Saturday Slumgullion

The David Bowie Estate’s plans for celebrating what would have been his 75th birthday include pop-up stores in New York City and London from October 25 through late January. According to a post on the official David Bowie Facebook page, both retail locations will feature immersive audio and HD video screening rooms, exclusive apparel, limited-edition LPs and CDs, and gallery installations. Fans will be able to don Bowie costumes and pose within set pieces for photos to be shared on social media. The New York City store is located at 150 Wooster Street; and the London store is at 14 Heddon Street, 41B, 4BZ.  Those of us who won’t be traveling to New York or London can order a variety cool things on the Bowie 75 website.

And if you’re counting, London now has Queen, Rolling Stones, and David Bowie retail stores.

The 50th anniversary edition of the Chicago Reader arrived in my mailbox yesterday, and I immediately decided it will be added to my library of favorite issues of the long-time free publication. I also have vintage copies of New City, Illinois Entertainer, Time Out, Matter, and several other local magazines and newspapers. The current issue offers, “A deep dive into how this city’s alt-weekly made it through five decades” and is a respectable 72 pages. A number of regular contributors offer essays on their tenure with the Chicago Reader. I’ve been subscribing to the paper since I started working from home, but it’s still available in boxes around the downtown area and on the north side.

Roger Dean, long known for his colorful and other-worldly album covers for Yes, Badger, Uriah Heep, and other prog and hard rock bands, is currently showcasing his art at The Owl Pass Exhibition at the Trading Boundaries venue in East Sussex in the U.K. Original paintings, drawings, and sketches, along with signed books and calendars, are available for sale.

The Power Pop Shoppe Showcase, a live performance extension of the Power Pop Shoppe show Kirk Fox hosts on radio station WNUR 89.3, will be coming to Montrose Saloon on Saturday, November 13. The three acts participating are Gal Gun Band, Golden Richards,  and The Dry Look.

The 10-inch vinyl version of Ringo Starr’s new four-song EP Change The World is now available on the Fest For Beatles Fans online store. The record includes “Let’s Change The World,” “Just That Way,” “Coming Undone,” and a cover of “Rock Around The Clock” featuring Joe Walsh on guitar. The EP is also available as a cassette, CD, and as a digital download. As always, the Fest For Beatles Fans online store is loaded with lots of cool Beatles merchandise.

Go Time, The Spindles, and Crown Vic Royal, three local acts that do a fine job of performing and recording original music, will be sharing the bill again at Q Bar Darien in Darien, IL next Friday night.

Susanna Hoffs has released a cover of Badfinger’s “Name Of The Game” as a new single that can be heard on Spotify or YouTube. The introspective ballad features The Bangles vocalist-guitarist performing with Aimee Mann. As revealed in an interview with Warren Huart on his Produce Like A Pro YouTube program, Hoffs has two albums on the way. One with all new material, and the other being a long-lost effort from 1999 that was recorded with Charlotte Caffey from The Go-Go’s and other musicians. For the full interview, check out the official Susanna Hoffs Facebook and Instagram sites.

The two new songs I’ve heard so far from Sting’s upcoming album The Bridge strongly suggest he’s at the top of his game. The light and clever “If It’s Love,” embraces inclusion and diversity, while “Rushing Water,” which I’ve been hearing on WXRT recently, feels more like vintage Police, with a hint of Squeeze.

Halloweekend, a beloved, two-night, multi-act, annual tribute festival, will be haunting Montrose Saloon this year on October 29 and 30. Tickets are $20 at the door. Montrose Saloon is located at 2933 W. Montrose Avenue on Chicago’s north side. See my 10-13 post for a more detailed profile.

The Go-Go’s have an interview and book signing event coming on October 29 at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland. The band has finally been inducted.

Nick Lowe’s Quality Rock And Roll Revue with Los Straitjackets comes to the Park West in Chicago on November 20. Other cities on the current U.S. tour include Austin, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Minneapolis.

