Who’s On Fourth?

Here’s a quick look at what acts will be performing in the suburbs this holiday weekend. Be sure to check out the website for each festival in order to see the full lineup. Most of them will include a fireworks show at some point. Have fun and celebrate safely.

The Neverly Brothers will be bringing their always entertaining and informative musical history tour of the 1950s and ‘60s to the Bartlett 4th of July Festival tomorrow from 5:30 to 7:50 PM. Note: This festival’s site proclaims The Turtles Are Coming, but it’s toy turtle race (like Chicago has with toy ducks) and not the 1960s band.

FitzGerald’s in Berwyn once again presesnts an eclectic and ambitious buffet of music over the holiday weekend. The club’s 35th Annual American Music Festival kicked off tonight and runs through Sunday. The scheduled acts include Nelson Street Revival with Cathy Richardson; Webb Wilder, Tributosaurus becomes James Brown; Robbie Fulks; Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience; James McMurtry; and Cesar Rosas and David Hildago from Los Lobos.

The Palatine Jaycees’ Hometown Fest in Palatine has a lineup of bands from Friday, July 1 through Monday, July 4 at the Fred P. Hall Amphitheater. Funky Monks will be paying tribute to the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Friday night; Summer Son plays bluegrass, country, and folk on Saturday afternoon; and the five-woman band Serendipity will offer an eclectic mix of classic soul and modern dance hits, along with original tunes Sunday afternoon. The charismatic Rolling Stones cover band Hot Rocks cuts loose on Monday.

The New Invaders will be playing their eclectic and high-energy selection of 1960s songs at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at the 37th Annual Lakeside Festival in Crystal Lake.

Arlington Heights’ Frontier Days Festival also kicked off tonight. The free concert schedule includes Grammy award-winning band The Wallflowers on Saturday, and the Beatles tribute band American English on Monday night.

You can always count on finding a few big name acts performing at the Exchange Club Of Naperville’s Ribfest. Sheryl Crow will be playing this Saturday night at 8:00 p.m., and Gin Blossoms are scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on the 4th.

The Monkees - Good Times!

If you’re a fan of Little Steven’s Underground Garage syndicated radio show, an avid Mojo magazine reader, or in any way celebrate the connection between mid-1960s pop and current alternative rock, then Good Times! is likely to strike a chord with you. The concept of having modern rock stars compose songs for a new Monkees album is an inspired one. Working with material from XTC’s Andy Partridge; Death Cab For Cutie’s Benjamin Gibbard; Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo; and Noel Gallagher (Oasis) with Paul Weller (The Jam, Style Council), the three remaining Monkees deliver a lively and well-crafted album.

Fountains Of Wayne frontman Adam Schlesinger produced the album, played various instruments, and wrote one of the better tracks. Good Times! includes a 1967 Neil Diamond song featuring Davy Jones, and a previously unreleased Harry Nilsson effort from 1968. These tracks, along with one from 1968 by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, were re-recorded this year with added vocals.

Micky Dolenz, who does most of the lead vocals on Good Times!, breezes through the lilting “You Bring The Summer,” capturing Partridge’s signature wry imagery. Cuomo’s catchy “She Makes Me Laugh” is lighter and silly, as Dolenz sings of playing Scrabble with his girlfriend while they wear pink party hats. “I Was There (And I’m Told I Had A Good Time),” co-written by Schlesinger and Dolenz is a basic but fun rock tune that reminds me of the Chicago-based band The Handcuffs’ “Everybody Waves Hello.”

Lest anyone think the fare here is too lightweight, Dolenz and Michael Nesmith share lead vocals on Gibbard's mysterious and intricately woven “Me And Magdalena.” “Birth Of An Accidental Hipster,” co-written by Gallagher and Weller, is a psychedelic jewel featuring Nesmith on lead vocals and an arrangement that drifts through various tempo changes. Peter Tork nails the rebellious mood of King and Goffin’s folk tune “Wasn’t Born To Follow.”

The re-recorded “Love To Love” allows Dolenz and Tork to harmonize with Jones, and Dolenz joins his old pal Nilsson on the garage rock of “Good Times!” Schlesinger’s catchy “Our Own World” has Dolenz, Tork, and Nesmith singing on it, and there’s a guitar-driven instrumental break. “Whatever’s Right,” a peppy new tune from Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, evokes images of dancers bopping around on one of those 1960s variety shows, and brings back fond memories of the days when this songwriting duo gave The Monkees some of their biggest hits.

Jeremy Porter And The Tucos - Above The Sweet Tea Line

When singer-guitarist Jeremy Porter spins his tales of dive bars and the bands and lonely people who are drawn to them, you can almost see the cigarette smoke and smell the whiskey. This is his second album with The Tucos since 2009, but Porter’s resume dates back to the 1990s and the Marquette, MI punk band The Regulars. These days, his music leans toward southern rock and country, with an emphasis on irresistible melodies.

