Slumgullion

Aren’t they just dolls? Art for The Both from Aimee Mann’s Facebook page.

The Pitchfork Music Festival  kicks off today in Union Park at 3:20 PM. Hello and welcome to everyone who has come to Chicago to see this annual event, which has become increasingly popular among fans of indie rock. The Reader, one of the city’s best-known free papers, has a helpful guide in this week’s issue, and you can find a thorough Pitchfork breakdown at the Innerview Magazine website. Today’s issues of the Tribune and Sun-Times also provide extensive coverage.

Tonight is the night local author Kym Brunner celebrates the release of her debut novel Wanted: Dead Or In Love a with a 1920s or ’30s event at Bar Louie on Rand Road in Mt. Prospect.

Shoes, with drummer John Richardson joining founding members John Murphy, Jeff Murphy, and Gary Klebe, will be performing tomorrow night, July 19th at SPACE  in Evanston. Check out today’s Chicago Sun-Times for a nice piece on the band by Moira McCormick. She worked with Mary E. Donnelly on the Shoes bio, Boys Don’t Lie. The Valley Downs, the coed power pop band led by vocalist Marianne Shimkus and bassist-vocalist Mike Galassini, will be the opening act. See my post earlier today on The Valley Downs.

Millennium Park has been getting some mixed publicity lately, with local newspapers praising its tourist-attracting aesthetics while questioning the ethics of some of its funding. Looking at the outdoor park strictly in terms of entertainment, it continues to impress. The Downtown Sound Monday Night concert series offers The Both, which features Aimee Mann and Ted Leo this coming Monday. On Tuesday, the classic mockumentary Spinal Tap will be shown, as part of the Sound Opinions At The Movies series. Sound Opinions is the WBEZ radio program hosted by rock critics Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis.

Congratulations to The Bangles on selling out both their July 27th and 28th shows at City Winery in Chicago.

Charming Axe, featuring singer-guitarist Rob Newhouse from The Elvis Brothers, Eugenia Elliott, and Hannah Hill, has a new gig lined up to follow its recent successful showing at The Old Town School Of Folk Music. The bluegrass/folk trio will be at one of Chicago’s newest venues, The Throne Room,  on August 1st.

Wizard World has just announced that Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar, who play Howard and Raj respectively on The Big Bang Theory, will appear at Chicago Comic Con on August 22nd. Looking at the list of other guests, this seems to be a particularly impressive year for Wizard World Chicago. The stars include Matt Smith and Karen Gillan from Doctor Who; John Barrowman from Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Arrow; William Shatner from Star Trek; Patrick Stewart from X-Men and Star Trek The Next Generation; Nicole Beharie from Sleepy Hollow; James Marsters from Buffy The Vampire Hunter; supermodel Cheryl Tiegs; and comics mastermind Stan Lee.

Too big for my media room. Actually, a life-size parrot sculpture would be too big for my over-crowded media room at this point, let alone the giant Norwegian Blue that was recently laid to rest in the vicinity of the London Bridge. Artist Iain Pendergrast’s homage to lovely plumage was commissioned by the English TV channel Gold to promote the recent Monty Python reunion special. It measures 15 metres, which roughly translates into I have know idea what, and is a fitting tribute to The Pythons’ justifiably popular Dead Parrot skit.