Every Vision Tells A Story

Three well-known photographers join forces in the Visions Of A Magic Time - Iconic Photographs of the Music and Culture of the 60s and 70s exhibit currently running at the Hilton / Asmus Foto gallery just north of downtown in Chicago. Pattie Boyd, Henry Diltz, and Carinthia West each lived within the inner circle of rock superstars and Hollywood performers, as opposed to being outside observers. They are also highly skilled at their craft, which results in images that exude a casual, friendly vibe while still qualifying as art.

Three of the photos Henry Diltz took (for Crosby, Stills and Nash; The Eagles; and James Taylor) would become world-famous album covers. Diltz also captured live performance shots of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin at Woodstock, and years later, Nirvana at the Los Angeles Forum. His sensitive portraits of Joni Mitchell and Mama Cass Elliott display yet another aspect of his talent.

Actress/model/photographer Pattie Boyd wrote about her marriages to George Harrison and Eric Clapton in her book Wonderful Tonight, and her photography provides insight into her lives with them as well. Two of her photos were taken during the time The Beatles spent meditating with Maharishi Maresh Yogi in India. There's a shot of Clapton relaxing in what Boyd describes as "an unmemorable hotel somewhere in America" from his 1974 tour, as well as a self portrait Boyd took with Harrison in their rose garden in 1968.

Carinthia West hung out with The Rolling Stones, Keith Moon, Carly Simon, and several other famous musicians while working as an actress and journalist, and she was also close friends with Helen Mirren and Anjelica Huston. Her photos of Robin Williams, Mick Jagger with Linda Ronstadt, and Neil Young have an amiable, off-kilter appeal. She also took shots of the inflatable pig Pink Floyd set floating past the Battlesea Power Station for their Animals album. (The actual cover was photographed by Hipgnosis.)

Most of the pieces at the exhibit are accompanied by a short, printed backstory from the photographer. Diltz reveals how he and the members of The Doors ran inside to get a photo at the Morrison Hotel in L.A. after they had been told by the desk clerk that they would need permission from the owner to take photographs there. Boyd snapped a shot of George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Klaus Voorman, Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner, and Jim Horn at lawyer Abe Somer's home for a possible future Harrison album cover. West and her friend Rory Flynn (Errol Flynn's daughter) often attended the weekly football (soccer to Americans) matches Rod Stewart would organize for members of The Who, The Rolling Stones, and The Faces.

Visions Of A Magic Time runs through October 30 at the Hilton / Asmus Foto gallery, located at 716 N. Wells.

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A hearty welcome to The Zombies, who are in the Chicago area tonight for a show at the Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, Indiana. In addition to classic hits like "Tell Her No," "She's Not There," and "Time Of The Season," the band will also likely tap into its brand new album Still Got That Hunger. Also, congratulations to Boston-based filmmaker Justin Fielding on snagging an interview with The Zombies for his upcoming documentary The Power Pop Movie.

In this past Wednesday's post, I noted that Bric-a-Brac Records on Diversey is the only Chicago store listed on the official Cassette Store Day website. I have since learned that Laurie's Planet Of Sound on Lincoln Avenue will also be participating in Cassette Store Day, which returns for its third year, tomorrow. And they will have copies of The Handcuffs' All The Way From Chicago tape.

Graham Nash will be at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland tonight for the opening of his Touching The Flame exhibit. In addition to sharing amazing pieces from his collection like a test pressing of "Fool On The Hill" by The Beatles and Phil Everly's acoustic guitar,  Nash will also be reflecting on the ways rock music has shaped modern history.

Mary-Arrchie Theatre has three more performances of director Arianna Soloway's production of the Peter Morris play Guardians this weekend before moving on to Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, which will be directed by Neo-Futurists founding director Greg Allen. The hard-edged, critically acclaimed Mary-Arrchie Theatre is looking to raise 30 thousand dollars via its 30 For 30 Campaign to help fund its 30th and final year season.