Above The Sweet Tea Line is the most fun when Porter and The Tucos are dishing about rock and roll life on the road. The galloping “Hey Kentucky” depicts groupies and drunken lead vocalists, while the equally energetic “Bottled Regrets” concerns a band whose followers “weren’t exactly lining up around the block in droves.” Still, Porter maintains that his deathbed advice to any aspiring musician would be, “Just go get em, tiger, if that’s what you believe.”

“Josh” is a perceptive look at survival, as a guy recalls the tough-as-nails cat he had as a boy, and the rollicking “Sounds Like Goodbye” and “Trouble In Paradise” are spiked with bitterness. The slow songs are equally fascinating, especially when guest Jillian Rae plays fiddle and sings backup on the boozy love song “Don’t Call Me Darlin’.” The acoustic-based “Sleepy Eyes” is a delicate lullaby that manages to be both comforting and unsettling, and as with much of Above The Sweet Tea Line, humorous.

Slumgullion

June 25 is Global Beatles Day. At some point tomorrow, Indianapolis-based organizer Faith Cohen will be interviewed by the BBC about the annual celebration of the lads’ enduring and powerful influence on music and popular culture.

Passion Pit and JD McPherson are the headliners for this year’s World’s Largest Block Party at Old St. Patrick’s Church tomorrow night. The festivities run from 5:30 to 11:00 p.m. at the UIC Festival Lot.

By the time he gets to Woodstock. Graham Nash has announced a Fall Tour that will take him to the Northeast part of America. He’ll be visiting Northampton, MA; Portland, MA; Hartford, CT; and Woodstock, NY, among other places.

The Threadbare Book Party And Trunk Show, presented by The Ladydrawers Comics Collective, takes place tomorrow at In House from 4 to 8 p.m. tomorrow. The event will offer local artists, handmade clothing, art, comics, and literature. In House is located at 3520 W. Armitage in Chicago.

Mighty Con Dupage Comic Con takes place tomorrow and Sunday at the DuPage County Fair Grounds in Wheaton. The event promises over “100 vendors, artists, creators, and guests.” A day pass costs $8, a weekend pass is $12, and kids under 12 are admitted free.

Topical Humor. EXPO ’76, one of Chicago’s best, eclectic, and fun cover bands, is performing at FitzGerald’s tonight. The band’s singer-guitarist Dag Juhlin posted on Facebook, “We’ll be playing songs by British artists tonight, so please join us for Brexpo ’76.”

Phil Angotti will be joined by several fellow musicians as he celebrates his birthday tomorrow night with a performance at FitzGerald’s. The venue holds its critically acclaimed annual American Music Fest from June 30 to July 3, with a guest list that includes Dos Lobos (David Hidalgo and Louie Perez from Los Lobos); James McMurtry; Robbie Fulks; Webb Wilder; Tributosaurus as James Brown; and several other roots rock acts.

Graham Crackers Comics is having a Doctor Who Day Signing at its downtown location on July 9 from noon to 3:00 PM. Fans will have a chance to meet artists Andrew Pepoy and Jason Millet.

The first Wednesday of each month is Ladies Night at the downtown Graham Crackers location. All women will receive 10% off any purchases on those evenings. I talked with a few representatives from Ladies Night at The Printers Row Lit Fest a few weeks back, and they told me that Big Bang Theory notwithstanding, a growing number of comic and graphic novel buyers are female. Ladies Night anthologies featuring local comic creators are available for purchase at Graham Crackers.

Amy Gore recently posted on Facebook that the Gore Gore Girls’ previously unreleased seven-inch single “Don’t Cry” b/w “Sweet Potato” is now available through Bloodshot Records and Get Hip Recordings. According to the Bloodshot website, the record “includes neat-o insert stickers for your jukebox.”

Congratulations to WXRT early morning drive shift air personality Lin Brehmer on being named Best Radio DJ in The Reader’s annual Best Of Chicago Poll. Terri Hemmert, whose shift follows Brehmer’s each day, came in second, and the station itself was the runner-up to WBEZ in the Best Overall Radio Station category.

Also in the poll, journalist/photographer/blogger Robert Loerzel was named Best Chicagoan To Follow On Twitter. Many years ago, Loerzel was my editor at the Palatine Countryside newspaper. The Reader is available for free in various downtown locations and on Chicago’s north side.

Peter Gabriel and Sting are coming to the United Center on July 9th.

Cliff Johnson and The Raine will be sharing another bill with Kevin Lee And The Kings on July 9 at FitzGerald’s. I saw Johnson backed by The Raine at Durty Nellie’s in Palatine a few months ago, and this is a beneficial matchup for everyone involved.

Comic artist/musician Plastic Crimewave (AKA Steve Krakow) featured Johnson’s former band Off Broadway in his very cool strip The Secret History Of Chicago Music in this week’s edition of The Reader. Krakow’s hardbound book My Kind Of Sound – The Secret History of Chicago Music  Compendium, published by Curbside Splendor, picked up a rave review in the April issue of the UK mag Shindig. (The one with 10cc and Graham Nash on the cover.) Reviewer Kris Needs wrote, “Every turn of the page can elicit a gasp of pleasure, if not alway recognition, as Krakow works through the underdogs and mythical characters in jazz, blues, funk, soul, and rock’n’ roll who have lived in the city.”

