It’s not unusual for me to sit for hours listening to WXRT while freelance proofreading or working on my novels or blog, but today was special. The long-time Chicago FM station celebrated radio personality Terri Hemmert’s 50 years of being on the air with them. Hemmert currently hosts the Sunday morning Breakfast With The Beatles show, and fills in for vacationing DJs on a regular basis. Over the course of her career, she worked the late night, early morning, and mid morning shifts. She has been the epitome of WXRT’s mission to have its DJs come across as a real, knowledgable friend. Congratulations, Terri.
The Beatles released “Now And Then”—the last new Beatles song— yesterday, and judging from social media posts, it has met most fans’ expectations. In addition to crafting a gorgeous new arrangement around a vintage tape of John Lennon’s voice, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, with earlier input from George Harrison and considerable help from film producer Peter Jackson, have given us an imaginative and emotional video. “Now And Then” is available as a double single (with a 2023 mix of The Beatles’ first ever single “Love Me Do”) in seven-inch and twelve-inch vinyl formats. I ordered my copy from The Fest For Beatles Fans online store.
StoryStudio Chicago will hold its 6th Annual Writers Festival at The Center On Halsted tomorrow and Sunday. The event will offer classes, panels, social events, and opportunities to have one-on-one manuscript reviews from successful authors and StoryStudio teachers.
Spirit Power: The Best Of Johnny Marr, a collection of tracks from the former Smiths guitarist was released today.
The 29th Annual Black Harvest Film Festival opened tonight with the sold out event A Black Harvest Feast, and will offer feature-length films, shorts programs, and discussions through November 16. The festival takes place at the Gene Siskel Film Center in downtown Chicago.
The Minus 5 will perform A Birthday Celebration For Neil Young featuring the music from his years on the Reprise record label on November 15 at the Mississippi Studios venue in Portland, Oregon. Special guests will include Debbi Peterson from The Bangles, Steve Barton from Translator, and Jenny Conlee from The Decemberists.
Normally, I don’t take note of romance flicks on The Hallmark Channel, but Chicago Sun-Times film critic Ricard Roeper’s review of Reporting For Christmas grabbed my attention when he stated it was filmed in Long Grove, IL. My wife Pam and I frequently visit the The Long Grove Coffee Co. and other coffee shops in Long Grove, and brainstorm about how the village could reclaim its retail glory of previous decades. Having more movies filmed there would probably help.
The Mercury Theater’s production of Young Frankenstein has been garnering positive reviews. Chris Jones in the Chicago Tribune particularly liked Ryan Stajmiger as Igor and Andrew MacNaughton as the Monster. The production runs until December 31.
Ken Stringfellow, a founding member of The Posies (with Jon Auer), will kick off a series of live performances of his new solo album Circuit Breaker tonight. He has concert dates coming up in New York, Madrid, and Paris in December.
Keep in mind that the first Friday of each month is Bandcamp Friday, when Bandcamp waives its revenue share to help support the recording artists who use the site. The Chicago acts The Handcuffs and Phil Angotti mentioned it on Facebook today, and they both have recent albums that are well worth purchasing. I thought of Angotti’s Once Around Again album while I was reading film critic Michael Phillips’ review of the Elvis Presley related film Priscilla in today’s Chicago Tribune. There’s a song called “Priscilla” on Once Around Again that covers the same story, but in a more comical way.
Singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn has concerts tonight and tomorrow night at The Old Town School Of Folk Music in Chicago.
Liz Phair’s Guyville Tour, with special guest Blondshell, kicks off on November 7 in El Cajon, California. She’ll celebrate the 30th Anniversary of her groundbreaking Exile In Guyville by performing the entire album on November 18 at the Chicago Theatre.
As mentioned by Joe Marchese today on The Second Disc website, Joni Mitchell has released a new box set titled Archives Vol. 3 - The Asylum Years (1972 – 1975) in 5-CD and 4-LP formats.
The Last Waltz, director Martin Scorsese’s 1978 classic concert film of The Band commemorating its retirement (at the time) with assorted fabulous guests, will return to theaters for one night only this Sunday. The event marks the film’s 45th anniversary.
Dolenz Sings R.E.M., a new EP from former Monkee Micky Dolenz, came out today in vinyl and CD formats. It’s available on his official website.
Tellin’ Tales Theatre, the Chicago-based theatre group whose mission is “to shatter barriers between the disabled and non-disabled worlds,” will present Six Stories Up In The Attic this weekend and next at the Filament Theatre on Chicago’s north side.
Pete Townshend and director Des McAnuff will bring their The Who’s Tommy to the Nederlander Theatre in New York next March. Their theatrical version of Townshend’s 1969 Tommy rock opera with The Who sold out its entire run and won a number of Jeff Awards when it was staged at the Goodman Theatre here in Chicago.
In other Pete Townshend rock opera news, the official Facebook page for The Who has announced that a special 50th Anniversary double LPs on 180-gram vinyl edition of Quadrophenia will be released on February 2, 2024.
The 10th edition of the Doc’n Roll Film Festival opened on October 26 and will run simultaneously at cinemas across London and 8 regional cities through November 12. The music-related documentaries being screened include Rock Chicks: I Am Not Female To You; TLC Forever; Lost Angel: The Genius Of Judee Sill; Let The Canary Sing: Cyndi Lauper; and Hung Up On A Dream: The Zombies.
The Zombies will hold their first annual Begin Here Festival in their home town of St. Albans in the U.K. on the weekend of November 10 - 12. They’ll use that occasion to launch their own museum.
International Pop Overthrow - New York will will kick off next Thursday, November 9 at the Parkside Lounge and run through November 12. There will be afternoon and evening showcases on Saturday and Sunday. Around 34 acts will be taking part.
The Destinos: 6th Chicago International Latino Theater Festival will run through November 12 at several venues across the city.
Juniper, the L.A.-based, single-named vocalist whose albums specialize in off-kilter and likable indie rock tunes, has a new single titled “I Was Thinking About You” coming out November 7.
The Eyes Have It - All-Star Line-up Of Chicago’s Finest Songwriters will celebrate the musical vision of Michael Teach on November 12 at Montrose Saloon on Chicago’s north side. Teach is the co-founder of the original music podcast Chicago Acoustic Underground. Performers will includes Phil Angotti; Ellis Clark and Ary Jeebie; Eric Chial; Jenny and Robin Bienemann; The Barb and Barrett Show; The Menards; and whitewolfsonicprincess. The tribute starts at 5:00 pm.
The Stones And Brian Jones, a new documentary from Magnolia Pictures, will be screened in theaters across America as a one-night-only special preview this Tuesday, November 7. It has a general release date of November 17. The 93-minute film comes from the award-winning British director Nick Broomfield, and features interviews with numerous musicians and previously unseen archival footage.
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