Jim Derogatis

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the year the Beatles arrived in America, Jim DeRogatis began voicing his opinions about music shortly thereafter. He is an associate professor of instruction in the Department of English and Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago, and together with Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune, he co-hosts Sound Opinions, the weekly music talk show heard on public radio nationwide, as well as via podcast at soundopinions.org. DeRogatis spent fifteen years as the pop music critic at The Chicago Sun-Times and is the author, co-author, or editor of eleven books. He has played in bands since age thirteen, but he jokes that he is a drummer, not a musician. His current trio Vortis recently released its new album This Machine Kills Fascists on vinyl. He lives in Chicago with his wife Carmél Carrillo, while his daughter Melody pursues her passion for musical theater.