Mike Stephen plays some quarantine harmonica in his basement home studio.

Mike Stephen discusses how local musicians are coping without the ability to play gigs with Mike Jeffers, host of Chicago Music Revealed, learns about Tone Deaf Records, a Portage Park record store that now delivers albums, and discovers the Secret History of 60s pop-rockers The Apocryphals. Plus, we debut a new song about COVID-19 from The Black Oil Brothers and in the OTL Wrap Party segment Mike and Producer Collin express hope that local venues will rise again. The local quarantine music this week comes from the late great John Prine. To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.

Posted 3 years ago Tagged

Mike Stephen welcomes The Black Oil Brothers into the WGN Radio studio.

Mike Stephen talks to My Block, My Hood, My City founder Jahmal Cole about his continued work to unite Chicago and welcomes The Black Oil Brothers back into the studio for some live jamz and to talk about frontman Timmy Ryan’s almost near-fatal accident.  The boys from the band join Mike and Collin for an extended OTL Wrap Party and discuss the possible impact of the Lincoln Yards development on the local music scene.  The local music on this week’s show comes from The Black Oil Brothers, duh!   To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed. 

Posted 4 years ago Tagged

Mike Stephen discusses the potential impact of Lincoln Yards on the local music scene with journalist Mark Guarino, learns the results of the Chicago Justice Project’s Justice 13 mayoral survey, and discovers the Secret History of the late local Blues guitar rocker Lefty Dizz.  This week’s local music is brought to you by Derek Clegg. To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.

Posted 4 years ago Tagged

Mike Stephen boldly goes where OTL has never gone before with: Matt Young, Producer and cast member, Improvised Star Trek Podcast; Alejandro Riera, Media Relations Coordinator for Chicago Latino Film Festival, and; Emily Jane Powers, local musician in studio.  To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.

Posted 5 years ago Tagged