It’s an unprecedented milestone in hip-hop: 10 albums. No rap act had ever recorded 10 albums—that is, 10 decent albums—until last year. That the group to first hit the 10-album mark was The Roots should be no surprise to those who had been following the Philadelphia ensemble, which for over a decade has been a testament to the artistic potential of hip-hop and refuted stereotypes...

Today’s lineup at the Cascio Groove Garage, Summerfest’s all-local stage, puts the spotlight on bands that thrive in the city’s all-ages and basement show scenes, including Terrior Bute, a synth-punk trio schooled on Devo but prone to clever, noisy freakouts a la The Mae Shi, at 6:30 p.m.; the feral screamo trio Cougar Den at 7:30 p.m.; the jazz-spiked punk band Red Knife Lottery...

It’s hard to believe that it’s been well over 30 years since Lita Ford led the seminal all-group group The Runaways. What is perhaps even more remarkable is that, after 15 years without a gig, Ford finally returned to the stage in July 2008, playing before a raucous group at Rocklahoma, in Pryor, OK. The experience seemed to re-energize Ford, as the self-proclaimed “Queen of Heavy Metal” has recently announced an extensive summer tour and...

Who is that mystery man under all those caps and hats? One look and it can only be Kenny Chesney. This 41-year-old Knoxville, Tenn. native continues to pack ’em in with songs like “Living in Fast Forward” “Beer in Mexico” and “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.” Maybe it’s his concern for his fans in these recessionary times—he’s playing different sized spaces on his 2009 Sun City Carnival tour to keep ticket prices affordable...

The abrupt departure of singer Scott Weiland from Velvet Revolver last year left bassist Duff McKagan with the time to get his old band back together—not Gun’s N’ Roses, of course, since that band is a lost cause, but rather Duff McKagan’s Loaded, his party hard-rock band. The Loaded lineup is drastically different than it was when the band last played around the turn of the century, with McKagan now backed by Alien Crime Syndicate’s Mike Squires and Jess Rouse...

Treading closely to Nickelback’s mix of chest-beating post-grunge and skyscraping, vaguely Christian ballads, Floridian Shinedown hard-rockers are riding high off the success of their 2008 album The Sound of Madness. That disc spawned their WWE-approved hit “Devour” and the smash power-ballad “Second Chance,” the band’s biggest...

Though its doubtful Train will ever top the commercial heights reached by their 2001 breakthrough single, “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me),” the rootsy California adult-contemporary rock band has carried on, releasing a pair of well-received follow up albums in 2003 and 2006, with a third on the way. Save Me San Francisco is scheduled for a tentative...