Chicago Best Weekend Bets

It’s Debbie Harry’s birthday weekend! Happy birthday, Debbie Harry! You’re an American lady!

Also, tell all your friends to subscribe to the Chicago mailing list. We give away stuff.

We write stuff. Here’s some of that stuff from the last week that may be applicable to your preferences!

• Arthur Meyer is our Funny Human of the Week.
• Moog now has an app. Since you probably can’t afford a Moog, you may want to try the app. We had a Moog player try it out.
• We recapped Game of Thrones.

• Excited for the Fourth? Me too, man. Don’t want to have to wait until Monday for fireworks? Me either! Let’s go one state over (it’s a short drive) to the Indiana Dunes State Park for some lakefront sky explosions!
• Longtime Pedro The Lion man David Bazan is at the Lincoln Hall, with support from the equally good Laura Gibson. Quality show!
• Millennium Park’s ongoing Summer Music Series has another STRONG double bill featuring Lower Dens and Givers.
• Wray and The Father Costume perform rock music at Schubas!
• iO’s new improv show All Caps has an incredibly strong cast and fun concept: an audience member is invited onstage to rant and/or rave about a topic of their choosing, and the performers draw inspiration from their tirade to build a full show!
• The Empty Bottle hosts a damn release party for a MOTORCYCLE!!! DAMN!!!!!! Live music from Cafe Racer, Flesh Panthers, and Parent perform and you can look at a bike or two, too, I bet.
• Stereospeak, Human Bloom, The Nokoris, and Half Gringa play Subterranean.
• Catch Tuff Slang and Little Boy Jr. at The Hideout.
• Indie radio collective CHIRP hosts a fundraiser at Big Bricks on Lincoln up in North Center. Good price for all you can eat tacos and pizza!!
• Head to the Whistler for a one-two punch of musical sets from Permanent Cough and Quarter Mile Thunder.
• Cool music reigns at the Burlington tonight, with performances from Den, Shoto, Sough, and Bill Tucker/Julian Kirshner duo.

• Empty Bottle’s got an art opening for the work of Darius Hurley, with band like The Hamburglars, (ORB), Wet Wallet, and Claw Toe on deck to soundtrack your art observation.
• Thalia Hall hosts a very VERY good double feature of Jurassic Park and Jaws! Damn dude, both those movies rule.
• Really great Chicago-based rapper Psalm One celebrates the anniversary of her birth with a Shitty Punk Birthday party at The Hideout! Expect music from folks like Show You Suck, Celine Neon, and more, plus free food, drink specials, and Jello wrestling!
• Monobody either plays mathy jazz-rock or jazzy math rock. Go see them tonight in the Subterranean Downstairs area, playing alongside Invalids, Use Big Words, and Merit Badge.
• Local politically-minded talk show Good Evening with Pat Whalen hosts an anniversary party at the Thompson Center, celebrating one year without a state budget. Go be engaged!
• And then go see the proper Good Evening show up at the Frontier, just a few clicks up the Red Line!
• Go have a classy time up in the burbs and see Indigo Girls, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Shawn Mullins (the guy who did the 1998 hit “Lullaby,” you remember that song).
• It might be the 1st of July but that won’t keep a band called Winter Classic from headlining Subterranean. Also playing are I’m Glad It’s You, Mildura, Roach Beach, and Oscar Bait!
• Modest Mouse and Brand New have joined forces this Summer and are touring around, bringing their two very different takes on rock music to the FirstMerit Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island.
• The Gunshy, Close Kept, and Western Automatic take over the Beat Kitchen.
• Found footage goof-fest VHS is back at @North for with another strong lineup of riffs and giggles.
• Milwaukee rock band Direct Hit! celebrates the release of their new record tonight at the Double Door. Archie Powell & The Exports, Lipstick Homicide, and Eradicator join them in the revelry.
• Guns N’ Roses play the first of two shows of their Soldier Field residency. Alice in Chains opens. Go check it out if it sounds like a thing that would be fun for you.
• Death Becomes Her is one of the most underrated movies ever. Go see it at the Music Box at midnight.
• Or catch a rare screening of the psychedelic Japanese animated film Belladonna of Sadness, also at midnight at the Music Box.
• Very good rapper Talib Kweli is at City Winery. Cool venue to see this guy!

