Decadent, dangerous, and deliciously self-aware: the final music video off of Featurette’s Panic Pills shows that revenge fantasies can taste as good as they feel.

“Interrogation” has been in Featurette’s repertoire for nearly a decade, yet the recorded version is nothing like what audiences may have heard in 2017. The evolution of the song stems from a verse that they vibed with and a chorus they had never truly written down. After witnessing an audience member react to one of its many iterations, they knew they had to replicate his screams to fully bring the song to its final form. A trip to Vancouver helped lay the groundwork for what they would ultimately rewrite and rerecord in the beginning stages of what is now their fully-functioning studio.

“I went from needing the song when we were performing it live - literally needing it because I was so mad I had nowhere to put this energy - and it made it fun which was good because I wasn’t just only mad,” lead vocalist Lexie Jay said. “It was transmuting the anger into some sort of fun. I went from seriously needing it to wanting it now because I’m so far past that and finally in a good spot about it.”

The music video for “Interrogation” was filmed a few years ago, but Jay is happy to report that the song and its accompanying visualizer is still relevant. The visual aspect of their music is just as important to them, and they believe that music videos keep storytelling alive.

“If I’m going to go through the trouble, you best believe it’s gonna be fun or stupid or quirky or bizarre or something because the goal is to make people feel something,” Jay said. “When else are you going to release a music video where you blend this fucker up and feed him to your friends at a party?”

Promo for Panic Pills began in 2024 with as many visuals as they could create. Several songs on the album had been part of their setlist for years, and now that their audience had tangible proof these songs existed, Featurette felt compelled to focus their efforts on other projects. As 2025 draws to a close, the Panic Pills era does as well.

“Just like ‘Interrogation’, I went from needing it to wanting it, and that’s a totally different place,” Jay said. “That’s what healing looks like. Sometimes it is messy and sometimes you have to make a joke about eating people in order to get past it, but we did that.”

The panic pills finally kicked in, and Featurette is leaving anger behind for something different. The good news? “Something different” is already said and done. The bad news? They really love leaving cliffhangers.

After Lily Lane released a five-track EP inspired by her upcoming nuptials, even using the single “I Do” as an alternative to a wedding speech, she wanted her next body of work to explore what happens after happily ever after.

She was curious how her songwriting would change now that her outlook on love had shifted. As she explored those changes, Domesticated began to form.

“I found myself wondering if I’d ever feel that stomach-drop surprise that leaves you breathless, or be able to write about heartbreak again - or if I could still write love songs that felt messy, sexy and exciting,” she said. “I worried those feelings might be harder to access once you completely trust someone, live with them, and know every little thing about them.”

Although the songs on Domesticated became her way of answering those questions for herself, they can be interpreted in a number of ways. Writing these songs gave her a chance to figure out what it meant to change the way she feels about love.

“It’s not just about marriage; it’s about all the complicated, funny, frustrating and vulnerable parts of love that come with any relationship,” she said.

The creation process of Domesticated looked similar to previous albums, with Lane comparing it to an extra long therapy session (with snacks!). This time around, however, she really embraced her own instincts. Instead of overthinking whether or not something fits within a certain box, she gave herself the freedom to do what felt right in the moment.

“If it feels true, it belongs,” she said. “Moving forward, I want to keep leading with that same honesty, even when it’s uncomfortable. I think that’s where the magic (and the best music) really happens.”

Lane has already released multiple singles off the EP, including the title track, but there is one song in particular she is most excited about sharing. “Amnesia” strays from the theme a bit to discuss people, places or memories one wishes they could forget. Lane said that it is raw and relatable in a way that is applicable to all walks of life.

Not only did she push herself outside her comfort zone while recording the EP, but she also did during the filming of the music videos. “Cry Baby” put her acting skills to the test by crying on camera alongside “real LA actors” that have experience doing so. It was a new level of vulnerability for her, but one that she is happy she challenged herself with.

There is a message behind Domesticated, and it contradicts a recent Vogue article claiming that having a boyfriend is embarrassing. Lane disagrees with the sentiment, saying that relationships, marriage and love are not scary. If embarrassment is the issue, there is something deeper to come to terms with.

Photo courtesy of Sean Hower

Nicholas Tremulis is no stranger to benefit concerts. His first taste of it was in 1999 when he organized The First Waltz, a series that benefitted the Neon Street program and homeless teenagers. The event was inspired by The Band’s final concert film, The Last Waltz, and featured a lineup spanning from local Chicago musicians to national acts. Five years and $250,000 later, he created a lasting impression.

