July brings hot temps (finally) and cool storytelling to The Frunchroom. Our first reader for our next show is critic, author and Sound Opinions co-host Jim DeRogatis.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the year the Beatles arrived in America, Jim DeRogatis began voicing his opinions about rock ’n’ roll shortly thereafter.
He is an associate professor of instruction in the English Department at Columbia College Chicago, and together with Greg Kot of The Chicago Tribune, he co-hosts Sound Opinions, the weekly rock ’n’ roll talk show heard on 125 Public Radio stations nationwide, as well as via podcast on the Web.
DeRogatis spent 15 years as the rock critic at The Chicago Sun-Times and is the author of nine books about music, including Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America’s Greatest Rock Critic; Staring at Sound: The True Story of Oklahoma’s Fabulous Flaming Lips; Turn On Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock; and Milk It! Collected Musings on the Alternative Music Explosion of the ’90s.
He has played in punk-rock bands since age 13 but jokes that he is a drummer, not a musician; his current band Vortis recently released its seventh album, on vinyl via Cavetone Records: This Machine Kills Fascists. He lives on the North Side of Chicago with his wife Carmél Carrillo, and his daughter Melody studies theater at Drake University.
His latest book is Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly, was published by Abrams Books this June.
Join Jim and the rest of our storytellers this Thursday, July 25th at 730pm at Beverly Arts Center.
Photo: Marty Perez
The Frunchroom 