• Do some daytime stuff:
• Let music festival season wash over you and embrace the Mamby on the Beach of it all. Day one’s got sets from Milky Chance, Animal Collective, Atmosphere, Tycho, and many more.
• Saki records in Logan Square hosts an instore featuring DJ m50 and Minneapolis-based electronic soundscapists KPT.
• Head to Jackson Park for the Chosen Few DJs house music picnic all weekend long. Celebrate one of Chicago’s greatest musical exports in style.
• Oh MAN it’s time for the Lisle Eyes to the Skies festival, a very cool hot air balloon festival in the West suburbs. Go look at (and maybe even ride in???) some freaking hot air balloons!
• It’s also high time for street fests, of course. One of the best ones, the Windy City Rib Fest takes over Uptown this weekend!

• Then, night stuff:
• There’s nothing like a live Weird Al show. Head out to the RiverEdge Park in Aurora and see for yourself!
• Idiosyncratic rockers Big Business and Andy The Doorbum play the Beat Kitchen.
• Brookfield Zoo’s Summer Nights event returns with a special family-friendly evening event, with live music and family entertainment, capped off by a laser light show!
• Dead Feathers, White Shape, and Vanishing Kids bring the heavy psych to the Empty Bottle.
• Here’s another chance to catch Death Becomes Her or Belladonna of Sadness at midnight at the Music Box.
• Fun, inclusive variety show No Boys Allowed transforms into Beach Boys Allowed, a live tribute to Pet Sounds tonight!
• Lude Redfield and Kodiak are at Schubas!
• And then later so are Hailey Wojcik and Strawberry Jacuzzi!
• Locals Crow Moses celebrate the release of their new album Nightshades at the Hideout, joined by special guest Quentin Hirsley.
• Guest List Comedy brings standup and an open bar to Ancien Cycles. Quality lineup this week, as usual!
• Wow you guys, get your hesher on at the Def Leppard/REO Speedwagon/Tesla show out in Tinley Park.
• The Vic’s Brew & View celebrates the 30th birthday of John Carpenter’s classic Big Trouble in Little China with a series of cool $5 screenings this weekend.

• Chet Faker, Santigold, Chromeo, Lupe Fiasco, and many more close out day two of Mamby on the Beach!
• Chris Cornell and Fantastic Negrito appear at Ravinia tonight! I hope he does “Like A Stone”!!!!!!!!!!!!
• This is your second and final chance to see Guns N’ Roses and Alice in Chains in the place where the Bears play football.
• The formerly Chicagoan-based live talk show You, Me, Them, Everybody is BACK in town, bringing an all-American edition of the show to its old home base, The Hungry Brain, tonight.
• Locals New Canyons and Ganser, plus Austin’s Pale Dian and Pensylvanians The Stargazer Lillies play the Empty Bottle.
• Meet the team behind the Texas 4000 charity organization this afternoon at the Hideout’s Texas 4000 BBQ.
• Watch Hulk Hogan get roasted by Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Mr. T, and more at the Laugh Factory. Note: all of the aforementioned people are being portrayed by various local comedians and are not actually appearing at the Laugh Factory’s roast of Hulk Hogan.
• Federico Aubele and We Dream Dawn share a bill at Schubas.
• Disco kings KC & the Sunshine Band shake shake shake their booties at the RiverEdge Park in Aurora, IL because that’s the way uh huh uh huh they like it.
• Beauty Bar’s very popular emo vs. pop punk night has free pizza and $1 Old Style tonight. You win, nostalgia!
• New Yorker Erica Eso headlines a show at the Owl tonight, with support from The Hecks and Wage.
• Death metal band Mordatorium play a show at Beat Kitchen, along with guests Cryptic Hymn, Discarnate, and Inner Decay.

• Happy Fourth of July! You can see fireworks at Navy Pier.
• Or shell out some cash and celebrate in style at the Navy Pier’s rooftop terrace Freedom Fest!
• Watch the fireworks from a boat on one of the Mystic Blue’s 4th of July cruises
• Or paddle out on a kayak at night for a one-of-a-kind firework viewing experience.
• Grant Park’s got an Independence Day event of their own, featuring an evening of patriotic favorites performed by none other than the National Youth Choir of Scotland!
• Robbie Fulks’ weekly Monday night show at The Hideout celebrates the 4th with covers of classic and patriotic country music with help from the Hoyle Brothers.
• Spend America Day with America’s game. The Cubs play the Reds this afternoon.
• The White Sox also host the Yankees! Two baseball choices!
• Dance party Porn and Chicken brings an Independence Day Banger to the Evilolive.
• Catch an intimate set from Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers at City Winery
• The Promontory’s got another one of their famous daytime dance parties, this one’s a White Party presented by Rails!
• Bingo Players, Light.Em.Up and Navic play an All-American concert at the Mid.
• Chick Corea plays Ravinia with help from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, as well as Ms. Lisa Fischer & Grand Baton.