How do we define a music festival? AI tells me it is simply a gathering of people to enjoy live music. When just over a week had six live music events, I’d call that a festival, as the bands gathered to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Chicago Street Pub, an Irish-style pub. They were glad to be there for their friends, Michael and Kathy Trizna, owners and masterminds of the madness.

The good life can be as simple as good food, good beer, and good music. Combine those three in the right proportions, and you’ll find the right people gathered together, sharing in the joy of it all. This weekend, I experienced that magic at Burn ’Em Brewery in Michigan City, where the beer is cold, the food is excellent, and the music gets your feet moving. The vibe was perfect for fun times with great people as we geared up for winter with some Long Johns and lively tunes.

It’s been said that all the years combine and melt into a dream. This can be true for any entity as it passes into history, and no doubt it applies in particular to the Grateful Dead. The story of this beloved band has been chronicled in numerous books by band members, insiders and close friends, and music journalists. After a while, it all rolls into one.

On a frigid Tuesday night, the Hideout in Chicago was alive with warmth, laughter, and hot chocolate as The Faux Paws delivered a performance that felt equal parts intimate gathering and unrestrained celebration. Folk, Contra Dance, and Celtic influences collided with modern flair, making it a night to remember for every swaying body and clapping hand in the room.

From Alaska to Chicago: Ava’s Endearing Opener

When it comes to jazz guitar, few names carry the same prestige as Joe Pass and Herb Ellis. Both emerged from slightly different backgrounds—Pass was widely celebrated for his masterful chord-melody approach and unerring sense of time, while Ellis came up through the ranks playing with the likes of Oscar Peterson, honing a blues-inflected style that balanced clarity and swing. Their collaborative spirit on Seven, Come Eleven reveals not only their individual strengths but also their warm sense of camaraderie.

Switchman Sleepin’ is celebrating twelve years as a band, and like most things associated with the music of the Grateful Dead, there is no stopping this magical train. The band formed in typical hippie fashion: a few guys jamming at a backyard party in 2012 set the wheels in motion and laid down the first tracks for the evolutionary journey of one of Colorado’s favorite Grateful Dead tribute bands.

Goose returned to the Moody Center on December 31, 2024, to close out the year with a bang at a show billed as a formal event. The band donned button-up shirts, ties, slacks, capes, and masquerade masks reminiscent of The Phantom of the Opera. These masks, along with roses, were handed out to the crowd as they entered the venue.

Dopapod—the word has no defined meaning, but if it did, it might read something like: improvisational jazz, energetic funk, progressive rock with intellectual lyrics. The first time I heard Dopapod was in a muddy field in Illinois, and suddenly time stopped. The band has that effect on people; their music transcends the physical and takes us into a metaphysical realm where thoughts dominate our being. Hailing from the music-juggernaut city of Boston, this four-piece jam band refuses to be categorized or underestimated.

After taking a year off from performing on New Year’s, Goose returned to Austin, Texas, for the third time in their career and for their sixth New Year’s run, which included a performance on December 31. They chose the 15,000-seat Moody Center ATX—located in the heart of the University of Texas and home to the Texas Longhorns basketball teams—to host the event.

Now here’s the thing, man: you step into the Broward Center on New Year’s Eve, sun-bleached Florida swirling outside like some neon crocodile dream, and you realize Bob Weir's firing up the Wolf Bros rocket ship, ready to blast your soul beyond the sugar-palm stratosphere. The crowd's got that old Grateful glimmer in their eyes—like they’ve hopped right back on Kesey’s bus, every tie-dye swirling with memory and possibility.