Halloween Song: The B-52’s - “Planet Claire”

Back in 1979, there had never been a group quite like The B-52’s before. They were part of the punk movement but used a toy piano, fire alarm, and a walkie talkie along with standard rock instruments on their self-titled debut album. And their lyrics were consistently pure nonsense. Starting with a four-and-a-half-minute track on Side One about a fictional orb in a distant galaxy.

Opening with a lengthy instrumental passage that features eerie keyboards, “Planet Claire” introduces us to an unnamed alien who came from the title planet via a Plymouth Satellite she drives faster than the speed of light. Like all Clairelings, she doesn’t have a head, so it’s hard to imagine how she could see where she’s going. Then again, you could say the same thing about Earthlings who text while driving.

Vocalist Fred Schneider, who composed the song with drummer Keith Strickland, affects an appropriately silly tone throughout the song. Especially when he screams, “WELL SHE ISN’T” in response to speculation that the alien is “from Mars or one of the seven stars that shine after 3:30 in the morning.” Unlike other outer space invaders, this visitor from “Planet Claire” doesn’t appear to have any evil plans. She’s been partying here on Earth for three decades, and she might even be a Kardashian. 

Halloween Song: The Severed Limb - “The Severed Limb”

Somewhere around 2010, the London-based skiffle band The Severed Limb took its name from one of its best, and most unusual compositions. “The Severed Limb” is set to a bare bones rockabilly arrangement and spins a tale that starts scary, but turns out pretty funny. A guy hears a knock on his front door at 4:00 am and finds nothing more than “an arm and a hand all pale and thin” waiting to greet him. “It didn’t have a brain and it didn’t have a bum/Just a tattoo on the arm that said I love Mom.”

After letting itself in, the appendage decides to stay, and the guy learns to enjoy its company. The only drawback is the occasional obscene gesture the severed limb makes while playing poker or gin. “It makes the finger when it loses and makes a fist when it wins.” Listening to the homespun instrumentation and goofy backup vocals, it’s easy to picture The Severed Limb performing this song on a front porch while waiting for trick or treaters.

“The Severed Limb” is one of 14 tracks on a compilation titled Kill You And Bill You The Price Of The Bullet the band released in 2013. Other clever songs on the album include “Woo Eee Ha Ha!,” “Washing Machine Bop,” “Welcome To The Boneyard,” and “Are You Loathsome Tonight?”

Halloween Song: Phil Angotti - “I See Spaceships”

“I See Spaceships” might be the only rock song that simultaneously evokes The Byrds and The Who while spinning a tale of intergalactic visitors who love to party. Amazingly, this whirlwind of vintage rock from Phil Angotti’s recent Life And Rhymes CD was conjured by just three musicians: Angotti on guitars; Casey McDonough on bass; and Brad Elvis on drums. If you’re looking to create a Halloween playlist, you might want to sandwich this Roger McGuinn/Keith Moon homage between the lighthearted “Mr. Spaceman” by The Byrds and the more ominous “They Are Among Us” by The Redwalls.

“I’ll tell you my story but you won’t believe me,” Angotti predicts as the song kicks off. He goes on to describe how the little green men who crash-landed their saucer in his garden are now driving his car, and staying up late to party. Angotti, a 1960s fanatic, specifies that these Martians are listening to LPs (as opposed to streaming) and watching movies. They’re also often intoxicated, which might explain why their calls for help to their planet have gone unanswered. Maybe they keep dialing the wrong number. With all the rowdy behavior going on, it’s tempting to think Angotti’s homeowner is near-sighted and is really watching the neighborhood teenagers.

Whoever they are, this guy isn’t about to do a Clint Eastwood and tell them to get off his lawn. “I hope that they stay here, at least until Sunday,” Angotti sings. “I See Spaceships” has a rousing instrumental coda featuring Angotti, McDonough, and Brad Elvis, with a snippet of Orson Welles from his notorious War Of The Worlds radio broadcast layered on top.

