Gossip Wolf hears that Cobra Lounge booker Nick Athanasopoulos is moving back to his hometown of Detroit: “I’m heading over there to start a little business with a friend,” he says. Riot Fest‘s Mike Petryshyn and his team will take over booking at Cobra, continuing the festival’s long relationship with the club—Cobra Lounge owner Sean McKeough cofounded Riot Fest, and Athanasopoulos works for Riot Fest too. Petryshyn and company will debut as Cobra Lounge’s booker the first week in December, in part to celebrate McKeough’s new brewery, All Rise. Athanasopoulos didn’t reveal who would play, but he says, “They’re gonna come out swinging, with some of the ideas I heard.”
The leaves aren’t done turning, but Gossip Wolf is already jazzed for Halloween! Early-costumed birds will get the gummy worms: On Fri 10/24, local boy-girl pop duo Zigtebra celebrates a new LP, The Brave, at the Auxiliary Art Center with a costume contest, beer from Powell Brew House, and sets from Richard Album, Yoko & the Oh No’s, and the Boxers. And on Sat 10/25 Gossip Wolf’s favorite monthly “pansexual dress-to-sweat event,” Soft Leather, hits Logan Square’s East Room for a Halloween-themed night with regular DJs Deathface (aka Johnny Love) and Teen Witch Fan Club. We’ll be in our #HealthGoth outfit: black tennis visor, mesh Gucci bodysuit, and Spanx (gotta keep that tail under control).
Trevor de Brauw (Pelican, Tusk) has joined Steven Hess (Locrian, Cleared) and Colin DeKuiper (Bloodiest, ex-Russian Circles) in a new band called RLYR. “Despite our lineup, there is nary a trace of metal in the mix,” says de Brauw, who describes the band as an “instrumental post-hardcore/post-emo/90s indie guitar-rock thing.” RLYR debuts Sat 10/25 at a memorial show for former Tusk singer Jody Minnoch at Peasants’ Plot farm in Manteno; Razors, Sweet Cobra, and Canadian Rifle also play, and it’s $10.
Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail gossipwolf@chicagoreader.com.