Incoming

Congratulations to R.E.M. on the anniversary of their groundbreaking debut album Murmur, which was released on this day 40 years ago. Produced and engineered by Mitch Easter and Don Dixon, it was a mystifying and irresistible collection of songs such as “Catapult,” “West Of The Fields,” “Moral Kiosk,” and of course, “Radio Free Europe.” I saw R.E.M. perform these songs and other tracks from Murmur during a show at Park West shortly after the album’s release. The quirky opening set by the Mitch Easter led Let’s Active made me a life-long fan of that band as well.

Congratulations are also in order for my nephew Joe Flamm on snagging Second Place in the Best Chef category in the Chicago Reader’s annual Best Of Chicago issue. Joe’s restaurant Rose Mary continues to be be a popular dining spot in the city.

The long-time Chicago-based free publication has a Best Of Chicago Celebration coming up on June 1, according to a full-page ad in the current issue. As a Chicago Reader subscriber, I was notified by email today where it’s taking place, but I’m not sure if the general public is supposed to know yet. 

Ken Stringfellow from The Posies recently announced that he’s just completed his fifth solo album. He promises to provide details in the coming weeks.

Susanna Hoffs’ promotional tour for her debut novel This Bird Has Flown brings her to the Chicago Humanities Festival tomorrow night at Chop Shop on North Avenue. I’ve read the first five chapters and it’s a fun rock and roll flavored comedy with satiric bits I suspect come from the author/musician’s own experiences with The Bangles. Hoffs is scheduled to discuss This Bird Has Flown and other aspects of her career with Mark Bazer from The Interview Show, and perform a few songs. A message on the Chicago Humanities Festival’s website states the show has sold out.

Three separate dance troupes—two local, one from New York–will join forces in the Rhythms Of Resistance: Dorrance Dance, The Trinity Irish Dancers, and M.A.D.D. Rhythms show coming to the Auditorium Theatre in downtown Chicago on April 22. Posts on social media regarding this event promise a “never before seen evening of percussive dance.”

With the Barbie film coming out July 21, it’s not surprising to discover a Malibu Barbie Cafe pop-up restaurant/store will be opening on June 7 at a top secret location in Chicago. Tickets are $35 for kids, and $50 for adults, and as Miriam Di Nunzio reports in today’s Chicago Sun-Times, they will be available starting April 19 at bucketlisters.com. The official trailer for Barbie is pretty clever, although younger viewers should be warned that a number of baby dolls (dolls that are babies, not baby doll dresses) were destroyed in the filming of this trailer.

The 39th Chicago Latino Film Festival opens tomorrow at the Landmark Century Center at 2828 N. Clark St and will run through April 23. The event will include 51 features and 35 short films.

Freda Love Smith, whose impressive music career started with the Boston-based Blake Babies in the mid-1980s, and later included Some Girls, and the Chicago-based Sunshine Boys, has a book coming out on September 19. It’s titled I Quit Everything - How One Woman’s Addiction to Quitting Helped Her Confront Bad Habits and Embrace Midlife. In a Facebook post she describes it as, “this strange, experimental memoir about how I quit booze, weed, sugar, caffeine, and social media during the pandemic, got kinda addicted to quitting and ended up quitting my academic job and my musical career.”

A new exhibit titled Dark Testament: A Century Of Black Writers On Justice is now open at the American Writers Museum in downtown Chicago. In addition to highlighting the work of Black American writers, the exhibit will feature original artwork by Chicago artists.

Jagged Little Pill – The Musical, which is based on the Alanis Morissette album, recently opened at the James M. Nederlander Theatre in downtown Chicago and will run for two weeks.