Incoming

Smoking Popes will bring their Midwest Simmerfest event to the Off Broadway venue in St. Louis on November 10; the Backroom in Milwaukee on November 11, and the Bottom Lounge in Chicago on November 12. The tour also includes Off With Their Heads; Limbeck; and Color Fred.

Josh Caterer from Smoking Popes will be part of the CHIRP Radio Presents The First Time Stories And Songs event at Martyrs’ on November 16. Hosted by Jenn Sodini, it will also include Metro owner Joe Shanahan; Alicia Nesbary Moore of Herban Produce; journalist Keisa Reynolds; comedian Anna Lucero; and DJ CHIRP radio personality Josh Friedberg. Once again, Steve Frisbie, Gerald Dowd and Liam Davis will provide music as The First Time Three.

Peter Gabriel plans to release a new album titled i/o in 2023 and will launch i/o The Tour on May 18 in Krakow, Poland. The European tour will also include stops in Milan, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, London, and Manchester. Gabriel, who likes to sign off as pg, recently noted on Facebook, “It’s been a while and I am now surrounded by a whole lot of new songs and am excited to be taking them out on the road for a spin.”

Famous In The Future, the sketch comedy group I co-founded in 1989 and performed with through 2008, will present its first Christmas-themed show on the weekend of December 15 –17 at The Den Theatre. Tickets are now on sale for A Judy Christmas, which cast member Desiree Burcum describes on Facebook as an opportunity to “join Judy in her studio audience in 1963 as she navigates her holiday special and her own musical ghosts of Christmas.” I went to several FIF Christmas parties during my tenure with the group, and they sometimes involved Burcum doing a Judy Garland impersonation.

Artist Vivienne Boucherat is selling art and lyric sheet prints based on songs from the Odessey and Oracle album by The Zombies on her website. Prices range from $60 to $120.

Penn Gillette’s promotional tour for his new novel Random will bring him to the Harold Washington Chicago Public Library this Thursday, November 10. Random is a comedy set in Las Vegas and features a 20-year-old protagonist searching for a lifesaving stroke of luck.

Doom Flamingo, the Charleston, SC band that describes itself as “a six-headed synthwave beast with a Jekyll and Hyde element to the songwriting” will be haunting Metro with a midnight 18 and over performance this Friday.

Dream Syndicate, one of the prime members of the adventurous 1980s Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles, have a Chicago gig coming up at Lincoln Hall this Friday.

The Randolph Street Holiday Market returns to Plumber’s Hall this weekend, November 12 and 13.

The Pino Farina Band will return to Durty Nellie’s in Palatine this Saturday, November 12. The group recently released the funky, guitar-driven single “Microsun.”

Only The Strong Survive, Bruce Springsteen’s new album featuring cover versions of classic soul songs, will be available in CD, vinyl, and digital formats this Friday. 

Heather J. Miller (formerly Heather J. Svoboda), who performed all over the Chicago improv scene some years ago is now marking her 11th year at the Cat Adoption Team cat shelter in Portland, OR. CAT is holding a Whisker Wonderland virtual benefit at 7:00 pm on this Friday. Miller suggests making a donation of  “$11 or $111 or $1.1M” (that third figure might be her improvising) to help the shelter continue to save cats’ lives.