Garbage in, Garbage rocks. The band Garbage will be performing hits like "Stupid Girl" and "I'm Only Happy When It Rains" tomorrow night at the Riviera Theatre, as part of its 20 Years Queer tour. 

I've been in a rock and roll film mode this week, starting with a visit to the Palatine Public Library this past Tuesday for a showing of the Brian Wilson biopic Love And Mercy. The film might disappoint some Beach Boys fans because rather than being a wall-to-wall presentation of the band's live performances, it's an emotional study of Wilson's struggles during two separate times in his life. There are impressive performances by Paul Dano and John Cusack as Wilson. At a time when strong roles for women in film are hard to find, Elizabeth Banks makes the most of that opportunity, particularly in her confrontations with Paul Giamatti as Wilson's ruthless manager.

A few days later, I watched a DVD of Lambert And Stamp, the story of how Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp decided to make a documentary about themselves managing The Who in the band's earliest days. The vintage footage of London, its teeming club scene, and The Who in performance is amazing. Plus, the modern day interviews with Stamp, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltry, and others are enlightening and frequently hilarious. Now I just need to watch that Charlie Is My Darling Rolling Stones documentary that I just brought home from the Palatine Library.

In other Pete Townshend news, he's releasing a series of large format, signed prints called The Seeker through the high-classed Genesis Publications. If you buy all 12 (and you'd need a lot money to do that) Genesis will hook you up with a complimentary archival case. 

Palatine High School is staging Steampunk Romeo And Juliet tonight and tomorrow night in the school's Altergott Auditorium, located at 1111 N. Rohlwing Road in Palatine. Tickets are $5 for students, $7 for adults.

The Cure for your summertime blues. The Cure sold out its June 10, 2016 show with The Twilight Sad at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, and added an additional concert on June 11.

Stories Of The Macabre, a selection of scary tales from Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving, Saki, and W.W. Jacobs performed by The Guild Theater, opens tonight at the Leela Arts Center in Des Plaines and runs through Halloween night.

Elvis Costello will be in town on November 3 to discuss his new book Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink at the Chicago Humanities Festival. The festival's associate artistic director Alison Cuddy will be joining Costello in the Diane and David B. Heller Auditorium at Francis B. Parker school, 2233 N. Clark Street. 

The bass-slinging Galassini brothers will be unleashed when Van Go and the Valley Downs share a double bill on Saturday, November 7 at The Gallery Cabaret in Chicago. Lou is a bassist-vocalist with Van Go; Mike is a bassist-vocalist with the Valley Downs. Both bands are long-time participants of International Pop Overthrow - Chicago, and have a wealth of catchy original power pop to offer. 

Joe Algeri, the wildly ambitious and globally connected power pop musician from Australia, has yet another project going. He's half of the 1980s/90s-inspired duo The Outryders with Paul Colombini. Their debut of single of the Colombini-penned "Over The Scars" and "Look At What You've Done"  features guest musicians Herb Eimerman (Joe's mate in The Britannicas) and Mark "Sid" Eaton. I'll post a review of this single in the near future. 

When the annual Halloweekend vagabond festival rises up on October 30 and 31 from the High Hat Club on Irving Park Road in Chicago, it will manifest another collection of local bands paying tribute to famous rock and roll acts. The Friday lineup has Ellis Clark as Velvet Underground; The Webstirs as Devo; Metropolly as The Breeders; I Lost Control as The Cramps; and Josh Lava as Rufus Wainwright. On Halloween night, you'll find Joel Patterson masquerading as ZZ Top; Decoy Prayer Meeting as Echo And The Bunnymen; Charlie Short as Big Star; Phil Angotti as The Turtles; and Androgynous Mustache ad Joan Jett. I've seen most of these local acts at past Halloweekend events, and they always put on a good show. 

Veruca Salt - Ghost Notes

Back in the 1990s, Veruca Salt, along with Material Issue, Liz Phair, and Urge Overkill convinced the rest of the world that Chicago had a vibrant music scene. Of course, it was something rock music fans who live here had known for decades. Internal feuding caused Veruca Salt to shatter within three years of releasing its debut American Thighs, although a new version of the band carried on a bit longer. Earlier this year, the original lineup of Nina Gordon, Louise Post, Steve Lack, and Jim Shapiro reunited for some highly regarded live shows in town and released Ghost Notes, their first album together since 1997's Eight Arms To Hold You.

