Some years ago, I took a road trip with a friend through the East Coast, and on one night we found ourselves in New Hope, Pennsylvania, a quaint, quietly mysterious town we just happened to stop in on our way to New York. New Hope happens to be the birthplace of long-running psych-pop band Ween, and let me tell you—New Hope loves its Ween. Ween posters were plastered everywhere on windows—coffee shops and record stores, sure, but also B&Bs, the grocery store, the dentist’s office. I’ve never seen a town so proud of two of its boys. Since Gene Ween and Dean Ween formed, uh, Ween in the late eighties, the band has taken on a sort-of-cult status over the years, drawing large crowds to shows while keeping relatively under the radar with releases. (“Push Th’ Little Daisies” from 1992’s “Pure Guava” was surely the band’s biggest hit.) The band is “connected with drug culture,” you could say, and laces the theme throughout its records. The last full-length was “La Cucaracha” in 2007; it was only so-so, but literally everything the band released in the nineties was dirty, oddball fun. (Tom Lynch)
June 25 at Aragon, 1106 W. Lawrence, (773)561-9500.
Related Stories
For “Want” of a Change: A Preview of Rufus Wainwright at Ravinia Park Rufus Wainwright isn’t the first singer-songwriter to reinterpret earlier work through an orchestral lens. And much of Wainwright’s third and fourth albums, “Want One” and “Want Two”—whose twentieth anniversaries are the prompt for this new tour—is fully scored. But when Wainwright hits the Pavilion stage at Ravinia tonight, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be behind him.
Brutal Finesse: A Preview of King Crimson at Ravinia There have been few new compositions from King Crimson these past two decades, but the live arrangements of songs from its catalog are often strikingly different than the recorded versions.
Cooling It: A Preview of Colleen Green at Cole’s Bar When Green strums power chords or chiming notes on top of her backing track, you might think you’re at Ramones karaoke night and Madonna is taking her turn.
Can’t-Miss Music Events (Fall Arts Preview 2023) This fall we get new albums and tours from iconic acts like Wilco and Kurt Elling, plus a Corrine Bailey Rae project inspired by Theaster Gates' Stony Island Arts Bank.
