Saturday Slumgullion

Forever-suave Roxy Music frontman and solo performer Bryan Ferry will release the 81-track Retrospective - Bryan Ferry 1973 – 2023 on October 25. Available on colored vinyl or as a 5-CD deluxe box set, it will include new and unreleased recordings, along with extensive liner notes and rare photography. It’s currently available for pre-order from his official website.

EXPO ’76 has a 2:00 – 5:00 pm outdoor performance tomorrow (Sunday) at Theater On The Lake on Chicago’s lakefront. These guys have years of experience creating original music on the local club scene, and always deliver an amazing variety of material as a covers band. Theater On The Lake is located at 2401 N. DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

Jeff Lynne’s ELO The Over And Out Tour kicks off next Saturday, August 24 in Palm Desert, CA and will wrap up in that same state with shows on October 23 and 25 at Sacramento and Inglewood respectively. Lynne will perform in Chicago on September 27.

The guitar-powered instrumental band Outronaut will be rocking out at the north side Chicago venue Beat Kitchen on August 31.

 

Activities of Daily Living, the most recent release from Glasgow power pop/indie rock band Aerial, is now available in CD format from by the America-based label Kool Kat Musik. In a review this past May on Broken Hearted Toy, I noted: The songwriting duo of Colin Cummings and Mackie Mackintosh once again craft clever, off-kilter lyrics set to well-crafted power pop arrangements, particularly on energetic gems such as the title track, “An Encore And A Cover Song,” and “Bad Tattoo.” 

Chicago-based singer-songwriter Steve Dawson will start a fall tour on September 7 in St. Louis, MO. He’ll perform in his home town on September 15 and nearby suburb Arlington Heights, IL on September 28. Before any of those dates, he'll be part of the PravdaFest event at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn on August 31. Dawson recently released a video of the song “Leadville” from his latest album, Ghosts.

Unless you’re among the many fans who’ve already snapped up Pete Townshend’s Complete Live Albums 14-CD boxed set, you might be out of luck. The merch page on The Who’s official website currently shows the short but polite message: Sorry Sold out. Priced at a reasonable $109.80, the set offers “all the Eel Pie live shows compiled in one place,” ranging from 1985 through 2001. The songs are an impressive mix taken from Townshend’s solo efforts and classics from The Who, along with rarities. Complete Live Albums is also available in digital format on various sites.

 

Tellin’ Tales Theatre, the Chicago-based theatre group whose mission is “to shatter barriers between the disabled & non-disabled worlds,” needs three more kids for an upcoming production of its Six Stories Up series. “If you know of middle schoolers who would like a complete theater experience, please steer them our way,” a recent Facebook post from Tellin’ Tales requested. The show is scheduled for November 8, 9, 10 & 15, 16, and 17. Anyone interested can write to Tekki@tellintales.org

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When Nick Lowe releases Indoor Safari, his first album in 11 years on September 13, it will be “POWERED BY” his long-time collaborators Los Straitjackets. He’ll hit the road with them for a fall tour starting with two nights (October 10 and 11) in New York City and ending with a pair of shows (November 2 and 3) in Minneapolis. Lowe and Los Straitjackets will play Lincoln Hall in Chicago on October 29 and 30.

 

Chicago: Home Of House, an exhibit honoring the city’s pivotal role in widespread success of house music over the past 40 years, runs through the end of October. 

T Bone Burnett now has a pair of shows lined up for The Old Town School Of Folk Music this fall. He’ll perform at the venue on October 19 and October 20. Also at The Old Town School Of Folk Music, there will be a Fretboard Summit - A 3-Day Guitar Extravaganza featuring Blake Mills, Joe Henry, Colin Hay, and Valerie June August 23 – 25.0 see 8-6 email.

Music industry veteran Dean Brownrout will have a book release party for his No Big Deal memoir at the Marble + Rye  bar/lounge in New York on September 30.

It’s been 60 years since The Kinks releasee their ground-breaking single “You Really Got Me.” The Brit Invasion band is celebrating with a 7-inch single PYE Records limited edition that’s now available for pre-order. Only 1964 copies will be created. 

Congratulations to Gerry’s Cafe in Arlington Heights on their first anniversary. The cafe’s motto is Changing Lives One Cup At A Time and is staffed by adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. My wife Pam and I added Gerry’s Cafe to our roster of venues for hot beverages.

Fans of the late Kim Shattuck will surely want a copy of the 60-page Melanie And Kim Monday fanzine Melanie Vammen and Music Arkives have put together. It’s now available to pre-order at the Give Smart website. The first 100 copies will be numbered and signed by Vammen, and all proceeds will benefit the ALS Network.

The Bangles Japanese Singles Collection - Greatest Hits CD/DVD compilation is now available from CDJapan. Longtime Bangles fans will likely already have most of these tracks, but the DVD’s 14 music videos include three world premieres, and there’s also a 56-page booklet with lyrics in English and Japanese.

Fans of Pravda Records can celebrate the Chicago-based independent company’s 40th Anniversary over breakfast with the special mug that’s now available from on its Bandcamp page.

Critically acclaimed band NRBQ has nine shows coming up this month on the east coast, starting with an August 21 appearance in Gloucester, MA.

Blondie founding member Chris Stein’s memoir titled Under A Rock is now available 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.”

The full schedule of 30-plus participants for YippieFest 2024, which will be staged at Chopin Theatre on the weekend of August 23 – 25, can now be found on the event’s official website. Long-running sketch/musical comedy group Famous In The Future is once again serving as host, and all proceeds will go to charity. YippieFest is modeled after the late Mary-Arrchie Theatre’s long-running Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sins Festival. Chopin Theatre is located at 1543 W. Division on the city’s north side.

Pravda Records, Chicago’s longest-running independent company, has added a few more acts to its 40th Anniversary PravdaFest event taking place on August 31 at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn.One of those recent additions is The Chamber Strings, which will feature local musicians Chloe F. Orwell, Tim Fowler, Carolyn Engelmann, Anthony Illarde, Jason Walker, Ellis Clark

paying tribute to founder member, the late Kevin Junior.

Tom Toomey, long-time lead guitarist for The Zombies, has a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the final step of his latest solo album Ice Cube. The pledges range from £12 to £500; with some pretty cool perks to go with them. Ice Cube is scheduled for a November release.

White Noise And Lightning: The Best Of Continental Drifters will be released in CD and vinyl formats on September 13 via Omnivore Recordings. Fans of the Americana band, which features members of The Cowsills; The Bangles; R.E.M.; The Dream Syndicate; Hootie and the Blowfish; and The dB’s, can also look forward to an authorized biography with that same title written by musician/producer Sean Kelly. The book is due out September 27, and is being marketed alongside We Are All Drifters: A Tribute To The Continental Drifters double CD that includes renditions by Marshall Crenshaw, Debbi Peterson And The Minus 5, Steve Wynn, and Kim Richey.

Like the several people who posted tributes and condolences on social media, I was saddened to learn singer-guitarist Greg Kihn has passed away. He’s best known for the hit songs “Jeopardy” and “The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ‘Em Like That Anymore),” and was a master at crafting catchy arrangements. Kihn was also an author. I purchased an autographed copy of his Beatles-inspired novel Rubber Soul a few years back when he was a guest at Fest For Beatles Fans - Chicago.