Idolator

Above, The Rotary Connection's stellar version of Jimi Hendrix's warped "Burning of the Midnight Lamp", which you may recognize as being sampled in Jay-Z's "Hova Song." The Rotary Connection, led by a very young Minnie Riperton, take what's arguably one of Hendrix's lesser singles and crank up the majestic. They pile on the strings and vocals, particularly Minnie's voice—which is striking in any octave, though she spends most of the song hanging out with Yma Sumac in the stratosphere. More »

Above, The Rotary Connection's stellar version of Jimi Hendrix's warped "Burning of the Midnight Lamp", which you may recognize as being sampled in Jay-Z's "Hova Song." The Rotary Connection, led by a very young Minnie Riperton, take what's arguably one of Hendrix's lesser singles and crank up the majestic. They pile on the strings and vocals, particularly Minnie's voice—which is striking in any octave, though she spends most of the song hanging out with Yma Sumac in the stratosphere. More »

I've actively avoided the early work of Chicago (thanks to a childhood spent hearing its later material), so I can't say whether I agree with Variety's Phil Gallo and his contention that the band and its "superb musicianship" has been unfairly kept out of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. But I'm intrigued by one of his claims: "It shows the bias of the hall's voters—they are either too old to have the wistful childhood memories of the early '70s or too young to fully appreciate how distinctive they were in the pop landscape at the time." Whether it's due to this alleged age schism (I doubt that the "rock experts" who get ballots don't include people with childhood memories of the early '70s) or not, there are quite a few commercially successful and even critically acclaimed artists who released notable works in that decade and have been ignored by the voting public. More »

Chicago's music community is up in arms over a looming "promoter's ordinance" that would require independent event promoters putting on shows at venues with fewer than 500 permanent seats to procure licenses that cost between $500 and $2,000 and secure at least $300,000 in liability insurance; they'll also have to jump through other hoops like fingerprinting and background checks. This would be in addition to the permits and insurance required for the venues where said events are being held. The law, which would make many live events in Chicago even more of a money-losing proposition for promoters that aren't Live Nation-sized, is in large part a response to a 2003 fire at the local nightclub E2 that killed 21 people and injured more than 50—an incident which, Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis points out, could have been avoided if laws currently on the books in Chicago had been enforced. Making constituents pay for the embarrassing screw-ups of their politicians? That's the American way! More »