You Be Me For A While - 2021

Halloweekend, the beloved, two-night, multi-act tribute festival, will take place at Montrose Saloon on October 29 and 30. This event has always featured local musicians delving into a variety of genres, but for 2021, the emphasis is on covering counter-culture acts. Friday night is especially adventurous, with Part-Time Lovers as The Ramones; The Statutes of Liberty as Velvet Underground; The Crayola Kids as The Wonder Stuff; Rachel Drew as White Stripes; Inspiral Parkas as Bauhaus; and Dream House as Siouxsie And The Banshees. 

On Saturday night, Amazing Heeby Jeebies take on The Cramps. The rest of Saturday’s tributes are more mainstream, but still well-chosen. The lineup features Green Thoughts as The Smithereens; Guns And Ammunition as Thin Lizzy; Phil Angotti and Casey McDonough as The Zombies; The Webstirs as Paul McCartney; and Androgynous Mustache as Billy Joel. Some of the performers’ names could be one-time pseudonyms for Halloweekend, but regulars of Chicago’s north side club scene will be familiar with Rachel Drew, Guns And Ammunition, Phil Angotti, Amazing Heeby Jeebies, The Webstirs, and Androgynous Mustache.

Each act takes its own approach, but Halloweekend is the most fun when the musicians go all out to look and sound like the artists they’re covering. I’ve enjoyed going to this event at various venues over the years, and this looks to be a particularly good one. Tickets are $20 at the door. Montrose Saloon is located at 2933 W. Montrose Avenue on Chicago’s north side. The festival starts at 8:30 pm each night, and it looks like each act will perform for about 30 minutes.

Halloween Song: David Bowie - “Cat People (Putting Out The Fire)”

Few songs have a more chilling intro than David Bowie’s “Cat People (Putting Out The Fire).”  Amidst a tribal drum beat and swirl of synthesizers Bowie sings, “See these eyes so green/I can stare for a thousand years” in a voice is so dark it’s impossible not to believe him. The theme from director Paul Schrader’s 1982 horror film, “Cat People (Putting Out The Fire)” is set to a guitar-driven arrangement crafted by veteran film composer Giorgio Moroder of Flashdance and Midnight Express fame.

Bowie’s lyrics are from the point of view of Irena and her brother Paul, played in the film by Natassia Kinski and Malcolm McDowell. They’re descendants of humans who mated with leopards centuries earlier. This causes them to turn into panthers during sex and they can’t return to human form without killing somebody.

Bowie’s music often featured fascinating characters, so he was the perfect choice to convey Irena and Paul’s tortured emotions. “Still this pulsing night/A plague I call a heartbeat/Just be still with me/Ya wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through.” Cat People tapped into long-held superstitions regarding felines and their mysterious nature. Even today, it’s a good idea to make sure black house cats are kept indoors on Halloween to prevent deranged people from hurting them.

Halloween Song: ANC4 - “The Man Who Is Afraid Of Everything”

In yesterday’s post about Little Steven Van Zandt’s Halloween A Go-Go compilation, I noted that a few tracks weren’t really that frightening. Which proves (at least in my opinion and obviously Little Steven’s) that it’s okay to finesse your Halloween party playlist as long you have enough ghosts, witches, monsters, and other paranormal creatures lurking throughout most of it. Just make sure your occasional non-creepy tune relates to the playlist in a clever sort of way.

“The Man Who Is Afraid Of Everything,” by ANC4, is a good example. Like the other 15 tracks on the Swedish band’s recent Strange Tide album, this is supremely done power pop. It’s similar to XTC’s “I’m The Man Who Murdered Love,” not only in its title but also with its catchy arrangement. As for lyrics, “The Man Who Is Afraid Of Everything,” brings to mind that classic bit in A Charlie Brown Christmas when Lucy Van Pelt suggests Charlie Brown might have pantophobia.

“I need to know what’s wrong with me,” the title character admits at the start of this guitar-driven song, adding, “I’m always scared of something.” He doesn’t offer specifics, other than his constant fear is embarrassing. Think about dropping this tune between Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper” and Henry Mancini’s “Experiment In Terror,” and you’re sure to impress your party guests with your eclectic taste in music.