According to a post on his Facebook page, Burlington booker and Neon Marshmallow cofounder Matt Kimmel is leaving town—dude has a new job that’s taking him on the road for a few weeks, and after that he might return to Chicago or move west. He says he’ll help remotely with shows at the Logan Square bar, but he’s no longer in charge. He’ll definitely be missed around here, at least if he doesn’t come back!
Instead of trudging through the mud at Lollapalooza, Gossip Wolf went to Beat Kitchen on Saturday for the first American Football show since 2000. Plenty of fourth-wave emo royalty attended: Annabel’s Andy Hendricks, Kittyhawk’s Kate Grube, Pet Symmetry‘s Marcus Nuccio, Into It. Over It. main man Evan Weiss, Brandon Lutmer and Pat Delehanty of Joie de Vivre, and everyone in Lifted Bells. We’re “Honestly” glad we didn’t “Stay Home.” (Sorry.)
Hooky locals Swearwords play jingle-jangle indie-pop that sounds squeaky clean to our furry ears! (That is, they’re pretty good.) The band tells Gossip Wolf that they’ve been recording a new three-song EP called Solar Vortex with engineer Matt DeWine at Chicago studio Pieholden Suite Sound, which should drop shortly—and on Thu 8/7 they play at Emporium Arcade Bar.
On Sat 8/9 Pilsen’s ElevArte Community Studio presents the ninth annual We Are Hip Hop Festival in Dvorak Park. It features graffiti and breakdancing battles and sets from a dozen local rap acts; this wolf suggests showing up early for Roman Flowrs and sticking around for Nick Astro and the headlining sets by 2008ighties MCs Calez and Legit. The free fest kicks off at 1 PM.
Gossip Wolf is no stranger to farmers’ markets, and on Sunday we ran into Owen Ashworth, main man of Orindal Records and Advance Base, buying broccoli at the one in Logan Square. Ashworth is about to take a short west-coast tour with his brother Gordon, who released S.T.L.A. on Orindal this spring.
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