My wife is fond of reminding me of how musically unhip I am. In 1966, at the age of 14, I saw the Beatles live at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, so she gives me some credit for that.

When Marshall the bartender at Jak's Tap plays alt rock and I Shazam the songs to increase my awareness, I find the rock groups are foreign names to me: Miike Snow, UKG, Cake.

Alas, my musical taste runs toward aging rockers: Bruce Springsteen. Jimmy Buffett. Little Feat. Please don’t judge me too harshly.

A few minutes ago, I think I may have raised my Chicago street cred-hip ratio up a few degrees. I had a chance encounter with Slushy, the local rock-bubble gum-sun slop-pop punk band.

I was walking down Jackson just west of the very non-touristy-but-certainly punk Chinese Yum Yum when I ran into Chris Kramer and Brent Zmrhal, AKA Slushy. They were carrying electric guitars and a tambourine, as rad dudes do in the neighborhood. Why, they probably wondered, did this old fossil want to take their picture and ask about their music.

The random encounter with a rock-bubble gum-punk band is definitely one of the things I like about living in the West Loop. That and the smell of Bays English Muffins a couple of blocks west. Or the smell of Blommers Chocolate wafting down Halsted. But I digress.

Slushy had just come from a Chic-A-Go-GO! Taping at the CanTV Studio on Green. The show will air in a few weeks. Meanwhile, if you’d like to be as hip as me, you can catch Slushy here: http://slushypop.com/ or on Facebook.

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By Joseph F. Rye from 60605
Posted: 07/24/2012 5:53 PM

Your wife is fond of reminding you that you are unhip? Sounds like time to get a new wife, preferably one more secure in her cultural capital/symbolic status that she doesn't need to act like she is still in high shool. Visceral disgust with and intolerance of the tastes of others is still intolerance (and a serious character flaw).

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By Helen from Pilsen
Posted: 07/24/2012 11:26 AM

They are great!