Conversation with author Bruce Adams and Lisa Bralts-Kelly and music set by Matt Talbott
In his recently released book, You’re with Stupid, Bruce Adams offers an insider’s look at the role Chicago’s underground music industry played in the transformation of indie rock. Guest host Lisa Bralts-Kelly joins Adams for a conversation about that scene and more. Then, stick around for a musical set by special guest Matt Talbott of Hum, Earth Analog Studios, and the Loose Cobra.
More about You’re with Stupid: kranky, Chicago, and the Reinvention of Indie Music: In the 1990s, Chicago was at the center of indie rock, propelling bands like the Smashing Pumpkins and Liz Phair to the national stage. The musical ecosystem from which these bands emerged, though, was expansive and diverse. Grunge players comingled with the electronic, jazz, psychedelic, and ambient music communities, and an inventive, collaborative group of local labels—kranky, Drag City, and Thrill Jockey, among others—embraced the new, evolving sound of indie “rock.” Bruce Adams, co-founder of kranky records, was there to bear witness. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
- Bruce Adams has worked in the music industry since 1988, is the co-founder of kranky records, which was established in Chicago in 1993. He left kranky in 2005 and lives in Urbana.
- Lisa Bralts-Kelly is a backyard industrialist, writer, occasional audio/video creator, and all-around appreciator of music, food, art, and neighborhood culture. She worked with Bruce Adams in Chicago back in the early 1990s and is delighted to be working with him again in 2023.
- Matt Talbott is a singer/guitarist for Champaign, IL based RCA recording artists Hum. He owns and operates a number of music related ventures including Earth Analog recording studio (and its affiliated record label), and his dive bar/music venue the Loose Cobra (in nearby Tolono, IL). Matt has served as a full-time instructor in Music Industry Studies at Millikin University and as adjunct faculty at Eastern Illinois University.
All are invited to an after-party immediately following this event at the Rose Bowl Tavern (106 N Race Street in Urbana).
Conveniently located at the corner of Race and Green in downtown Urbana.
