‘Chicago Rocks’ tour travels city’s punk-rock scene
Chicago tour — a short bus, 20 strangers smiling gamely at each other, an edgy guide checking his watch and eager to start on time. Which one is this? A food tour? Architecture? Ghosts, gangsters, the great fire?
Phil Rockrohr, the guide at the front of the bus, plugs his iPod into the stereo system and cranks it. Suddenly Tutu & the Pirates’ grinding punk-rock milestone “Wham Bam Son of Sam” is blaring, and we suspect Chess Records is not on the day’s itinerary.
“Chicago Rocks: 1980-2002” delivers just what its greatest-hits title states, a whirlwind drive-by of where the city’s punk, post-punk, alt-rock and modern rock bands lived, played and drank. Tours of Chicago’s blues and jazz history pop up intermittently, but the new mini-voyage — launching this weekend, with three-hour tours leaving each Saturday from Schubas bar and concert hall — aims at tourists and residents for whom Naked Raygun, Smashing Pumpkins and Liz Phair are foundation music, not necessarily Muddy and Buddy.
Rockrohr is a musician himself, a Park Forest native who’s played in about a dozen local bands, including his own Phil Rockrohr & the Lifters.
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Phil Rockrohr, the guide at the front of the bus, plugs his iPod into the stereo system and cranks it. Suddenly Tutu & the Pirates’ grinding punk-rock milestone “Wham Bam Son of Sam” is blaring, and we suspect Chess Records is not on the day’s itinerary.
“Chicago Rocks: 1980-2002” delivers just what its greatest-hits title states, a whirlwind drive-by of where the city’s punk, post-punk, alt-rock and modern rock bands lived, played and drank. Tours of Chicago’s blues and jazz history pop up intermittently, but the new mini-voyage — launching this weekend, with three-hour tours leaving each Saturday from Schubas bar and concert hall — aims at tourists and residents for whom Naked Raygun, Smashing Pumpkins and Liz Phair are foundation music, not necessarily Muddy and Buddy.
Rockrohr is a musician himself, a Park Forest native who’s played in about a dozen local bands, including his own Phil Rockrohr & the Lifters.
Read More