Incoming

As someone who’s always fascinated when rock and roll is combined with art—be it comic books, graphic novels, or paintings—I had to learn more about the Sound And Vision exhibit Jon Langford promoted in a Facebook post today. It will run at Mad.Kat Gallery in Rancho Mirage, CA from March 16 through April 21. Langford is one of the artist-musicians whose artwork will be featured along with headliner Joan Baez. Other participants include Penelope Houston; Juliana Hatfield; and Steve Wynn.

On the musician side of things, Jon Langford and His Fancy Men will be part of a potent triple bill at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn, IL this Friday night. The Handcuffs, whose Burn The Rails is widely recognized as one of the best albums of 2023, will also perform, along with The James Dean Joint, who promise “a weird mix of rockabilly/garage/soul [and] God knows what” for their set.

The Weeklings, a popular act at Fest For Beatles Fans conventions for some time now, have a Record Release Party for their new album Raspberry Park coming up this Friday at the Stone Pony venue in Asbury, NJ. It’s part of a multi-act Light Of Day charity event to raise funds to fight Parkinson’s, ALS and PSP (Progressive Supranuclear Palsy). Other acts on the bill include Dramarama; Joe P; Joe Grushecky And The Houserockers; Joe D’Urso and The Stone Caravan; Ten Ton Mojo; and Midnight Callers.

The Rachel Drew Band with Casey McDonough will perform at the Hideout Inn this Friday.

The Give Peace A Chance - The Art Of John Lennon exhibit opened last Friday at Gallery725 in Jacksonville, FL and will run through this Sunday, January 22. Admission is free, and all the art being exhibited will be available to purchase.

Pegasus Theatre Chicago and India Nicole Burton are presenting the 37th Annual Young Playwrights Festival through January 27 at Chicago Dramatists. The event encourages local high school students to create one-act plays, and is the oldest event of its kind in America. Chicago Dramatists is located at 798 N. Aberdeen in Chicago.

The Celebrities column in today’s Chicago Tribune revealed that a biopic on Linda Ronstadt, with Selena Gomez portraying the legendary vocalist, is in the works. Not much else is known about the project at this time.

Highway Patrol, a new play by actress Dana Delaney opens this Saturday at the Goodman Theatre in downtown Chicago. It’s inspired by Delaney’s own experiences and is billed as a thriller that combines romance with a ghost story. Highway Patrol will run from January 20 through February 18.

Chicago-based singer-guitarist Phil Angotti has a gig this Friday at Goldyburgers in Forest Park.

It’s not clear from his Facebook page if he’ll be performing his own material or covering some of his favorite artists, but either way, it will be a good show.

As reported by long-time theatre critic Jack Helbig in the current issue of the Chicago Reader, the 27th Fillet Of Solo festival ran last Friday through Sunday and will also be held this weekend at Lifeline Theatre and South Of The Border. Helbig describes the event as an “annual festival of solo performers and storytellers.” It was nice to see Tekki Lomnicki, my former co-worker “from corporate life,” as she described it, interviewed for the article. Lomnicki, who’ll perform this Sunday at 4:00 pm, runs the Tellin’ Tales Theatre group and has been part of Fillet Of Solo every year. Other acts still to perform include Sweat Girls; OUTSpoken!; UNHINGED; and GeNarrations. See the Lifeline Theatre website for the full schedule.

Singer-actress Missy Vaughn-Dean and The Love Supreme promise they’ll be “groovin’ all night long” with Jenni Stark; The Telepaths; and It Changes Everything at Montrose Saloon this Thursday night.

Nelikona Cafe in Palatine will host its next Acoustic Guitar And Vocals with Rick And Friends from 2:00 to 4:00 pm this Sunday, January 21. Admission is free.