After working on a project for Collaboraction Theatre Company, artistic director Anthony Moseley introduced Tremulis to the owner of Hua Momona Farms, Gary Grube. There was an idea floating around about creating a music festival to benefit the community of Maui, and they believed Tremulis could be the person to bring the festival to life.

Hua Momona Farms is located on 25 acres in West Maui, where they grow fresh, organic microgreens and more from their elevated oasis. The Hua Momona Foundation supports on-island charitable efforts through agricultural activities, providing hot meals, distributing fresh local produce, facilitating housing replacement, supporting mental healthcare programs and recently launched the Hua Momona Youth Ukulele Ensemble and Music Program with teenagers from Lahaina. To date, the foundation has served over 80,000 hot, fresh meals to those impacted by the Lahaina fires.

The Maui Music & Food Experience launched in 2024 with an objective to provide food for those in need, accelerate the Lahaina rebuild and cultivate the new youth music program. The first event raised more than $250,000 over the course of three days while featuring world-class music and culinary experiences.

This year, in addition to their Maui event, the Maui Music & Food Experience is making their way to Chicago. Headlining the night is soul icon Bettye LaVette, who will be joined by Grammy winner Lisa Fischer and Naiwi Teruya, a rising star from Lahaina who amazes audiences with his ukulele skills. Performances also include Nicholas Tremulis & the Prodigals, featuring The Rolling Stones collaborator Bernard Fowler, and Hawaiian native John Cruz.

When Tremulis first met Grube and heard about what he wanted to accomplish after the devastation of the Lahaina fires, he knew that he wanted to help in any way he could.

“The guy’s heart is in the right place,” Tremulis said. “He’s a self-made man, but his idea to give back has always been there. In music and the community of music, we always come together for something and this is a great thing to come together for.”

Tremulis is what some might call a secret weapon in the music industry. Not only is he a secret weapon, but he knows other secret weapons. When several of them came together for a worthy cause, they recognized that they had become part of something special. The inaugural event included Mick Fleetwood and Ernie Isley, who returned for the second year, and Bernard Fowler has become a staple at each show.

“One thing I learned about Maui is the bar is raised very high when it comes to musicianship,” Tremulis said. “It became infectious the second time through. It hooked me, and I started to see what this was. Instead of being something I wanted to shake off, I wanted to keep it with me.”

Bringing aloha to Chicago will involve more than just legendary musical performances. Zach Laidlaw, resident chef at Hua Momona Farm, will highlight the island’s signature flavors, using Hua Momona’s microgreens and sustainable ingredients. Joining him is Maui-born chef Nate Domingo of Da Local Boy, the acclaimed Hawaiian restaurant in Highwood.

“The love of great music and great performers is always wonderful, but the eating of great Hawaiian food and the attitude they’re greeted with when they come to this show is going to be a primordial Maui experience. We just want one night of peace, love and music, and it goes to a good cause. It helps people that are struggling but know that we got their back.”

More information and tickets for the Maui Music & Food Experience can be found here.

Photo courtesy of Dana Gorab

I’m not the type who cries easily, though I’m not made of stone either. I’ve definitely shed a few tears at funerals, and I’ll admit, a good film can get to me too. The movie Lion, for example, had me absolutely sobbing long after the credits rolled - my girlfriend was genuinely worried I’d completely lost it.

But a rock concert? That was new territory. A few years ago, I found myself standing in the middle of Olavshallen in Trondheim, tears streaming down my face as Dream Theater played one of the most important albums of my life.

They were in my hometown for the Images & Words 25th anniversary tour, performing the album in full. For anyone who doesn’t know me, this is the record that got me into progressive rock. It shaped my teenage years, my guitar playing and my entire way of thinking about music. I can safely say I’ve listened to that album thousands of times - no exaggeration. It was on constant rotation in my room, and I learned most of the songs by heart, guitar parts and all. It was my musical education, my escape and my obsession all rolled into one.

It also became the soundtrack to my late teenage years; the background music to my first relationships, my first heartbreaks and those long nights of trying to make sense of life. I even remember listening to it a lot during my military service, where I was lucky enough to end up in the same room as some of my best friends from high school. One of them brought his stereo system, and we’d spend countless hours in that small room, surrounded by uniforms and gear, blasting Images & Words. It felt like our little refuge; a world of melody, complexity and emotion tucked away inside military barracks.

