Slumgullion

God Is In The TV, the Cardiff, UK record label and culture webzine, has a put together another multi-act tribute album, and it will be available to download via Bandcamp on August 4. Pictures Of You: A Compilation Of Covers Of Songs By The Cure offers 44 tracks for a mere £5. I’m not familiar with any of the acts involved, but God Is In The TV did so well with the 2021 A Carnival Of Sorts: An R.E.M. Compilation, I’m willing to trust their choices again. “Crush With Eyeliner” by Bugeye is one of my all-time favorite covers.

Two giants of the Chicago rock music scene will combine forces when Cheap Trick headlines Metro’s 40th Anniversary Celebration Finale this Sunday night at 7:00 pm. Congratulations to the venue and the band on their many years of financial and creative success, as well as all the fun they’ve given us. The event, which also features the band Brokeback, has long been sold out.

Congratulations to Graham Nash on being chosen to receive the John Lennon Real Love Award from the nonprofit organization Theatre Within. According to a recent piece on the Billboard magazine website, the presentation will take place on December 2 at this year’s John Lennon Tribute at Town Hall in New York. This is the 43rd year Theatre Within has staged the tribute, and Yoko Ono has been involved for much of that time. Her cooperation resulted with the Real Love Award being established in 2014. According to the official website, the award acknowledges performers for “for their creative excellence, positive social impact and support of charitable causes.”

That’s what friends are for. Chicago radio station WXRT’s upcoming event honoring the late Lin Brehmer sold out shortly after tickets went on sale at noon today. Brehmer, who never sounded less than genuine when proclaiming himself as everyone’s best friend in the whole world, enjoyed a decades-long reign as one of the Chicago area’s most popular on-air personalities. A Celebration Of Lin Brehmer will take place at Metro on August 19, and be hosted by XRT DJs Terri Hemmert, Marty Lennartz, Annalisa, Ryan Arnold, Johnny Mars, and Frank E. Lee. There will be live performances by Bob Mould, Los Lobos, Jon Langford, Kelly Hogan and Michael McDermot. Proceeds from the event will benefit the charity organizations Intonation and Nourishing Hope.

As noted by Vicki Petersen of The Bangles on her Facebook page, Good Vibrations - A Punk Rock Musical is currently making its American debut at the Irish Arts Center in New York. The Lyric Theatre, Belfast Production is an inspiring tale about a record store owner in Belfast during the 1970s. Peterson, who attended the show with her husband John Cowsill of The Cowsills, noted, “The songs and performances were incredible, and the audience was electrified!” 

In related news, Action Skulls, the trio Peterson and Cowsill formed with actor-musician Bill Mumy, recently released a single titled “Find The Good!” It’s available on various streaming sites, and is from their upcoming album From A Running Horse.

Congratulations to Chicago author Toya Wolfe on being honored with this year’s Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award for her novel Last Summer On State Street.

Facets, Chicago’s long-running venue devoted to independent films, is hosting Finntastic: New Films from Finland through this Saturday. The venue’s Facebook page states the event will “focus on a young generation of prize-winning female directors.” Facets is located at 1517 W. Fullerton on the city’s north side.

The Bluedot Festival, billed as an “Intergalactic festival of music, science, art, technology and the exploration of space” takes place next Thursday through Sunday at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, U.K. Pavement and Grace Jones are among the headline acts, and the featured events include 60 Years Of Doctor Who: A Celebration and An Afternoon Of White Rabbit Books Featuring Miki Berenyi In Conversion. Berenyi, the vocalist-guitarist for Lush, will be discussing her memoir Fingers Crossed - How Music Saved Me From Success. 

Tickets went on sale today for Lucinda Williams’ Stories From A Rock N Roll Heart concert at the Riviera Theatre on October 13.

The Chicago-based power pop band Magnaphonic will perform cover tunes, as well as catchy originals from 6:00 to 8:00 pm tomorrow at the Northman Riverwalk Beer And Cider Garden (233 E. Riverwalk) in downtown Chicago. Singer-guitarist Eric Chial, who’s a member of Penthouse Sweets, Decoy Prayer Meeting, Bon Mots, and Le Concorde, will join Magnaphonic for a few songs. Upcoming performances at the Northman Riverwalk Beer And Cider Garden include The Handcuffs next Thursday and The Spindles next Friday.

Barbie The Movie, which features Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling inhabiting a life-size Malibu DreamHouse that has since become an Airbnb, opens in theatres next Friday.

Alt rock/country band Dolly Varden will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its For A While album tomorrow night at SPACE in Evanston.

The Millennium Art Fair opened today and will run through Sunday at Lake Street and Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago.

As reported in a recent Associated Press article, the Fender guitar company has opened a three-story flagship store in the swinging Harajuku district in Tokyo, Japan. Writer Yuri Kageyama states, “the flagship store is designed to serve as a kind of museum-cum-amusement park for Fender lovers.”

Chicago’s freewheeling rockabilly/garage rock band Amazing Heeby Jeebies will return to Montrose Saloon next Wednesday, July 19.

Squaring The Circle (The Story Of Hipgnosis) is a new documentary guaranteed to delight aficionados of album cover art. Directed by Dutch film director-photographer Anton Corbijn and featuring Hipgnosis co-founder (with the late Storm Thorgerson) Anton Corbijn, the film explores some the most dazzling art that graced album covers since the 1970s. Squaring The Circle (The Story Of Hipgnosis) had a recent run at select movie theaters, and will be available on home video soon.

Mount Prospect’s annual Downtown Block Party takes place at Emerson and Busse Avenue next Friday and Saturday. Big Brother’s Vinyl, a band that performs vintage hits that most other cover bands neglect, will kick things off at 4:30 on Friday.

Marie and Rosetta, writer George Brant’s play with music about rock and roll pioneers Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight, has been garnering positive reviews since opening last week at Northlight Theatre in Skokie. The show is directed by E. Faye Butler, and features Bethany Thomas and Alexis J. Roston.

The Factory Theater’s Lane Call: A Night Of Closing is a workplace comedy set at a discount department store several years ago. Venture, to be exact, which was where writers Len Foote and OKen actually worked. It runs through July 22 at The Factory Theater.

I saw The Who’s Tommy last Sunday afternoon and was amazed at how good it is. You can read my review in this past Tuesday’s post. The musical has been extended through August 6 at the Goodman Theatre.

The State Of Sound exhibit continues all through July at Festival Hall A in the lower level lobby at Navy Pier. This is a pop-up version of the award-winning exhibition that was held at the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, and celebrates Illinois-based major stars of popular music.

The 94-piece exhibit Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life In Pop continues its run through July at McAninch Arts Center at the Cleve College Of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.