Some travelers on public transportation can be divided into two groups: one checks out literary tastes of fellow passengers, another divines musical proclivities. In a way, this week’s cover story took shape on the No. 66 bus one morning about six years ago when reporter Maureen “Mo” Ryan looked across the aisle and noticed a guy listening to a compilation of songs by Kate Bush, an ethereal pop artist from the ’80s. A conversation began, and she learned he was a musician, Frank Navin, who with his brother, John, had formed the Aluminum Group and was beginning to become known on the indie rock circuit. Their struggle to navigate the twists and turns of an evolving music industry is a quintessential rock ‘n’ roll tale.
Mo Ryan got into music early. A native of south suburban South Holland, she grew up listening to WXRT–her favorite music was British New Wave on the Wednesday night “Rock Over London” program–and reading imported music magazines. After getting a master’s degree from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, she started a pop-music “zine,” copying and stapling it together. As a free-lance critic, she covered everything from Motley Crue and Fiona Apple to Guided by Voices, finally landing at the Tribune six years ago.
Besides their musical talent, the Navin brothers are an unusual subspecies: stylish men. In fact, so captivated were we by these creatures that Senior Features Editor Brenda Butler and Art Director David Syrek set out on a quest, with four well-dressed judges, to find some of Chicago’s more stylish men, whom we introduce to you this week.
One male who has particularly captured Mo’s fancy is still in diapers. That would be her 9-month-old son, Sean. “I’ve detected his liking for the Beta Band, the Velvet Underground and the Soundtrack of Our Lives,” says Mo. “He’s too young to tell me his preferences, but as a mother I just know these things!”