The New Trocaderos - Thrills And Chills

The recent release of Thrills And Chills signals the evolution of a side project into its own entity. Formed by Brad Marino and Geoff Palmer from The Connection, and Kurt Baker of The Kurt Baker Band in 2013, The New Trocaderos specialize in fast-paced songs mix punk with 1960s Top 40. That formula is in full swing on this full-length debut, which also features new additions keyboards player-harmony vocalist Kris “Fingers” Rodgers and drummer Rick Orcutt. Adding to the fun, Kim Shattuck from The Muffs; Line Cecilie Dahlmann from The Dahlmanns; and Palmyra Delran, who performed with The Friggs before embarking on her current solo career, add backup vocals on some of the tracks. 

The songs were written by, or written with the album’s co-producer Michael Chaney (Dean Baltulonis is the other producer) and mostly deal with hard drinking and troubled romances. “What The Hell Did I Do” adds Beatles style “bop do wop” singing to an energetic tale of a guy trying to piece together what happened on the previous night. When Marino boasts “I got the swagger” on “I'm So Bad,” the band uncorks a “Honky Tonk Woman”-inspired arrangement to back him up. 

Guest musicians Nick Mainella and Chris Klaxton add horns to the energetic and foreboding tale “Hey Big Boy,” which also benefits from Rodger’s freewheeling piano playing. In contrast to the hard-edged “Love And Hate” and “Oh Boy (Today Is My Birthday),” the jangling pop of “Crazy Little Fool” evokes The Hollies. “Like An Angel,” a charming song well-suited for weddings, has a gorgeous vocal arrangement and “Love Anymore” adds yet another dimension as The New Trocaderos do some finger-snapping street corner harmonizing.

Step Right Up

It's encouraging to see positive comments already showing up in response to a Facebook post I did earlier today about the Rock And Roll Memorabilia Yard Sale I'm having this Saturday, September 26th. The hours are 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and my address is 35 E. Slade in Palatine. Everything will be marked at $1 or less. I've searched through boxes, shelves, and cabinets throughout our house and come up with several items that I'm going to sell. Some of them reluctantly, particularly at that price. But I've collected so many things, and a lot of them have been packed away for years. It was time to decide which ones I really treasure and which ones might be better appreciated by other collectors.

As far as I know, nothing at the Yard Sale will be amazingly valuable, although you never how much someone would be willing to pay for stuff on eBay, or at conventions like Fest For Beatles Fans or the CHIRP Record Fair And Other Delights. When it comes to vinyl (I'll have LPs and 45s), some aficionados are only interested in mint-condition grooves. Most of my vinyl is in pretty good shape, and the artists tend toward classic rock, new wave, 1960s, and power pop. Nothing from the current Top 40.

I'll also have cassettes, books, trading cards, magazines, and buttons. The magazines include vintage issues of Rolling Stone and Mojo, and one each from Spin, Circus, The Story Of Pop, The Face, Crawdaddy, and Creem. I have rock publications from around the country and a few from Europe. The best deals might be on the books since they all cost me quite a bit more than a dollar. Most are a rock history type of thing, but there are a few novels and biographies.

The CDs are a mix of well-known acts like U2, The Byrds, and Big Star, along with lesser-known and local acts, plus one-time only releases that came attached to a magazine.  The magazine CDs are mostly tribute compilations to a particular act or iconic album. There are also some oldies compilations. I have a few cassettes of my own, along with a bounty that was recently given to me by an acquaintance. The cassettes include Heart, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Rickie Lee Jones. 

I'm also going to have promotional items like festival programs, handbills, and mailers. I seriously considered simply giving them away to whoever wanted one, but that might raise the issue of why some things at the Yard Sale cost money and others don't. So all the paper souvenirs that I got for free will be offered for a quarter apiece. Think of it as a service charge. Even if nobody buys any, I think people will have fun checking them out since some are from decades ago. In addition to all the pop culture for sale, I might sneak a few standard garage sale things out just in case some non-rock and roll bargain hunters stop by.