Heart’s new album Beautiful Broken, which sports the ugliest cover I’ve seen in some time, is now available for pre-order on iTunes. The band will be probably be showcasing a few of these new tunes when it joins fellow Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees Cheap Trick and Joan Jett at the July 19 Three For All concert at FirstMerit Bank Pavillion on Northerly Island.

Arvidson And Butterflies - Arvidson And Butterflies

Roger Arvidson, a Swedish singer-guitarist whose recording history stretches back to the previous century, seems to have butterflies on his mind these days. That’s what he calls the band of the veteran musicians backing him on this self-titled effort available from Kool Kat Musik, and it’s the name of one of his best new songs. Plus there’s a metamorphosis theme going on here, as Arvidson explores the various ways people outgrow each other in relationships. If that sounds too clinical, rest assured that these observations are couched in consistently inventive vocal stylings and guitar-driven arrangements.

“I’m changing into something new,” Arvidson sings on “Butterflies,” a catchy tune with impeccable harmony vocals. The acerbic “Tired Of Running” gets an authentic 1960s ambience built on Byrds-like ringing guitars, while “Will Follow,” a song about reluctantly staying in a stagnant situation, evokes the baroque pop of The Bee Gees in their earliest days. The list of energetic power pop gems includes “Part Of The Past,” “Lights Go Out,” and “Changing All The Time.”

Arvidson And Butterflies tap into other styles as well; creating a 1980s techno vibe via acoustic guitar and keyboards on “Want What I Can’t Have,” and adding an orchestral coda to “Change The World,” a much-needed call for people to “act wiser” and help each other. The delicate “Springbirds” pays tribute to the joys of seeing migratory birds in one’s garden. “People always tend to say a little more than I want to hear,” Arvidson complains on the nonetheless charming “Not A Dream,” but it’s not likely power pop fans will lose patience with this effort.

Tommy And The Rockets - Beer And Fun and Rock ’n’ Roll

Danish singer-guitarist Thomas Stubgaard evokes an American style sock hop on Beer And Fun And Rock ’n’ Roll, his first release under the name Tommy And The Rockets. Like his heroes The Ramones, Stubgaard infuses nostalgia with punk energy, along with a nod toward power pop masters Paul Collins, Rockpile, and Fountains Of Wayne. He supplies his own spirited “Ooh la la” and “Sha la la la la la” backing vocals, while Yank musicians Brad Marino and Kris “Fingers” Rodgers from The New Trocaderos support him on drums and keyboards, respectively.

Co-written with New Trocaderos producer/composer Michael Chaney, Stubgaard songs like “Time To Rock” and “Mommy’s Little Girl” focus on the exhilaration of dating and partying. “What Am I S’pose To Do” and the frantic “You Want Me (But I Don’t Want You)” deal with the darker aspects of relationships, while the catchy “Silly Teenage Love” depicts a guy contemplating the love that might have grown from a relationship he scuttled years earlier by being unfaithful.

“Take My Advice,” with backing vocals by Bente Helgeneseth, is a twisted look at twin sisters who are polar opposites of each other. The aptly named title track and “Here Comes Summer,” which evokes The Beach Boys with its celebration of bikinis, the ocean, and driving a Woodie car, are both loads of fun. All in all, this international collaboration turned out to be a smashing success.

The Zombies - Still Got That Hunger

When The Zombies wrapped up their recent U.S. tour at The Arcada Theatre in St. Charles a few weeks back, they included a number of songs from their 2015 album Still Got That Hunger. It was a risky move to try out new material in front of an audience eager for “Time Of The Season,” “Tell Her No,” and “She’s Not There,” but The Zombies knew what they were doing. Founding members vocalist Colin Blunstone and vocalist-keyboards player Rod Argent, with help from bassist-vocalist Jim Rodford, drummer Steve Rodford, and guitarist-vocalist Tom Toomey continue to draw upon the American blues and soul music that has inspired them since the early 1960s.

The Argent-composed “New York” harks back to the first time The Zombies toured America, and were warmly welcomed by artists like Patti Labelle and Aretha Franklin. Argent wrote all but one of these 10 tracks, and his keyboards work plays an prominent role throughout. Blunstone still possesses amazing power and range; whether he’s belting out the hard-edged “Moving On” or soaring on “Edge Of The Rainbow.” His own composition “Now I Know I’ll Never Get Over You” is one of the more pop-oriented tunes on Hunger, and features Toomey’s ringing guitar.

Along with highlights like the gorgeous harmonies on the romantic “And We Were Young Again” and the jazzy piano on “I Want You Back Again (2015),” there’s a theme running throughout Still Got That Hunger about overcoming adversity and looking forward to whatever comes your way. It can be found in the line “What doesn’t kill me will fill me with life” from “Moving On” as well as on “Chasing The Past,” when Argent vows, “Now we’ll take tomorrow and give it hell.”