John Darnielle is an American musician and novelist best known as the primary, and originally sole, member of the American band the Mountain Goats, for which he is the writer, composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist.
Tim Kinsella is a musician, author, and film director from Chicago, Illinois. He has been a member of many bands, including Cap'n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Make Believe, Owls, Friend/Enemy, Everyoned, and others. His early solo material appears under the alias Tim Kinsella(s).
Metro is a concert hall in Chicago, Illinois that plays host to a variety of local, regional and national emerging bands and musicians. The Metro was first opened in 1982. The capacity is 1,100, divided between the main floor and the balcony. The building housing Metro also houses Smart Bar underneath the main venue.
Double Door, a concert hall and nightclub, was located in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The venue was first opened on June 12, 1994, and was co-owned by Andrew Barrett, Sean Mulroney and Joe Shanahan. On June 12, 1994, under its current ownership, the Double Door hosted its first show, Lloyd Cole; the same week, the Smashing Pumpkins played under the name the Starchildren. The venue at 1572 N. Milwaukee Avenue had a capacity of 473 people. It was two levels with a stage, sound system, dance floor and bar on the main floor; the second was a mezzanine level, the most intimate area of the club with its lounge type setting. A second bar and dance floor, Door No. 3, was located downstairs in the basement.
The Middle East is an American entertainment complex consisting of five adjacent dining and live music venues in the Central Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its three dedicated concert spaces, Upstairs, Downstairs, and Sonia, sit alongside ZuZu and The Corner, two restaurants which also host live music. Having featured a huge variety of musicians since 1987, the establishment was described in 2007 as "the nexus of metro Boston's rock-club scene for local and touring bands" by the Boston Phoenix.
The Rock N Roll McDonald's is a flagship McDonald's restaurant formerly located in Chicago. It is one of the most famous McDonald's locations in the world and was once the busiest in the United States. Both the 1983 and 2005 structures on the site, located in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, a few city blocks west of the Magnificent Mile, had been tourist attraction since the opening in 1983. The 2018 redesign has no rock 'n' roll theme, but is still the flagship McDonald's location in Chicago. The 2018 redesign won the design excellence Award of Merit from the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2019.
The Mercury Lounge is a live music venue in the Lower East Side of New York City. Like its brother venue The Bowery Ballroom, The Mercury Lounge is celebrated as an iconic indie venue due its acoustics, its fostering and even launching of upcoming artists, and its no-frills, rock n' roll presentation. It has made numerous top-ten lists over the years including that of Billboard Magazine. It has a capacity of 250 people. A scholarly account of Mercury Lounge and its place in the wider history of the city's rock music history and Lower Manhattan was published in 2020.
Gino's East is a Chicago-based restaurant chain specializing in Deep Dish pizza. Two cab drivers opened the original location in 1966.
Evanston S.P.A.C.E. is a small concert hall and venue for music performance and live recording, and a podcast production facility, as well as serves similarly for the visual arts and literary events located at 1245 Chicago Avenue in Evanston, Illinois, adjacent to Chicago, in close proximity to the CTA Purple Line mass transit elevated train station Dempster, just south of Dempster Avenue. It opened in spring 2008, along with Union Pizzeria, an affiliated restaurant in the same building.
The Heartland Cafe was a restaurant in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Originally opened in 1976 by two activists as the "Sweet Home Chicago Heartland Café," it became a cultural icon for the diverse neighborhood, known as much for its hippie ambience and left-leaning politics as for its largely vegetarian food.
Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill is a restaurant chain inspired by the country music singer Toby Keith and founded by Boomtown Entertainment. The bar is named after Keith's 2003 single "I Love This Bar", which was taken from his eighth studio album Shock'n Y'all.
The Blackhawk was a restaurant in the Chicago Loop from 1920 to 1984. It served a menu of American cuisine, notably prime rib and a signature "spinning salad bowl," and was, in the early part of its history a nationally known entertainment venue for Big Band music. Its legacy continued until 2009 at Don Roth's Blackhawk in Wheeling, Illinois.
Sepia is a mid-sized, upscale restaurant run by owner Emmanuel Nony and Executive Chef Andrew Zimmerman located in the West Loop neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Chef Zimmerman's menu is classified as New American cuisine, and focuses on local, seasonal products. Built in Chicago's Warehouse District, Sepia was originally a print shop from the 1890s. The renovation for the restaurant, designed by Gary Lee, included putting in a custom-tile, Art Nouveau floor and hand-crafted millwork in order to enhance the historical qualities of the building. Sepia also uses vintage stemware for their tables matching the vintage interior decor of the restaurant.
Hideout Chicago, also known as Hideout Inn, is a music venue and former factory bar located in an industrial area between the Lincoln Park and Bucktown neighborhoods of Chicago in the Elston Avenue Industrial Corridor. It has been a key Chicago live music venue since it was purchased by friends Tim and Katie Tuten and Mike and Jim Hinchsliff in 1996. When not hosting live music or other events, for some years the Hideout continued to operate as a local neighborhood bar, but as of 2018 is only open in the evenings.
Thalia Hall is a historic building in Pilsen, Chicago which is currently a mixed-use music, retail, and bar/restaurant space. It was designated as a Chicago Landmark on October 25, 1989.
Longman & Eagle is an American restaurant located in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. It was founded in 2010.
2424 North Lincoln Avenue is a building in Lincoln Park, Chicago adjacent to the Biograph Theater. From 1912 to 2006, it variously housed the Fullerton Theater, an auto garage, the Crest Theater, and the 3-Penny Cinema. Since 2009 it has been Lincoln Hall, a music venue.
Spare Room Restaurant and Lounge, or simply The Spare Room, is a restaurant and entertainment venue in northeast Portland, Oregon, United States.
DC9 Nightclub is a nightclub and restaurant in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It is known for its indie music scene, dance parties, and karaoke. DC9 has a capacity of 250 people and is a venue for live music and DJs.
The Liquor Store was a bar, restaurant, and music venue in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2015, the business operated in a space previously occupied by the Blue Monk, a jazz club and restaurant, in southeast Portland's Sunnyside neighborhood. It was named the city's best new bar in Willamette Week's annual readers' poll in 2015 and 2016. The Liquor Store's upstairs had a bar and the owner's large vinyl record collection on display. The downstairs venue hosted live music and disc jockeys, playing a variety of genres, especially electronic music. The Liquor Store closed temporarily in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and two former employees filed a lawsuit claiming sexual harassment one month later. Sometimes confused for an actual liquor store, The Liquor Store closed permanently in September 2020.
