This week, Features contributor Liz Mason speaks with vocalist and multidisciplinary artist Shami of Mother Fortune, a Chicago-based five-piece hip hop cooperative. They discuss Shami's elaborate and intentional stage presence, the band's collaborative songwriting process, and his work on the online sex positive zine, Zig Zag Sex Mag. "I'm just for…

This week, Features contributor Sophia Ramirez speaks with multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator, recording artist & hearing conservation advocate Joel Styzens. They discuss the collections of quiet moments that make up his newest release, Resonance, and how his battle with tinnitus helped him discover his voice as a composer. "Sometimes the sm…

This week, Features contributor Michal Gliszewski talks with Jay Post & Jimmi Gordon of Chicago based experimental hip-hop group OutPastMidnight. They discuss Jay and Jimmy's fated meeting in poetry club in high school, how a love of the literary arts built the foundation for OutPastMidnight, the importance of open mics for the community, and the i…

This week, Features contributor Alyssa Edes speaks with Jen Dot of the newly reunited and Chicago-based beastii. They discuss their newest LP, Follower, Jen's book Hit Girls: Women of Punk in the USA, 1975-1983 that covers the women who started Punk music, and her unlikely sources of inspiration for songwriting, like lyrics she wrote as a seven yea…

Soli Santos is a native Chicagoan and graduate of The Second City Theater. She's a co-producer of The Laugh Lounge Comedy show and has performed at various comedy clubs across the country such as The Laugh Factory, The Laughing Skull and The LA Comedy Club. Follow her on IG: @SoliComedy The First Time is a live lit and music series recorded at Mart…

Megan Kirby is an artist, writer, and zinemaker. She has published in places like The New York Times, The Chicago Reader, TIME Magazine, and McSweeney's. Kirby runs a zinemaking and storytelling show called Meanwhile. In her daily life, she likes long walks, thrift stores, pop music, and sleeping in. The First Time is a live lit and music series re…

Hope Rehak is a lifelong Chicagoan who keeps leaving and coming back. She sometimes lives in LA, but is thrilled to be here today. She used to be young and perform stand-up before the pandemic and is now an agèd hermit. She regularly teaches comedy and creative writing online and in person. She wrote this bio when she was single so feel free to fli…

Fraxiom is a writer, producer, and performer of music and musical ideas. With hits early in their career like the seminal 21st-century anthem "Thos Moser" as part of Food House (Fraxiom's duo project with super-producer Gupi) and the cheeky Skrillex reprise "scawy monstews and nice spwites :3," Fraxiom's stardom ignited brightly in early 2020 and w…

Ashir Badami is quite likely the least interesting person in the room. His only claim to fame is bouncing around South and South East Asia as a kid with his family before somehow landing in Malta where the azure blue seas turned his wanderlust into a love of travel writing and poetry. He has lived in the shadows as a closet writer, and aspiring jou…

Allison Parssi is a Chicago based artist + DJ, who is continually reclaiming their art practice through music curation, collage, image making, writing, and sending art via snail mail. Parssi got their start as a DJ hosting a variety of day time and specialty programs at their college radio station in Rochester, NY. After trading one Great Lake for …

This week, Features director Marjorie Alford speaks with Chicago based experimental pop artist Chris Misch-Bloxdorf who performs under the name Artie Do Good. They discuss the history of the name Artie and the intentional ambiguity of "Do Good", the genesis of his current project Socialist Dance Party an homage to Chicago's labor roots, how the alg…

This week, Features contributor Josset Yarbrough speaks with Nicole Mitchell about her newest collaboration, Bamako​*​Chicago Sound System and how it materialized as if a dream came true, the collision of musical languages that represent Chicago, and their shared love of the flute. "We think of the flute as being pretty, flowery, sweet, [..] optimi…

This week, Features contributor Alyssa Edes talks with Chicago-based artist Miranda Winters AKA Mandy, about her debut solo album Lawn Girl. They discuss the genesis of Lawn Girl which took material from her past and finally laid it to rest, The song Mickey’s Dead Things about losing early life friendships, her cover of Jimmy Webb’s Now That I’m a …

This week, Features contributor Connor Broderick speaks with Chicago-based vocalist, guitarist, composer, and poet Hannah Frances. They discuss her new album, Keeper Of The Shepherd, and the grief that shaped the creation of the album, the different chapters of her life informing her writing process, and the push and pull of being a solitary person…

This week Features co-director Marjorie Alford talks with cartoonist Bianca Xunise about their graphic novel Punk Rock Karaoke. The two discuss the confusion of early adulthood, finding grace for the people you love, how a lack of representation in the media lead to Bianca filling that void for themself, and most importantly, punk rock. "I put so m…

Amy Sumpter is a stand up comedienne who has performed all over the Midwest. Her nephew once called her a Joke Star. You can also see her rapping with She's Crafty, Chicago's all-female Beastie Boy tribute band. The First Time is a live lit and music series recorded at Martyrs in Chicago's North Center neighborhood. Each reader tells a true first t…

