Slumgullion

Bangles photo from the band’s website.

When I was a kid, we often had a meal my mother called “slumgullion” on Friday nights. I think the word actually refers to a sort of stew, but she used it to mean a variety of different foods. And so, on this Friday, we have the very first Broken Hearted Toy Slumgullion.

In addition to working on a new CD, The Bangles will be performing throughout the Midwest this Spring. The band will be at the Fine Line Cafe in Minneapolis on April 29th, the Northern Lights Theater in Milwaukee on April 30th, and The Pageant in St. Louis on May 2nd. May 1st will find The Bangles headlining The AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s 25th Anniversary Gala, Not Just Song & Dance at the Hilton Chicago. Tickets for this fundraising event are $500. For more information, call Chris Matthews (not the Hardball host) at 312-334-0917. In other Bangles news, fans can now follow guitarist-vocalist Vicki Peterson (as VickiBangle) on Twitter.

James Moeller and Carla Hayden are consistently inventive artists, whether they’re acting in the Black Forest theatre group, or fronting their band as guitarist-vocalist and vocalist, respectively. The avant garde, alt-rock WhiteWolfSonicPrincess will be showing off some new members and instrumentation on February 18th at the Goose Island Brew Pub on Clark Street in Chicago. I’ve been following the revamped WWSP’s progress on Moeller’s blog, and his enthusiasm for the new energy and chemistry he’s feeling is contagious.

The Fest For Beatles Fans has just added former Wings and Moody Blues member Denny Laine to an already noteworthy line-up for its 36th Annual Beatles Celebration on March 26 -28 at the NJ Crowne Plaza Meadowlands Hotel in Secaucus, New Jersey. Denny Seiwell, another musician who logged time in Paul McCartney’s second most famous band, will also appear, along with Spencer Davis, Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham, Billy J. Kramer, and Chris Montez. The Fest For Beatles Fans comes to Chicago on the weekend of August 13 -15, but the guests have not been announced yet. I was hoping the list would feature a former or current member of The Hollies, considering they’ve just been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and Terry Sylvester did so well at The Fest a few years back.

Vocalist-guitarist Diane Christiansen of the alt-rock/Country & Western group Dolly Varden is joining forces with artist Shoshanna Utchenik to present Notes to Nonself. Described as a “participatory art installation on the nature of self and mind, connection and distraction,” the exhibit runs from February 11th to May 2nd at the Hyde Park Art Center on Cornel Street in Chicago.

Locksley is coming to Schuba’s in Chicago on March 25th, about nine days after its latest CD, Be In Love hits the stores. The Wisconsin based garage rock band will also have its “Darling It’s True” released as a 7” single on Underground Garage honcho Little Steven VanZandt’s Wicked Cool label. A video for the song can be seen at www.locksley.com