For all my softcover heads: LOUD AND CLEAR is coming to paperback this August 18. The New York Times Bestseller, recommended by the Grateful Dead, now spine-bendable! Preorders are live: us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

Today is an especially great day to grab a copy of LOUD AND CLEAR—or any book, really—at an independent bookstore (or @bookshop.org). Support your local.

If you have any information at all on these plans, now is the time to share it. Reach me on Signal at marisakabas.04

Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · 4mo ago

God help us.

THIS SATURDAY! The weather is looking great, and we're excited to celebrate the opening of our spring show at the Block House Gallery. Come out that evening for the opening of "Quilting Is An Art" and meet the artists, grab some drinks, and see some wonderful work from south side quilters.

older i get the more obvious it is that even a modest sliver of power over another person completely shreds the human soul. not sure what's to be done about that "haha" 👍

i spent $20 to go to a local show at a suburban NJ elks lodge last week and it was the best money i’ve spent this year. life-affirming in a dark fucking time.

Natalie Weiner@natalieweiner.bsky.social · 5mo ago

as a music listener you will be rewarded tenfold spending $15-$20 to see a local act at a local venue. make live music a regular thing, not one more unreasonable facet of our profiteering corporate hellscape

A DOGE staffer assigned to the National Endowment for the Humanities to flag grants for "DEI" tries to explain what "DEI" is. This deposition is part of a lawsuit by the @acls1919.bsky.social, @historians.org and @modernlanguage.bsky.social.

Evil, evil shit.

disheartening after years of trans people yelling very loudly "these are the things they're doing to us, plan to do to us, will do to us", to see so many people react to the news with talk of how this is all a distraction.

MAKE AN EMERGENCY DONATION to Trans Continental Pipeline right now. They are a Colorado based org that helps trans people relocate there and they are overwhelmed with requests. CO borders KS, and TCP has the infrastructure to help get people out. GO DONATE. tcpipeline.org

i think about this shit all the time

Mike (beep boop era)@latimeriidae.bsky.social · 6mo ago

HAPPY BOSTON MOONINITE PANIC DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE

it is a wild sickness to try and find evidence or reason for why someone's life should have value to the state. When lives are ended by cops in the street the defence is always that they were peaceful and law abiding, as if the opposite would mean they somehow deserved what bullets claimed them.

seeing this from my window in my clinic at JB made me tear up.

Aaron Cynic@aaroncynic.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Now: Small but growing crowd assembling in front of the Jesse Brown VA in Chicago to rally in memory of Alex Pretti and to demand ICE out of everywhere

A memorial for Alex Pretti sits outside the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center after federal immigration officers shot and killed Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, in Minneapolis the previous day Sunday in Chicago.

Pathetic flak statement. Idk how these people live with themselves.

Nicholas Slayton@nslayton.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Veterans Affairs Sect. Collins finally put out a statement regarding VA nurse Alex Pretti's death. Link and screenshot (with alt text) x.com/SecVetAffair...

No paywalls. Voluntary $5 subscriptions welcome. The pro-independent artists, anti-algorithm newsletter for recommendations and criticism returns Thursday at 9 a.m. cst www.noexpectations.fyi

No Expectations | josh terry | Substack

A weekly music newsletter from Chicago-based writer Josh Terry. Anti-algorithm. Pro-independent artists. Click to read No Expectations, by josh terry, a Substack publication with thousands of subscrib...

noexpectations.fyi

Hey folks Calvary Food Shelf has been helping out people in Minneapolis for 30 years, and now they’re ramping up to meet the crisis, including doing home deliveries so people don’t have to risk going out. They’re just over halfway to their current goal—let’s get them all the way, shall we?

Support Calvary Food Shelf: Emergency Response Fundraiser on GiveMN

Help us respond to urgent community needs

givemn.org

Stoked I got to write about the Dead’s appearance at the Muir Beach Acid Test for the new issue of @altajournal.bsky.social. Killer spread of stories. @passionweiss.bsky.social on West Coast rap, Paula Mejía on sunshine pop, & more. Read them, then read me: www.altaonline.com/culture/musi...

