Slumgullion

Electrifying performance. Photo from The Melismatics Facebook page.

Ravenswood Remix, which bills itself as Chicago’s Recycled Art Fair, takes place this Saturday and Sunday on Ravenswood and Belle Plaine Avenue, a few blocks north of Irving Park. The music lineup includes neo psychedelic rockers Secret Colours; quirky and fun indie rockers Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin; hard-hitting brother and sister duo White Mystery; and power pop band Archie Powell & The Exports, whose Great Ideas In Action is one of the best CDs of the year so far. There will also be workshops on art and recycling, food vendors, and artwork. Ravenswood Remix benefits local school art programs. 

Tickets are now on sale for the October 19th Tributosaurus Becomes The Beatles Vol. 5 show at the Copernicus Center on Chicago’s north side. The critically acclaimed tribute band will be performing the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour albums in their entirety. Five dollars from every ticket will go the Betty Hemmert Music Scholarship Fund At Rock For Kids. 

Season Seven of Doctor Who kicks off tomorrow night on BBC America. Apparently, there are only five episodes left with Amy and Rory Pond as The Doctor’s companions. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill have worked well with lead actor Matt Smith on camera, and it’s been fun seeing them hang out together at live promotional events. Check out the Nerdist site for a clip featuring the cast in a celebrity bowling match.

Serendipity, a local band comprised of five teenage girls, impressed the crowd at last Sunday’s rainy Palatine Downtown Street Fest with cover tunes that ranged from vintage Motown to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Later.” Serendipity also does its own songs and has a new CD out, called Too Young To Drive. The eight radio-ready tracks feature some catchy arrangements and inventive vocal interplay. The band members wrote some of the tracks themselves and had help from their producer on others, but it’s impressive this young group is already working on original material. That’s a bridge that too many bands on the outdoor festival circuit are afraid to cross. Serendipity plays the Schaumburg SeptemberFest on September 3rd at 5:30 PM.

Susanna Hoffs has announced tour dates in support of her new CD, Someday, and they include a stop at City Winery in Chicago on November 6th.

My nephew, Joe Flamm, was on Iron Chef  last Sunday as part of Stephanie Izard's (of Girl and The Goat restaurant fame) team as they challenged the show's virtually unbeatable Michael Symon. My wife Pam and I went to a get-together of family and friends at the Fado bar and restaurant downtown. We all watched the big screen TV and cheered every time Joe appeared. Unfortunately, Izard's team lost, but it was still a lot of fun. And I'm very proud of Joe. A short article about the show can be found on the Eater website. 

The Slide Rules, a band comprised of musicians Andy Stone, Dave Sebastian, Joe Betram, and Jeff Graham have a gig at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn on September 13th.

The new Illinois Entertainer is out, with my interview with Shoes about their first CD in 18 years, Ignition. I also have CD reviews of The Hollies’ Radio Fun and Metric’s Synthetica.

The Melismatics will be bringing their catchy synth rock music to the Double Door in Chicago on October 17th. Chicago based psychedelic/prog rockers Tomorrow The Moon, are also on the bill, along with Rococode and Kids And Explosions. 

I’ve been noticing some cryptic posts on the Pezband Facebook page. I’m hoping it means these power pop masters are recording new material.

The hard-edged power pop band Go Time! will be performing at Sylvie’s Lounge next Saturday, September 8th.

The Exotics, an instrumental band that includes guitarist Paul Wall from the power pop band Trolley, has a record release party for its new 45, “The Enchanted Interrogation Room” at Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall in Milwaukee next Friday.

Happy Birthday to Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze.

CD Review: Shoes - Propeller

The new Shoes CD, Ignition, is their first effort in 18 years. Here’s a look back at the band’s previous release, Propeller. This review ran in the Illinois Entertainer in 1994.

Propeller, Shoes’ first album since 1990’s Stolen Wishes, strongly suggests group members Gary Klebe, Jeff Murphy, and John Murphy, may never run out of variations on the power pop love song. The new release offers 12 examples of their ability to draw inspiration from the 1960s while crafting precise vocal harmonies and indelible melodies.

“Treading Water,” a catchy tribute to surviving hard times, evokes Revolver era Beatles, complete with some backward vocals on the chorus. The cello playing on the more sedate “In My Mind” helps convey the heartache of a man unable to cope with a broken relationship, while “If All I Had Was You” is set to a more playful arrangement. A pair of ballads, “The Last Of You” and “Slipping Through Your Fingers,” work well but seem a little mainstream for Shoes.

The harder-edged material works best, particularly “Tore A Hole” and “Never Ending.” The sensual “Animal Attraction” kicks off the CD with an energetic look at love at first sight. Propeller also benefits from the solid support of guest drummers Ric Menck of Velvet Crush and Mike Zelenko of Material Issue.    

CD Review: Shoes - Propeller

The new Shoes CD, Ignition, is their first effort in 18 years. Here’s a look back at the band’s previous release, Propeller. This review ran in the Illinois Entertainer in 1994.

Propeller, Shoes’ first album since 1990’s Stolen Wishes, strongly suggests group members Gary Klebe, Jeff Murphy, and John Murphy, may never run out of variations on the power pop love song. The new release offers 12 examples of their ability to draw inspiration from the 1960s while crafting precise vocal harmonies and indelible melodies.

“Treading Water,” a catchy tribute to surviving hard times, evokes Revolver era Beatles, complete with some backward vocals on the chorus. The cello playing on the more sedate “In My Mind” helps convey the heartache of a man unable to cope with a broken relationship, while “If All I Had Was You” is set to a more playful arrangement. A pair of ballads, “The Last Of You” and “Slipping Through Your Fingers,” work well but seem a little mainstream for Shoes.

