Sunday Papers

Graphic taken from Brian J. Kramp’s Facebook page.

This Band Has No Past, Brian J. Kramp’s new book detailing the history of Cheap Trick from its earliest days, will be available to order this Tuesday. Amazon shows it at number one on its New Releases in Midwest U.S. Biographies list. My own experiences with Cheap Trick began with a show at the Harlow’s venue on Chicago’s southwest side back in the 1970s that proved all the hype around them was definitely well-deserved. Soon afterward, their self-titled debut became the first of many Cheap Trick albums I would buy over the decades. So, I'm definitely looking forward to this book.

Congratulations to former R.E.M. vocalist Michael Stipe and artist/musician Beatie Wolfe on the success of their limited-edition, sustainable bioplastic 12-inch single. Side A is Stipe’s “Future If Future” and Side B is Wolfe’s “Oh My Heart.” All 500 copies quickly sold out on the EarthPercent Bandcamp page. Both songs can still be purchased in digital format as part of the EarthPercent X Earth Day Compilation album, which has over 120 tracks. All proceeds, other than Paypal’s processing fees, will go to EarthPercent’s Grantmaking Fund. 

If you’re already looking for ways to make that long Thanksgiving weekend more fun, tickets are now on sale for The Bad Examples show at the Hey Nonny Venue in Arlington Heights on November 25. I already bought mine, because these guys are likely to sell out at Hey Nonny. And you can start the day picking up vinyl treasures for gifts and for yourself since it will be Black Friday Record Store Day.  

The Bandcamp page for the U.K. zine God Is In The TV released Come Into My World: A Collection Of Kylie Minogue Covers—its second digital tribute compilation—this past Friday for the very reasonable price of £5. Sales from the 33-track effort will aid the Macmillan Cancer charity organization. I’m not familiar with Minogue’s music, but the God Is In The TV people did such an outstanding job on its A Carnival Of Sorts: An R.E.M. Covers Compilation last year, I felt compelled to check out their Kylie collection. As with A Carnival, the new Come Into My World features under-the-radar-acts diving into the material with a variety of approaches. Needless to say, I didn’t find it as alluring as the R.E.M. tribute, but a quick spin on Bandcamp was definitely promising. And at £5, you can’t go wrong.

The Reggies rock club will be celebrating its 15th Anniversary on September 8 with performances by the predominantly female Queen tribute band Ready Freddies and Tony Cazeau’s New Black Renaissance at Reggies. 

An acoustic-based version of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by Tammy Faye Starlite is the latest installment in the ongoing Women Sing The Who page on Bandcamp. The track costs $1 to download and became available last Friday. As with the two previous releases in this series, all proceeds will benefit The Who’s charitable organization Teenage Cancer Trust. 

Chicago-based blues legend Buddy Guy recently turned to another of the city’s iconic musicians for help on a new single. As noted on the Rock Blues Muse Instragram site, “We Go Back” features Mavis Staples as a guest vocalist. The song will be included on a new album titled The Blues Don’t Lie that’s due out at the end of this month.

Florence + The Machine, with special guest Sam Fender, will be in Chicago for a concert at Huntington Bank Pavilion this Wednesday, September 7.

The Country Music Hall Of Fame in Nashville, TN recently announced an upcoming exhibition that will celebrate musicians who mixed country with rock and roll from the 1960s through the 1980s. Western Edge - The Roots And Reverberations Los Angeles Country-Rock kicks off on September 30 with a live concert featuring Dave Alvin from The Blasters; Rodney Dillard from The Dillards; Richie Furay from Buffalo Springfield and Poco; Jeff Hanna from Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; Chris Hillman from The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers’ and several other performers. The exhibit will honor artists such as The Byrds; Buffalo Springfield; The Flying Burrito Brothers; Poco The Eagles, Emmylou Harris; Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; and Linda Ronstadt, and run at the Country Music Hall Of Fame for the next three years.

The 8th Annual Irish American Movie Hooley festival will run Sept. 16 – 18 at Classic Cinema’s Lake Theatre in Oak Park, and then Sept. 23 – 25 at The Wilmette Theatre in Wilmette.

Squeeze founding member Glenn Tilbrook will be performing at City Winery Chicago on September 20 and 21.

The Stanley Clarke Band will perform at SPACE in Evanston on September 16. 

Performances of the Tony-nominated comedy CLYDE’S start on September 10 at the Goodman Theatre in downtown Chicago. The play was written by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and is being directed by Kate Whoriskey.