So when Dream Theater came to Trondheim to play Images & Words from start to finish, it felt almost surreal. As the lights dimmed and the familiar intro of “Pull Me Under” filled the hall, something inside me just… gave way. By the time they got to “Another Day”, I could feel the lump in my throat forming, and when “Learning to Live” began - my all-time favourite - that was it. The floodgates opened.

I was there with my girlfriend, who enjoys the band’s music but isn’t as sold on James LaBrie’s voice. I’ve heard that before - his voice is definitely an acquired taste. Some people love the music but can’t quite get past the vocals. For me, though, LaBrie’s voice is one of the things that makes Dream Theater so powerful. I love how he can shift between emotional vulnerability and full-on aggression, often in the space of a single song. Hearing him deliver those lines live - the same ones I’d sung along to countless times as a teenager - hit me harder than I expected.

It wasn’t just nostalgia, though. It was the realisation that this album had been there for me through everything: growing up, learning guitar, figuring out who I was. And now, decades later, I was standing there as an adult, hearing those same songs performed by the band that made me fall in love with music in the first place. It was like my entire musical journey had come full circle at that moment.

What struck me most that night was how tight the band still was; how even after all these years, John Petrucci’s precision, Mike Mangini’s drumming and Jordan Rudess’ keys carried that same intensity and technical brilliance I’d admired in my youth. Dream Theater has evolved a lot since Images & Words - their newer material is more intricate and experimental - but for me, there’s something special about those early records. The songwriting had a certain magic that connected both the heart and the mind.

Walking out of Olavshallen that night, my girlfriend gave me a look somewhere between amusement and affection - maybe half surprised to see me in tears. I just smiled and said, “That album means more to me than I can explain.”

It reminded me why I make music myself. That night wasn’t just a concert - it was a reminder of why music matters, why it endures and how a record can stay with you for a lifetime. Dream Theater’s Images & Words did that for me. And for one night in Trondheim, it gave me permission to let it all out.

That same love for storytelling, dynamics and emotional connection still drives what I do with holon today. If my music can give someone even a fraction of what Images & Words gave me, then I know I’m on the right path.

Many a millenial’s childhood featured an October filled with not-so-scary films. Friendly ghosts, pumpkin kings and a virgin who lit a black flame candle turned their television screens into a lifetime of memories. For Omri Katz, playing Max Dennison in Hocus Pocus wasn’t something he anticipated he’d still be talking about more than 30 years after its release.

Fans may have recognized the boy playing the sarcastic teenager as John Ross Ewing III from Dallas or Marshall Teller from Eerie, Indiana but his role as Max would become his most talked about character. Yet for many years, he pursued other interests. He said he wanted to try a different human experience as acting no longer called to him. He gave it one more chance, but for all the wrong reasons, and found himself starting at the bottom again. He took a step away from Hollywood, unsure if he would ever return.

When That’s 4 Entertainment announced their 90s-themed convention in 2022, Katz was announced as a guest alongside Hocus Pocus co-stars Vinessa Shaw and Jason Marsden. He wasn’t sure what the reception would be, and was admittedly a bit nervous.

“To be honest, I was out of the limelight for so long that I think I was a little freaked out,” he said. “That first one was a little weird, talking about things I hadn’t thought of in 30 years… but it was a good weird.”

Using comic conventions as a place to reconnect with his co-stars and take a trip down memory lane with passionate fans has become second nature to him. When filming Hocus Pocus, he admits that he didn’t always take in the moments that he should have. He understood how big of a deal it was to work in a Disney-led production, but getting to share those stories with convention goers has helped him look back on that time in his life and realized how fortunate he was.

He remembers that adolescent feeling of trying to find yourself and constantly being embarrassed. Choosing a path different from acting helped him find his identity and become comfortable in his own skin, and now he gets to introduce that authentic self to groups of people who want to know the real Omri Katz.

Three years after his first convention experience, he has attended countless events with his co-stars, including a stop at the inaugural Nightmare Weekend Chicago. Sharing the weekend with Shaw as well as one of his teen idols, Cassandra Peterson, is another aspect of how he never thought he would find joy in the realm of acting again.

Katz at Nightmare Weekend Chicago, 2025.

It is easy for an artist to say that their current album is their favorite because it is what best represents them at that moment in time. The farther they dive into the reasoning behind that, the more they might discover how the lens in which they see their album might differ from another. Perspective is everything, and Little King wanted to dig deeper into that for their latest album.

Lente Viviente, Spanish for “living lens”, combines melodic hooks and heavy riffs into seven tracks of perfect conversation starters. They are all different musically but share a need to spark a discussion that could lead to change.

