Slumgullion

They’re playing “Oh Yeah” on the radio. The Live From The XRT Concert Archives series continues tonight at 9:00 p.m. CST with a Roxy Music performance at the Cleveland Coliseum in 1979. The long-running FM station WXRT has been airing vintage concerts from its vault on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights for those of us who miss the thrill of seeing our favorite acts in person. Tonight’s broadcast is being sponsored by The Old Town School Of Folk Music, and can be streamed online from the WXRT website. This coming Monday, it will be a Spooner show recorded at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago in 2007.

The Rolling Stones have a new six-part weekly series called Extra Licks starting on YouTube this Sunday. The band will streaming footage from some of its concerts over the years. The show is at 8:00 p.m. BST, 3:00 p.m. ET, 2:00 p.m. CT, and 12:00 p.m. PT.

It may be hard to picture now, but four Chicago area venues—Cobra Lounge, Liar’s Club, LiveWire Lounge, and Reggies—are planning an actual festival where you can watch bands perform. You’ll have to wait until the weekend of December 11–13 to do it. Ads on social media promise Save The Rock N Roll will have free bus shuttles, punk rock, live band karaoke, bingo, comedy, venue memorabilia raffles, and lots of bands. As far off as that seems, please keep in mind that we all need to behave sensibly in the coming months if we’re ever going to escape the coronavirus.

Tickets are now on sale for The Happy Together Tour featuring The Turtles, Chuck Negron from Three Dog Night, The Association, Mark Lindsay from Paul Revere and The Raiders, The Buckinghams, The Vogues, and The Cowsills at the Genesee Theatre August 8; Lilly Hiatt and Harmaleighs at Schubas on August 19; Sonny Landreth at SPACE on July 10; Over The Rhine at SPACE on June 27; Katie Toupin at Schubas on August 27; and Webb Wilder and the Beatnecks at FitzGerald’s on June 20.

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. You can also subscribe to The Reader and have it delivered to your home.

The May issue of the Illinois Entertainer, with Tom Lanham’s cover story on Lucinda Williams, can be viewed on the publication’s website. This issue also features his interview with former Runaway Cherie Currie, and Rosalind Cumming-Yeates’ tribute to the blues icon Otis Clay.

Former Hollies lead vocalist Allan Clarke, whose impressive 2019 release Resurgence was his first solo effort in years, has just recorded a powerful new version of The Hollies hit “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” with piano player Francis Haines that’s available for download on iTunes, Amazon, and other sites. All proceeds will go to the the NHS Covid-19 Urgent Appeal.

Work And Love, the second album from Chicago trio Sunshine Boys, was officially released today on Pravda Records. Dag Juhlin, Freda Love Smith, and Jacqueline Schimmel have returned with another batch of melodic and occasionally confrontational rock tunes in a worthy follow-up to their 2018 debut Blue Music. Juhlin will be discussing the new Sunshine Boys album and playing some live songs as a special guest on The Power Pop Shoppe - Home School Vol. 2 Facebook event next Monday, May 4 at 8:30 p.m. The program, hosted by DJ Gil and DJ BK will also feature Reinhard van Biljon from the Cape Town, South Africa power pop band The Cudas.

Outronaut, a guitar-fueled hot rod of a quartet that favors twangy instrumentals, released its fourth album, Kill The Light, on its Bandcamp page today.

Back in 2002, 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.

This Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. founding member Frank Carr is posting a triple bill viewing party on the Famous In The Future Facebook page. Each show is from 2002, when I was still a member of this comedy group. Two Chicks is Frank’s parody on religious comedy strips; Damn Andersen is my musical parody; and Masters Of Anonymity is a group-created skit and song revue. If my memory serves, Two Chicks and Masters of Anonymity have graphic language, so viewer discretion is advised.