Leor Galil
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imleor.bsky.social
Leor Galil
@imleor.bsky.social
12K followers 1.8K following 6.4K posts
Chicago Reader music writer

https://linktr.ee/imleor
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imleor.bsky.social
I could’ve imagined it, I just didn’t feel like it
When the Smashing Pumpkins released “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” in 1995, it was doubtful that its fans — some 10 million, according to copies sold — could ever have imagined the songs featured in Chicago’s Civic Opera Building.
November 25, 2025 at 1:20 AM
imleor.bsky.social
Lightning crashes, a new mother cries / Her placenta falls to the floor
Pope Leo on the mic like it’s 1 am at Sidekicks
November 23, 2025 at 2:17 AM
imleor.bsky.social
Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek on SNL
November 22, 2025 at 8:09 PM
imleor.bsky.social
The Post is back… sort of chicagoreader.com/music/gossip...
In March 2023, city officials shut down the original Washington Park location of house-focused dance-music venue the Post. Since then, the Post’s founder, DJ Sheldon Randolph, has thrown Post parties sporadically around town. On Sunday, September 28, Randolph hosted the first Post event at the New Celebrity Lounge (2020 E. 83rd St.), and he’s held several more there on subsequent Sundays. While the Post was entirely oriented around dancing, the New Celebrity Lounge allows for lounging too, as the name suggests. But Randolph says patrons who want an experience like the one offered by his old club—which hosted DJ sets by the likes of Theo Parrish, Glenn Underground, and Specter—will have no trouble finding it.
November 22, 2025 at 4:24 PM
imleor.bsky.social
Around the same time, Banks met Pugs Atomz at Gallery 37, where After School Matters hosted its arts education programs. The two of them hit it off while hanging out at the nearby Marshall Field’s. “We were both getting into Ralph Lauren clothing, Tommy Hilfiger,” Pugs says, “and that was the prime place to go get it.” Pugs recruited Banks into his hip-hop crew, Nacrobats, which at its peak claimed around 200 members, including Open Mike Eagle, Offwhyte, and Psalm One.
November 21, 2025 at 2:50 PM
imleor.bsky.social
Wrote about this in last week’s Gossip Wolf chicagoreader.com/music/gossip...
Last week, word spread through Chicago’s DIY scene that Avondale venue the Fallen Log was closing. On Friday, the business made it official with a public announcement: Its last day would be Sunday, November 23. The Fallen Log has shared ownership and a building with vegan pizza spot Kitchen 17, which is throwing in the towel. “We decided to close for the same reason many businesses close: Unfortunately, the bottom line just wasn’t there,” says co-owner Joe Mertz. Mertz and co-owner Jennie Plasterer opened the Fallen Log in March 2023, shortly after moving Kitchen 17 to Avondale from Lakeview, and it quickly became one of the most interesting venues in Chicago. It hosted a range of underground bands that ordinarily play DIY spaces, and most of its shows were all-ages—a rarity among aboveground venues.
November 21, 2025 at 2:38 AM
imleor.bsky.social
Lol
Parade headline: Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan Reveals Why Gen Z Can’t Get Enough of ‘1979’ “It’s become kind of a Gen Z anthem.” “It’s become kind of a Gen Z anthem,” Corgan, 58, told CBS Mornings’ Vladimir Duthiers of their hit “1979”, as seen in a TikTok video shared Tuesday, November 18. “I think the song is bigger now than it was then.” Corgan went on to say, “‘1979’ is ultimately about a form of disassociation as you move from youth to adulthood, and I think that sort of moment of moving from innocence to non-innocence, I think it strikes them even more deeply.” The songwriter did not elaborate on how he came to his conclusion, but it should be noted that “1979” has been used on TikTok in nearly 100,000 videos as of publication.
November 20, 2025 at 4:29 PM
imleor.bsky.social
2017 DNAinfo Chicago headline: Spiders Could Eat Every Chicago Resident In Less Than A Year, Easily
November 17, 2025 at 4:06 PM
imleor.bsky.social
“I ain’t reading all that I’m happy for u tho Or sorry that happened” meme
November 15, 2025 at 2:34 AM
imleor.bsky.social
A small Chicago music venue that’s done impressive work spotlighting underground and unknown acts is closing down chicagoreader.com/music/gossip...
Last week, word spread through Chicago’s DIY scene that Avondale venue the Fallen Log was closing. On Friday, the business made it official with a public announcement: Its last day would be Sunday, November 23. The Fallen Log has shared ownership and a building with vegan pizza spot Kitchen 17, which is throwing in the towel. “We decided to close for the same reason many businesses close: Unfortunately, the bottom line just wasn’t there,” says co-owner Joe Mertz.
