Saturday Slumgullion

The Fitzgerald’s music venue in Berwyn will continue its Stay-At-Home Concert Series this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. when singer-songwriter Phil Angotti hops on the back of a pickup truck armed only with a guitar and a desire to entertain. As with previous Stay-At-Home concerts by Jon Langford, Dag Juhlin, and Cathy Richardson, Angotti will perform while the truck makes pre-arranged stops based on requests from the residents of Berwyn. He’ll likely offer a mix of originals and cover versions. Residents are encouraged to come out and enjoy Phil’s songs while maintaining social distancing, and everyone can watch the entire rolling concert on the FitzGerald’s Facebook page. Chicago Sun-Times staff reporter Evan F. Moore had a nice article about the Stay-At-Home Concert Series in yesterday’s Weekend Plus section.

Phil Angotti will be inside FitzGerald’s on June 13 for an album release show. The Mark Watson Band will also be performing that night.

Chicago-based singer-guitarist Ben Vogel will be performing songs from his debut album Whistling After Midnight during a live-streaming concert from Montrose Saloon starting at 9:00 p.m. tonight. Most of the songs on Vogel’s album are guitar-driven, catchy power pop, and he also does well with the more rockabilly “I Hope Your’e Happy Now” and the soulful “Beautiful Sun.”

Tickets went on sale today for Steve Forbert at FitzGerald’s on June 5; Freddy Jones Band at SPACE on September 17; Elton John at United Center on June 19 and 20; Michael McDermott at City Winery on June 5; and Ike Reilly at SPACE on November 11. Keep in mind all live performance dates are subject to when shelter in place restrictions are lifted.

The above listings are from this week’s edition of The Reader, which had a very limited distribution but is available online via the weekly free paper’s website .

Doctors without (galactic) borders. The Big Night In BBC Comic Relief special this past Thursday night included a video tribute from nine actors who have portrayed The Doctor on the long-running sci-fi series Doctor Who expressing gratitude to England’s NHS medical professionals. Jodie Whittaker, Jo Martin, Peter Capaldi, Matt Smith, David Tennant, Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker, Peter Davison, and Tom Baker appeared in the inspirational clip.

Jeff Tweedy, Katie Kadan, Toronzo Cannon, Mariachi Sirenas, The O’Mys, The Flat Five, Shawnee Dez, Terriers, Sandra Antongiorgi, Ric Wilson, NNAMDI, Dominizuelan, and Jon Langford are among the Chicago music acts who’ll be performing this Thursday, April 30 as part of the Windy City Indie sponsored Our City Of Neighbors virtual concert onYouTube. NBC Channel 5/Telemundo personality Matthew Rodrigues will host the event, which hopes to raise emergency funds for four front-line nonprofit organizations.

Once again, I’d like to extend a big thank you to all the musicians, performers, artists, and countless creative types who’ve been posting entertaining clips on social media. Recently, Bangles drummer Debbi Peterson posted a video of herself strumming an acoustic guitar and singing “Live” from the band’s stellar 1984 LP All Over The Place. The cover of The Merry Go Round’s 1966 song was one of only two non-original tracks on All Over The Place. A lot of people (even some critics who should know better) assume The Bangles never wrote their own material, but the band actually composed most of their music.

Manchester Lemon, a website devoted to some of the best bands to emerge from the British city in recent decades, is offering a coloring book for those wanting to create crayola portraits of Oasis, The Buzzcocks, The Smiths, Happy Mondays, Joy Division, and other Manchester acts. There are 20 designs; felt pens and color pencils are included.

Frank Carr, a founding member of the Famous In The Future sketch comedy group, has been creating watch parties for vintage performances on the group’s Facebook page. Last night’s online event was the 2002 musical Chicken Soup for the Damned, which brought back memories since I was a member of the group at that time. Although I don’t see it listed yet, Carr told me this Sunday night will bring a triple bill of his religious satire Two Chicks, a skit and song revue titled Masters Of Anonymity, and a musical called Damn Andersen—all from 2002.

Back then, I was one of thousands of employees laid off by Arthur Andersen during its Enron crisis. With extra time on my hands, I strung together six parody songs based my experiences during the ordeal. After convincing Famous In The Future we could base a show on them, I sent copies of my script to various members of the media. Amazingly, some of them found the concept of a musical composed by a former Andersen employee intriguing, and asked to interview me. My story was featured in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, and a few local papers. Damn Andersen became our biggest hit; selling out small theaters in the Chicago area.