By The Beachwood Blues Bureau
“Blues singer Jesse Fortune, most active in the 1950s and 60s, collapsed on stage while performing Sunday night in Chicago and later died,” the Tribune reported on August 31.
“Fortune, 79, of the 3800 block of West Jackson Boulevard in East Garfield Park, was performing at Gene’s Playmate Lounge at 4239 W. Cermak Ave.”
*
“Fortune, better known as the ‘Fortune Tellin’ Man,’ was born Feb. 28, 1930, in Macon, Miss. He migrated to the West Side of Chicago in 1952 and began performing around the city with blues notables.”

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Posted on September 28, 2009

By Matt Harness
Team player Exene Cervenka’s first solo album since 1991 is now available for pre-sale.
Cervenka’s sound is analogous to Bloodshot’s backbone as there is no clear way to categorize her music, which ranges from punk to folk.
I caught back up with Exene, who also is an acclaimed visual artist, this summer after hearing her contributions with John Doe, her former bandmate in the L.A. punk band X. Doe teamed up with The Sadies, a Bloodshot band, to release Country Club in the spring. The album is Doe’s chance to finally run down the country road after a life cross-dressing punk and country. Thing is, the themes are the same.
Which brings me to The Sadies.

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Posted on September 25, 2009

By The Beachwood Backstreets Bureau
From his Sunday night show at the United Center.
Thunder Road

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Born to Run

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Posted on September 23, 2009

By Matt Harness
* The music.
* The belt sander races. Won by Brian Urbanik’s Toast-Terror. Bio and photos welcome.
* Jeff won the drunken spelling bee. He couldn’t spell his last name. Help requested.
* The Beer-B-Q rolls into Austin this weekend at the Yard Dog Gallery.

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Posted on September 17, 2009

Matt Harness
There’s probably not a better choice than Rick Sherry to kick off Saturday’s Bloodshot Records’ party at the Hideout.
After all, Sherry and his former band Devil in a Woodpile played every Tuesday at the bar since as far back as 2003 when I moved to Chicago. The band recently broke up, but Sherry dug into his past and formed Sanctified Grumblers with renowned roots-rocker and finger-picker Eric Noden, a longtime friend and playing partner.
Beachwood Music: What’s your connection to Chicago?
Rick Sherry: I moved here in the late 1980s. The chick I was with, and now married to, was from here, and she pulled me to this beautiful cosmopolitan life. I am from Upstate New York. I then went to college in Iowa at Grinnell. That’s what first got me to the Midwest.
Beachwood Music: Which neighborhood did you first settle in here?
Rick Sherry: My first place was on Clybourn just north of Fullerton. I guess that’s Lincoln Park now, but it was a much different scene then. It was industrial and there were a lot of rats. Now, I’m in Logan Square.

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Posted on September 11, 2009

By Matt Harness
The Bloodshot bandwagon pulls into Philly this week for the final warm-up before heading to the Hideout on Sept. 12 for the hometown party.
If you are going to the Elston getaway, you already know about the musical acts, headlined by the indefatigable Waco Brothers.
But Nan Warshaw, Rob Miller and Hideout officials have also cooked up a recipe of auxiliary activities if you care to rest your legs from the dance party on Wabansia.
Namely, belt-sander races and a drunken spelling bee.
Let’s break ’em both down.

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Posted on September 4, 2009