Saturday night at the Beat Kitchen

Deciding that two straight nights of relaxed dining was more than any self-respecting group of alternative journalists should be subjected to, the planners of next week’s AAN/Medill Writing Workshop have developed a new game plan for Saturday night, Sept. 28.

“We’re going to pile into a school bus and head to the Beat Kitchen in Chicago for dinner and a show,” AAN Executive Director Richard Karpel says. Playing that night at the celebrated club on West Belmont Avenue will be the Waco Brothers, the alt-country vehicle of Jon Langford, currently on tour celebrating the 25th anniversary tour of his primary gig, the Mekons.

Earlier that day, Langford will participate in a session at the Medill conference focusing on music and arts reporting. In an open discussion moderated by Medill Professor Abe Peck, Langford will be joined by Rob Miller, president of Chicago-based indie Bloodshot Records, Jim DeRogatis, of the Chicago Sun-Times, Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune, as well as Peter Margasak and Monica Kendrick of the Chicago Reader.

Recording engineer Steve Albini, who was originally scheduled to join the discussion on Saturday morning, will participate instead in the workshop session on Friday afternoon.

It’s not too late to register for the three-day workshop, Sept. 27-29 at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. To download a PDF version of the schedule and registration form, click here.