iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

An interview with John Prine about his key years in Chicago: www.facebook.com/share/p/1KP2...

Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

John Prine would’ve turned 80 later this week, but he slipped away in 2020, and boy, do we need his songs now. If anything, his stature has only expanded during his missing years, and the city he once called home is celebrating him big time in the next few days. A convo with JP linked below.

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

While in Greece, we saw a bunch of street artists playing variations on urban styles such as rebetiko. One night we ended up at Tavern Klimataria for this terrific co-ed quartet. Reminded me of Richard Thompson-Sandy Denny era Fairport Convention or Ireland’s Lankum, tinged with bluegrass and jazz.

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Melissa Auf Der Maur, an aspiring Montreal artist, took a detour when she met Billy Corgan & Courtney Love. She ended up playing bass in two volatile '90s bands – Hole and Smashing Pumpkins – and lived to write about it in “Even the Good Girls Will Cry.” @soundopinions.bsky.social interview below.

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

When 15-year-old Stevie Wonder wrote this song in the '60s, it stayed buried for years until Aretha Franklin got around to recording it. It became a huge hit, and prompted Stevie's original version to surface. I love 'em both. Here's the story in on @soundopinions.bsky.social tinyurl.com/bp72sanz

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

A chat with Dolly Parton: www.facebook.com/share/p/1997...

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Facebook

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Dolly Parton, RIP. She was a boundary-pushing artist and a compassionate human being who is irreplaceable. I had the opportunity to chat with Dolly several times over the decades, and an excerpt from one of those chats is linked in the comments.

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Shoegaze lives! We tip our hat to the originators and the new wave they inspired on this week's @soundopinions.bsky.social. More here: www.facebook.com/share/p/1KrA... Link to the show in comments.

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

We dish on the latest from Olivia Rodrigo, Jack White, Margo Price, Robyn Hitchcock and Swamp Dogg. The @soundopinions.bsky.social LP roundup: tinyurl.com/46y4uz3t

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

More on Dave Marsh: www.facebook.com/share/p/1DwU...

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

The 2 editions of “The Rolling Stone Record Guide” (1979) were once bibles for a new generation of music fans & music journos. They were edited by Dave Marsh & John Swenson, and Marsh (RIP) in particular was an inspiration – a prolific author & combative critic. When we met... (link in comments)

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

A vintage Buddy Guy interview and acoustic performance on @soundopinions.bsky.social, plus we spotlight a few tracks that highlight his career in celebration of his 90th birthday. Dig it: soundopinions.org/show/1081

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Jeff Conolly (RIP) led Lyres, ace Boston garage-rockers. Their "On Fyre" debut was an instant classic. He's gone but the image of Conolly singing "Help You Ann" while playing Vox riffage with his right hand and banging a tambourine with his left was burned into my DNA in the 1980s and never left.

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Glen Hansard on songwriting: www.facebook.com/share/p/1BLe...

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

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

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

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.bsky.social: shorturl.at/Dytxx

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

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, andthe new artists he inspired. Registration now open: tinyurl.com/3bhbmb4v

tinyurl.com

Bob Dylan and America

Explore the life and art of the iconic Bob Dylan with Greg Kot (“Sound Opinions” co-host and former Chicago Tribune music critic) and Nora Titone (UChicago Parrhesia Program for Public Thought and Dis...

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

This week, we kick off the 1st of 2 shows on @soundopinions.bsky.social celebrating one of our favorite bands ever: 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)

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Rolling into the Square Roots Festival in Lincoln Square and what a sight to behold on the north wall of the Old Town School of Folk Music. Jon Langford's tribute to John Prine. Game knows game. (Posted a video in comments with more info.) @johnprine.bsky.social @jonlangford.bsky.social

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Mary Morello never shied from a battle ... www.facebook.com/share/p/1Dpw...

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Sad to learn that Mary Morello has died at age 102. She was a teacher, activist and the mother of Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello, who grew up Libertyville, IL. In 2000, I spent a day with Mary & Tom at her home. I've linked to an excerpt in comments. RIP, Mary, and condolences to Tom.