By the way, if you come out to Palatine for the Rock And Roll Memorabilia Yard Sale, you might want to drop by the Craft Beer And Bacon Festival 2015 that's being held at Tap House Grill just down the street from me. In addition to food and over 100 craft beers, there is also going to be live music.

Sunday Papers

Photo from the Squeeze Facebook page.

I just received the copy of Cradle To The Grave I pre-ordered from the Squeeze website. It's the band's first official release of new material in 17 years, not counting the Arse About Face demo EP that Squeeze sold at its concerts in 2012. Cradle picks up two songs from that release; "Top Of The Form" and "Honeytrap." I'll be posting a full review in the near future, but my first impression is that this is a collection light and catchy songs with harmony vocals that capture the classic Squeeze sound. Squeeze has a pair of shows coming up on November 27 and 28 at the Park West in Chicago.

Just in time for the holiday gift-giving season. As reported in this past Thursday's Chicago Tribune and on Terri Hemmert's Breakfast With The Beatles program this morning on WXRT, there's a mind-blowing sound and vision repackaging of The Beatles' 1 album coming out in early November. The concept involves matching each chart-topping hit with a short promotional film created by The Beatles around the same time. The 27 tracks will be in new stereo and surround-sound mixes. There's a deluxe version that comes with over 200 minutes of Beatles promotional clips and a 124-page, illustrated hardcover book.

In yesterday's Saturday Slumgullion, I mentioned Chicago's upcoming Chi-Town Rising New Year's Eve festival without passing judgment on its rather smarmy name. Chicago Tribune columnist Mark Caro didn't hold back; asking on Facebook, "Can any self-respecting Chicagoan really embrace something called Chi-Town Rising?" His followers responded overwhelmingly against the name, with at least one suggesting that it was the clueless work of an out-of-state ad agency. Makes you wonder if instead of the ball dropping, the countdown to 2016 will involve a giant deep-dish pizza.

The work of three of rock and roll's best photographers, Pattie Boyd, Henry Diltz, and Carinthia West, will be featured in the Visions Of A Magic Time - Iconic Photos of the 60s and 70s exhibit that recently opened at the Hilton / Asmus Foto gallery on Wells Street in Chicago. It runs through October 30th.

As I mentioned on Facebook a while back, I'm going to have a Rock and Roll Memorabilia Yard Sale next Saturday, September 26 from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Everything will be priced as $1 or under, and that includes CDs, 45s, LPs, cassettes, buttons, books, trading cards, greeting cards, magazines, and numerous other rock-related items. My address is 35 E. Slade in Palatine (about a five-minute walk from Durty Nellie's) so come on by to say hello and maybe pick up a few fun items. I'll do another post in a few days with more details on what I'll have for sale.

And don't forget, Minstrel Palooza is going on right now in Palatine at Durty Nellie's. See yesterday's Saturday Slumgullion for more info on that event.

Saturday Slumgullion

EXPO CHGO, The International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art, continues through tomorrow at Navy Pier. The $20 admission price is more than you'll pay at the outdoor art events like Old Town and Gold Coast, but I was at EXPO CHGO for a couple hours today and it offers a lot of imaginative and thought-provoking pieces in a massive hall.

Cool for cats. The third annual Chicago Internet Cat Video Festival is happening today at the Athenaeum Theatre on Chicago's north side. Offering 75 minutes of carefully selected clips of feline hijinx, the event benefits for Chicago Cat Rescue and Tree House Humane Society. One showing was at 4:30 PM, but you might still have time to catch the other at 8:00 PM. Admission is $15 - $20.

It's Happening again. UB40 featuring Ali Castro, Mickey Virtue, and Astro (as opposed to another version of UB40 that is also on tour) has a gig tonight at the Concord Music Hall. UB40 is probably best know for its reggae take on Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine," but was actually more impressive on songs like "If It Happens Again" and a couple of collaborations with Chrissie Hynde.
  
Chrissie Hynde's long-awaited autobiography Reckless: My Life As A Pretender is now available online and at bookstores, and if the press is any indication, it's as provocative and entertaining as you'd expect. I'd love to see her do some personal appearances in Chicago to promote it.

