The-Drum

Looking for something to do today? Agenda‘s got you covered:

The American Music Festival at FitzGerald’s starts today, offering an excuse to start partying patriotically a day early. Through Sunday, three stages host all manner of Americana music: blues, bluegrass, rockabilly, and more. Plus, Cajun/American barbecue from Tom Cimms.

“Last week Chicago production duo the-Drum released their debut album Contact,” writes Reader music critic Miles Raymer, “which finds them largely abandoning the avant-R&B sound that first brought them attention in favor of a much more abstract, less structured approach that sounds like the score to a supercool 90s cyberpunk.” They DJ tonight at the Empty Bottle, opening for NHK’Koyxen and Lee Gamble.

Reader theater critic Tony Adler recommends The Liar, playwright David Ives’s adaptation of Pierre Corneille’s farce, first performed in 1644 and currently onstage at Writers’ Theatre. It tells the story of Dorante, a womanizing army vet and compulsive fibber. “The quarters are tight, a pedestal at center stage looks like an outsize bathtub plug, and Nate Burger has to overcome unflattering costuming as Dorante, but director William Brown still puts on a great show,” writes Adler.

For more on these events and others, check out the Reader‘s daily Agenda page.