November 13, 2025 at 8:33 PM
imleor.bsky.social
let’s check in on spin magazine
[closes tab]
Fresh SPIN: Exploring AI’s New Frontier Music industry veteran Charles Goldstuck is leading the way on research into AI’s impact on the music industry while also helping create the framework for how we move forward Written by Selena Fragassi | November 12, 2025 - 9:30 am
November 13, 2025 at 1:55 AM
imleor.bsky.social
chicagoreader.com/music/music-...
Nathan and Evren of Trash Tape met during Merge’s 30th anniversary festival in July 2019, after the Telekinesis set in the back room of the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, North Carolina. “Nathan was like, ‘You’re the only guy here who’s under the age of 50,’” Evren says. “Then he gave me a pop quiz on indie bands. Then he was like, ‘We should hang. We should play music together.’” They formed an emo group called Welcome to Berlin and began practicing in a shed behind Evren’s house. During COVID lockdown in spring 2020, they launched the label, and later on Eilee joined them.
November 11, 2025 at 10:58 PM
imleor.bsky.social
Looks nice in print
Newspaper copy of the latest issues of the Reader opened to my Hallogallo 2.0 story
November 9, 2025 at 3:58 PM
imleor.bsky.social
Mamdani election sign meme: please for give me as i reshare my story
November 8, 2025 at 10:23 PM
imleor.bsky.social
“Everyone can feel it when it happens, ’cause it’s a very celebratory, explosive thing,” [Kai Slater of Lifeguard and Sharp Pins] says. “I feel like that’s really what Hallogallo is to me.”

chicagoreader.com/music/music-...
An array of Hallogallo scene zines
November 8, 2025 at 1:51 PM
imleor.bsky.social
“Steve Buscemi dressed up as a teen on 30 Rock” meme format, adjusted to say “how do you do fellow Kendrick Lamar stans”
November 8, 2025 at 1:14 AM
imleor.bsky.social
Good reminder to kill your darlings
The Sun-Times lost a grate editor Monday. Maureen Cotter definitely would have caught the misspelling in that sentence. She kept a lot of reporters out of hot water.
November 7, 2025 at 9:06 PM
imleor.bsky.social
Adamn Killa got kicked out of the Whole Foods in the west loop and his fans are trolling the reviews
Haley Sharkey [1 star review]: afraid of the grind smh 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼 Kynan Hogan [1 star review]: Its Adamn shame they afraid of the grind 😔 Nathan Owens [1 star review]: Afraid of the grind. Employees kick out people for no reason. Horrible store don't shop here.
November 6, 2025 at 4:40 AM
imleor.bsky.social
Greg Bovino claiming ICE has been welcomed by most Chicagoans
Classic Nathan Fielder tweet focused on a selfie where he’s smiling, clearly standing by himself, captioned “Out on the town having the time of my life with a bunch of friends. They're all just out of frame, laughing too.”
October 28, 2025 at 9:51 PM
imleor.bsky.social
That is powerful
Warning: This whistle is extremely loud. Keep out of reach of children. Continued use may cause hearing loss. Use ear protection and never blow close to the listener's ear.
October 25, 2025 at 7:24 PM
imleor.bsky.social
GRANT PARK — Lollapalooza’s 2025 music festival had a record impact on Chicago’s economy, organizers said this week. The annual four-day music festival in Grant Park generated $480 million in overall economic activity in the city this year, the founders of C3 Presents, Lollapalooza’s parent company, wrote in a letter to City Council members Wednesday. Extra extra bart names worlds greatest sex machine fake simpsons paper
October 23, 2025 at 10:30 PM
imleor.bsky.social
I dig the font for the print version of the story
The headline “J.T. IV’s Wild Horror Trash” in VHS font
October 23, 2025 at 9:26 PM
imleor.bsky.social
Poster for the 2024 movie The Substance of two identical egg yolks
October 22, 2025 at 6:23 PM
imleor.bsky.social
“They said I was impeding them, that I had cut them off, which was just a complete fabrication,” Sakiyama said. Sakiyama said one of the agents began recording him through the back window of their vehicle, a gray minivan, even before the stop that led to his arrest. He said federal agents jumped out the van with their guns drawn at the intersection of Harvard Street and S. Grove Avenue, and threatened to smash his car’s driver-side window. His claims are corroborated by the available video. “Exit your vehicle, or we’re gonna break your window and we’ll drag you out,” an agent can be heard saying in the footage. The masked agents did eventually remove him from his car, and he shouted his name to people watching nearby. Sakiyama was then taken away in the agents’ minivan while another agent moved his vehicle off the road.
October 22, 2025 at 2:27 AM
imleor.bsky.social
Tfw the album you released two months ago definitely hasn’t been memory-holed
Live Nation show alert email: MULTI-PLATINUM SELLING ARTIST mgk CELEBRATES 5 YEARS OF TICKETS TO MY DOWNFALL ALBUM TO BE PERFORMED ON THE LOST AMERICANA TOUR 2025 RUN
October 21, 2025 at 4:36 PM