Incoming

The music documentary Fanny - The Right To Rock will open in theaters around the country this Friday. Directed by Bobbi Jo Hart, this film festival favorite for the past year honors the hard-rocking all-woman band from the 1970s. Hart mixes vintage footage and recent interviews with the band members, as well as clips of current rock stars explaining how they were influenced by Fanny.

The Coco And Blu Cafe in Arlington Heights is staging a Trivia And Concert event with live music and trivia tomorrow night, May 25 at 7:00 pm. Admission is $10 and all proceeds will go to help an employee who is undergoing cancer treatment. The venue is always good for people-watching (lots of hip and creative-looking types), and probably especially so tomorrow night.

 

Phil Angotti has a record release bash for his new album Once Around Again coming up at Martyrs this Thursday, May 26. Judging from his previous releases, it will be another collection melodic pop songs with keen observations on human emotions. Joining Angotti and his special guests onstage will be a series of paintings and illustrations created by local artists for each song.

Michael Steven Cohen and MC5 will be performing at Montrose Saloon this Sunday, May 29 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm.

Relic, an art exhibition that ‘explores what Black cultural artifacts and emblems of today will be left behind to reflect our time here and inform the future,” will finish its run at Arts Incubator  (301 E. Garfield Blvd.) this Friday, May 27.

The Josh Caterer Trio and Hushdrops will share a double bill this Friday, May 27, at The Venue in Aurora.

I felt elated while reading Amy Tara Koch’s New York Times article (picked up by the Chicago Tribune for its Sunday Travel section), describing how England is welcoming U.S. tourists again. Of course, the fear of a COVID-19 relapse still hovers, like a ghost in a mirror in some horror flick. But as Koch described Heathrow Airport filled with passengers; new cafes, museums, and a revitalized West End theatre scene, her enthusiasm was, well, contagious. I’m still hoping that someday we’ll be able to make that trip to London, Manchester, Liverpool, and York my wife Pam and I had all planned for 2020 but needed to cancel due to the virus.

Rich Cotovsky, the Artistic Director for Chicago’s critically acclaimed Mary-Arrchie Theatre before it closed a few years back, can be seen in a minor role on a few episodes of The Shining Girls on AppleTV. Cotovsky has appeared in a number of films, TV shows, and commercials.

 

I caught two sets by alt rock/avant-garde band whitewolfsonicprincess last Sunday afternoon at the Sketchbook Brewing Company venue in Skokie. I’ve known vocalist Carla Hayden and guitarist-vocalist James Moeller for several years, having first met them when their theatre group Black Forest performed at the above-mentioned Mary-Arrchie Theatre’s annual Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sins festival. (Rich Cotovsky always did a great job of impersonating Hoffman.)

I was a member of the Famous In The Future comedy group back then and we were also Abbie Fest regulars. So, it was no surprise when Frank Carr, who’s still part of Famous In The Future, showed up at Sketchbook, along with fellow cast member Michael Hora. Carr and I reminisced about past FIF revues and former cast members, and I was glad to hear this year’s YippieFest will be a live event this year. Carrying on the AbbieFest tradition, this three-day celebration of performing arts will be held at The Den Theatre in August. I’ll have more details on YippieFest in the near future.