Kanye West may be a tastemaker, but Gossip Wolf thinks he should have his taste buds checked. For his birthday last week, his rapper BFFs Common and Lupe Fiasco took him out for a dinner at Buca di Beppo, the Italian chain restaurant that is two bread bowls away from full-bore Olive Garden nasty. Was Rainforest Cafe booked up?
Shellac has been confirmed as the “house band” for All Tomorrow’s Parties, September 3-6 in upstate New York. Front man Steve Albini will be hosting a Card Games Room throughout the festival, catering to those folks who’d rather play Uno than watch Fuck Buttons. This past weekend Albini skipped the Electrical Audio message board’s annual meet ‘n’ greet and played $1,500 seven-card stud in the World Series of Poker in Vegas, where he finished 14th overall. [Correction: Albini attended most of the Electrical Audio message board-organized festival after his WSOP appearance.]
GAUGE:153, a documentary/concert film on early-90s suburban emo quartet Gauge, premieres Friday, June 18, at 8 PM at the Cave, 447 W. Barry. The film follows the band from their basement days as peers of Cap’n Jazz up through their 2010 reunion shows and features live footage alongside testimonies from members of Braid, Sidekick Kato, and the also-reunited Cap’n Jazz. Director Matt Golin, who’ll be at the screening, calls it more of a tribute than a straight doc, and tells Gossip Wolf that it’ll be available as a DVD in time for the July 17-18 Cap’n Jazz/Gauge shows. If you didn’t nab tickets to those sold-out Bottom Lounge shows, you can buy it through mattgolinmovies.com.
This past weekend Beck nabbed Tortoise and Sonic Youth lead moptop Thurston Moore for his ongoing Record Club project, where he ropes in a random assortment of musicians to help him record a cover of an entire album in a single day for release on his Web site. Previous entries in the series feature Wilco and Leslie Feist doing Skip Spence and Liars and St. Vincent interpreting INXS. And what did Beck have planned for his tryst with the Thrill Jockey Turtlers? Our local sources demurred, but rumor has it the group recorded an early SY rarity with a new, updated anti-Scientology-theme, “I Killed Tom Cruise With My Big Fucking Dick.”
Pitchfork Festival organizers announced this week that they are hoping to recycle half of the fest’s total waste; last year they managed 46 percent, or 12 tons. Honcho Ryan Schrieber says he plans on personally making sure that the fest hits its quota by stationing himself at garbage cans and screaming at anyone who tries to throw away a beer cup.
Chicago hardcore riot act Loose Dudes have heard the appeals of Backstreet Boys and Korn to boycott ultimate tarballs British Petroleum. Singer Nicholas Rouley tells Gossip Wolf that the band has pledged not to stop at any BP stations on their way from East Garfield Park to their June 24 Hideout gig, “not even for a can of Mountain Dew Red Alert.”