Slumgullion

Enough to leave you saying, “I rather enjoyed that weekend.” The Zombies’ second annual Begin Here Festival will take place in St. Albans, UK on the weekend of November 10 – 12. The event will feature The Zombies Art Gallery; Record Signing; Drum Workshop; The Zombies Tour Of St. Albans; Sunday Music Brunch; a screening of the Hung Up On A Dream documentary; Colin Blunstone: One Year Show; The Zombies Show; Battle Of The Bands: Finale Show; and Question And Answer panels at the St. Albans Museum. Tier packages are available in Platinum for £250 and Gold for £150.

Tickets are now on sale for the double bill of Material Issue and Tamar Berk with a special appearance by Starball at the Chicago north side venue Lincoln Hall on September 28. 

International Pop Overthrow CFO/Founder David Bash has reason to feel proud (or chuffed, as they say in England) these days. The Cavern Club in Liverpool has decided to reward Bash for bringing IPO to its Club and Pub stages for the 20th year by inducting him and the festival onto The Cavern Wall of Fame. The induction will take place on Tuesday, May 28, three days into International Pop Overthrow - Liverpool 2024.

The Harris Theater and Chicago-based independent label Delmark Records will join forces for Red Hot And Blues Women In Chicago on Wednesday June 5. The pre-event to the Chicago Blues Festival promises to “bring legendary Chicago Blues venue Blue Chicago onto the Harris Theater stage in song and visual.” The focus will be on women vocalists and musicians, such as Sheryl Youngblood, Melody Angel, Demetria Taylor, Carlise Guy, Sharon Lewis and Joanna Connor. 

“CYCLES Per SECONDS,” a track from the upcoming remastered edition of the 1981 debut album by The dB’s Stands For Decibels, became available to stream on assorted platforms this today. The entire album is coming out June 7 in a remastered edition on colored vinyl, and is available to pre-order on the via the Propeller Sound Recordings website. According to the official dB’s website, the band’s second effort, RePercussion, will also be reissued and there aren plans for a summer/fall reunion tour.

The Evanston Folk Festival will make its debut on September 7 and 8 in Dawes Park with a lineup that strongly suggests the event will succeed its first time out. Patty Griffin, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Don Flemons, Corky Siegel, Robbie Fulks, Nora O’Connor, and Sons Of The Never Wrong are among the festival performers, and there will be ‘aftershows’ by Steve Earle, Rufus Wainwright, and Deer Tick. Musician-author Jeff Tweedy will be among the guests at the In-Conversation Tent, along with authors Ann Powers; Francesca Royster; Greg Kot; and Mark Guarino, who will discuss their music-related books. Neil Tesser with Corky Siegel will host an Amazingrace Revisited session in the In-Conversation Tent.

An original concept recording of Ladyship The Musical has an official release date of July 12. It’s based on the true story of how England shipped women convicts to Australia from 1789 to 1841. The music and lyrics were composed by Linda Good and Laura Good. The sisters first started performing as The Good Twins on the Chicago club scene, and later formed the alt rock band The Twigs.

Chicago club scene veterans Decoy Prayer Meeting will perform a free show of songs ranging from the 1940s through the 1970s this Sunday at FitzGerald’s Outside from noon to 1:30. Audience members can expect to hear covers of songs by such acts as Carl Perkins, Gram Parsons, Everly Brothers, Bob Dylan, and Marshall Crenshaw. 

 

Paul McCartney Photographs 1963 – 64 Eyes Of The Storm is now open at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. The exhibit runs through August 18, and features over 250 photos taken by Paul with his Pentax film camera. Eyes Of The Storm will visit Tokyo, Japan in July and Portland, OR in September. Fans can also experience those insane days of early Beatlemania with the book 1963 Eyes Of The Storm - Photographs And Reflections By Paul McCartney.

The short-lived but impressive Sunshine Boys actually have a show coming up next Saturday, May 25 at Gman Tavern on Chicago’s north side. Gerald Dowd will be on drums while original drummer (now author) Freda Love Smith will help out on tambourine. Sunshine Boys will be the opening act that night for The Last Afternoons—led by Rich Sparks and Brett Nevue—at their record release show. 

Blondie founding member Chris Stein has a memoir titled Under A Rock coming out on June 11, and it’s available to pre-order from various sites. The book, which features a forward by Debbie Harry, is described by MacMillan Publishers as a “a plunge into the moments that made a giant 1980’s artistic sensation.”

Chicago: Home Of House, an exhibit honoring the city’s pivotal role in widespread success of house music, opened recently on Navy Pier, and will run through the end of October. As noted by Chicago Sun-Times reporter Erica Thompson, this year brings the 40th anniversary of the genre.

Tickets for Graham Nash’s massive North American Fall Tour are now on sale. The schedule includes Denver, Omaha, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Boston, Quebec City, Ottawa, and shows at Cahn Auditorium in Evanston, IL. The official Graham Nash Facebook page recently announced Judy Collins will be joining Nash for a few of those concerts.

Neil Young with Crazy Horse will perform at the Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island next Thursday, May 23. Other stops on the tour include San Diego, Phoenix, Atlanta, Austin, Toronto, and Queens, NY.