The final track listing came before Rosoff had written a single lyric. For him, the flow of the music is most important to give the listener what he calls a dynamic micro-epic, meaning that while these songs are under the four minute mark they seem longer due to their arrangements. Knowing the linear movement of the music makes it easier for him to tell a story lyrically.

“[Lente Viviente is] based on all of the perception and all of how our world is colored through our experiences and through our DNA and the people around us, and sometimes through drugs and alcohol and addiction and homelessness,” he said. “I knew thematically what I wanted to talk about but I didn’t want to create an A-Z concept album. Everything loosely fits under that umbrella of the living lens but they don’t necessarily have to run into each other.”

The standout track from the album, “Who’s Illegal?”, stems from Rosoff’s daily view of addiction, homelessness and immigration seen in the places he’s lived. It ties into the “living lens” theme of how each individual’s lens has a filter through which they see things. He said if he can do his little part in creating that conversation starter, then maybe he can be a part in finding solutions.

For Rosoff, his songwriting these days is less about a muse and more about the “musician’s biological clock” to create an album. After having the same routine for writing and recording music, he was ready to shake things up. He turned to two musicians he has worked with frequently over the last several years. Bassist Dave Hamilton and drummer Tony Bojorquez did not know each other very well, yet Rosoff felt an automatic synergy between the three of them.

“It felt really fresh and new,” Rosoff said. “Almost like doing it again for the first time just because of all the newness of the personnel and the location and all the things that were going on around me.”

He is used to external pressure from all sides of the music industry but said that he freed himself from those constraints simply because music wasn’t always the frontrunner of his career. Now that he’s putting his music first, it’s because he is more confident than ever in his abilities as an artist. He didn’t always have the technical expertise or writing skills, but time and practice has brought him to a place where he can see the vision and bring it to life.

Now that the album is released, it’s time for the band to take all the intricate guitar riffs and odd rhythms and practice them until the live performance is better than the recordings. Rosoff believes that putting on a show that makes the audience think they sound better live is a lost art. He will be playing these songs alongside two incredible artists with impressive resumes, and everyone’s talent deserves a chance to shine.

He admits that as he ages, the more of a perfectionist he’s become. He recognizes that this will ultimately be his legacy and having this story to leave behind can either be an ego trip or a preservation.

“I want it to be rewarding and it is incrementally rewarding,” he said. “The mistakes or the little idiosyncratic things in previous recordings never go away. They live forever, they live far beyond the pride and joy when I hear them.”

Little King has always pushed musical boundaries, and has certainly believed in speaking their mind through their music. This time around, Lente Viviente shows an elevated maturity in both sound and mind that will give the listener a purpose after the seventh track ends.

“Start the conversation. Be objective. Don’t be so dogmatic and don’t be so set in your ways, set in your views, that you can’t entertain someone else who has a different perspective. It’s the living lens.”

On September 29, 1975, an independent musical comedy horror film was released in the United States to relatively small audiences. Several opening cities withdrew from the film’s release and a Halloween opening night in New York City was cancelled. It would take several months for New York City theaters to give it a midnight showing, ultimately leading to a phenomenon of audience participation. Now, 50 years later, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is forever engrained in pop culture history.

The musical cult classic's half-century milestone was celebrated with a 4K Ultra remaster, a 10-month process overseen by Walt Disney Restoration. The remastered version includes a newly mixed Dolby Atmos audio track and an updated logo, with its iconic red lips now featuring a gold top hat inscribed with "50" in red ink.

"When The Rocky Horror Picture Show was first released, no one thought it would be around very long let alone 50 years,” producer Lou Adler said in a press release. “What began as a small, rebellious project has become a global celebration of individuality, community and creative freedom. This anniversary is a tribute to the fans who kept it alive and kicking all these years.”

To celebrate the milestone, the original Columbia, Brad and Magenta hit the road to host screenings across the country. Die-hards (and several virgins) donned their best sequins for a showing at the historic Chicago Theatre, where Nell Campbell, Barry Bostwick and Patricia Quinn took the stage for a Q&A before a live shadow cast performed alongside an unedited version of the film.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan Club President Larry Viezel kicked off the night. The lobby featured some of his personal collection of movie costumes, handwritten lyrics, behind-the-scenes photos and more. Viezel would introduce the evening, laying down the rules and assisting in the Transylvanian Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem before Campbell emerged from the wings to judge the costume contest.

