Queer garage-pop band Bev Rage & the Drinks have become one of the city’s most entertaining acts since coming together in 2015. Mixing hilariously forthright lyrics, spitfire riffs, and the second-to-none showmanship of lead singer and guitarist Beverly Rage—a seven-foot drag queen, counting hair and heels—they put on a show that’s not to be missed! Over the past few months, the band (Rage, guitarist Dan Jarvis, bassist Sam Westerling, and drummer Mary Rose Gonzales) have been rolling out a series of eye-catching videos for their second full-length, Exes & Hexes, due in August on their label What’s for Breakfast? Records. Today they debut the third video, “Perfect Guy,” in which our heroine discovers a bizarrely powerful drink in a spooky abandoned warehouse and goes on a kaiju-style rampage. Bev Rage & the Drinks perform at Andersonville Midsommarfest on Saturday, June 11, and at Chicago Pride Fest on Saturday, June 18.
The second single from Exes & Hexes, released last month
Ever since jazz guitarist Dave Miller moved back to town in 2016, Gossip Wolf has been following his work—he seems to bring a completely revamped approach to every new album. Last week Miller dropped Daughter of Experience on Tompkins Square Records, which replaces the lush, honeyed soul of his 2020 self-titled LP with spine-tingling performances recorded solo on a 1960s Stella parlor guitar. The tracks have the dense but unfussy feel of John Fahey’s famous work. On Friday, June 24, Miller celebrates with a release show at Constellation; local bassist and composer Matt Ulery opens.
Dave Miller wrote the songs on Daughter of Experience over a period of two weeks in the Catskill Mountains.
On Wednesday, June 15, Chicago rapper, singer, and mensch Rich Jones drops Smoke Detector, a full-length collaboration with producer Iceberg Theory. Jones clicks with its throwback jazz vibe and luxuriant pace—the light funk of “Dream Life,” for example, highlights his feathery singing. Smoke Detector comes out via the FilthyBroke label, which Jones now co-owns, in a corelease with Alpha Pup.
Smoke Detector is available in a cassette edition of ten copies, each in its own hand-sewn pouch.
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In The Pride Issue
Photos: 2022 Chicago Pride Parade
Building an opera in the waiting room
Where the bars (actually) are
‘Huge, very loud, and with a lot of glitter’
Asian drag performers slay the way forward
Bringing the Pride party to the people
A bigger and more colorful world
The Schoolmaster Games feels like wasted potential
Go-going for it
Bros Before is stupid and horny—and wonderfully queer
False alarms
Ankle-monitor alerts garner phone calls and visits from sheriffs officers—but more than 80 percent are bogus, according to a University of Chicago analysis.
