Incoming

Photo from Official Susanna Hoffs Facebook page.

Happy Birthday to Susanna Hoffs from The Bangles. In addition to her career as a singer-guitarist (she recently performed at the 50th Anniversary All-Star Celebration Of Big Star’s #1 Record in Glendale, CA), Hoffs has a novel titled This Bird Has Flown coming out April 6. She also dabbles in music journalism. Hoff’s special day follows quickly on the heels of fellow Bangle Vicki Peterson’s birthday, which is January 11.

Three is a magic number. Wilco will kick off a Spring Tour right here in Chicago with three dates at The Riviera Theatre, starting March 23. Then, the band will move on to three gigs in Port Chester, NY; and three gigs (all sold out) in Reykjavik, Iceland. Other stops on the tour include North Charleston, SC; Orlando, FL; Asheville, NC; and The Moseley Folk Festival in Birmingham, UK.

Veteran Chicago-based journalist Mark Caro has been interviewing celebrities on his engaging Caropop podcast series for a while, and now he’s ready to do one before a live audience. His interview with actor/improvisor David Pasquesi will take place tomorrow, January 18 at SPACE in Evanston. Pasquesi is known for his roles on the TV series Veep and The Book of Boba Fett, as well as for his live TJ and Dave improv shows with T.J. Jagodowski in Chicago and New York. General admission to the SPACE event is $12.

The intriguing combination of versatile musician Jason Narducy and acclaimed musician/actor Michael Shannon (most recently seen in the George And Tammy biopic) will perform songs by The Modern Lovers at SPACE this Thursday, January 19. Both performers have roots in the Chicago area, and will be joined by various friends for this show. 

The 26th Annual Fillet of Solo Festival will run through January 22 at Lifeline Theatre on Chicago’s far north side. The performers include Nestor Gomez; The Sweat Girls; Tekki Lomnicki; and The Lifeline Storytelling Project. Tickets for individual performances are $12, festival passes are $60.

The January 19th edition of Sing For Your Supper will be held at the Foundation Tavern and Grille on Chicago’s north side. The featured artists will be Hannah Frank, The Sideshowmen, Justin Frosch, Shadowfields, Lance Brown, Patrick Reninger and Jos Davidson. 

The 5th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, set to run from tomorrow through January 29, is generating so much excitement that both the Chicago Tribune (Rick Kogan) and Chicago Sun-Times (Catey Sullivan) ran feature stories on it today. Over 100 shows, representing a variety of subject matter, will take place throughout the Chicago area.

Anytime I see or hear the word ‘puppet,” I immediately think of long-time Famous In The Future comedy group member Desiree Burcum. I was part of the group for several years, but I don’t recall any revues involving puppets before her arrival. Burcum created most of her own puppets, and dreamed up bizarre things for them to do. It’s a safe bet she’ll be attending at least one of Festival’s offerings. I’m also reminded of an episode of a very low-budget series titled Manchester Gallery I created for the Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff internet program several years back. Each episode lasted about two minutes, and one of them involved quarreling Graham Nash and George Harrison puppets. 

And finally, more sad news in the rock and and roll world. Robbie Bachman, the drummer for classic rockers Bachman-Turner Overdrive, recently passed away. Robbie was 69. Rock In Paradise, Robbie.