Inside the Acid Test That Made the Grateful Dead

Brian A. Anderson retraces the chaotic, mind-bending 1965 Muir Beach Acid Test—where Owsley Stanley, Ken Kesey’s Pranksters, and the newly named Grateful Dead collided.

altaonline.com

Alta Journal@altajournal.bsky.social · 8mo ago

the new issue just dropped and it’s basically california’s entire musical personality in print.

i do not post on this app very much but this @propublica.org story stunned me and hit close to home as the daughter of someone with CF www.propublica.org/article/fda-...

Fighting for Breath: The FDA’s Lax Generic Drug Rules Put Her Life at Risk

Lung transplant patient Hannah Goetz’s life depended on the generic version of the critical drug tacrolimus. It was supposed to be equivalent to the brand-name medication — but the FDA doesn’t always ...

propublica.org

Pst. The window for priority shipping from @bookshop.org is closing. Get that LOUD AND CLEAR order in ASAP—just a few hours left to order in time to receive by the holiday. Give the headiest gift of all this season. bookshop.org/p/books/loud...

Loud and Clear: The Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound and the Quest for Audio Perfection

The Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound and the Quest for Audio Perfection

bookshop.org

I wrote about more music than ever this year at No Expectations, so I compiled what I think are the 100 Best Albums of 2025. If you don't recognize a lot of the names here, don't worry. That's the point. I hope you find something new to dig. www.noexpectations.fyi/p/the-100-be...

The 100 Best Albums of 2025

…According to some guy in Chicago. Plus, every album and more I recommended in No Expectations this year.

noexpectations.fyi

Horrifying and cruel

Daycare Teacher Pulled Out Of Preschool By Armed Federal Agents, 'Traumatizing' Parents

The incident happened in front of parents and children at Rayito de Sol in North Center, a parent said. They believe the employee is legally allowed to work in the United States.

blockclubchicago.org

If you’ve spent time with LOUD AND CLEAR, let me again say thanks. If you haven’t yet, that’s cool too—it’s there for when the time is right. And if you’re looking for a chill holiday gift for that one heady relative, grab a copy here: static.macmillan.com/static/smp/l...

we live in dystopia www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...

ICE and CBP Agents Are Scanning Peoples’ Faces on the Street To Verify Citizenship

Videos on social media show officers from ICE and CBP using facial recognition technology on people in the field. One expert described the practice as “pure dystopian creep.”

404media.co

"ICE" is often used as a catch-all in casual conversation, but CBP are the ones who've been tear gassing neighborhoods. They're the ones who shot a community member in Brighton Park. They're the ones who paraded around the Loop with a camera crew. Making ICE operate more like CBP could be horrific.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 9mo ago

NBC has a story on this as well already, and they've got an indicative quote as to how things will go: "'The mentality is CBP does what they’re told, and the administration thinks ICE isn’t getting the job done,;' one of the DHS officials said. 'So CBP will do it." www.nbcnews.com/politics/imm...

If you would like to support some of the families of people who have been abducted by ICE in my area during the recent federal attacks on our community that I've written about, local organizers have put together this trusted list of crowd funds.

Rogers Park Immigrant Families Need Your Support

Please give as you are able AND share this page! If you have friends and family asking how they can support Chicago in this difficult time, this is a way to directly support families. Go FundMe Link...

docs.google.com

It’s hard to convey just how much Chicagoans are mobilizing against ICE. Don’t want to downplay the harm, or make it seem like a fair fight. But in neighborhoods across this city, ICE is getting chased by people blowing whistles and shouting. People are running TOWARD ICE to protect their neighbors.

Chicago, stay strong and take care of one another. For help for your family or to report ICE activities, call 1-855-435-7693 (HELP-MY-FAMILY) Para ayuda para su familia ó para reportar actividades de ICE, llame al: 1-855-435-7693 National Lawyers Guild Chicago Legal Support Hotline: 872-465-4244

what the fuck. i still can't get over we have fucking nazis rolling around chicago kidnapping people and handcuffing kids, beating protestors, breaking into buildings and throwing gas grenades like every fucking day now. i love this city and they are fucking terrorizing it