As the perpetually fashionable Ron Wood-lookin’ front man of local rock classicists the Chamber Strings, Kevin Junior crafts pristine pop jams about heartbreaking heartbreak. Unfortunately, Junior’s metaphorical heart isn’t the only one giving him trouble; the singer has long suffered from a life-threatening condition called endocarditis, and he’s in desperate need of open-heart surgery. Like most musicians, Junior lacks the insurance to cover the mountain of medical bills he has. Last Friday his friend Lori Christian, who lives in Portland, Oregon, set up a GoFundMe campaign (bit.ly/kevinjr) to collect donations, and Phil Angotti has organized a benefit show for Thu 9/29 at Lincoln Tap Room (3010 N. Lincoln) featuring Lou Hallwas and Andy Hansen of Penthouse Sweets, among others. Gossip Wolf recommends you help the dude out!
Darkwave dance duo and married couple My Gold Mask are prepping a new album. Guitarist Jack Armondo tells Gossip Wolf they’re demoing 13 songs and plan to enter the studio next month with producer-pal Balthazar de Ley. Like their previous efforts, the new one will come out on the band’s own Goldy Tapes label, “unless something else comes along that makes sense for us.”
Kinsella Watch: On 11/8 less-cantankerous Kinsella brother Mike Kinsella will release the latest Owen album, Ghost Town. And he’s already working on a follow-up LP, with plans for it to come out next fall. Can’t stop, won’t stop!
Last week drummer Mike Weis of local ambient pop trio Zelienople released his first solo LP, Loop Current/Raft; it’s influenced by last year’s BP oil disaster, and supposedly represents what it would sound like if “the muck wiped out all living things until the oceans were barren.” Serious eco-bummer! It sounds like Weis may be keeping the green-downer theme alive: Zelienople just finished recording their fifth album at his home studio, and it’s tentatively titled The World Is a Burning House. The band is also working on a track for an unannounced Talk Talk tribute compilation. —Jessica Hopper and J.R. Nelson
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