Chicago International Movies and Music

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Inside Otis Redding’s Final Masterpiece ‘(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay’ Co-writer Steve Cropper and other collaborators take a new look back at the legendary song, recorded just weeks before the singer’s tragic 1967 death.

Jane's Addiction cancel remainder of tour following on-stage fight Jane's Addiction have canceled the remainder of their US reunion tour following an on-stage fight between frontman Perry Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro..

Chicago’s Music Box — cherished among cinephiles — reopens after makeover The historic theater returns this weekend, fittingly, with the Noir City: Chicago fest, which is an ode to classic cinema. But expect some new flourishes.

Humboldt Park 'basement' comedy club shut down after Instagram video goes viral Humboldt Park resident Nathan Weil operated the secret space out of his home. On Tuesday, the venue sent emails to its supporters, saying that it would be canceling the next two months of shows.

Harmony Korine wants Hollywood to start embracing forms of entertainment that have taken over youth culture.

"They go other places because movies are no longer the dominant art form. Always, they were the dominant art form, but nothing is linear anymore." https://trib.al/0692p2U

They've already sent a clear message to fans about their tour dates 😲

For the first time in four decades, Chicago's iconic Music Box Theatre will temporarily close its doors ➡️ bit.ly/3WZmFjV

Finding liberation in sound - Chicago Reader Marguerite Harrold takes readers to the city’s underground house music scene with her new book, Chicago House Music: Culture and Community.

Jack Russell, Great White Singer and Survivor of Nightclub Fire, Dies at 63 At a show in 2003 with his “Jack Russell’s Great White,” a pyrotechnics display ignited a fire that killed 100 people, including the band’s guitarist.

BREAKING 🤘 After announcing a move to the suburbs, Riot Fest is coming back to Douglass Park on Chicago's West Side next month. Details ➡️ bit.ly/3M7rGk4

Ex-Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna ready to march into University of Michigan Rock and Roll Hall of Famer will be assistant professor at UM.

Music Box Theatre getting seats with cup holders The 95-year-old theater in Lakeview is an historic gem.

Rock band Journey cancels tour dates amid members’ legal battle This comes after the latest issue in the legal battle between keyboardist Jonathan Cain and band founder and lead guitarist Neal Schon.

Metallica's M72 Tour is hitting Soldier Field this weekend with shows on both Friday and Sunday. Each night promises a unique experience, with two different setlists and different bands opening the show each night. MORE: bit.ly/4cmPdZ5

John Cusack originally wanted Bob Dylan for the Bruce Springsteen cameo part in "High Fidelity" (2000), but Dylan was unavailable.

Cusack and his co-screenwriters (D.V. Vincentis, Steve Pink, and Scott Rosenberg) wrote the script with Jack Black in mind for the role of Barry. He nearly turned the role down, but reconsidered.

The writers decided to change the book's setting from London to Chicago because they were more familiar with the city, and it also had a "great alternative music scene," according to Pink. Cusack said, "When I read the book I knew where everything was in Chicago. I knew where the American Rob went to school and dropped out, where he used to spin records. I knew two or three different record shops when I was growing up that had a Rob, a Dick and a Barry in them."

Cusack found that the greatest challenge adapting the novel was pulling off Rob Gordon's frequent breaking of the fourth wall and talking directly to the audience. The screenwriters did this to convey Rob's inner confessional thoughts, and were influenced by a similar technique in the Michael Caine film, "Alfie" (1966). Cusack rejected this approach because he thought that "there'd just be too much of me." Once director Stephen Frears signed on to direct, he suggested using the technique and everyone agreed.

Despite the change in locale, after seeing the film, Nick Hornby (who wrote the novel from which the film was based) expressed surprise at how faithful to the original it is, saying that "At times, it appears to be a film in which John Cusack reads my book." (IMDb/Wikipedia)

Happy Birthday, John Cusack!

Brews Brothers Lager Will Only Be Sold In Joliet At Blues Brothers Con The second-ever Blues Brothers Con, featuring movie stalwarts Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi, is Saturday, Aug. 17 at the Old Joliet Prison.

Thursday marks exactly 20 years since one of the most revolting moments in Chicago music history. ➡️ bit.ly/4cgvx94

Chicago! Just announced that Tom Morello will be at Metro Chicago on Thursday, August 15 to introduce our Ike Reilly documentary “Don’t Turn Your Back On Friday Night” that Tom is also the Executive Producer of and appears in. The screening of the doc will be followed by a LIVE musical performance from The Ike Reilly Assassination. 6:00 p.m. show is SOLD OUT. Hurry now for final tickets to the 10:00 p.m. show. Doors open at 9:00 p.m.! https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/40755193/

Originally posted 1 day ago.

On this date in 1981, "Heavy Metal" was released.

The film is an anthology of various science fiction and fantasy stories adapted from Heavy Metal magazine and original stories in the same spirit. Like the magazine, the film features a great deal of graphic violence, sexuality, and nudity. Its production was expedited by having several animation houses working simultaneously on different segments.

