Saturday Slumgullion

Photo from the official Spooner Facebook page.

Founding members Duke Erikson, Dave Benton, Joel Tappero, and Butch Vig of the indie rock band Spooner will reunite for a 50th Anniversary show on July 12 at the Atwood Music Hall in their original hometown of Madison, WI. Musicians Pauli Ryan and Alex Drossart will help out, and there will be more special guests. The Sean Michael Dargan Trio show will be the opening act.

Beautiful Vision: The Songs Of Van Morrison with Steve Dawson, Chris Greene, Alton Smith, John Mead, John Abbey, Larry Brown, and Sophie Creutz takes place on March 17 at SPACE in Evanston.

Indie label Kool Kat Musik has set a March 18 release date for Pop Aid 2: A Compilation To Benefit Those Affected By Hurricanes Helene & Milton. All net profits from the 23-track CD will go directly to the American Red Cross in its efforts to help people in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. Acts who contributed songs to Pop Aid 2 include Mothboxer; Ronnie D’Addario featuring The Lemon Twigs; Vegas With Randolph; The Anderson Council; The Weeklings; Thrift Store Halo; The Grip Weeds, The Successful Failures; and Richard Turgeon. Kool Kat’s first POP AID effort came in 2022 with A Power Pop Compilation to Benefit the Citizens of Ukraine, which has so far generated over $4,000 to help World Central Kitchen in its work.

Panick and The Friars will perform original tunes and a few covers at their March 14 gig at Lizard’s Liquid Lounge on Chicago’s north side.

I recently received the copy of Second Scene Issue 20 I ordered on the Pittsburgh-based alt rock print publication’s Bandcamp page. The indie rock publication sports an eye-catching design and covers acts such as Kaeidoscope; low sunday; Clan Of XYMOX; The Armoires; Vision Video; and Tall Poppy Syndrome.

The Stop Making Sense: A Film By Jonathan Demme And Talking Heads Live Event Hosted By Jerry Harrison event is coming on May 1 to the North Shore Center For The Performing Arts in Skokie, IL. The re-release of Demme’s iconic 1984 concert flick has been restored in 4K, and Talking Heads guitarist Jerry Harrison will provide an introduction, as well comments and a Q&A session afterward. Limited meet and greet tickets are available.

The Clinard Dance’s Flamenco Quartet Project, which aims to infuse genres such as jazz, blues, and hip-hop with elements of flamenco, will return to SPACE in Evanston on March 24. Grammy Award nominated blues harmonica player Billy Branch will join jazz vocalist Joan Collaso; rapper King Mossa; flamenco percussionist Diego Alvarez; flamenco singer "Cachito" Jose Diaz; tap artist Jumaane Taylor; guitarist Andrea Salcedo; and flamenco dancer Wendy Clinard at the SPACE performance.

Music industry people across the country have been helping victims of the California wildfires; whether it’s the Good Music To Lift Los Angeles download album; the FireAid Benefit concert in Los Angeles; or t-shirts available from the Consequence and Bandcamp websites. Now, comedians are literally getting in the act with Let’s Get L.Aid - A Night Of Music And Comedy For L.A. Wildfire Relief. The event will be held at The United Theater on Broadway in Los Angeles on March 16. So far, “Weird Al” Yankovic; Al Jardine; Eric Idle; Margaret Cho; Peter Asher; and Rufus Wainwright are among the performers, with more to be added. The Wild Honey Foundation is helping out, so it’s a safe bet some popular musicians will be signing on.

Musicians at work. It was nice to see Facebook posts from the Chicago music acts The Handcuffs and Phil Angotti each stating they’re working on material for new albums.

The Scottish indie rockers Franz Ferdinand recently released Human Fear, their first album in a while, and will soon kick off a world tour. The American leg of that tour includes an April 5 concert at The Vic in Chicago.

The current issue of the Chicago Reader is devoted to its annual Best Of Chicago awards. Each year, the long-running free publication asks the public to choose the winners in over 300 categories. Congratulations to WBEZ as Best Overall Radio Station (WXRT was First Runner-up); Terri Hemmert as Best Radio DJ; Wrigley Field as Best Sports Facility; Illinoise as Best Musical; Billy Branch And The Sons Of Blues as Best Blues Band; Simon’s Tavern as Best Dive Bar; Local H as Best Rock Band; Jamila Woods as Best Rhythm and Blues Artist; SPACE as Best Suburban Music Venue (FitzGerald’s was First Runner-up); Empty Bottle as Best Venue For Rock Music (Metro was First Runner-up); and Green Mill for Best Venue For Jazz. You can pick up a copy of the Chicago Reader from boxes in downtown Chicago and on the north side, as well as in many music and retail venues. 

