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Lee Ranaldo Band, Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog
Mon., May 27, 6:30 p.m.Rock, Pop, Etc
Your Turn (Northern Spy) is the second and best album by Ceramic Dog, the knotty rock trio led by guitarist Marc Ribot. The group’s 2008 debut, Party Intellectuals (Pi), felt a bit slick and chilly, but the new one—with raw, vibrant production by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier—is elbow deep in blood and grit, and Ribot sounds his most inspired and concise, even on extended solos. Supported by bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Ches Smith, he skips among genres and tropes without sounding at all dilettantish: a sort of punk-blues hijack of 60s rock (“Lies My Body Told Me,” about struggling against the procreative impulse), furiously swinging instrumental surf rock (“Your Turn”), quaint rocksteady (“Ain’t Gonna Let Them Turn Us Around”), early jazz (“The Kid Is Back!”), and even a version of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five.” Ribot is at best a serviceable vocalist, and when he crosses over from his usual crankiness into outright bitterness—most egregriously on “Masters of the Internet,” an artless rant about musicians getting screwed by online piracy—it’s hard not to cringe, even though the sentiment is understandable. Luckily, though, he lets his guitar do most of the talking. He’s built a career by flouting expectations and yanking the rug out from under his own music, but in Ceramic Dog he often leaves well enough alone—and even when he does take things sideways, it’s easy to hang on for the ride. —Peter Margasak The Lee Ranaldo Band headlines.
Chicago Blues Festival: Shemekia Copeland, Irma Thomas, Otis Clay, James Cotton, and others
6/6-6/9: Thu 6:30-9 PM, Fri-Sun 11AM-9:30 PMMusic Festivals, Fairs & Festivals
Among the major draws are Shemekia Copeland, Irma Thomas, Otis Clay, and James Cotton. Other activities include a drum clinic with Odie Payne Jr., a panel discussion commemorating Pinetop Perkins’s 100th birthday, and a harmonica session with Fernando Jones.
Rising Up: Hale Woodruff's Murals at Talladega College
Through June 16Galleries
In 1938, Talladega College commissioned the Harlem Renaissance artist Hale Aspacio Woodruff to paint six murals to hang in a campus library. Three tell the story of the slave ship Amistad: an onboard mutiny, the trial of the captives, and their eventual return to Africa. Three more depict the Underground Railroad; the first day of student registration at Talladega, one of the country's first all-black colleges, in Alabama in 1867; and the building of Savery Library, the eventual home of Woodruff's work, in 1937. Woodruff's vibrant, large-scale murals were influenced by American regionalist style, a Mexican sojourn during which he apprenticed to Diego Rivera, and the cubism he studied in Paris. He returned from France in 1931 to chair the first art department for African-American students at Atlanta University; also in the 30s, Woodruff, who was born in Cairo, Illinois, painted murals for the Works Progress Administration. He went on to teach at Spelman College, Clark University, and at Talladega before joining the art faculty of New York University, where he taught until his retirement. In 2011, Atlanta's High Museum of Art collaborated with Talladega College on an extensive conservation project to prepare the murals for a multicity your, removing them from Savery Library for the first time. At the Chicago Cultural Center they'll hang alongside other, smaller paintings and prints from throughout Woodruff's career. —Janet Potter
Lee Fields & the Expressions, Theo Huff & the Platinum Band
Mon., July 1, 6:30 p.m.Blues, Gospel, and R&B
Taste of Chicago
Wed-Sun 7/10-7/14: 11 AM-9 PM
312-744-3315Fairs & Festivals
Pop-up restaurants, prix-fixe meals, a beer garden, a wine bar, and musical performances by Robert Plant, Neon Trees, and Estelle.
