Enjoy, and check out the rest of our Artist Discovery Series to get hip to Lolla 2010.

It pretty much goes without saying that whenever some band gets described as a “supergroup,” your immediate, and appropriate, reaction, is to roll your eyes and brace yourself for the worst. Given that fact, even though The New Pornographers feature A.C. Newman and Neko Case of solo acclaim, Dan Bejar of Destroyer and Swan Lake, and members of other Canadian rock groups such as Limblifter, perhaps we’re better off focusing not on the band’s pedigree, but on the consistently great music The New Pornographers create as one of the best rock bands together today.

Right out of the gate, the Pornographers made huge waves with their 2000 debut album, Mass Romantic, which The Onion A.V. Club ranked as its #21 album of the decade, and Blender called the 24th best indie album of all time. On that record, the band introduced their brand of what is probably best described as indie power-pop, combining driving guitars, keyboards, and crisp drums with well-crafted melodies and perfectly accented harmonies to create an updated AM-radio sing-along sound that almost forces you to drum your hands to the beat. The band isn’t engaging in hyperbole when, speaking of a track on Mass Romantic, their website proclaims that upon the Pornographers forming, the group wrote “the classic ‘Letter From An Occupant,’ and it was on.”

Not content to rest on the laurels of that awesomeness, the band thankfully hasn’t let up or let down since. Including Mass Romantic, the Pornographers have released five full-length albums in the past decade, the last three all cracking the Billboard top 50, with the most recent, 2010’s Together, hitting #18. But don’t go thinking that means the band has gone and lost their indie cred. They’re still on Matador Records (doesn’t hurt that Newman is married to the label’s marketing manager), and even got David Cross to appear in their 2005 music video for the excellent single “Use It.”

For a band that can technically be called a side project for many (if not all) of its members, it’s a compliment to say that nothing the Pornographers have ever done sound like a throw-away track or a half-assed attempt at pushing out another record. The songs are all deftly, yet intricately, written and tightly performed, but unlike some other indie power-pop acts (no offense, Ted Leo…”Me and Mia” still makes the list of top tracks of last decade), The New Pornographers back up their perfectly-crafted songs with an energy and emotion that makes their records more than just an exercise in great form. And continuing in that vein: yes, we’ve probably overused the phrase “power-pop” while discussing the band, but don’t let that term fool you. The New Pornographers write songs with originality and character that put them not just in the upper echelon of pop-rock bands today, but place them firmly at the top of the list of ensemble rock acts of the past decade.

So don’t miss these guys and gals out at Lollapalooza—even if you’ve never heard them before, you can’t help but to instantly fall in love with The New Pornographers come August sixth.

Written by Andy Kondrat