The Burnin` Chicago Blues Machine will present a free blues workshop for kids from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Buddy Guy`s Legends. Aspiring musicians age 15 and younger are invited to participate. Keyboards and drums will be provided, while guitar and horn players should bring their own instruments.
The event will kick off with a short performance by the Burnin` Chicago Blues Machine, followed by a question-and-answer period and group lessons led by the band members, including former Koko Taylor sidemen Jim Dortch
(keyboards) and James Johnson (guitar), Danny ”Boney” Fields (trumpet, formerly with James Cotton and Kenny Neal), John Caldwell (bass, formerly with Otis Clay), Lou Palmer (drums, formerly with Sugar Blue and Dion Payton) and Paul ”Stormy” Mundy (sax, formerly with Floyd McDaniels and Artie ”Blues Boy” White).
Participants will then get a chance to show what they`ve learned by going onstage to jam with the pros. To confirm a spot at the workshop, call 708-458-7343.
– Workers` World: The Silent Workers` Friday night performance at the Tao will be taped for the cable program ”Slant TV” and broadcast sometime in October. ”Slant TV,” which features comedy and local music, airs on Chicago cable channel 19 on the second and fourth Fridays of each month at 11 p.m.
The Silent Workers will also participate in a Sept. 19 fundraiser for the Orchard Village in Skokie, a non-profit residential and vocational-training community for adults and children with developmental disabilities. The Workers will entertain at a barbecue following the day`s five-mile Walk for Winners. For further information about the walkathon or benefit, call 708-967-1800.
– Happy, happy: Happy Tails Records will release an 8-to-10-song cassette by Avocado Jungle Fuzz in September, including both live and studio recordings from the last two years. Happy Tails founders wag. just finished some sessions at J.E.M. studio in Evanston, shooting for a late-fall CD release of their own. The two bands, which frequently appear in shows together, are booked for a Sept. 19 double bill at the Tao and also will play live on WXAV`s local-music show on Sept. 20.
– Throw `em into the studio: Power trio Throw has been shopping its debut three-song cassette to various Midwest record labels and just went back into Aurora`s Medical Records studio to do two new songs with producer Bryan Mitchell and recently recruited drummer Heath Chappell. The new material could show up on a fall release, according to vocalist/bassist Wade Iverson. Throw appears Friday at the Czar Bar and Sept. 4 at the Avalon.
– Hat trick: Big Hat will appear on a supplementary local-music stage when Lollapalooza II comes to Alpine Valley Aug. 29.