The harder-edged material works best, particularly “Tore A Hole” and “Never Ending.” The sensual “Animal Attraction” kicks off the CD with an energetic look at love at first sight. Propeller also benefits from the solid support of guest drummers Ric Menck of Velvet Crush and Mike Zelenko of Material Issue.    

CD Review: Shoes - Propeller

The new Shoes CD, Ignition, is their first effort in 18 years. Here’s a look back at the band’s previous release, Propeller. This review ran in the Illinois Entertainer in 1994.

Propeller, Shoes’ first album since 1990’s Stolen Wishes, strongly suggests group members Gary Klebe, Jeff Murphy, and John Murphy, may never run out of variations on the power pop love song. The new release offers 12 examples of their ability to draw inspiration from the 1960s while crafting precise vocal harmonies and indelible melodies.

“Treading Water,” a catchy tribute to surviving hard times, evokes Revolver era Beatles, complete with some backward vocals on the chorus. The cello playing on the more sedate “In My Mind” helps convey the heartache of a man unable to cope with a broken relationship, while “If All I Had Was You” is set to a more playful arrangement. A pair of ballads, “The Last Of You” and “Slipping Through Your Fingers,” work well but seem a little mainstream for Shoes.

The harder-edged material works best, particularly “Tore A Hole” and “Never Ending.” The sensual “Animal Attraction” kicks off the CD with an energetic look at love at first sight. Propeller also benefits from the solid support of guest drummers Ric Menck of Velvet Crush and Mike Zelenko of Material Issue.    

CD Review: Shoes - Propeller

The new Shoes CD, Ignition, is their first effort in 18 years. Here’s a look back at the band’s previous release, Propeller. This review ran in the Illinois Entertainer in 1994.

Propeller, Shoes’ first album since 1990’s Stolen Wishes, strongly suggests group members Gary Klebe, Jeff Murphy, and John Murphy, may never run out of variations on the power pop love song. The new release offers 12 examples of their ability to draw inspiration from the 1960s while crafting precise vocal harmonies and indelible melodies.

“Treading Water,” a catchy tribute to surviving hard times, evokes Revolver era Beatles, complete with some backward vocals on the chorus. The cello playing on the more sedate “In My Mind” helps convey the heartache of a man unable to cope with a broken relationship, while “If All I Had Was You” is set to a more playful arrangement. A pair of ballads, “The Last Of You” and “Slipping Through Your Fingers,” work well but seem a little mainstream for Shoes.

The harder-edged material works best, particularly “Tore A Hole” and “Never Ending.” The sensual “Animal Attraction” kicks off the CD with an energetic look at love at first sight. Propeller also benefits from the solid support of guest drummers Ric Menck of Velvet Crush and Mike Zelenko of Material Issue.    

Time For A Refill

That’s me on the left in the Underground Garage cap. Willy Deal is center, and Jeff Kelley is on the right.

First a bit of business regarding the series of short videos called Pond Life that have been created to promote the upcoming season of Doctor Who. I mentioned these clips featuring the Amy and Rory Pond characters at home in last Friday’s Slumgullion but wasn’t sure where people could find them. Not too surprisingly I discovered they can be viewed on Nerdist, which is always a cool site for sci-fi fans to visit.

I spent a few hours last Saturday morning in a nearby forest preserve filming comedy bits that will be shown on Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff. The weekly Internet show has been on hiatus for a few months, but will return at the beginning of September. Host Jeff Kelley came up with an idea about me, him and Willy Deal stumbling into one mishap after another while lost in the woods. He had the basic scripts, but we improvised some things, and Willy and I each came up with a short skit on out own. It was a lot of fun, and I’m eager to see how they turned out. Our misadventures will appear on Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff over a number a weeks. 

In the meantime, I trying to come up with a new concept of my own for Jeff’s show. Over the past few years, I’ve done 21 episodes of Manchester Gallery, in which I portrayed the curator of a pop culture museum; played an inept roving reporter who always seemed to annoy Jeff; covered the arts on What’s With Terry?;  created a spoof of Breakfast With The Beatles called Hanging With The Hollies; and portrayed a cranky senior citizen on Old Days. Hopefully, the sketch comedy muse will visit me soon.

I’m also really interested in doing some short interviews with bands and musicians that would maybe include a live performance. The challenge would be finding the right time and place to do them. Jeff is always opened to new ideas for his show, so if you have something in mind, feel free to contact him at coffeewithjeff.gmail.com

CD Review: Ruby Free - Introducing Ruby Free

Ruby Free is a side project for Maple Mars singer-guitarist Rick Hromadka, on which he and his wife, vocalist Lisa Cavaliere, reflect on the simple life they lead on their California farm. The music on Introducing Ruby Free is dialed down a bit from the high-powered blend of power pop and progressive rock of Hromadka’s regular band, but it’s consistently melodic and steers clear of bucolic cliches. Plus, Hromadka, who wrote all 10 songs, covers a variety of subject matter.

The immediate comparison is to Paul and Linda McCartney’s 1971 album, Ram (minus the rampant silliness), especially on the easygoing “Deep In The Valley” and “Good Company.” There’s also a touch of vintage Graham Nash in these pleasant depictions of home life and relationships. Elsewhere, “Bongos And Beards” pays tribute to Beat Generation writers with an impossibly catchy chorus of “William, Al and crazy Jack/Launched a social heart attack.” The deceptively pretty and acoustic “Sonny And Cher” describes an exciting but short-lived romance. Cavaliere sings lead on the peppy and optimistic “Tiny Stars,” while the similarly energetic “Three Cheers For The Sun God” pokes fun at California culture. The hard-hitting “Wound Up Too Tight” offers a change of pace while evoking John Lennon’s post Beatles period.