Nestor “the Boss” Gomez was born in Guatemala and traveled to Chicago Undocumented in the mid 80’s. He told his first story at a Moth story slam to get over the stuttering that plagued his childhood, since then he has won more than 80 Moth Slams. Nestor has performed and conducted storytelling workshops in multiple locations around the country. He …

Erin Allen is an artist and communicator, driven by her curiosity about the stories of people. She hosts "The Rundown" podcast and Prisoncast at WBEZ, and she has produced audio and multimedia projects at stations and companies across the country, including WDET and Pizza Shark Productions. Erin has also produced several audio-based events, includi…

Carolyn Kassnoff is an illustrator who creates artwork under the name It'll Glow On You. She was the Chicago Public Library's Maker in Residence, and has studied almost every kind of art under the sun, including papercutting and neon sign bending. She is currently working on a Chicago music venue journal. She has about 200 close dog best friends, a…

Actor and Vocalist Andrew Sa has earned the title of Chicago's premiere queer country crooner. Sa's career has always been rooted in songwriting that highlights his easy and elegant voice, but when he met mentor and pioneer Patrick Hagerty of Lavender Country, “Lonesome Andrew” was born. Diving headfirst into the catalogs of Elvis Presley, Roy Orbi…

This week, Features contributor Michal Gliszewski speaks with Jake Hennessy (drums), Matt Coglianese (bass), and Derek Dare (guitar and vocals) of Chicago based soulful-psychedelic group Zoofunkyou. They talk about the band's ten year history, keeping things fresh over the years by reworking old songs with new members, learning to write collaborati…

This week, Features contributor Daniel Edelstein speaks with Chicago-based pianist, producer, and teacher, Cesar Pino aka C3zr. They discuss his most recent full-length release, Round Voyage, the joy of connecting and collaborating with fellow artists, the jazz lounge, Opus, that he runs with his father and mentor, and his beloved keytar. "That's t…

This week, Features Co-Director Marjorie Alford speaks with musical director Laura Hall. They discuss her 20+ year career in music, her friendship with Lisa McQueen that lead to the creation of the Phony Award Winning musical series, last year's run of improvised Little Shop of Horrors, her 20 seasons on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and the creation o…

This week, Features Co-Director Marjorie Alford talks with Chicago-based MC Bob Rok. They discuss the history of the name Bob Rok, the skits he creates with Greenlights Music, the ways in which "politics" touch every facet of our lives and why he mirrors that in his music, his upcoming concept album The Automat about labor and workers, and his disd…

This week, Features contributor Liz Mason talks with Chicago-based singer songwriter Sacha Mullin. They discuss his new album Casino Wilderness Period, the surprising popularity of his favorite song Margaret, his musical background, and the importance of collaboration for artistic growth. "Just because you have a crayon in the box doesn’t necessari…

This week Features contributor Alyssa Edes talks with Danielle Sines of Chicago-based bubblegrunge group Impulsive Hearts. They talk about friendship breakups, feeling ALL of your feelings, societal collapse, and the new album Fit 4 the Apocalypse. "It's sort of this mental preparation for the end of the world in my mind... Either I'm gonna get fit…

This week, Features co-director Jessi D speaks with Carrie Shemanski and Crispin Torres of Chicago-based surf rock band Wolfman. They discuss how they met through performing in various cover bands across Chicago, taking a risk and shredding with new friends, recording their debut five-song EP The Wolfman Agenda at Electrical Audio, and the upcoming…

This week, Features contributor Liz Mason speaks with Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist singer, songwriter, and producer Melissa Harris of Born Days, a conceptual darkwave synth-pop project. They discuss Harris's pandemic-era roadtrip across the country to Arizona to find a quiet place to finish recording her album, spending hours experimenting w…

This week, Features co-director Jessi D speaks with Joseph Farago of the Chicago-based pop project, Joey Nebulous. They discuss his signature falsetto, the move from heavy piano-based singer-songwriter composition to celebratory and silly pop music, the creation of his pandemic album Joey Spumoni Creamy Dreamy Party All The Time​​​​​​​, and his que…

This week, DJ Ninja speaks with Kip McCabe, Jay Ryan, and Jason Harvey of legendary Chicago two-bass band Dianogah. They discuss their still-here-ness, how they became a two-bass-and-drums outfit, their favorite collaborators, and their upcoming box set of reissues from Smashed Plastic. "There was a while where we had a motto that was 'nothing is t…

This week, Features contributor Matty G speaks with Kristin and Dan Kantor of The Kantors. They discuss the makeup of the band, the project's pandemic roots, and recording their debut EP Our Hearts Revealed at Friends of Friends studio. "Just be nice, be yourself, and the people that are nice and also being themselves will find you." - Kristin Kant…