According tp Richard Channick's article in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago will soon launch a massive campaign to promote the first ever Chi-Town Rising New Year's Eve celebration. Inspired by New York's famous shindig in Times Square, the privately funded Chi-Town Rising will entice visitors to the downtown area with live entertainment, fireworks, and an illuminated star rising to the top of a building in synch with an official countdown to 2016.

The full schedule for Minstrel Palooza Live! 2015, a seven-hour party honoring the long-standing Minstrel Music store in Niles, has been posted on the event's Facebook page. Cliff Johnson, Van Go, and Mike Galassini among the 12 acts scheduled to perform. It all takes place tomorrow, September 20 at Durty Nellie's in Palatine. 

Minstrel Palooza Live! 2015

Minstrel Palooza Live! 2015, a seven-hour party honoring the long-standing Minstrel Music store in Niles, takes place this Sunday, September 20 at Durty Nellie’s in Palatine. There is no admission charge for this all-ages show, which starts at 2:00 PM. The hard-hitting power pop band Van Go, and Mike Galassini, a one-time Minstrel Music owner and member the power pop bands The Valley Downs and 92 Degrees, are among the dozen acts scheduled to perform. Van Go, The Valley Downs, and 92 Degrees have performed at International Pop Overthrow - Chicago several times and have released impressive albums. Cliff Johnson, of Off Broadway, Pezband, USSA, and d'Thumbs fame, is slated to make a special guest appearance.

HitLoraine will reunite with its original late-1970s lineup, including former Minstrel Music owner, singer-guitarist Dave Sebastian. Other acts on board are The Guy Adonis Experience; Small Fortune; Cracked Actor; Since 1892; Maltece; Scott Jenson and the Beatles tribute band Blackbird; Jim Wiora; Mark Baker; and Wheels. Although these are not household names, the various musicians involved have a long history of working on the Chicago music scene and are all in some way connected to Minstrel Music. Hopefully, Minstrel Palooza Live! 2015 will spark that same sense of camaraderie that happens at the best IPO - Chicago showcases.   

For a detailed history of Minstrel Music over the years, click on the About page on the Minstrel Palooza Live! 2015 Facebook page.

For The Record, This Is A Great Event

If I ever make it out to California for a vacation again, I hope there’s a Wild Honey Foundation event going on at the time. These people have hit upon a terrific formula of bringing cool musicans together to do cool things to help very worthy causes. In the past, Wild Honey has gathered some of alternative rock and power pop’s brightest stars to perform Beatles or Big Star albums in order to raise money for autism research and a children’s music fund. On October 8, the foundation will present a Help John Wicks Beat Cancer! show at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles.

Wicks helped found the British power pop band The Records, who had a hit with their impossibly catchy single “Starry Eyes” back in the late 1970s. They also did the very fun “Teenarama.” In more recent years, Wicks has worked with Debbi Peterson of The Bangles as a duo called Broken Sky, and recorded the magnificent power pop fantasy “That Girl Is Emily” with The Records.

Unfortunately, Wicks is now battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer by enduring extensive chemo therapy. The Facebook page for this event notes that he’s making good progress. But he’ll need a lot of help with medical bills, which is why The Bangles; Denny Laine of Wings and The Moody Blues; Al Stewart of “Year Of The Cat” fame; Peter Case from The Nerves and The Plimsouls; The Muffs; and The Kennedys are coming to his aid. The Wild Honey Orchestra and Singers, with special guests, will also be on hand. Chris Chris Carter, host of radio station KLOS’ Breakfast With The Beatles program, will serve as the host. Tickets for Help John Wicks Beat Cancer! are $40 for General Admission and there’s a VIP package for $100.

Saturday Slumgullion

Eleventh Dream Day, the long-running and critically acclaimed Chicago alt-rock band, is the headliner tonight at City Made Fest in the Andersonville neighborhood. 

The Hypocrites have picked up positive reviews in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times of their scaled-down version of Green Day's American Idiot. It runs through October 25 at The Den Theatre on Milwaukee Avenue. Tickets range from $28 to $36.

Mary-Arrchie Theatre kicks off its 30th and final season this week with a production of the Peter Morris two-performer play Guardians. It’s a hard-edged look at war-time atrocities.  

