Many bands have become comic books — I’m looking at you, KISS — but few comic books become bands.   

Jeff Roberson is no longer “the most hated man in Folk,” as he was dubbed by former WNKU program director Dan Reed. In fact, since Summer’s Here, the former Len’s Lounge frontman’s 2008 sophomore solo effort, he’s been preoccupied with matters decidedly unrelated to Folk.   

Early this year, Nick Zammuto surprised fans and critics with his announcement that he was closing the book on The Books, his avant sonic collage project with Paul de Jong and a variety of supporting players.   

In discussions about the world’s greatest guitarists, one name often unconscionably overlooked is that of avant Jazz six-stringer Bill Frisell. For the past three and a half decades, Frisell has created textural environments that are visceral and pastoral, actively engaging and passively contemplative, utilizing guitar skills that border on genius.  

Joey Cape might be among Punk’s busiest purveyors, but his longest standing and best-known band is obviously Lagwagon, one of the original Punk/Pop groups that emerged from the early ’90s California scene.   

I love the last day of MidPoint and I hate the last day of MidPoint.
I love the energy and anticipation of what has always been the best night of the festival and I hate the thought of going home at the end to the reality of another 362 day wait until we can do it all over again. Other than a couple of hiccups, both personal and universal, this may have ultimately been the most perfect MidPoin...  

Another beautiful evening for MidPoint 2012 despite a dreary day as an opening act. Thursday night’s festivities were fantastic, but they turned out to be a mere warm-up for the grand mal WTF of Friday night. As it should be.

First up on the agenda was a walk down to Grammer’s to once again bathe in the resplendent Blues chemical peel that is the Sundresses. My adoration of the band has...  

The first night of MidPoint almost looked like it would be a typical rain-soaked affair, but the clouds relented and the festival’s kick-off was gorgeous and every bit as big as promised.

My first stop on the musical pub crawl that is MidPoint was not a band but a party...well, the whole bloody thing is a party, but this was an actual event thrown by the towering presence known as Brian ...  

Over the course of three excellent albums, including their new eponymous double-disc set, Black Owls have incorporated vintage influences into their singular sound.  

JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound’s sophomore album, Want More, might sound like some lost artifact from Otis Redding’s archive, but the Chicago quartet is young enough to be Redding’s grandchildren and have only been working their Indie Rock corner of Chicago Soul since 2007.