Eternal Flame - The Authorized Biography of the Bangles is now available, and judging from The Bangles Official Facebook page, the band is thrilled with Jennifer Otter Bickerdike’s book and how well it’s selling.

The Zombies’ official biographer Robin Platts has written a book titled Times and Seasons - The Rise and Fall and Rise of The Zombies that’s available from HoZac Books. Bangles singer-guitarist and long-time fan Susanna Hoffs did a fine job of writing the Forward. I particularly liked this comment regarding the band’s original lineup: “Rod, a choir boy; Hugh, a drummer in the marching band; Chris, who played bass; and Paul, who played guitar — and Colin — played rugby which I can hardly imagine! He had to have been the kindest bloke you could ever knock heads with in a rugby scrum.”

Indie rock acts Doug Gillard and Bunnygrunt have recorded a seven-inch split single titled “A Tribute To Game Theory.” Gillard picked “Dripping With Looks” and Bunnygrunt chose “Together Now, Very Minor,” and both tracks are available on vinyl or as downloads on the Bert Dax Bandcamp page. It’s nice to see the late Scott Miller and his underrated band Game Theory getting some recognition.

The Michael Steven Cohen 100th Show Celebration will take place at Montrose Saloon on April 6 at 6:00 pm. Cohen will unveil a new group called The Everly Hillbillies, and Montrose Saloon honcho/musician Eric Chial will be his special guest. Note: Cohen means 100 shows at Montrose Saloon. Who knows how many thousands of shows he’s done if we count all the venues he’s performed at over the years in various bands?

Translator founding members Steve Barton, Robert Darlington, Larry Dekker, and David Scheff got together in 2023 and recorded two new songs. They’ll be included as bonus tracks on the Live at the Farm, San Francisco 1986 album. It was recorded at the band’s final live show, and is scheduled for release on May 9. One of those new tracks, “These Days To Come,” can now be heard on YouTube.

Chicago-based singer-songwriter AJ Rosales has released his first new music since his 2021 debut Manifestations. Like the songs on that album, his new single “Thunderclouds” could be described as engaging indie rock led by acoustic guitar. Listeners will likely be reminded of vintage Neil Young. Rosales has a full album titled Phasedrift coming out later this year.

According to Jeff Lynne’s official Facebook site, Dhani Harrison will be a special guest at Jeff Lynne’s ELO - The Over And Out Tour on a few dates in the U.K. Those dates will be July 5 and 6 in Birmingham, and July 9 and 10 in Manchester.

Greg Kot, the rock critic and Sound Opinions radio show co-host with Jim DeRogatis, has assembled some of the best articles from his tenure at the Chicago Tribune and published them in a book titled Turn It Up: A Guided Tour Through the Worlds Of Pop, Rock, Rap and More.

Billy Idol will be joined by Joan Jett on his It’s A Nice Day To . . . Tour Again! series of concerts starting April 30. That includes a stop at the Credit Union 1 Amphitheater in Tinley Park, IL on May 20.

Just Like Heaven: A Tribute To The Cure is now available from American Laundromat Records in vinyl format. Participating artists include Dean and Britta; Class Actress; Black Francis +Violet Clark; The Wedding Present; and Tanya Donelly.

The Experience Hendrix 2025 Tour starts on March 11 in Cincinnati; and will also include Toronto; Milwaukee; Chicago (Chicago Theatre, March 21); Detroit; Atlantic City; and Washington, DC. Performers will include Kenny Wayne Shepherd; Marcus King; Christone Kingfish Ingram; Zakk Wylde; Eric Johnson; Devon Allman; Samantha Fish; David Hildago and Cesar Rosas from Los Lobos; Dweezil Zappa; Ally Venable; and Dylan Triplett.

Tickets are also available for Alejandro Escovedo’s April 4 and 5 shows at City Winery Chicago. In addition to his roots rock solo career, Escovedo found success as a member of Rank And File and True Believers.

Simple Minds has a U.S. tour starting in mid-May that will include a performance at Chicago’s Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island on June 20. Simple Minds are marking the 40th anniversary their Once Upon A Time album—featuring “Don’t You Forget About Me”—by releasing a nine-track digital edition. A physical version will be out later this year.

Singer-guitarist Gary Louris, who’s known for his work with The Jayhawks, as well as his solo efforts, has a gig coming up at The Old Town School Of Folk Music on March 28.