John E. Dugan: Between touring as a rock drummer, stints as a
graphic designer and human rights group organizer, John Dugan
started his writing career as a reviewer for the Washington City
Paper. He was the Senior Web Editor for Time Out Chicago, Web
Editor/Informer Editor at Design Bureau magazine, and Editor for
Pitchfork's NothingMajor.com.
As a freelance writer, his live reviews, music, arts, culture and
science feature writing and blogging has appeared in the Economist
online, Spin.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard.com, the Chicago
Reader, Time Out London, the Chicago Tribune, Time Out Bucharest,
Maviology, LiveDaily, Michigan Avenue, and numerous other
publications.
John Darnielle is a writer, composer, guitarist, and vocalist for the band the Mountain Goats; he is widely considered one of the best lyricists of his generation. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife and son.
With its plain brick facade and Old Style sign hanging out front,
the 20-year-old Empty Bottle looks more like a plain Chicago townie
bar than the city's most consistent punk-and-indie-rock club--not
to mention the free jazz, skronky pop and other out-there genres it
books. Chicago promoter Andy Cirzan calls the 400-capacity club a
kind of communal space for adventurous musicians and their
fans.
--Rolling Stone, The Best Clubs in America "[The Empty Bottle]
quickly became a hub in the '90s when Chicago indie rock was
exploding, and it continues to enjoy a reputation as one of the
best-booked rooms in the city, embracing a spirit of
experimentation to unite a wide range of genres ... [The book
includes] tons of great pictures from every era. It's a must-read
for anyone interested in the history of a key Chicago venue or
really indie music in general."
--Vice's Noisey "[The Empty Bottle] for thousands of current and
former Chicagoans of a certain age, is considered sacred ground.
This owes mostly to the fact that the nightclub ... is imbued with
innumerable memories: of experiencing great bands on the verge of
stardom, of youthful nights of drunken revelry, of endearingly bad
plumbing. Writer John E. Dugan spent the last two years recording
many of those reminiscences ... [and] compiled the best stories ...
into The Empty Bottle Chicago: 21+ Years of Music / Friendly /
Dancing.
--Chicago Reader "During its first decade, Empty Bottle would
become a magnet for underground rock, post-punk and experimental
music. [The Empty Bottle Book is a] chronicle of some of its
23-year history and a collection of testimonies from the artists
and fans who love it."
--Chicago Tonight
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