Those of us who remember Heather J Svoboda from her improv performances in Chicago a few years back will be glad to hear she’s doing well as the Development and Communications Director at the Cat Adoption Team in Sherwood, OR. Now known as Heather J Miller, she’s overseeing projects such as Kitten Palooza Adoption Event 2024. Over 100 kittens will be up for adoption on Saturday, June 22, and the shelter will be open by appointment only. The application link will become available at 10:00 am on Saturday, June 15.

The musical Stereophonic, which recently opened at the John Golden Theatre on Broadway in New York, musical provides a behind-the-scenes look at a fictional band (with echoes of The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac) as it struggles to record a new album.

The Songs To Learn And Sing 2024 - The Very Best Of Echo And The Bunnymen tour has been racking up sold out shows across the U.S.A., and there’s good reason to believe the one scheduled at The Riviera Theatre in Chicago on May 26 will go the same route. Those who want to sing along on classic new wave material such as “Lips Like Sugar,” “Rescue,” “The Back Of Love,” and “Do It Clean” should purchase their tickets soon. Other stops on the tour include Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Denver, and San Francisco.

English ska band Madness will be playing concerts in America for first time in 12 years. Their C’est La Vie In America Tour, kicks off on May 22 in Seattle, and will also include dates in the Oakland, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York Boston. Sadly, Chicago is not on their schedule. C’est La Vie, the band’s latest album, was released late last year.

This year’s Ravinia Festival in Highland Park kicks off in less than a month with the Return of The Flock concert taking place on June 7. The event will be of special interest to longtime followers of the Chicago scene, as one of the area’s more adventurous bands reunites behind original members violinist Jerry Goodman and bassist Jerry Smith. Multi-instrumentalist Howard Levy, who won a pair of Grammy Awards as a founding member of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, will be joining them onstage. The Flock’s groundbreaking jazz-rock arrangements earned the band a contract with Columbia Records, resulting in a self-titled album in 1969 and Dinosaur Swamps in 1970. Sadly, as with many midwestern acts, The Flock never achieved the national success it deserved. 

Lost Angel: The Genius Of Judee Sill, a new documentary about the 1970s singer-songwriter who died tragically in 1979, is being released in several theaters around the country, and will be available to stream on Amazon and Apple TV. The film features Linda Ronstadt, Graham Nash, Jackson Brown, David Crosby, David Geffen and other well-known popular music figures.

FitzGerald’s Outdoors, a summer series the Berwyn music venue describes as “large outdoor concerts with a festival style setup,” is getting off to an impressive start this year. The Big Star Quintet featuring original member Jody Stephens; Jon Auer from The Posies; Chris Stamey from The dB’s; and Pat Sansone and John Stirratt from Wilco will perform on Saturday, July 13. On the next day, X, the band that rose from the Los Angeles punk scene to become legends, will perform, as part of its THE END IS NEAR: Smoke & Fiction Tour. Considering Chicago’s indie rock band The Handcuffs have an On The Patio gig on July 12, that’s three straight nights of rock and roll fun taking place at FitzGerald’s.

Tickets are now on sale today for the Sons Of The Silent Age - The Cracked Actor Cabaret at City Winery Chicago on July 29. The performance is billed as “the music of David Bowie stripped down and intimate.” Sons Of The Silent Age is led by Chris Connelly from The Revolting Cocks and Ministry and Matt Walker, whose resume includes Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage. The other band members all have extensive experience on the Chicago music scene.

Sons Of The Silent Age also have a June 22 concert coming up at SummerFest in Milwaukee, WI.

Cracker, with founding members Johnny Hickmans and David Lowery, will perform at SPACE in Evanston on July 5 and 7. The band is known for FM radio staples such as “Low” and “Get Off This,” as well as “Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now).” 

Purple Reign - A Weekend Celebration For His Royal Badness will feature A Birthday Celebration on June 7 at Joe’s Bar, and A Love Bizarre on June 8 at Logan Square Auditorium. Both locations are in Chicago, and will feature DJs spinning Prince music. Admission is free with an HIV test in advance or on the night of the show. See the Eventbrite listing for full information. 

The Durty Nellie’s music/food venue in Palatine will starts its new outdoor Vintage In The Burbs series tomorrow from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Twenty local venders vendors will have furniture, clothing, and other items for sale. The Durty Nellie’s Beer Garden will have food and beverages for sale. Future Vintage In The Burbs events will be held on June 15; July 20; August 17; and September 21.

Chicago musician Steven Delisi, formerly with the band Phenomenal Cat and a recent performer at International Pop Overthrow - Chicago, is working on a solo effort with a tentative release date of October 18. In the meantime, the first single, a catchy power pop tune titled “Will We Run” will available on June 14.

I dropped by the Mariano’s in Palatine this past Monday pick up a copy of the Chicago Chefs Cookbook. It’s being published by Chicago Chefs Cook, a non-profit that taps into Chicago’s Chefs Cooks community to provide humanitarian relief for worthy causes. The cookbook will benefit the local organization ChiCare. My nephew Joe Flamm, who runs the Rose Mary restaurant, is among the chefs participating.