After composing scores for Chicago’s Redmoon Theater, the Mad Shak Dance Company and The Hypocrites theater company, Kevin O’Donnell is frustrated. Theater audiences have enjoyed the fruits of his labor, but O’Donnell’s biggest fans–followers of Chicago’s local music scene–rarely get a chance to hear his works in a club setting.
That’s why the 31-year-old drummer–best known for his work with Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire and his own band, the Quality Six–will put together a review of his work on Friday at HotHouse for the second year in a row.
“When you perform something for a play, you have to make a lot of concessions in the form and feel,” O’Donnell says. “So it’s nice to have an opportunity to play these songs as they work best–as songs.”
Bird, who’s currently touring Europe behind his first solo album, won’t be at the show, but O’Donnell has assembled a stellar lineup of Chicago musicians, including percussionist Shu Shubat from the Jellyeye performance troupe, ex-Red Elephant frontman Ken Fountain and guitarist Andy Hopkins, who often plays with Kelly Hogan.
O’Donnell will also give his audience a shot of the Quality Six’s classic jazz originals, which he’s rearranged for his newest group, The National Quartet. And you can expect O’Donnell’s dry wit–“all my talking and stupid monologues”–to keep things interesting between the three sets.
9:30 p.m. Friday. $10 donation. HotHouse, 31 E. Balbo Drive, 312-362-9707.
I am trying to be a poet
Billy Corgan isn’t the only Chicago rocker who’s been bitten by the poetry bug. Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy will release his first book of poetry March 27 on the Nebraska-based Zoo Press. While all of the poems in “Adult Head” are new works, some passages also appear as lyrics on “A Ghost Is Born,” the new Wilco album slated for release June 8. And for all you rock trivia buffs wondering about the cover photo, it’s a close-up of Tweedy’s cat, Cutty.
All lips and eyebrows
Ever wonder what the unholy union between Liam Gallagher and Mick Jagger would look like? Mike Zelenko, drummer for defunct Chicago power-pop groups Material Issue and Box-O-Car, did. It’s the subject of his painting “Liam Jagger” in his first gallery show at David Leonardis Gallery (1346 N. Paulina St.). The exhibit, “Rockers That Art and Art That Rocks,” also features Zelenko’s interpretation of Lou Reed and Keith Richards’ love child. Noon-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, through March 9. 773-278-3058.
