Reunited?
It ' s no original Styx reunion, but to some folks it ' s pretty close. After the original band line-up collapsed in a heap of bad blood and acrimony in 2000, the original Smashing Pumpkins may be reuniting according to a report in Pitchfork. Considering that Billy Corgan once called D’ arcy Wretzky a“ piece of shit,” and James Iha was one of the worst people on planet earth( we ' re paraphrasing), a reunion of the original line-up seemed almost as possible as a reunion of the Smiths. Consequence of Sound reports that“ an industry source,” is indicating that a reunion tour is being shopped that would potentially include all original members. Hinting at something special, Billy released a video on his Facebook page that said“ I can’ t give that away, but it’ s going to be interesting.”
Corgan ' s new band will feature members of Smashing Pumpkins version 2016 and guitarist Jeff Schroeder, with whom Corgan reformed the band in 2005 along with original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, ' according to jambands. com. Corgan also has a solo album currently sitting " in the vaults."
Food, Beer, Vinyl!
Smashing Pumpkins, 1991
Festival in Dub
August means the end of the summer festival season for many, but there ' s still a few worthy Fests going on in the city and suburbs to catch some local music and some prime Reggae vibes. The allnew Reggae Fest Chicago features two stages of music, food vendors and more. Reggae legends Toots & The Maytals headlines. Vocalist Toots Hibbert and and his band were one of the key figures in shaping reggae as it transitioned from rock steady and ska into its modern form. Dub giant Lee“ Scratch” Perry also headlines along with Iration, Hepcat, Budos Band and reggae crooner Derrick Morgan
A portion of the proceeds from admission will benefit local nonprofits, including A Safe Haven and ABLA Local Advisory
Toots & The Maytals
Committee. Chicago Reggae Fest will be held at Addams Medill
Billion Dollar Babies
Bloomberg News is reporting that music streaming site Soundcloud is looking for a buyer with an extra billion dollars laying around. According to the news site, " the owners have had trouble finding a buyer willing to value the company at $ 1 billion so far. SoundCloud raised $ 70 million from Twitter Inc. in June, part of a $ 100 million funding round "( that appeared to be a lifeline at the time). It appeared loan underwriters " priced the company at $ 700 million. SoundCloud is working to generate reliable revenue from its approximately 175 million users, who spend time on the site to record, listen to and share songs," many for free. SoundCloud introduced a monthly $ 10 pay service in March, giving users " ad-free streaming and increased access to songs." For a company that had found its home hosting DJs and musicians for free, it seems odd that they ' re now valuing their platform in the billion dollar bracket.
I
f you ' re one of the cool kids, you ' ll join a group of audiophiles, music lovers and people that want to have fun on Chicago’ s Record Store Crawl on Saturday, Aug 6th. The crawl will be escorted on a bus through some of the city’ s greatest independent record stores where Chicago indie rockers, Sleep On It, will be performing and riding along. Here’ s what the Record Store Crawl ticket gets you: Seat on the crawl bus with Sleep On It serenading along the way, open bar and food specials at Cheesie’ s Pub & Grub, giveaways including test pressings, signed vinyl and more, gift bag including a mystery vinyl LP, limited edition Cyndi Lauper 7” single, and other limited items, the Official Record Store Day 2016 tote bag, KIND snacks throughout the day, 10 % off at Reckless Records and Laurie’ s Planet of Sound, a Dusty Groove Records slipmat and bag, 15 % off U-Turn Audio turntables online code, and Revolution beer at each record store. Low ticket alert on this one: sign-up at www. recordstorecrawl. com. Get 20 % OFF your ticket when you enter CRAWL20 at checkout. Limited seating on the bus!
Hello, My Name is Ted
Ted Nugent
IE and the Nugent family go way back. Many of our younger readers don’ t know that Ted Nugent’ s mother, Marion, was almost as popular in the Chicago area as the Nuge was in the’ 80s due to her advice column, Ma Nugent’ s Mail. She ran in an eight-year run starting in 1980 and endeding when she succumbed to cancer in 1988.
Born in Detroit, Nugent and his family moved to Hoffman Estates in 1965 when Ted was a teenager. They also took up residence in Palatine for a bit. While attending St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, Nugent formed the psychedelic rock pioneers, The Amboy Dukes. The young rockers slugged it out on stage at The Cellar( a teen dance club) in Arlington Heights for a time during the mid- ' 60s.
“ In the summer of 1965 while standing in line at the Cellar, I met the boys that would become the Amboy Dukes that very first week upon my arrival,” Nugent said.“ After our first audition, we literally took over the local scene at the iconoclastic Cellar with Paul Sampson and crew, and played every possible gig within a few hundred miles of Chicago nonstop those two phenomenal dues-paying years.” Continued on page 8
6 illinoisentertainer. com august 2016