Last November, Gossip Wolf hailed the talents behind improvised live game show Shame That Tune—including pianist and songwriter extraordinaire Abraham Levitan and novelist and Reader contributor Brian Costello—for reaching their 50th episode. Sadly, on Fri 8/21 this wolf’s favorite oddball entertainers will sign off with one last show, turning the tables with “shameful anecdotes from the performers themselves,” including Costello, Levitan, and cohost Jeanine O’Toole. The evening will begin with a reel of all the show’s fake commercials and end with a postshow dance party featuring DJ James Deia.
Also on Fri 8/21, local emo heavyweights Owen (aka Mike Kinsella of American Football and Cap’n Jazz) and Into It. Over It. (aka Evan Weiss, also of Pet Symmetry) release a split EP on Polyvinyl where each contributes a new song and a cover of the other band. (Kinsella and Weiss also play in supergroup Their/They’re/There.) Not to be too obvious, but we’re into it!
By mid-August this wolf is usually pretty burned out on festivals, but two happening on Sat 8/22 are worth the effort. At 1 PM the Promontory opens its doors for Waffle Fest: The Summer Jam Edition, a dog-days version of the Waffle Gang’s winter celebration of hip-hop and breakfast. The lineup includes primo local rappers Supertoy, Neak, Ill Legit, Ang 13, Pugs Atomz, and Vic Spencer. There’s more Chicago hip-hop at 18th Street and Blue Island, where dance-friendly political rappers BBU play Pilsen Fest (formerly Unisono). The party starts at noon, and the mostly local lineup also includes Gossip Wolf faves Electric Hawk and Population.
Sunday at Minbal studio, Oozing Wound front man Zack Weil recorded five songs backed by Chicago band Luggage (guitarist Michael Vallera, bassist M.J. Grant, and drummer and Reader staffer Luca Cimarusti). Cimarusti says Weil is making a Crazy Horse-style “dad-rock record.” v
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