Slumgullion

Photo of Peter Tork from the Official Peter Tork Facebook page.

First, a salute to Peter Tork, who was born on this day in 1942, and left us in 2019. Far more than a funny character on The Monkees TV show, Tork was well known in the New York and Los Angeles music scenes even before he started acting, and went on to decades-long successful career. Happy Birthday, Peter. Keep Rocking In Paradise. 

Tickets are now on sale for Chicago-based singer-songwriter Rachel Drew’s A Tribute To Amy Winehouse taking place on April 28 at SPACE in Evanston. Drew will focus on Winehouse’s Back To Black album, and she’ll be supported by musicians John Szymanski; Michael Krayniak; Jason Batch; Kenn Goodman; and the Total Pro Horns. 

The Asbury Record Show, featuring LPs, 45s, CDs, and cassettes, will be held at the The Stone Pony venue in Asbury Park, NJ on March 1. The event’s Facebook page promises to feature vendors from all over the tri-state area. 

Nora O’Connor and Casey McDonough, two fifths of Chicago’s acclaimed band The Flat Five, have a 4:00 to 7:00 pm performance coming up on February 22 at Cary’s Lounge. Of course, O’Connor and McDonough are known for several other music projects as well. Cary’s Lounge is located at 2251 W. Devon on the city’s far north side.  

The Oddball Art Labs will celebrate its 13th anniversary with a Year13 Opening Reception from 6:00 to 9:00 pm on March 6 at the Side Street Studio in Elgin, IL. Oddball Art Labs is devoted to promoting the arts in Chicago area suburbs.

Decoy Prayer Meeting; Everly Hillbillies; Ian McKinley Band; Between Howls; and Rhythm And Twang will join together in a country and western/rockabilly flavored event on March 28 at Montrose Saloon on Chicago’s north side. The music starts at 6:30 pm.

Tickets are now on sale for the All The Feelings Tour with Metric, Broken Social Scene, and Stars. The tour kicks off on June 8 in Austin, TX, and will include a stop at the Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom in Chicago on July 24. Other cities include Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Boston, and Washington, D.C. 

International Pop Overthrow - Chicago doesn’t start until April 17, but we already know that The Spindles will perform in the 9:00 pm slot on April 24; and Trolley will have the 4:00 pm slot on April 19. Both acts posted their time slot information on their Facebook pages. And both have impressed with recently released albums.

The Bowery Palace in New York, NY will celebrate the late Clem Burke with several performers on March 25 and 26. Both nights are now sold out. Burke is best known for being Blondie’s drummer, and in recent years, he collaborated with several musicians on recordings and live performances. Guest performers at The Bowery Palace event will include Glen Matlock; Steve Wynn; Jesse Malin; Tommy Stinson; Kathy Valentine; Brix Smith; Linda Pitmon; Gail Greenwood; John Easdale; and Michael Giblin. 

The list of limited-edition vinyl offerings that will be available on April 18 for this year’s Record Store Day is now available on the official website. As always, there’s something for fans of just about every genre and era. If I had to pick a handful from the numerous worthy releases, they would be The Cars - Heartbeat City Live; The dB’s - Cycles Per Second: US Tour 2024; and XTC - Live Boots - Live At Emerald City 1981.

San Francisco-based author Richie Unterberger’s latest book, Do What You Fear Most: The History of the Velvet Underground, is due out via Omnibus Press on May 14 in the UK and in mid-June in America.

Three new dates have been added to the United States leg of the Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy Celebrate The 40th Anniversary Of R.E.M.’s Lifes Rich Pageant Tour. The first new gig is at Codfish Hollow Barnstormers, which sounds like a great name for a band but is actually a venue in Maquoketa IA. Next up is The Riviera Theatre on September 25 in Chicago; and finally, The Majestic in Detroit, MI on September 25. As with their other recent tours, Shannon and Narducy will be joined by Dag Juhlin, John Stirratt, Vijay Tellis Nayak and Jon Wurster.

It’s gratifying to see popular performers on Chicago’s club scene make the trek out to Arlington Heights for a gig at Hey Nonny. Singer-guitarist Phil Angotti, who’s well known on the city’s north side for his tributes to famous bands as well as for shows featuring his own material, will be at the venue on February 19. I believe it’s his second show there.