Produced by Brad Wood, who also played a major role in Chicago's emergence in the 1990s, Ghost Notes finds these four musicians operating at full power. The hard-hitting first single, "Laughing In The Sugar Bowl," grabs the listener's attention from its incendiary opening line and proceeds with quick-fire rhymes set to a catchy melody.  "The Gospel According To Saint Me" finds Veruca Salt tapping into The Rolling Stones, while "Black And Blonde" sports a massive, psychedelic stomp. Singer-guitarists Gordon and Post effectively weave their voices together throughout; from the hushed approach on "Empty Bottle" to the full-on rage of "Triage."

Veruca Salt uses a start-slow-then-explode approach a lot on Ghost Notes, but also creates the moodier "Prince Of Wales," and "Lost To Me" is all the more powerful for its stark arrangement. The arresting imagery of "The Museum Of Broken Relationships" places it just down the street from Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel." "Come Clean, Dark Thing" takes a more optimistic view of the world than the other tracks here, as Gordon and Post sing, "You can breathe the air again/And care again." 

If You Rewind, They Will Come

Cassette Store Day returns for its third year this Saturday, October 17, in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and America. It still hasn't caught on nearly as well as Record Store Day, and appeals mostly to indie rock fans. Green Day, The Blank Tapes, and Poster Children are about the only nationally known names on the list of American artists releasing limited edition tapes. Still, it’s likely that each act involved has a loyal following. There are also a number of various artists compilations; which speaks to the enduring popularity of mixed tapes.

The Handcuffs are veterans of the Chicago club scene, and have landed a number of their catchy indie rock songs on some of TV’s hippest shows. They're offering a special Cassette Store Day release called All The Way From Chicago that will include 10 carefully chosen tracks from their trio of CDs, plus a cover of Mott The Hoople's "All The Way From Memphis." There’s no option for colored vinyl in this format, but the cassette will feature a portrait of lead vocalist Chloe F. Orwell by Swiss artist Mark Staff Brandl on cover, and include a Handcuffs baseball card. It's also available from the Semi-Pro Records Bandcamp site.

Bric-a-Brac Records, at 3156 W. Diversey, is the only Chicago store shown on the Cassette Store Day website. An employee at Reckless Records on Madison downtown told me today they might get in a few releases. Give your favorite record store a call and ask if they're participating. 

Just to give you an idea of how they celebrate Cassette Store Day in London, the Lion Coffee + Records venue will have live music from the fittingly named band Island Cassettes (who'll be releasing their Dungarees cassette) and DJ sets from Jen Long, Mairead Luv (you can't get more English than that), Dead Air, Rockfeedback, and others. As far as UK cassettes, The Kaiser Chiefs will be offering a special version of their Education Education Education And War album. Other selections include All That May Happen by Emile's Telegraphic Transmission Device, Primary Colours by Now Wakes The Sea, and This Frequency Of Light Is All I Know by Jargo. 

Groovy Tuesday

Good vibrations coming our way tomorrow.

Keep the party going. Singer-guitarist Pat DiNizio threw a birthday party for himself this past Saturday, with a guest list that included Marshall Crenshaw, Suzanne Vega, The Grip Weeds, Garland Jeffries, Southside Johnny, members of The Hooters, and his own band The Smithereens. In addition to celebrating another year, the event was a fundraiser to help DiNizio pay medical bills from recent emergency surgery he had on his right arm and hand.

Now, a friend of his, Victor Erlanger, aims to extend that giving spirit via a Pat DiNizio Go Fund page. DiNizio recently posted an eloquent message on The Smithereens website regarding Erlanger's effort and why he has chosen to support it. I won't try to paraphrase what DiNizio wrote, but I will add that DiNizio and The Smithereens have always played hearts out onstage andinteract with fans afterward with genuine affection. This would be a great opportunity for those fans to give something back.

