November 10, 2009

In less than two months Jam Cruise 8 will set sail from Ft. Lauderdale filled to the brim with amazing artists and the band fans who love them. Today, we’ve got our second Jam Cruise Files column which profiles a band or musician scheduled to perform on the MSC Poesia between January 3 & 8. This installment of Jam Cruise Files focuses on Karl Denson.

Name: Karl Denson – Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Sexual Chocolate
Bands: Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Karl Denson Trio, Greyboy Allstars, Sexual Chocolate, Tresexual Chocolate
Past JC Experience: KDTU (JC1, JC2, JC3, JC4, JC7), Greyboy Allstars (JC5), Special Guest (JC6)
2009: KDTU released Brother’s Keeper

Scott Bernstein: How much has Jam Cruise changed from your first cruise to last year’s cruise?

Karl Denson: Not that much. The jam room has changed the most. It’s gotten wilder and later every year.

READ ON for more from Karl Denson on Jam Cruise…

Hidden within the soul of certain cops is the feeling that they’re above the law. I’m not saying they’re not, mind you. They do get to sample the best dope, beat on the innocent and drive way past the speed limit. To Protect and Serve, as it were. But whom?

And speaking of The MAN, we slither into the City of Lost Angels in our latest thrill ride (and this one has a manic drive down the wrong way of a very crowded freeway), directed by William Friedkin, who made his name in the ’70s with two classics, The French Connection, and The Exorcist. The former, a tale about the devil on the outside; the latter, about the devil inside. In this week’s Hidden Flick, there is a sinister combination of the two wrapped into one character played by ex-CSIer William Petersen.

To Live and Die in L.A. should have been a comeback film for Friedkin, and a breakout performance for Petersen, who was a Chicago stage actor at that time (and, actually, went back to that role before, during, and after, his stint on that popular television show), while the director was mired in films that didn’t seem to capture the popular Zeitgeist. And who really gives a shit? What is popular? What is a stupid German term like Zeitgeist but an excuse to whip out the Andy Warhol card that says ‘15 minutes of fame happening’?

READ ON for more on this week’s Hidden Flick…

Audio Depth Device, made up of Wade “Wyllys” Wilby and Umphrey’s drummer Kris Myers, takes you on an improvisational adventure with each piece of music they play. You’ll hit many peaks and valleys along the way but you’ll never hear the same thing twice. Craig Pessolano put together five incredible videos from a recent ADD gig at the Tonic Room in Chicago that gives you a taste of the Audio Depth Device experience.

READ ON for four more Audio Depth Device videos…