Today’s activist bookers face dramatically different hurdles, but Joanna Brown and Mark Freitas gave them all a running start with this 1990s concert series.
Plus: Kenny Childers of Gentleman Caller and author Maryse Meijer pair songs with readings from the stories that inspired them, and Smart Bar hosts 23 hours of continuous DJ sets.
Everything about this year's Fed Up Fest—the bystander intervention training, the panel discussions on aging in punk, the frenzied yet thoughtful music—manifested the spirit of resistance, hope, and direct action.
Plus: Hujo make dance music with "a mosaic of organic and digital tactics," and Autonomy guitarist Ray Suburbia returns to Chicago with a new DIY print zine.
The local blues rockers become labelmates with Gnarls Barkley. Plus: A new photo book from former Los Crudos singer Martin Sorrondeguy and a new booking agency from Donnie Biggins