When Bostwick and Quinn joined Campbell on stage, the Viezel-led discussion shared stories of first auditions, costume budgets and how the film was originally a stage production. The insight from the three stars, two of whom were first cast in the musical, gave the audience a new look into just how remarkable it is that this film is still being shown 50 years later.

“I’m glad Chicago still has a lot of weirdos and queer-dos,” Bostwick said. “Let’s fuck this theater up.”

50 years and counting, audiences of all ages hold newspapers over their heads, toss rolls of toilet paper into the air and shout insults at the screen for a movie that essentially flopped during its initial release. The Rocky Horror Picture Show became so much more than a movie to so many people, and changed pop culture for the better.

My climate anxiety got so bad that one night I woke up, mid REM, in a cold sweat. I couldn’t bear it any longer. I grabbed my guitar, a pen, and some paper and started writing. Crafting. Brewing. Expressing. By the morning, I had written my first ever composition. I dubbed it, “Why?”, an emphatic questioning of our tendency to disrespect mother nature. The chorus repeated the line, “why, oh why, oh why do we pollute this world?” Three chords, a driving rhythm, a catchy melody and activism. This was my reality.

You see, coincidentally, I had just started taking music lessons. My mother (a musician herself in her youth) enrolled me in not only vocal and guitar lessons, but also in “rock school”. As a result, I was learning about the major scale, fighting pitchiness, struggling to identify intervals, studying the difference between quarter notes and eighth notes and finding strength in my chest voice. I was developing calluses on my fingers, learning my chord shapes, improvising the blues over a I, IV, V, fumbling alternate picking and plucking the melodies of boring classics like “Hot Cross Buns” to the nagging snap of a metronome. I was fronting a couple of bands, learning to sing and play okay at the same time, rehearsing in rooms loud enough to shave a few notches off the stereocilia in my ears, facing stage fright for the first time and cultivating friendships along the way.

I didn’t know it then, but I sure know it now: the moment I knew I wanted to make music was that anxiety stricken night when I chose music. I chose music to release. To express. To cope. To process. I could have chosen any other form of expression via any other art form, but I intuitively chose music. With few exceptions, I have chosen music every day since. Music is my passion, my purpose and my home. It’s not a want and that formative experience in the otherwise quiet and honest tranquility of the darkness is all the evidence I need.

Gina Zo was experiencing a massive amount of change in her life when her debut solo album first began to form. It was by no means the way she necessarily intended to write the album, but almost immediately embraced that this was how it was meant to be.

Moving to Los Angeles, making new friends and searching for love all became talking points on burn me into something better. Even though change may hurt at first, Zo learned that change is ultimately for the best.

“Change was inevitable for me, so naturally, it's what I ended up writing about,” she said.

She went into the creation of the album intending to be as authentic as possible. Starting as the frontwoman of a rock band, she took on a persona of someone who was not entirely true to herself. It was a persona she enjoyed, but it came to a point where she wanted to embrace her own individuality.

“I now felt that it was my time to create music that was who I was daily - a bubbly, complicated, goofy individual,” she said. “I think by being myself in the writing room and feeling so drawn to the people I work with, it came very naturally to me to be authentic. I didn't have to put myself in a box because I knew that what I was trying to accomplish wasn't anything I had done. I had no idea what to expect, so I wrote extremely creatively.”

Throughout the creation process of burn me into something better, she learned that she was capable of writing a hit. She is still learning about herself as a solo artist, but making this album gave her the confidence to keep learning.

“While I am still showing the world my music and it will take time to bring it to as many people as possible, I am confident that I have made music that has the ability to be loved by so many,” she said. “I am proud of myself because for a bit of time before I wrote this album I wasn't sure what my fate was, but I knew I wanted the Grammy and the world tour. I learned that when you trust your gut and turn inward, you can make massive strides in your dreams.”

She released four of those hits prior to the album release, including “Fuck Me Then Leave Me”. Originally titled “Take Me Down”, the song was introduced to her team to mixed reviews. The verses were an immediate hit, but the chorus lacked what the verses started. They spent hours trying to find the words before Zo left the writing session feeling frustrated and without a finished product. The next day, she took time before the session to sit alone at the piano. With a fresh new look at what was in front of her, a few ideas led to the final version of “Fuck Me Then Leave Me”.

An 11-track collection expressing change, transformation and finding one’s confidence is exactly what Gina Zo was meant to share as her first body of solo work. It’s an important lesson she learned while writing and recording burn me into something better, and hopes listeners take away the same: it's never too late to do the things you've always wanted to do.