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

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

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

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. Turn on the news!

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Jack Douglas (RIP) was the quintessential rock engineer/producer. He worked with everyone from Pete Townshend & Lou Reed to John Lennon & Patti Smith. I especially love his collab with Cheap Trick, notably the band's faultless debut LP. The @soundopinions.bsky.social tribute: tinyurl.com/jwt35u8y

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

My favorite LPs as we approach the year's midway point. Complete lists from Dero and our ace producers, plus the mid-year @soundopinions.bsky.social, can be found here: 🔗 tinyurl.com/3fy8r8tz And let me know what your favorites are ...

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Our @soundopinions.bsky.social conversation with Barry Walters, a pioneering music journalist and author of "Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969-2000." www.soundopinions.org/show/1072 And I spiel about Walters' impact as a writer/critic and social-justice advocate: bit.ly/4w3VTW5

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Got this from one of my daughters today. My work here is done.

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

she channeled words of comfort to an orphaned child in “Summertime.” El’Zabar was the engine that drove it all on drums, hand percussion and thumb piano. “No one can give you freedom,” he said. “It’s an inalienable right.” And it lives inside his music. (3/3)

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

more daring members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). He bridged jazz, blues & neo-classical (with the Chicago string sextet D-Composed) in a set that spanned John Coltrane (David Murray doing Trane justice in his sax solo) and Nona Hendryx soul-mining as (2/3)

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Spent Juneteenth eve w/ Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble in Millennium Park. A good day for the South Side, for the world, with the words of Barack & Michelle Obama at the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, & then the exhortations – musical & verbal – of El’Zabar, one of the (1/3)

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

James "Blood" Ulmer (RIP) was at the center of a guitar revolution in the late '70s & beyond. His crucial roles with Ornette Coleman & Arthur Blythe brought blues, free jazz and No Wave into a free-flowing conversation. Saw him do it real time at Tut's in January 1982. His boldness will be missed.

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

When an artist or band releases a stellar debut LP, the toughest task ahead of them is how to at least equal if not top it on the second go-round. On @soundopinions.bsky.social, we select some of our favorite follow-up albums: bit.ly/4wUQCkL

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

... makes room for fierce give and take with drummer Philly Joe Jones. Decades later, in 2008, I saw Sonny headline the Chicago Jazzfest and turn another show tune, Irving Berlin's "They Say It's Wonderful," upside down, once again drawing me in and taking me out. Thanks for the music, Newk. (2/2)

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

We all have to start somewhere, and with jazz, & Sonny Rollins (RIP), it was the 1959 LP "Newk's Time." I was drawn to it because it included a cover of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Surrey with the Fringe on Top," familiar to me because my parents loved Broadway soundtracks. Sonny's version ... (1/2)

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

“Life isn’t about finding yourself or finding anything. Life is about creating yourself & creating things.” A few words on Bob Dylan at 85: shorturl.at/tClKP

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

A @soundopinions.bsky.social classic album dissection of the Violent Femmes' 1983 debut LP: bit.ly/4dFaik7 And a few words from me about how the Femmes broke out of one of the Midwest's coolest scenes (Milwaukee!): bit.ly/4fk0BtV

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Chicago's answer to Big Star and Alex Chilton was/is Green and Jeff Lescher. I explain why here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Farewell, Sam Sianis, the Greek immigrant whose Billy Goat tavern was a second home for legions of Chicago journos. When I was hired by the Trib, I felt like I'd arrived when I'd walk down the steps, made a right and was greeted by a cold PBR sliding my way from the end of the bar. Cheers, Sam.

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Lou Reed had high hopes for his music: "that 10 years from now you could still listen to one of my albums because it wasn’t just a party record, but something that would engage you emotionally, intellectually, if not spiritually, on the level that a novel can." Read on: tinyurl.com/42thk3u6

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

I never had a beef with them. They’ve always been forthcoming with me.

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Greg Kot @gregkot.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Ratboys continue their decade-long roll with new album "Singin’ to an Empty Chair." Singer-songwriter Julie Steiner lays out the band's story in the @soundopinions.bsky.social interview (linked in comments).

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