Local rock critic and Sound Opinions cohost Jim DeRogatis has been on a grouchy tear in recent weeks: blasting Dan Sinker for @mayoremanuel, pooping on the Pitchfork lineup, denouncing the resurgence of the ukulele, hating on the Hipster Puppies book. After flirting with it for a decade, DeRo has officially become Chicago’s Andy Rooney—a curmudgeon railing against that which he no longer understands. His crankiness used to be fun, an emblem of the virtues of crabby criticism; he hated Hootie and took down R. Kelly! But now, save for the Lolla reporting he does—which is bad news for consumers but not, like, Libya-level bad news—he’s just spraying his anger all over the kids and their fun like a pissy lawn sprinkler.
Candy Golde, a local all-star band that mixes old-school dudes with even older-school dudes, will drop its self-titled debut at the end of April on Ten O Nine. The powerhouse quintet features Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick, Rick Rizzo and Mark Greenberg of Eleventh Dream Day, John Stirratt of Wilco, and Nicholas Tremulis of, well, the Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra. The group started a couple years ago as a Nick ‘n’ Rick collab, and quickly grew to include Stirratt and Carlos. They added Greenberg to the lineup before a couple SXSW shows this March, which Greenberg describes to Gossip Wolf as “fun.” You can grab Candy Golde’s five-song ten-inch (the ultimate 90s nostalgia format!) at their record-release show April 29 at the Double Door. And on April 16, Tremulis and Carlos will play a couple of Record Store Day in-stores—Laurie’s Planet of Sound at 1 PM and the Wicker Park Reckless at 3 PM.
In a few weeks, locals Coupleskate—an all-women, all-the-time band that features Reader designer Andrea Bauer on guitar and vocals—will record the follow-up to 2009’s self-released Don’t Scare the Horses with Jamie Carter at Carterco Recording. Coupleskate bassist and vocalist Lauren Viera tells Gossip Wolf they expect the long-player to be darker and heavier than their early upbeat indie pop. The quartet scheduled the sessions around a wedding at the end of May; drummer Martha Williams is hitching her wagon to her longtime beau, former Chin Up Chin Up front dude Jeremy Bolen.
Official word is that Screeching Weasel’s 25th-anniversary springtime celebration, Weaselfest, has flatlined. Almost every band pulled out of the three-day festival at Reggie’s Rock Club after Ben Weasel attacked two women at the band’s SXSW show; Weasel was purportedly unsuccessful in putting together new versions of Screeching Weasel and his band the Riverdales for the fest. However, the Queers will perform May 29 as originally scheduled. In a recent Facebook post, front man Joe Queer attacked the scene for turning on Weasel: “In the heat of the moment he lashed out after getting spit directly in the face. Mother of God I pray it happens to all you do gooders out there. Let’s see how cool you all are.” Screeching Weasel’s management declined to comment.
On Saturday local chamber ensemble New Millennium Orchestra presents the third installment of its high-concept MIXTAPE series. The previous event included performances by garage rockers Hollows and NMO renditions of classics by John Adams and Antonio Vivaldi. Ultimate genre meld! This one, held at Mayne Stage (1328 W. Morse), mixes Mozart and electronic dance music. Conductor Francesco Milioto and the NMO will kick things off with a few of Wolfgang’s most sizzling arias, and then a clutch of booty-moving specialists—jazzy hip-hop samplers Dojo vs. Twitch, house DJ Ryan Fasshauer, and acid guru Adonis Childs—will take the baton. Tickets are $20, $15 in advance at the Mayne Stage website.
On April 13 Beauty Bar’s “Pizza Pizza Wednesdays,” a weekly series that serves up free music and pizza, will give you a chance to check out some epic shredding and coat your paws in grease. Dexterous guitarist Bill Dolan (5ive Style, Heroic Doses) split for Rockford in 2000, but he’s visiting to show off Das Boton, his band with bassist Karl Ropp and Tortoise drummer Johnny “Machine” Herndon. The trio packs a barrage of wicked licks and funked-up power rock, like ZZ Top on ‘roids. Also on the bill are DJ Ryan Weinstein and the Lonesome Organist, the “one dude playing eight instruments at once” project of Dolan’s former 5ive Style bandmate (and fellow Chicago expatriate) Jeremy Jacobsen. The event starts at 10 PM.