Festivals On The Way

As noted by Jesi Roti in the Chicago Tribune earlier this week, two headline acts have been named for this year’s Taste Of Chicago. Ben Harper, whose trademark ability to blend elements of various genres into fetching indie rock songs like “Diamonds On The Inside” has brought him critical acclaim, and the quickly rising Chicago indie rock band Twin Peaks will be performing. The entire lineup will be announced on Tuesday, May 2. This week’s edition of Red Eye has the Chicago free paper’s annual massive listing of upcoming outdoor concerts, festivals, and art fairs. I always circle the events I want to go to, and then save the the schedule as an essential guide for the upcoming months.

One new festival that wasn’t included on the Red Eye list is the Kaleidoscope Eye Festival at the LiveWire lounge on September 8 and 9. For a hint of of what it will be like, drop by the Red Line Tap this Saturday. The Red Plastic Buddha is performing at 5:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon as part of International Pop Overthrow. 

The band has been on the front lines of Chicago’s psychedelic rock scene for years, and lead vocalist-bassist Tim Ferguson is one of the organizers of Kaleidoscope Eye, along with Gregory Curvey (that's his art at the top of this post) from the band The Luck Of Eden Hall, and photographer-journalist Lee Klawans. The Red Plastic Buddha’s last album, Songs For Mara, was an adventurous effort that came in at number four on the Broken Hearted Toy Favorite Releases of 2014.