WXRT Program Director Norm Winer will be honored with a Fifth Star Award from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs during a ceremony on Wednesday, September 16 at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Winer has been guiding the progressive rock station for over 35 years. The event is free and will include performances by Sandra Delgado and Reginald Robinson; Steppenwolf Theatre; Sweet Honey In The Rock; NTO (Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra) and the WXRT All Stars featuring Kelly Hogan, Frank Orrall, JC Brooks and Jimmy Chamberlin; and The Joffrey Ballet Exelon Strobel Step-Up Dancers.

City Winery Chicago will present Behind The Lens with Photographers Henry Diltz and Pattie Boyd this coming Wednesday, September 16. This qualifies as an official event of A Hollies Summer In Chicago since Diltz did a fantastic photo shoot with The Hollies in 1966, and took the iconic cover shot for Crosby, Stills and Nash’s debut album. He also did the cover of The Doors’ Morrison Hotel, and has worked with some of rock’s biggest stars. Boyd wrote about her marriages to George Harrison and Eric Clapton in her book Wonderful Tonight, and is also a successful photographer. Tickets for the City Winery show range from $28 to $36.

The Doctor Who-themed A Fandom Tea Party is being sponsored by the Ladies Night group from 6:00 to 8:00 PM next Wednesday, September 16 at Graham Cracker Comics at 77 E. Madison. Ladies Night group of female sci-fi/ comic nerds that usually meets at the store on the first Wednesday of each month and encourages women to “bring comics you are reading or creating, swap stories and share recommendations.” A Fandom Tea Party that will feature free tea samples and baked goods.

Great Moments In Vinyl, a collection of some of Chicago's best-know musicians who perform tributes to entire albums, will cover Cheap Thrills by Big Brother And Holding Company and Janis Joplin's Pearl next Wednesday night at Martyrs' on Lincoln Avenue.

The Milwaukee-based power pop band Trolley will be showcasing songs from its upcoming release Caught In The Darkness while performing on tour with Irish alt-rockers Pugwash. That tour includes a September 17 show at 27 Live in Evanston. In a recent email, Trolley frontman Paul J. Wall described Pugwash as having an "XTC, ELO, Beach Boys and Beatles style." Pugwash’s new release, Play This Intimately (As If Among Friends) came out yesterday, and the 27 Live gig will be the band's first journey to Illinois. 

I took a short break from slaving over this column to check out An Art Affair Around The Square here in Palatine. It's always a much smaller art fest than the ones in Chicago, but I did come across an interesting artist and a pair of photographers that I've haven't seen before. Fred Larucci creates a wide range of work as part of The Night Gallery, including portraits of Jimmy Stewart, Don Knotts, Madonna, Adam Ant, various monsters, and characters from Twin Peaks, Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead. He also does a very realistic series of coins. Dale and Gail Horn are the photographic artists/owners of the Destiny Photographic Art  company, and offer striking photographic images from around the world on metal. An Art Affair Around The Square also runs tomorrow.

The Facebook page for Minstrel Palooza Live 2015 promises that more than a dozen bands will take part in a seven-hour celebration of the Minstrel Music store next Sunday, September 20 at Durty Nellie’s in Palatine. The actual lineup of bands (starting at 2:00 PM) remains shrouded in mystery other than the recent announcement that hard-hitting/satirical power pop band Van Go is now slated to go on at 5:00 PM instead of 4:00 PM. Minstrel Music has been serving musicians for several years in Niles, Illinois.

A number of years ago, I performed in a musical satire about Barbie, staged by the Famous In The Future comedy group, written by and starring my fellow group member Desiree Burcum. My part was a Dapper Dan doll who had an unrequited obsession with the statuesque fashionista, and we had a duet that proved I don't have a ounce of musical talent. (Although I did write the lyrics to that song.) Hopefully, there will be no Dapper Dan crooning at the Carson Roberts Department Store Kenvention 2015, which takes place next Thursday through Saturday at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel in Rosemont, IL. Over 30 dealers will be offering Barbie, Ken, and other dolls, along with assorted fashion accessories.