There’s a lot of David Bowie suddenly in the air again this year, roughly coinciding with the 75th birthday of the famed genre-fluid singer/songwriter/showman. Earlier this year, there was the Bowie extended-musical-family production – dubbed the Bowie Celebration – featuring former DB sidemen, such as Mike Garson, Gerry Leonard and Carmine Rojas, just to name a few.

At this point, the Grateful Dead family of musicians has become so large that it’s easy to miss many of its component parts. So many of the fabulous artists that make up the backdrop of our glorious musical bloom get overlooked by the simple adage, “So much good music, so little time.” Yet despite what we Deadheads might miss in the plethora of it all, Bob Weir doesn’t.

It started with a bulletin board.

Rising Appalachia has certainly put their mark on Appalachian Folk Music. They have curated these traditional folk roots with other musical cultures that span the globe. Their ambitious creativity, exceptional musical craftsmanship, and highly independent personalities has yielded them world wide appeal and massive respect in the music industry. They march to the beat of their own drums.

Dead Floyd is an important part of today’s musical landscape. They are a one-of-a-kind band much like their predecessors the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd. Dead Floyd recreates the music and magic of these two magnificent bands by combining them together in one wild musical adventure of historic, adventurous mind-bending joy. They present an explosive array of the what the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd created by carefully and methodically putting them together in the same set.

Luke Miller of the electronic jam band Lotus, performing at Sacred Rose Festival in Bridgeview, IL on August 26-28 recently called into WZRD Chicago, 88.3 FM, the Wizard. Meagan Panici chatted with him about what Lotus has been up to and what we can look forward to when they arrive in Chicago later this month. 

Montana’s Satsang are back this fall with ‘Flowers From The Fray,’ the band’s finest work to date, out September 9th. Following the success of their previous release ‘All. Right. Now.,’ which was broad and spacious, reflecting the soaring mountains and “big soundscape” of McManus’s home state of Montana, ‘Flowers From The Fray’ finds the band stripping things down - removing the excess layers and filters, both creatively and professionally, and returning to something organic, authentic, and real.

Live Rowdy, Live Loudly, Stay Up Late, Make Peace, Make Music. These words are the mission statement of Leftover Salmon as they have inspired and helped pave the way for many bands to break free of traditional bluegrass and explore the genre in a more contemporary direction. As a fan, photographer, and writer it seems the band's intentions are simply this - we will melt your face, open your mind and heart with artistic expression, and spread as much love and positivity as we can in the process.

Chicago is excited to host the inaugural Sacred Rose Festival on August 26 - 28, 2022. A big reason for that excitement is that Lettuce will be bringing the funk. After the release of their new album Unify, Meagan Panici caught up with Adam Deitch from Lettuce to talk about the funk, the origin of Funkateer and how the last few years have gone for them in their artistic pursuits.

Joel Hoekstra is a founding member of the supergroup, ICONIC, along with Michael Sweet, Nathan James, Tommy Aldridge, and Marco Mendoza. Together the group has over 100 years of rock’n’roll experience. ICONIC released its debut album, Second Skin, on June 17.

Standing at 6’3” tall, Joel Hoekstra looks like the epitome of the rock guitar god. With curly locks of blonde hair blazing down his back, Joel is known for having the best hair in hard rock. But ICONIC is a lot more than a hair metal band.