Third Eye Blind, the Jayhawks, Nina Gordon at the House of Blues

In the last few seconds of 2000, Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins was in a friendly frenzy at the House of Blues. He had picked out a young woman from the audience whom he wanted onstage NOW to help him count down to the new year. The timing wasn’t perfect, but his efforts didn’t go unappreciated by the capacity crowd of revelers–or the beaming fan who got to hug and briefly chat with all the members of the band–who joined in the countdown, clinked their champagne glasses together and kissed their dates as colorful balloons fell from the rafters.

A dash of Salt: Chicago musicians take on `Avengers’

The upcoming feature film “The Avengers” may be set in England, but the film’s soundtrack has a strong Chicago vibe, thanks to Veruca Salt’s Louise Post, Yum-Yum’s Chris Holmes and Brian Liesegang, a former member of Filter and Nine Inch Nails.

Q101’s Jamboree 97

If some of the teenage fans at Q101’s Jamboree 97 were a little distracted Sunday at the New World Music Theatre, it was understandable. Rather than basking in the sun at the first major outdoor concert of the summer, the kids huddled under blankets as if they were at a football game or, more often than not, shivered in their summer shorts and T-shirts. (The cruelest joke was that many had more clothes in their cars, but they weren’t allowed to leave the venue to get them.)