The puppet-friendly peeps at local cable-access dance party Chic-a-Go-Go and D.C. kiddie music show Pancake Mountain are in cahoots to shoot a full-length movie around town this summer—in fact, Gossip Wolf saw ’em filming at Pitchfork. Chic-a-Go-Go honcho (and Reader contributor) Jake Austen tells us that the film, tentatively titled The Gorilla of Grant Park, is a “Scooby Doo-type mystery” about a “gorilla that’s threatening to destroy the world’s biggest music festival.” The fest hires Ratso, Miss Mia, and the gang—including Rufus Leaking from Pancake Mountain—to sniff out the identity of the baddie behind the mask. Austen says several scenes are already in the can—Ratso riding a skateboard between the legs of Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber, El-P doing a “Benny Hill in the porta-potties bit”—and that they hope to finish the movie by this fall.
In summer 2010, Madina Lake bassist Matthew Leone was severely beaten while intervening in a domestic dispute; his recovery lasted more than a year, and he made it with the help of the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. Leone recently took charge of Sweet Relief’s Chicago fund, and his first benefit, copresented by Lollapalooza, is Thu 8/1 at the AAA space (2105 W. Caton). London electronic-rock band Modestep and New York alt-rock group Beast Patrol perform; details at sweetrelief.org.
Concord Music Hall seems to have sprung up like a mushroom—this wolf only heard about it last week, and it’s opening with a performance by Adam Ant on Thu 8/1! Way to “stand and deliver” in short order! The new venue at 2047 N. Milwaukee (formerly dance club V Live), whose capacity can vary from 700 to 1,600, is the project of three big-time local indie promoters: the punk-centric Riot Fest and the dance-focused React Presents and Silver Wrapper. Shows already on the books include Gogol Bordello, AlunaGeorge, and the Misfits.
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