Bright and early. Nobody could ever accuse WXRT morning man Lin Brehmer of jumping on the 2015 Chicago Cubs bandwagon. He was onboard long before this season had wheels; hosting his annual Opening Day Broadcast last April, and conferring with Cubs broadcaster Len Kasper on the twice-weekly feature Len And Lin. Brehmer and XRT morning news anchor Mary Dixon will be broadcasting their morning show (which starts at 5:30 AM) from Wrigley Field tomorrow.

No doubt the Cubs' homer-fueled win over the St. Louis Cardinals tonight will add a healthy dose of euphoria as Brehmer and Dixon welcome special guests and give away tickets to Game 4 of the series, which takes place tomorrow afternoon at Wrigley Field. As The Smithereens once sang, it will be a "Groovy Tuesday."

Palatine Public Library: For all your rock and roll needs. When I dropped by our local library recently to pick up the Lambert And Stamp DVD I had on hold (it's the story of how Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp managed The Who in the band's early days), I noticed there will be a free showing of the Brian Wilson biopic Love And Mercy tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 6:30. I've been able to enjoy a number of CDs and DVDs thanks to the Palatine Library, some of which have wound up being reviewed here on Broken Hearted Toy.

A new supergroup. I've recently posted here about the upcoming Graham Nash Touching The Flame exhibit at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland, and the Pattie Boyd, Henry Diltz and Carinthia West Visions Of A Magic Time exhibit at the Hilton / Asmus Contemporary gallery in Chicago. Diltz has posted a link on his Facebook page to the upcoming An Evening With Bernstein Diltz And Nash show on October 28 at The Roxy Hotel in New York. Subtitled Three defining visionaries of American Culture, the evening will feature photographers Diltz and Joel Bernstein and Nash (who is a critically acclaimed photographer in addition to his music career) in a one-hour big screen presentation and meet and greet with fans. It sure would be nice to see this show come to Chicago.

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Sing along with a Simple Man. One of the numerous interesting things going on at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's soon to open exhibit Graham Nash - Touching The Flame will be an opportunity to harmonize with the twice-inducted singer-songwriter. Nash will critique each guest vocalist's effort. That sounds like a dream come true for those who can actually sing, but I would be devastated by the sight of Nash holding his ears while I struggled through "Marrakesh Express."

On the more serious side, Touching The Flame hopes to illustrate how rock music has "shaped the world and inspired some of history's most powerful leaders." Nash will serve as narrator and display a number of artifacts from his collection, including test pressings of "Love Me Do,' "Please Please Me," and "Fool On The Hill" by The Beatles; the lyrics from "Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)," handwritten by Bob Dylan; Phil Everly's acoustic guitar; and a Joni Mitchell painting of Nash with their cat Calico.

A quote from Nash on the RRHOF website explains what he's hoping to achieve with the exhibit. "What I would like you to get out of this exhibit, is to know, no matter who you are, if you want to open your heart to express yourself, do it energy, do it with passion." He'll be at the Hall on Friday, October 16 to celebrate the exhibit's opening with a special performance and a book signing for his autobiography Wild Tales - A Rock And Roll Life.

Sports and music fans in Chicago have plenty to cheer about these days. The Cubs made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2008 (although they lost their first game against the St. Louis Cardinals tonight) and two of the city's best-known bands have been nominated for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Cheap Trick and Chicago, along with The Cars, Janet Jackson, Deep Purple, The Smiths, Chaka Khan; Los Lobos, Chic, Steve Miller, Nine Inch Nails, N.W.A., The Spinners, Yes, and The J.B.'s, are in contention for being inducted in 2016. I'm rooting for Cheap Trick, followed by The Cars, and The Smiths. Fans can vote for the nominees on the The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame website.

Mooner is having a release party for its new Masterpiece album tonight at The Hideout. Frontman Lee Ketch was recent guest on WXRT's Local Anesthetic with Richard Milne last Sunday night. Mama, Indonesian Junk, and Bobby Conn and Monica Boubou are also on the bill.

