Weekend Reminders

Today’s post is focused on events taking place this weekend that were previously mentioned here on Broken Hearted Toy. This gives readers an extra day’s notice, and since the events won’t be repeated in tomorrow’s Slumgullion, helps streamline Friday’s post. Slumgullion won’t be entirely new. I’ll keep mentioning upcoming events up to and including the Thursday prior to the weekend they take place.

The Smoking Popes, led by vocalist-guitarist Josh Caterer, will wrap up its current tour with shows in Chicago at Metro tonight and tomorrow night. The Chicago-based alt rock band released a Live-In-Studio 30th Anniversary vinyl edition of its second album Born To Quit on September 27. The Get Up Kids will be the opening act for both Chicago shows.

Posies founding member and successful solo artist Ken Stringfellow will perform R.E.M. songs live online from his Seattle studio this Sunday morning. His Time As An Abstract program will start at 11:00 am PDT. Stringfellow will also share tales about the songs, based on his having performed with R.E.M. during concerts and recording sessions.

 

Congratulations to The dB’s on selling out this Saturday night’s concert, with Vulgar Boatmen as the opening act, at the Old Town School Of Folk Music in Chicago. It looks like tickets are still available for the upcoming concerts in Milwaukee, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities. Which goes to prove that we Chicagoans are more knowledgeable about classic indie rock bands. The dB’s have already released their 1981 debut album Stands for deciBels on US vinyl for the first time, and their second effort Repercussion will get the same treatment on October 18.

Maxx McGathey, an adventurous composer/pianist with a fascination for cinematic and suspenseful ambience, has a record release party for his album Imaginary Eyes coming up tomorrow night at the Constellation venue at 3111 N. Western in Chicago. McGathey has 11 musicians helping him out on the album, so it should be interesting to see how this plays out in a live setting. (Check out the Halloween Song profile I posted here yesterday on McGathey’s “Staircase.”)