It’s going to be a great weekend for fans of harsh, sadistic hardcore! If Gossip Wolf were crushed to death in a trash compactor with powerviolence pukes Sea of Shit and grindcore gadflies Sick/Tired, it’d sound only half as brutal as the two bands’ new split LP on Deep Six Records. On Saturday, April 23, at the Wicker Park Reckless Records, both groups will bring the velocity to an in-store concert—and they’ll sell a version of the LP available only there. Plus the Repos are playing a release party for their new LP, Poser (Youth Attack), at a DIY venue that night—wear your Infest T-shirt to Reckless, and maybe someone will tell you where to go. Fellow locals Rectal Hygienics and Final Grin open.
Gossip Wolf spent the 90s glued to the work of Rollerderby publisher Lisa “Suckdog” Carver and gothy alt-comic artist Dame Darcy—but their supremely cracked universe is always a great place to explore! On Friday, April 22, the Learning Machine (3145 S. Morgan) hosts a partial reunion of Carver’s group Suckdog, billed as the Dame Darcy & Lisa Carver Show With the Kuzak Sisters and promising a hybrid of performance art and theater—among other things, they’ll act out scenes from The Jaywalker, a new collection of Carver’s stories illustrated by Darcy. The bill also includes a “tortured new age puppet show” (with members of Forced Into Femininity and Toupee) and a solo set from Heather Lynn of Pure Magical Love.
Last week Donnie Biggins, president of promotions company Harmonica Dunn, announced that he’d become the proud new owner of cozy Lincoln Park spot the Tonic Room. He started booking there nearly four years ago, after leaving House Call Entertainment; he also organizes Dunn Dunn Fest, which wrapped up its fourth annual celebration of American music in February. Biggins has put his mark on the Tonic Room, helping turn it into a place to see impromptu sets by the likes of Chance the Rapper and Hannibal Buress. Congrats! v
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