This movie is made up of eight segments.
"Soft Landing": A 1959 fiberglass-bodied Chevy Corvette is deployed from a space shuttle, lands on Earth, and drives up to a mansion.
"Grimaldi": The astronaut goes into the mansion and shows his daughter what he found. When he opens his case, a green glowing orb rises out and melts him.
"Harry Canyon": A 21st-century New York taxicab driver finds himself involved between a covetous gangster, the beautiful daughter of an archaeologist, and a green glowing orb called the Loc-Nar (below).
"Den": A nerdish teenager is transported through space and time to another world into the body of a muscular warrior, and becomes involved in a power struggle revolving around possession of the Loc-Nar.
"Captain Sternn": A square-jawed space pirate is on trial for numerous serious charges and only his character witness can save him.
"B-17": The remaining crew of a damaged World War II B-17 bomber must survive the machinations of the Loc-Nar.
"So Beautiful, So Dangerous": A voluptuous secretary transported by accident onboard a spaceship when its crew retrieves its android.
"Taarna": The Loc-Nar corrupts a tribe of human outcasts, turning them into vicious marauders that will overwhelm the world with cold, murderous violence. The last scion of a warrior race, seeking to avenge the deaths of the people she was sworn to protect, is the only being that can stop them.

The soundtrack was released on LP in 1981, but for legal reasons, was not released on CD until 1995. The album peaked at number 12 on the Billboard 200 chart. The movie's theme song, "Heavy Metal (Takin' a Ride)" was sung by Don Felder. It was released as a single in the U.S. and reached number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Mainstream Rock chart.

The legal difficulties surrounding the use of some songs in the movie delayed its release to home video. The production company's use of some songs were limited solely to the theatrical release and soundtrack and did not include home video releases. It was not until 1996 that there was an official home video release on VHS when Kevin Eastman, who had bought the publishing rights of Heavy Metal magazine in 1992 and previously contributed to the magazine, reached a settlement with the music copyright holders. (Wikipedia/IMDb)

Steve Albini's Electrical Audio Recording Studio Looks To Future After Iconic Owner's Death Employees of the legendary studio, open since 1997, are exploring new options in the space, including hosting a sold-out concert there Sunday.

On this date in 1980, "The Blues Brothers" was released.

"It's got a cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant. It's got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas."

The film used 13 different cars bought at auction from the California Highway Patrol to depict the retired 1974 Mount Prospect, Illinois Dodge Monaco patrol car that would affectionately become known as The Bluesmobile. The vehicles were outfitted by the studio to do particular driving chores; some were customized for speed and others for jumps, depending on the scene. For the large car chases, filmmakers purchased 60 police cars at $400 each, and most were destroyed at the completion of the filming. More than 40 stunt drivers were hired, and the crew kept a 24-hour body shop to repair cars.

According to Dan Aykroyd, the horn-shaped loudspeaker atop the Bluesmobile was actually a duplicate of a massive Cold War-era air raid siren (CLM Model 92729DP) installed in the schoolyard at Our Lady of Annunciation where Aykroyd attended elementary school while growing up in Ottawa, Canada. The siren was manufactured by a Canadian company called CLM Industries, and Aykroyd specifically requested the same CLM model be used in the movie to portray the loudspeaker the characters affixed to the top of the Bluesmobile and used as a public address system.

Director John Landis has claimed that the portion of the final chase sequence beneath the elevated train tracks, which briefly showed a reading of 118 miles per hour on the car's speedometer, was actually filmed at that speed, a testament to the Monaco's police car heritage. He has also stated that he re-shot some of the scenes with pedestrians on the sidewalks, so viewers could see that the film had not been sped up to create the effect of speed.

For the scene when the Blues Brothers finally arrive at the Richard J. Daley Center, a mechanic took several months to rig the car to fall apart.

At the time of its release, "The Blues Brothers" held the world record for the most cars destroyed in one film until it was surpassed by a single car in its 1998 sequel. (Wikipedia)

Upon the release of "All That Jazz" in 1979, Stanley Kubrick reportedly believed it to be the "best movie I think I've ever seen."

Many of the characters in the movie are based on real-life characters from the New York theater world. Aside from Roy Scheider as Bob Fosse, Leland Palmer's character was based on his wife/frequent star Gwen Verdon. John Lithgow's character also was based somewhat on New York theater director Michael Bennett, the director of "Dreamgirls," with whom Fosse had a longstanding rivalry. The character of producer Jonesy Hecht was based upon Fosse's fellow longtime rival Harold Prince. Ann Reinking was more or less playing herself. The character of songwriter Paul Dann is a swipe at Stephen Schwartz, with whom Fosse had unhappily worked on "Pippin." Jules Fisher, the lighting designer on many of Fosse's shows and, later, the producer of his show "Dancin'," makes an appearance as a lighting designer in the scene with Lithgow. The movie is based on Fosse's real-life heart attack while both editing his movie "Lenny" (1974) and simultaneously directing the original 1975 Broadway production of "Chicago."

Fosse considered playing the lead role himself. Producer David H. Melnick pointed out that Fosse, who had a history of heart problems, wouldn't survive the shoot.

On the Blu-ray audio commentary, it is revealed that Scheider had many unusual lessons from Fosse through filming which included coughing lessons since Joe Gideon was a chain smoker who coughed very heavily, and Fosse instructed Scheider how to do it properly. Also, during the heart-attack scene at the hospital, Fosse described to Scheider how painful it was, as if someone was pressing a weight to his chest. During the performance of the scene, off camera, the first assistant director pressed one knee on Scheider's chest while the camera was capturing his painful expressions.

Richard Dreyfuss was originally cast in the role of Joe Gideon but departed from the production during the rehearsal stage, citing a lack of confidence in the production. He later admitted that he made a mistake in passing up the chance to work with Fosse. (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Bob Fosse!