You’d hardly know it from reading the headlines about this week’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, but a Chicago group snagged a spot somewhere in between Prince, George Harrison, Jackson Browne and ZZ Top.
The Dells, a harmony quintet from south suburban Harvey, were inducted 52 years after forming while its members were still in high school.
Director Robert Townsend, who immortalized the group’s story in his 1991 movie “The Five Heartbeats,” introduced the band, which then sang its biggest hit, “Oh, What A Night.”
“We had a lot of hit records. Most of them, we didn’t get paid for,” said group member Charles Barksdale, The New York Times reported. “All of you out there that still owe us royalties, we’re coming after you.”
It hasn’t taken local groups as long to recognize the hometown band. Two streets have been named after The Dells–Dells Way in Harvey and Dells Parkway, an honorary title given to a section of 63rd Street in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.
Catch The Dells’ performance when VH1 broadcasts this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Smashing solo show
When Billy Corgan isn’t busy stabbing his former band mates in the back on his Web site (“James Iha broke up the Smashing Pumpkins. … Did it help that D’Arcy was a mean-spirited drug addict who refused to get help?”), he’s announcing upcoming solo shows at Metro. While an April 19 date has been set aside for the now Zwan-free Corgan, the Metro box office has yet to decide when and where tickets will go on sale. Check metromix.com for updates.
No-foam Furtado?
What are the chances Starbucks’ new Hear Music Coffeehouse project will make its way to Chicago? That depends on the success of the digital-music project after it launches on the West Coast. Starting this spring, customers in Seattle and Santa Monica, Calif., stores will be able to browse a catalog of 20,000 full-length albums and burn a six-song custom mix CD for $6.95. If and when the concept makes its way to Chicago, one thing’s for sure: It won’t open in the old Starbucks-owned Hear Music Store. The CD shop is now an Aldo shoe store.
Hair-metal morons
Great White could have come up with a worse name for its new greatest hits album, but it would have been tough. “Burning House of Love,” released Tuesday on the Horizon Italy record label, is the latest from the band whose stage pyrotechnics ignited a fire that killed 100 fans during a concert at a Rhode Island nightclub.
