Illinois Entertainer June 2015 | Page 6

Drill, Baby, Drill Douglas Park Chicago The DRILL: Chicago Festival is a 3 day fest (June 11-13) assembled by the members of English punk pioneers Wire, residing at at The Hideout, Thalia Hall and Metro. The Metro portion of DRILL closes out the festival on June 13 with performances by Wire, Tim Hecker, Disappears, and the pinkflag guitar orchestra. According to press reports it features "an all-star grand finale performance of sorts as festival performers come together on one stage to perform Wire's seminal album, Pink Flag." More details are available at http://drillfestival.com/Chicago. IE is also giving away a pair of tickets to the Metro 6/13 portion of the festival. Enter at illinoisentertainer.com/contests. Southside Riot Wire 06•2015 William & Marilyn Last month, two legendary '90s alt-rock icons, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and Marilyn Manson held a joint live (and live- streamed) press conference from the 25th floor of the Virgin Hotel in downtown Chicago. The intimate event, open to a select number of early attendees and contest winners, and hipster journalists like IE's Jaime Black (we're kidding Jaime!) came in advance of both artists' forthcoming The End Times summer tour. Over the course of 60 minutes, the two frontmen fielded questions from an audience of fans and press, with topics ranging from plans to cover Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (no, really) together on tour, to Manson's apparent penchant for listening to Justin Timberlake before performing. Most apparent, though, was the mutual respect both artists hold for each other. "We're almost like brothers. We kind of understand each other in a way that I think very few people understand us in the world,” Corgan revealed early on in the conference. "I'm like the eleventh grader, (Corgan's) like the twelfth grader I look up to,” Manson later affirmed. The End Times tour hits Chicago on August 7th at FirstMerit Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island. – Jaime Black & IE Staff It's been kinda hard to miss the press and political war between hometown punk-rock organizers Riot Fest and their (soon-to-be-former?) West Side Alderman Roberto Maldonado, over the future of the 3-day festival that's been based out of the friendly confines of Humboldt Park the past several years. Last year's festival was held in what we'll call "a rainy period" during midSeptember and with all that rain and mud came damaged grass and, as it turned out - bruised egos of a few vocal, local residents. Like Lolapalooza (held in Grant Park), the folks at Riot Fest agreed to repair damages to the tune of roughly $190,000 to the park turf, but the organizers and residents were unable to come to an agreement for this year's festival being held September 11,12 and 13. To the rescue came 12th ward Alderman George Cardenas and another indie- friendly Alderman Joe Moreno, who offered Douglas Park as an alternate site to the Fest. The Southside park (at Roosevelt and Kedzie) has the advantage of being closer to public transportation, easier access to the expressways (I-290), and that famous southside hospitality. Of course a festival is as only as good as it's music lineup, and Riot Fest reloads in a big way this year with headlining acts No Doubt, Faith No More, Wu-Tang Clan, Iggy Pop, Snoop Dog and more. Visit www.riotfest.org for info Hello, My Name Is Gene The Rascals, 1967, with Gene Cornish (far right) As the original guitarist for '60s icons, The Rascals, Gene Cornish has been prepping his solo band while patiently waiting for his Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame comrades to launch a 50th anniversary tour. At press time, that tour was in limbo, so Cornish will bring his new band to the Arcada Theater on June 12th, with singer Phil Naro handling vocal duties and legendary New Yorker Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Jeff Beck) on drums. Expect to hear Rascals anthems "Good Lovin'" and "People Got To Be Free," as well as some Cornish's harder rocking solo material from his forthcoming album. Albums We Won't Be Reviewing VARIOUS ARTISTS The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records, Volume Two (1928-1932) (Third Man) We love the fact that Jack White's Third Man Records is preserving the most important aspects of 20th Century music on The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records, Volume Two (1928-1932). Paramount was a crucial early blues and jazz label when music was issued only on 78RPM records. But this second volume is priced at a whopping $400.00. Gulp. IE: I know you've been in rehearsals for your new tour, but you were able to sit in with Paul Schafer and David Letterman's band during one of his final shows last month. How did that come together? GC: Yes, it was great. We played during the commercial breaks. So you get to hear the beginning of a song and the end of a song on TV. Paul and the band are fantastic. I got this wonderful standing ovation from the whole (Ed Sullivan) Theater. Paul has been a very close friend of the Rascals. We had done a few little shows ݡ