The first volume of an enhanced and fully rewritten edition of Doug Hinman’s 2004 book The Kinks - All Day And All Of The Night - The Day-By-Day Story Pt. 1: 1940 - 1971 is available to pre-order from Beatland Book and is expected to ship on February 20.

Fans who enjoyed the catchy rock Yipes! created on its 1979 and 1980 albums have reason to cheer now that the Milwaukee-based group has released the Irish Exit EP on its Bandcamp page. A brief note on the Yipes! Bandcamp page states the songs were “recorded during and after the last tours, always intended for the next album, but shit happens.” Regardless of the circumstances, the six songs on Irish Exit are energetic and fun.

Autographed copies of Joe Jackson’s new album Hope And Fury (due out April 10) are available for pre-order from TalkShopLive website. The offer is only available in the USA. Jackson’s extensive 2026 North America Tour kicks off on May 11 in Poughkeepsie, NY, and will include dates at Park West in Chicago on May 19 and 20. The European leg of his tour will start on September 24 in Cork, Ireland.

Pravda Records recording act The Handcuffs have their first gig of 2026 coming up on March 14 as part of a triple bill at Liar’s Club at on Chicago’s north side. The band will have guitarist Jeffrey Kmieciak—who made quite an impression on their Burn The Rails album—back on board after a two-year absence. The other bands performing with The Handcuffs on March 14 will be The Midnight Calls and The Kozmic Kids.

Ann Wilson from Heart recently posted on Facebook that Heart will have “new music, new shows, and new stories” to share with their fans in 2026. Sounds promising. Heart is the cover story for the winter issue of Goldmine magazine.

Liar’s Club will present a matinee double bill of psychedelic rockers Hushdrops and high energy instrumental band Outronaut on March 1. Music starts at 3:00 pm. Liar’s Club is located at 1655 W. Fullerton on Chicago’s north side.

The 10th annual My Sweet George George Harrison birthday celebration will take place on February 21 at Martyrs’ on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. Performers include Clar & Gigi Monaco; Sandalwood Sitar, Phil Angotti, New Heartaches, Black Friars Social Club, Torpedo Los, Pierce Crask, Frankie B, and The Amazing Johnsons. Organized by Ellis Clark and Ary Paloma, My Sweet George aims to celebrate Harrison’s music, and raise awareness for MusicCares.

The Lovin’ Spoonful have a 7-CD box set titled What A Day For A Daydream - The Complete Recordings 1965 - 1969 coming out on March 27 via Strawberry Records.

On February 20, PureSoul Presents will bring The Smiths cover band The Bomb That Will Bring Us Together to GMan Tavern. Just about a month later (March 19), PureSoul Presents will bring A Brief History Of R.E.M. to City Winery Chicago.

Deena Shoshkes and Jon Fried of the Hoboken, NJ band The Cucumbers have created another video for a song from the band’s new album As You Heard Me. “One Valentine’s Day” has a homespun, pretty arrangement, and clip’s simple graphics suit it well. As You Heard Me and Fried’s novella Hello, George work hand-in-hand, and were simultaneously released today. “One Valentine’s Day” is available to watch on YouTube.

The Smithereens have a show coming up on March 6 at The Des Plaines Theatre in Des Plaines, IL. Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill, who released the Long After The Fire album together in 2025, will join The Smithereens for that show.

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

Tickets are now on sale for an April 10 concert by long-time indie rock band Throwing Muses at Evanston SPACE in Evanston, IL. Led by vocalist-guitarist and acclaimed songwriter Kristen Hersh, the band has plenty of material to chose from, but might concentrate on songs from their 2025 album Moonlight Concessions.

Tim Thomas, editor-in-chief of the indie rock newspaper Second Scene, recently posted on Facebook that Issue #22 will likely be released late next week. He’s also “planning another special issue for the spring that will again feature art and, this time, short stories, poetry, photography, and lyrics by those who have been featured in previous issues.” Second Scene, which is available through its Bandcamp page, consistently sports an eye-catching layout, so it will be interesting to see what happens when he tosses in some art and literature.