Pat DiNizio's 60th Birthday Bash takes place tomorrow night (October 10) at the Italian American Hall in Scotch Plains, NJ.  Suzanne Vega, who recorded a duet with DiNizio on the song "In A Lonely Place,"will one of the performers, along with The Smithereens, Marshall Crenshaw, Garland Jeffreys, Southside Johnny, The Grip Weeds, and members of The Hooters. DiNizio will also perform with his Beatles tribute band The Scotchplainsmen. The event is also a fundraiser to help pay medical expenses for DiNizio's upcoming surgery on his arm and hand.

Tickets went on sale today for Dandy Warhols at Thalia Hall on November 19, Eric Burdon And The Animals at City Winery on November 29, and The Cure at the UIC Pavilion on June 10, 2016.

Patti Smith will be at the Lund Auditorium at Dominican University in River Forest Sunday night to discuss her upcoming book M Train. Unfortunately for fans who don't already have tickets, the event, sponsored by The Book Table store in Oak Park, has sold out.

A Colbert connection. I once worked with a guy at a Mom and Pop record store on Chicago's southwest side who found the band name Was (Not Was) so mind-boggling that he forbade me from every mentioning it again. People like him might want to avoid the new musical comedy The Story Of A Story (The Untold Story) being staged by the Underscore Theatre Company. Fans of The Colbert Report, on the other hand, might flock to it. The Story Of A Story was created by Peter Gwinn, who snagged an Emmy Award for his writing work on The Colbert Report, and Jody Shelton, composer of the erotic fantasy 50 Shades! The Musical. Tickets for the show, which runs through November 8 at The Chopin Theatre (1543 W. Division), start at $10.

There are still a few weeks left to check out the work of Pattie Boyd, Henry Diltz, and Carinthia West at the Visions Of A Magic Time - Iconic Photos of the 60s and 70s exhibit. It runs through October 30 at the Hilton / Asmus Foto gallery on Wells Street in Chicago.

The Animation Show Of Shows, a 95-minute compilation for animated shorts from around the globe, will run October 11 through 22 at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Extraordinary Tales, a collection of animated Edgar Allen Poe stories, runs from October 23 through 29 for those looking for some more Halloween-oriented animation.

North By North has a gig on October 15 at the CMJ Music Marathon Show in Brooklyn. The Chicago techno trio's "Pistoletta"/"Dark Star" single is available for download on its Bandcamp page.

The Benefits Of Wild Honey

There’s a Wild Honey Foundation event going on in L.A. tonight, and as usual, it's going to be an incredibly good time for a worthy cause. Wild Honey's tried and true formula involves bringing alternative rock and power pop musicians together to raise money for things like autism research or a children's music fund. The shows often feature the music of The Beatles or Big Star, with the combination of great songs and talented musicians bringing a positive vibe to the proceedings.

On this occasion, The Bangles; Denny Laine; Al Stewart; Peter Case; The Muffs; The Kennedys, and Steve Barton want to help cover the medical costs incurred by John Wicks in his battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Wicks helped found the British power pop band The Records, who recorded the impossibly catchy singles “Starry Eyes” and “Teenarama” back in the late 1970s. In more recent years, he 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.

Tonight's Help John Wicks Beat Cancer! show takes place at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles. In addition to the performers listed above, The Wild Honey Orchestra and Singers, with special guests, will also be on hand. Chris Carter, host of radio station KLOS’ Breakfast With The Beatles program, will serve as the host. According to updates posted on The Bangles' and the event's Facebook pages, there are only a limited amount of seats left for this event. If past Wild Honey shows are any indication, there should be some exciting video clips from Help John Wicks Beat Cancer! showing up on Facebook in the near future.

It would be great if Wild Honey could bring one of its events to Chicago, but I understand the travel expenses for all the musicians involved would be too high for the foundation to handle. Maybe some of our promoters could find a way to help out with the costs. It certainly would be worth the effort.